Olzulzuza

The land of Olzulzuza, born over a thousand years ago! It is a land of peril, a land besieged by the forces of darkness, where good men and women lose their lives to hold back evil.

At its heart is the legendary Stoked Empires. When the world was yet young it was ruled by the dragon Asrilenge Roarsystems, the Infinite Flaming Jade. She was vast and monstrous, yet she kept the Stoked Empires mighty, even destroying the capital of the dwarven nation Zan Edos, in their language "The Artifact of Amazing." Long she ruled, her flames keeping the Stoked Empires safe… until the rise of Sor.

Sor Tombburials! He rose from his citadel deep within the heart of the Stoked Empires and forced his way into their capital where he met Asrilenge in mortal combat. Her flames met him first, searing his flesh and his feathers, but once he reached her the battle was over. With his might he crippled the proud dragon, tore out her eyes and banished her to the icy north. To this day it is said that she dwells in the deepest tunnels, blind and crippled, hungry for revenge, worshipped by a few degenerate goblins from the Terrors of Disembowelment. A far cry from her glory days.

Sor Tombburial the Night of Graves, the greatest threat to the world of Olzulzuza. Many thought that with the defeat of Asrilenge, he had ended his fight with the Stoked Empires, but that was not true, he merely had other battles first. In the east, he butchered enough elves to make a vast sea run red, cursing it to become a dark pit of corruption.

From his fortress Tunneltombs, the Abyss of Ashes, he plotted and planned a war against Uktang Cryptgraves The Dead Cavernous Phantom Of Oblivion, The Twilight Crone. Long had she haunted the south, and many times they had fought. As his consorts were slain by heroes from the Stoked Empires, her pack grew and her spawn grew mighty. Eventually Sor tired of their vendetta and turned to slay and plan elsewhere, one day Uktang would fall.

He ventured forth from his claimed lands, the blighted Fields of Screaming to battle the Dark Man in the west, breaking him and leaving his sons to mourn his loss. Then he turned his wrath on the Stoked Empires once more.

He slew kings and princesses, queens and heirs, until one faced him in combat and survived.

Ile Regalpoets the Fortunes' Axe. An heir to the throne of the Stoked Empires, she thought that Sor had fallen when she took his hand, but the shadowy beast came for her again as the celebrations ended. Unprepared, she was spirited away to Tunneltombs to replace his dead consorts, and she bore him an heir.

Thateme Bonesshadow the Abyssal Ash of Dying. Within half a score years, this beast had slain fifty men. In the shadows, Sor smiles, for he knows that his heir will be his ultimate weapon. If he is allowed to mature, this beast will tear down the Stoked Empires once and for all, he will rip apart the sons of the Dark Man, devour the Crone and perhaps even finish his fathers fight against mighty Asrilenge.

Having lost their champion, the Stoked Empires are in disarray. Their neighbours fear to help, the dwarves of Zan Edos still resent Asrilenge's destruction of their capital, and with them in the way, there will be no seeking help from the Plain Towers dwarves in the south. But perhaps there are other ways.

Rumour has it that a vast colossus in the north spreads not war, but peace. If Asrilenge still lives, she may yet wish her revenge against Sor. The sons of the Dark Man will not soon have forgotten their father's death at Sor's hands, and there is even the dread Crone, who would be swift to act if she knew of Sor's spawn. Should Sor's spawn grow to maturity, he will threaten all of Olzulzuza, and perhaps the lands beyond.

It is time for heroes to rise and end this threat before it is too late.

Overview

The Stoked Empires is a once-proud nation that is the main haunt of Sor, torn in half by his blighted hands. Now they are bandit-ravaged, the haunt of monsters and regularly raided by the goblins of Aslot Zozlo. The current heir to the throne of the Stoked Empires is Sor's current consort.

