Ruled by the immortal elf queen Lil’lith, founded by Lux Gnomore. Magical socialist utopia, until the fabric of the world started being torn apart.
Despite the challenges of imperfection, the realm’s complex history of conflict and peacemaking has resulted in a prosperous stability which has lasted for more than three hundred years. Though varied by region, the old cultures and customs have blended together to form a melting pot of traditions, architecture, cuisine, religious thought, and language in most of the kingdom.
Where once the people of the realm worshiped and warred in the name of the gods, the thought of deities as individuals has faded from belief with the exception of the occasional cult. While the influence of the deities is undeniable, the people have come to know these intangible forces and associated spirits as broader aesthetics and themes. A farmer may offer prayer to the blooming springtime and the many spirits that bring about a fruitful harvest.
Magic is commonplace and used for utility and convenience. The Fabricators assigned by the kingdom are able to produce quality craft from raw materials in quantity and at a rate far greater than mundane craftsmen, the Givers can provide fresh food and water to assure that the people seldom want for nourishment, and the Healers tend to the sick and the wounded.
The Teachers both offer and seek knowledge to be shared and returned to the capital after collection during their time traveling the lands. The eager can learn of agriculture, philosophy, history, alchemy, artifice, and the ideas of magic, with the talented sometimes earning the rare opportunity to themselves study directly at the university in the capital.
The Verdicts serve the judicial needs of the kingdom, working in cooperation with Mayors, Governors and Teachers to address conflicts both rare and inevitable. These sworn defenders of the realm wield the authority of judgement and enforcement.
Formation
Lux Gnomore created the plan for a city in his gray years. Queen Lil’lith created his dream after his death, and eventually expanded the philosophy of the city to become the Kingdom of Lux. The transition spanned several hundred years.
Authority and Government
The Kingdom of Lux is ruled by Queen Lil’lith. She is believed to be the last of the High Elves that once inhabited the realm. It is said that has lived for thousands of years, far longer than the lifespan of other elves, and bears no signs of her age. There are a wide array of specialized administrators and countless officials who assist her in maintaining the complex logistics of providing for the people, including governors assigned to the variety of territories that comprise the kingdom.
Fundamental Pillars
Education
The Repository in the capital houses the great wealth of tomes and knowledge collected and preserved under the care of the Archivist. The University is the highest place of learning in the kingdom. The Teachers are educated in a variety of essential subjects and themselves offer knowledge and propaganda to the people of the kingdom. Teachers are also tasked with bringing new knowledge back to the University, and those teachers most proficient are recognized with the title of Professor.
It is common for traveling Teachers to acquire apprentices and assistants, and those who show tremendous promise and the proper ideals and the desire to share their knowledge are often sent to the University to further their studies.
Teachers spread a wide variety of essential knowledge designed to encourage robust ideas in the people of the kingdom, as well as a broad perspective on the old religions and ideas of gods, with a secular intention to recognize their history and connection to magic, but discourage religious zealotry.
Justice
The Verdicts are trained for combat and the difficult task of judging the actions of others with empathy in their context and morality and rendering judgement, and ultimately hold the authority to execute those deemed dangerous or unwilling to cooperate as a part of society. Since there are not nearly enough qualified Verdicts to oversee the kingdom alone, cities, towns, and villages commonly maintain sheriffs and guardsmen. These sheriffs, along with Teachers and Governors may send for the aid of a Verdict when an act demands judgement.
Philanthropy
The Givers use magic to create food and water for the impoverished or to bring relief to areas suffering from drought or famine, and Fabricators transmute raw materials into usable necessities, while Healers tend to the sick and injured, all operating under the philosophy that peace and order are best maintained by meeting the needs of the kingdom’s people and encouraging a strong relationship between people and their society.
Givers, Fabricators, and Healers may travel to places they are needed, but it is the role of Governors to coordinate the administration of provision with the needs of the people themselves. These Governors are assigned by the kingdom to the service of the people.
Trade
The kingdom maintains its roads, railways, and teleportation circle system as a primary methodology of encouraging commerce between its many territories and to allow for the adaptable travel of Teachers, Givers, Healers, Fabricators, and Verdicts. The ubiquitous system of currency, consisting of copper, silver, gold, and platinum are maintained to encourage confidence throughout the realm.
Lux Locations
- Oh no! My beloved peasant village (S13 edition)!
- benevolent cult
hotwetspot. Aureya’s home.
- The nearest city to Shepherd’s End, about a week away on foot. Was overrun by a giant monster crab thing and them by undead, and then quickly by a giant undead monster crab. The Shep kids managed to rescue a clutch of survivors, undo the necromantic curse and clear out the biggest monsters.
- A small, reclusive, mostly dwarven town, founded by the legendary Alinge a thousand years ago, possessed of uncannily-accurate stories about the end of days.
The Stone Tower
- The former residence of a chronomancer known variously as Blue or Desmun.
The Shivercourt
Spooky city-state run by vampires (rumored).
Easvolin
The region, home to Shepherd’s End, is often a place of gray skies, gentle rain, and strong winds with a cold autumn and winter, which brings snow for the majority of the latter season. The summers are often mild and the springtime is notoriously florid and vibrant. It’s common for homes to be built into the shelter of hillsides and the region offers an enormous variety of soups, stews, hot beverages, and layered clothing, with heavy travel cloaks persisting here despite having fallen out of fashion in the west.
Though the region is known for its variety of teas and medicinal herbs, the land is not as fertile for the purpose of crop growth as many other regions of the kingdom. Further, its reserve of ore dried some centuries ago, and as a result Easvolin is often more dependent on the kingdom’s Givers and trade than are more interior regions.
Easvolin’s exposure to the eastern sea makes it more prone to harsh storms and poor weather than the central and western regions, though the complex landscape and limited expansion of rail still makes sail an important mode of transport.
The City of Lux
Capital of the Kingdom of Lux, because Lux Lil’lith was nothing if not imaginative.
Festivals and Traditions
Blooming Flower Festival
The twentieth day of Spring is a vibrant and florid time in Shepherd’s End. The rooftops of the town and surrounding fields and hillsides blossom, and the people of the town celebrate the warming days with dancing, picnics, and a tradition of children giving gifts to one another.
Naming Day Festival
The first day of summer marks the time when new children are presented to the town and given the names their parents have chosen for them. The festival includes the coming of age for the children of the village, coming into their eighteenth year, when they leave their time as students of the Teachers and seek their place in the community. The celebration often includes music and dancing, an exchange of gifts, games, competition, and fireworks.
Day of Doors
The first day of Autumn celebrates the formation of the Kingdom of Lux and the peace brought to a land which had known great conflict preceding it. It is a day of community and welcoming, where people of the town decorate the front entrances of their neighbors homes and welcome each other for warm ciders, pies, and songs.
Harvest Festival
The twentieth day of Autumn is a time of plenty, when the harvests are brought from the farmlands and there is more abundance than other times throughout the year, and joyful community feasts are held around the Hearth, while cider and beer flow merrily, and games and competitions are held in and around the town.
High Winter Festival
Spanning the fortieth to fiftieth days of Winter, this is a time when the community bands together to keep warm and welcome one’s neighbors during the coldest days of the year. This is a time for sharing, forgiving old grievances, welcoming neighbors into the home, and exchanging gifts, with snowball battles during the warmest part of the days and broth and cider to warm the nights.