Alisanos
From World of Kralis
| Regional Information | |
| Population: | 100,000(80% Northerners, 10% Junde, 5% Dwarf, 5% Firbog, 5% Other) |
|---|---|
| Capital: | Inthiel |
| Government: | Duchy, Ruled by Dutchess Alria Goodstone |
| Major Religions: | Mala, Udarak, and Gishra |
| Imports/Exports: | Limestone, Coal, Copper and Leather Products |
The land of Alisanos is dark, grim realm. While it is not as dark or twisted as the Baronies of Vishraan, it is a heartrendingly cold and barren filled with bands of marauding monsters and isolated towns, hiding behind fortress like walls. It occupies western half of the great White Worm Plains from Myanothia in the south to the black ice sheets of Iztalik in the north, and the firbog occupied lands of Auslachen.
While strikingly flat, cold and stark, Alisanos holds many hauntingly beautiful vistas over looking many canyons that crack the land. The largest of these canyons, called the Urag Crack, stretches nearly 200 miles from the northwest near the dark forest of Maar to the southeast, ending nearly in the middle of the realm. It is a place filled various lichens, mosses, low tree-brushes and is filled with hundreds of dark holes where wretched and vile creatures hide.
Most of the land is situated on a limestone base beneath the thin soil, rainfall and the glacier runoff from Iztalik has deeply eroded the lands in many spots.
Due to subterranean drainage, there is very limited surface water, even to the absence of rivers and lakes. The karst region creates distinctive surface features, with sinkholes being the most common. Because of these karst formations there are literally thousands of caves, caverns and tunnels leading this way and that.
Despite the best efforts of Duchess Alria Goodstone and her Red Knights, the land of Alisanos seems to forever be in the grips of chaos and darkness. Many of the towns within the realm are built on the few ares of solid ground, where the limestone is deep underneath dark brown earth. These towns hide behind fortress like walls made from limestone, wood, and dark brown bricks. The towns huddle more along the eastern edge of the Bayreesh Mountains where the limestone is not so easily dug into.
While most of the realm is haunted by monsters such as foul earth giants, mutated firvulag, the grotesque hiisi, horrific oracs and legions of undead creatures, the grey packs of wolves that roam the lands are the most feared. These wolves are a warped version of the more common wolf, standing nearly 5' at the shoulder. The packs are made up of 15 or 20 animals that move about the land quickly, tracking and taking down most monsters, herds of deers and bands of warriors with fearsome ease.
One of the more aggressive monsters that inhabit the Plains of the White Worm, are the Turag. These monstrous beings, fortunately for the rest of the world, inhabit only Alisanos, as they are some how attached to the land itself, many sages believe that they must consume large quantities of limestone in their normal diet in order to survive.
Cities, Towns and Villages
Nearly all of Alisanos non-monstrous population reside in fortified strongholds or in well fortified towns. There are only a handful of towns and no villages within the realm. Those towns that have risen, have done so fighting the entire way, thus most of the populations of all the towns are hardy warriors.
Inthiel
Located on the southwestern slope of on top of a granite shelf rises the capital city of Inthiel. Inthiel, however, is not a typical city-capital with busy streets, open gates and fresh air, rather Inthiel is a fortress. A mass of thick walls and squat bastions Inthiel is a large castle whose heights reach over 250' in some parts as towers of granite stone over look the Plains of the White Worm. The castle is multi-angular with massive towers set at regular intervals. It is surrounded by two massive walls. The outer wall is wide enough to have two wagons pass each other with ease. The outer wall is divided into three sections. The upper walkway give soldiers a clear view of the region around them. The inner walkway is large enough to allow 6 men abreast walk through its interior and is pierced by arrow slits every 10' giving the interior section sufficient light during the day. The bottom section contains barracks, workshops, stables and storerooms.
The inner wall is not as wide, but is nonetheless an impressively engineered wall made from the same granite stone that the exterior wall is. This wall rises an additional 30' above the outer wall and is wide enough for up to 4 men to walk abreast on its upper walkway. It is multi-angular as is the outer wall and has towers set at the same regular intervals.
The interior of the citadel is wide and open. It is home to some 2,500 homes, shops, workshops and additional hundred or so storage houses. The center of Inthiel is dominated by Castle Baradun. From here, the Duchess rules over her meager loyal subjects and where she plans the various wars and battles that she fights in attempts to seize the whole of the realm under one power.
Usk
One of two of the largest towns in the realm, Usk sits along the northwestern Bayreesh mountains near the border with Ji-Lak, the kingdom of the jakara. It sits atop a low butte whose sides are very steep providing a line of defense from marauding monsters. Only a single road travels up one of the less steep sides to town, and it is heavily guarded. It is further protected by stone fortifications around the parameter it is inset with a heavy iron gate and enhanced magically. The wall is regularly broken up by stone watch towers that always has 4-5 guards and bowman that stand watch over the town. Situated all along the wall are various barracks where soldiers and warriors of the town are stationed. These allow for a quick mustering of the garrison forces when there is need.