Zan Edos is the prime dwarven nation in the lands, originally a penal colony of the Plain Towers, they are now a nation in their own right, though life is harsh in the deep caves and tall peaks. They fear the predations of both Sor and Uktang. Outside of the Plain Towers, the smiths of Zan Edos are the finest in the land.

Where Zan Edos is a harsh border realm, the Plain Towers are vast, civilized lands held by the dwarves, where dwarven high society and nobility reign, where the fist of law clenches firmly all the land's subjects. Dwarves from the Plain Towers are noble, yet easily offended… and well-armed enough to make offending them a bad idea.

The Belted Kingdoms are a savage borderland constantly victimized by the undead of the cursed sea, life there is harsh, and often brief, breeding a hardy people with little time for etiquette and experience in battling the unliving.

The League of Jesters is a human nation of traders, mercenaries and opportunists. They are complacent towards the grim fates that await the other nations, believing that they will always find a way to make a profit.

In the Northeastern reaches dwell the kobolds, in tribal societies and villages. Occasionally they rampage south, overrunning the borders of the League of Jesters and inflicting limited damage, but much of the time they supply ores and raw materials for the League's smiths.

The goblins of Aslot Zozlo fight the goblins of Nguslu Aspna, and anyone else within reach, as they latter abandoned their monarchy in favour of worshipping a vile demon lord that now squats, vast and foul, on the throne. Their war has lasted for centuries and will, without intervention, likely last centuries more. They are civilized, but cruel and warlike.

The elves of the west contend with the sons of the Dark Man, the predations of Uktang and the goblins of the north. While some understand the plight of the other nations, their foremost charge is the guardianship of nature. Some call them savage for their traditions, but they are as wise as any of the other races.

Uktang, Asrilenge and the Sons of the Dark Man are the savage beasts that have battled Sor in the past. None of them are noble(though some say Asrilenge is) and none of them are nice, but they are powerful and vicious, and will be great foes of Sor if given the chance.

Nations of the South

The Stoked Empires

Human
Current Ruler: Nacu Wordroasted The Strapping Lute

One of the most ancient realms of Olzulzuza, the Stoked Empires lie at the heart of the land, bisected by the blighted lands that Sor claims as his own, slowly encircling their capital. When Asrilenge ruled, The Stoked Empires enjoyed a golden age of labour and peace, even the dwarves of the south offered gifts to avoid being the victims of Asrilenge's wrath again. But since Sor's rampaging, they have fallen far.

Once it was a land of grand smiths and high culture, now it is a bitter place where metal is in short supply. Outside of the capital and a few large cities of the north there are bandits on every road and beasts in every forest. The terrain is mostly hilly and pleasant, though towards the northwest it rapidly becomes cold. Much of what the Stoked Empires need to survive are traded to them by the League of Jesters to the northeast, a more prosperous human kingdom.

Queen Nacu has publicly declared that anyone who rescues her daughter Ila from Sor(if this is even possible) or brings proof of his death at their hand will receive the throne of the Stoked Empires. This has so far achieved little but to swell the ranks of the dead impaled within the Fields of Screaming surrounding Sor's fortress.

Religion is a tricky subject in the Stoked Empires. After Asrilenge's fall, many turned to worship Gulnas the Cloudy influences, depicted as a female firefly, associated with thunder, rain and trees. She had an obvious association with farming, which most of the subjects of the Stoked Empires soon found themselves doing if they lived outside of the major cities. Some still worship Asrilenge and believe that she will one day return to reclaim her throne and purge Sor. Others, a small minority, have in desperation turned to worship of Sor, believing this to be the only way of averting the creature's anger.

Zan Edos

The Artifact of Amazing
Dwarven
Current Ruler: Queen Lenswet Daggertwisted the Quandary of Ivy

Zan Edos was once a prosperous colony that struck out from the Plain Towers of the south, a dwarven nation extending far beyond the edges of Olzulzuza. But in their early years they were ravaged by Asrilenge for refusing to pay tribute to her human subjects of The Stoked Empires. She burned their capital and sundered their works, forcing them deep into the mountains where even survival was a struggle against the beasts of the deep caves and high passes.

Every year, Asrilenge would press them for tribute, and they paid rapidly to avoid her wrath once more.

With her death, the dwarves of Zan Edos hoped to reclaim their southwestern lands and rebuild, perhaps even to surpass the Stoked Empires and the Plain Towers in prosperity, but it was not to be. Their southern forests had been claimed by Uktang Cryptgraves, the Twilight Crone, and her growing family of beasts. To make matters worse, Sor and his spawn often travelled through the forests of Zan Edos to do battle with the Crone and her minions.

Life in Zan Edos is harsh and unforgiving, but they nonetheless have the best smiths outside of the Plain Towers. Crime tends to be sparse since any group of bandits attempting to hide among the peaks usually gets eaten by giant eagles or worse.

In the depths of their mountains, the dwarves of Zan Edos have also found eerie things. Vast spider idols. Those first dwarves to come across them felt compelled to learn, and to worship, and soon they had a name: Kedath the Vigorous Domination. Lord of Chaos, War and Fortresses. Interestingly enough, the first cave colony to erect idols to him were soon spared attacks by the cave spiders, and even found many dread creatures of the caves webbed and poisoned before their miners even reached the area. With such powerful portents, all of Zan Edos soon came to revere Arak.

Othiburdim

The Plain Towers
Dwarven
Current Ruler: King Stodir Rabblerampages the Silvery Tar

The Plain Towers in the south are the greatest realm of Olzulzuza, though the League of Jesters might dispute this claim. They arrived long ago, not far after the birth of the world, and the nation of Zan Edos is made up of their colonists and outcasts. Most of their territory is far to the south of Olzulzuza and they can marshal great resources if need be, but are largely unconcerned with the region to their north, considering it an untamed border region with few interesting values and a people too poor to pay for their goods and services.

Their only true concern is the Uktang and her minions who occasionally harry their northern borders, snatching away consorts for the Twilight Crone, but internal bureaucracy makes it unlikely that they will launch any great force to unseat her.

The Plain Towers are dominated by law, those who obey the judgments of their superiors are well cared for, but those who try to rise above their station or fail to perform are banished to colonies like Zan Edos or worse. Their military is well trained from having fought kobolds, goblins, elves and the horrors of the deep caves.

In the Plain Towers, their main deity is Ashmon the Helms of Honesty, who is associated with Mercy, War, Night and Dreams. The conversion of Zan Edos to the worship of Arak has only helped to widen the rift between the two dwarven lands.

Lands of the East

The Belted Kingdoms

Human
Current Ruler: King Gib Crevicewhisper

The Belted Kingdoms are the "savage" humans who dwell south of the cursed sea, the shores of which were once populated by elves before Sor slew them all. They have few towns and less cities, being mostly nomadic as they try to avoid the undead creatures that swarm south from the sea. Aside from their blighted northern border, their lands are much liked the Stoked Empire, hills and plains.

Occasionally they trade with the dwarves of Zan Edos for better weapons than what they can craft themselves, and they are experts at fighting the undead. Rumour has it that King Stodir and King Gib are close friends, and that troops from the Belted Kingdoms have occasionally aided the dwarves of Zan Edos when they have faced large undead incursions from the depths or from the cursed sea.

The Belted Kingdoms have many skilled craftsmen, but little iron, so most of what they make is wood, bone or stone. The men of the northern regions are mostly nomads, as settling for too long in one place tends to attract the undead. In the south they tend to live in large cities, larger the farther south they are, with thick walls or palisades.

Due to their friendship with the dwarves of Zan Edos, the Gib Crevicewhisper has cold diplomatic relations with the dwarves of the Plain Towers.