Usk is home to some 5,000 residents. Most make their living by farming the lowlands around the town, but it is home to a number of other professions. It is a major trading post with the jakara to the west and it is the gate for trade between Alisanos and Ji-Lak. Like most other towns in the region, homes are two stories high and built of a stone first floor and a wooden second floor. Generally, the first floor tends to be either a barn, stable, or shop while the second floor is made of the various living quarters.
The fields and pastures that are maintained by the farmers are cultivated to blend in with what surrounding plant life exists so that the crops are not easily recognizable by monsters. The fields are maintained once per week on an altering schedule in order to protect the farmers as they quickly move between the fields and the town.
The "backside" of the town is used to raise sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens. Many of the homes are used to stable the cattle and the sheep during the nights and during the winter. Many homes also have their own gardens that they tend, here they grow their basic wants such as barley, turnips, cabbage, potatoes, and peppers.
Aksu
Situated in a canyon, whose sides have been worked into sheer cliffs for protection sits the second largest town in Alisanos. The land above the canyon is a barren plateau that rises from the Plain of the White Worm in the east and then abruptly ends some twenty miles east of the central Bayreesh mountains. The canyon is roughly 10 miles long and just over 3 miles wide at its mouth leading into the are of Aksu. The canyon floor is devoid of any real large plant life, such as trees, but a number of smaller bushes and trees do manage to grow here and there along with wild grasses. The center of the canyon is filled with the Huc River, that is made up of several smaller streams that have made their way through the limestone to pour out high above the canyon floor. These streams have thus created a number of small fresh water lakes that dot the canyon floor.
Aksu is divided into two halves, the Lower and Upper Towns, this is because the canyon floor where the town has been located rises and falls just over 200'. Most of the buildings here are built from the natural granite and slate that makes up the lower half of the canyon below the limestone. This mining has created a number of safe havens within granite and slate canyon walls. Built at one of the thinnest points in the canyon, the town is protected by a thick, heavy wall that is pierced only once by a large, heavy iron gate that straddles the Huc River. The town wall is roughly 20' thick and various in height from 20' to 25' depending on the lay of the canyon floor.
Most of the residents of the town are fisherman that hunt the lakes through out the canyon as well as the Huc River. The low grasses and shrubs allow for sheep and goat herding. Where there is open dirt farmers have cultivated various fields of rye, wheat, corn, as well as turnips, potatoes and cabbage.
Major Features
The last refuge of the Necromancer Szodrin.
The largest northern forest.
The Urag Crack
Nearly splitting the realm of Alisanos in two, the Urag Crack is a very large canyon that has been worn into the earth by the ever present Gar River that runs from the black ice of Iztalik to the southeast where it has carved the great canyon through the limestone. It disappears into the earth where it has opened up a space between a hard layer of granite and the limestone. The river is said to fall some 500 to 600 feet into the darkness of the DeepEarth Realms.
The Urag Crack is nearly 25 miles wide at its mouth and narrows to just over a mile where the Gar River disappears. The karst nature of the realm has opened up hundreds of caves, caverns, and tunnels that lead into the DeepEarth Realms. Some of these tunnels also run as far east or west as the Bayraath Mountains in the west and the lands of the Auslachen.
Most of the canyon has sheer cliffs, where other places are jagged and rough, but in either case the drops are often hundred or more feet. At the mouth of the canyon the drop from the surface of the land to the canyon floor is nearly 7,000 feet deep.
Cairn Dhuum Hill
The Plains of the White Worm is, for the most part, flat. This empty and barren region is only occasionally broken up by the Urag Crack, and a few other minor canyons, but nonetheless there is very little obscuring ones line of sight in any direction for hundreds of miles. However, if on were to look directly towards the center of the plain, one might spot a rise in the horizon. This rise is known as the Cairn Dhuum Hill.
Located in the near center of the plain, roughly 50 miles east of the end of the Urag Crack rises the hill. It was here that the during the time Before the First Age, Szodrin the Necromancer built an immense tower that could be seen in all directions for several hundred miles because the flatness of the plains. It was meant to be a beacon to the army of darkness that the Necromancer created. Built on the only hill within a hundred miles, the tower was magically created from a black smooth stone, it rose from the earth like a burned and crooked finger. During its time, the very pinnacle of the tower was always lit with bright fires. This tower was the first construction of the Necromancer, Castle Du Mac was to be he second and last.
It was in this place that Szodrin once attempted his ascension into godhood by challenging Azahak, and it was here that the Necromancer was nearly destroyed by that meeting. It was here also that the Necromancer had begun creating and constructing undead begins. After his conflict with the Lord of Darkness, the Tower of Dhuum was utterly destroyed in a fiery blast. However, buried in the ruins was a vast underground complex that remained mostly intact.
Since this time, the areas has become a gathering point for raiding monsters and undead alike. Rumor and legend hold that there is untold wealth, power and a dark stairway that leads to the depths of the DeepEarth Realms and to the City of Iron.