Within the Belted Kingdoms there is only one major focus of worship, Subi Blossomfuture the Growth of Dawning, a goddess of Fertility, Children and Light. It is said that prayers to Subi's light can ward off the undead, and that those within the kingdom who fail to worship her will give birth to children who are already among the living corpses. Whether true or not, no one feels like taking the chance. They look with some worry at the worship of Arak in Zan Edos, but so far the war that the dwarves wage has been largely directed at the inhabitants of the depths.

The League of Jesters

Human
Current Ruler: King Lecit Entryclocks the Red Glimmer

The League of Jesters is the most civilized known realm north of the Plain Towers, at least since the fall of Asrilenge. Most of those affluent enough within the Stoked Empires fled to the League of Jesters once Sor began his rampage, and it has only helped the League's growth. They are concerned with the growth of Sor's power, but not concerned enough to help the Stoked Empires, except to occasionally provide them with weapons and mercenaries to keep Sor's madness in check.

For some reason their southern reaches are mostly unmolested by the undead of the cursed sea, which instead prefer to head south towards the Belted Kingdoms or east towards the Stoked Empires. Some whisper that King Lecit has made foul pacts with demons, or with the colossus in the north, to keep the undead off his doorstep. Most others consider this to be rubbish.

The League has long been peaceful, trading with the northern Stoked Empires, the kobolds to their north(when they are peaceful) and with the Hex of Kings across the sea to the west. The latter trading partner earns them the enmity of the East Skins and the Terrors of Disembowelment, though they are too far away to do more than send angry envoys or the occasional assassin.

Geographically the League is more swamped and forested than the Stoked Empires, but otherwise has much the same flat and hilly terrain.

Most worship within the League is directed towards Agen the Puzzling Whiteness, a goddess of the Moon and, puzzlingly enough, gambling. She is particularly popular among the League's many traders, who say that every trade is at its heart a gamble.

The Northeastern Reaches

Kobold
Current ruler: The village of Threeldis(or so they claim)

The Northeastern Reaches are kobold territory, an anarchic, squabbling region of little villages, cave complexes and the occasional town. It's too cold and miserable for anyone to bother conquering, and a few of the kobolds near the southern border have learned that if they trade ores and rare gems to the League of Jesters, they can get well-forged weapons to beat down the other kobolds with.

Currently the village of Threeldis on the southern border has kept this policy up for long enough that most of the other kobolds bow to their rulership, but occasionally some upset will occur and the kobolds of the Northeastern Reaches will swarm south, overwhelming border outposts and stealing anything not nailed down, including children and pets. The League will send a rapid reprisal, burning down every kobold settlement they come across, and things will settle back into normality for a while.

The most relevant rumour about the Northeastern Reaches is that a vast metal colossus, Slatsu Ironprincess, has been seen stalking the wastes. Supposedly it vanquishes every evil creature that dares encroach upon its territory, but leaves the kobolds alone. So far no humans have seen it and its origins are a mystery.

Goblin Lands

Aslot Zozlo

The Hex of Kings
Goblin
Current Ruler: Queen Nako Lividmenaces the Clean Spite

The Hex of Kings is in a constant state of war under the iron fist of Queen Nako. To the north they battle with their goblin brethren from the Terrors, to the south and east they fight the East Skins and occasionally raid the Stoked Empires, who cannot muster the military to do much beyond defending the larger cities of the northwest.

The only realm they have pleasant relations with are the League of Jesters, who trade them arms and armor of superior manufacture to their own, and who are too far away to raid.

This goblin nation also has a long-standing grudge against the Stoked Empires as they were among the victims of Asrilenge's glorious reign. Mostly they just raid them because they're greedy, spiteful little bastards, however.

Once, the Terrors and the Hex were one kingdom, but when the northern goblins turned to the worship of the demon Snosstrop Mirroredlance after he slew their king, Queen Nako split off the southern half of the kingdom to oppose them.

Most of the Hex is frigid swamps and wet forests, it's a highly unenjoyable place to live.

Nguslu Aspna

The Terrors of Disembowelment
Goblin
Current ruler: Snosstrop Mirroredlancer the Quake of Sweating

Within the Terrors, all worship Snosstrop as a living god. This vast, hideous lizard demon crouches fat and lazy upon a throne of stone, the corpse of his goblin predecessor still pinned beneath his bulk. Only his most faithful worshippers can penetrate the vile musk that pervades the land for miles around him and soaks into everything in his fortress.

The death of their former king and Snosstrop's ascension to the throne was what prompted the war between the Terrors and the Hex, and no one hates Snosstrop more than Queen Nako, consort to the former king.

Within the mountainous, frozen reaches of the Terrors, nightmares are considered to be portents from their demonic lord, and the most devout regularly ingest vicious drugs and poisonous plants to provoke feverish dreams, hoping to glimpse the future and their master's will. For the most part, Snosstrop himself is content to lazily demand tribute, usually in the form of food, growing ever more girthful and disgusting.

A few goblins of the Terrors have turned to worship of Asrilenge after supposedly seeing her in the northernmost caves of the realm, these are considered heretics and outcasts and tend to leave the realm voluntarily, travelling into the deep caves in hope of seeing their goddess once more. Most of them die, though a few survive long enough to make small settlements and villages in the deep caves of the icy north.

Western Nations

Othanatipi

The East Skins
Elven
Current Ruler: Druid Mawada Versestyles (Female)

As any elven realm, the East Skins is a savage place where nature grows wild and the residents worship it with ferocious fervor. Of course, this means they are instantly at war with the goblins to their north, as they seek wood to build siege engines against their brethren, and animals to feed their armies. They have little patience for the human and dwarven kingdoms either, as most of these tend to consider nature a resource to be exploited, not something to be worshipped.

The elves of the East Skins are far enough from any of the vile creatures of the Olzulzuza to have any great interest in fighting them, with the exception of Sor, who slew their brethren by the shores of the cursed sea. They consider him more of a legend or bogeyman than active threat, though, as they have not been the victim of his predations for centuries.

They have peaceful relations with the Creative Cobras to the south, are at war with everything goblin, and occasionally trade with the Stoked Empire during periods where the Empire promises to limit its logging in exchange for elven wood(harvested in a proper way that does not insult nature) and their skin and bone crafts.

Most worship in the East Skins is directed at Tise, who is a force said to permeate the Jungle of Laws. Tise is associated with Rivers and Nature. Tise is suspected to be another aspect of Iyathi, who has a very similar portfolio.

Wenevicira

The Creative Cobras
Elven
Current Ruler: Druid Enina Rosywilts the Storm of Rain (Male)

The Creative Cobras are the second elven kingdom of Olzulzuza and are highly similar to their sister kingdom to the north. With a history that consists more of being ravaged by Sor and the Dark Man, while watching the power of the Crone growing to the south, however, they are more appreciative of the horrors facing Zan Edos and the Stoked Empires. They permit limited logging in the interest of building weapons and fortifications to resist these dark forces and are always looking for a way to unseat the Dark Man's heirs from their lands.

Occasionally they lend forces to assist the East Skins when the goblins of the north encroach on their lands, even though the East Skins rarely humour their requests for aid when the Dark Man's sons are on the warpath.

Iyathi is a force said to permate the Lustrous Jungles, associated with Rivers and Nature, and is the main subject of worship in the Creative Cobras. Most elves suspected that Iyathi and Tise are two aspects of the same divinity.

Monstrous Realms

Sons of the Dark Man

Skullsburial the Fortification of Bone, within the Forests of Miasma
Night Creatures
Current Rulers: Obi Skullstomb the Oblivion of Bones and Obi Nightfaint the Bones of Ash
Former Ruler: Uja Necroghost the Umbra of Ash, also known as the Dark Man

Once the Dark Man was the terror of the Creative Cobras, a vicious stalker of the night who brought down elves and beasts alike with little effort, demanding tribute and that elves cease to worship Iyathi in favour of worshipping him. The entire region was on the verge of being consumed in the miasma spreading from his home when Sor arrived. At first the elves thought he was a savior, as he was headed directly for the home of the Dark Man. They had heard that someone of his description had slain Asrilenge, whom the dwarves of Zan Edos described as a vast, scaled destroyer.

Sor and the original Uja Necroghost were much alike, black-feathered humanoids. But Sor had a vast tail and the Dark Man's limbs were jointed in odd ways. While Uja's sons Skullstomp and Nightfaint were out demanding tribute from the elves, Sor fell upon their father and broke his wings so he could not seek the aid of his sons. Then he locked his hands around the Dark Man's throat and strangled the life of him. Yonali, consort of the Dark man, sought to aid her husband, but Sor broke her legs and then retreated to his home.

Now the Sons of the Dark Man brood within the Forests of Miasma, watching their father's realm shrink and the elves forgetting whom their real masters are. They would love little more than to have their revenge on Sor and the elves of the Creative Cobras whom they fervently believe somehow summoned or assisted Sor. Most recently it has been said that they are planning to slay Enina Rosywilts and assume rulership of all of the Creative Cobras, so as to lead them to battle against Sor.

The Forest of the Crone

The Jungle of Frost
Night Creatures
Current Ruler: Uktang Cryptgraves the Dead Cavernous Phantom of Oblivion

Uktang Cryptgraves is the Twilight Crone. A Large three-eyed humanoid. She has 3 long, spiral horns and clear, leathery skin, exposing throbbing organs and pulsing veins beneath the surface. She makes her home within the Umbral Urn with her multitude of husbands and swarm of daughters. The Umbral Urn is surrounded by the dreaded Mire of Blood which her family patrols.

Over the years Sor and his kin have assaulted her repeatedly, but it has always ended in a draw, with a few of Uktang's kin dead, but herself and Sor unharmed.

The first time Uktang encountered Sor was when he was assaulting Zan Edos, they wrestled four days and four nights, each seeking to break the other's body, Sor trying to smother her in his feathers, Uktang attempting to gore him with her horns, but neither could gain the upper hand. This appears to have spawned the rage that spurs both of them to an unending vendetta against the other.

Any women who enter the Forest of the Crone are slain or enslaved, and any men who prove their strength by penetrating as far as the Mire of Blood are captured and made consorts of Uktang. Robbed of their former personality and used to produce more of her foul spawn. It is suspected that she plans to marshal an army of her family and strike at Sor's realm one day, but if Sor's own spawn grows in strength before then, not all of her family may be able to destroy it…

Sor's Realm

The Fields of Screaming
Night Creatures
Current Ruler: Sor Tombburial the Night of Graves

The blighted Fields of Screaming bisect the Stoked Empires, a blackened and dying realm of undead and misshapen beasts, those whom Sor defeats but does not slay outright, or take as a consort, are impaled upon the Fields and left to scream their agony to the skies as scavengers feed upon them.

At the heart of the Blighted Fields lies the grim fortress known as Tunneltombs, the Abyss of Ashes, where Sor dwells with his consort Ile Regalpoets the Fortunes' Axe and their spawn Thateme Bonesshadow the Abyssal Ash of Dying. Ile is almost always within Tunneltombs, marshalling the small group of fanatics from the Stoked Empires who have crossed the Fields of Screaming to join them, convincing her husband that they might be useful despite his desire to consume them. Those fanatics who are not capable enough to be worth becoming part of the corps are used to amuse Thateme, who despite his ten years of age has already claimed many lives, both for "fun" and in direct battle.

When Sor goes beyond Tunneltombs to raid and conquer, he often brings Thateme with him, except when he besieges the realms of Uktang, the Twilight Crone. He is keeping Thateme as the ace in his sleeve, a powerful siege weapon that he will use against the Crone and then, once she is dead, all the of Olzulzuza.

The only deity within Sor's Realm is Sor.