Atlas

Imarel Travel Guide - by T.A. Saunders ©2010 v1.2

Kingdom of Miroa Overview

The following is an atlas of cities within the Miroan Isles, or what is commonly known as Miroa. This atlas will not be an exhaustive literary work of each city, but rather a basic guide to each city and its place on the sub-continent and further, the whole of Imarel, to give the world traveler some measure of what to expect whilst traveling abroad.

At one point, Miroa was more a study of what isn't there, rather than what was. There were no major cities, no points of interest (though the entire land could be considered a point of interest, depending on one's curiosities) and no large populations, unless one considered the hordes of undead that once roamed the land at will. Many of those unliving fiends were from the many undocumented wars fought here when Imarel was young; some are Zissah, some Asyndi and some vaguely resemble Masoq. There were reports of Dwarvish undead lurking here and there as well, but the truth of this is still sketchy at best. The only real export from Miroa came in the way of forgotten weapons, armor and artifacts of war, left on the field of battle and lost to the passing of ages. Treasure hunters still sometimes brave this land to find such things though some find more than they are prepared to deal with.

The sub-continent is a fragmented land mass; a cluster of islands separated by channels of water called the Veins of Miroa. The southern parts of the collected land mass are frozen steppe, but going further north one will find a great deal of snow and ice which reaches its frigid peek at the S`Kyrai Fortress. There are very few plants here; lichen mostly and a bristly bush called Najin. Like plants there are very few animals, mostly hardy Lasher that can survive almost anything, Kavah, Borjah and Tundra Drake make up the predominant species, with the occasional Zodasian plains lion pride daring the lands.

The territory was once controlled mostly by the Shar`Vaire lich, Skaryn the Exiled and still bears the scars of countless wars. The land itself was once poisoned in such a way that drinking the water or eating almost any of the vegetation that somehow manages to grow in the cold, bleak land would cause a vomiting sickness in all races save Voraath and Masoq. This sickness would evolve into body rot and eventually death if perpetuated with continued consumption of the water and vegetation; this could take a few days, but no more than a week. Once the rot sets in, it cannot be cured and a slow, painful death was assured.

Dying in Miroa was also a matter of concern; those who died here had but hours before their corpse would again as an unliving monstrosity. This process was rather strange in that the same corrupting energy that turned the dead into the unliving, also empowered them; meaning the longer an unliving creature existed in Miroa, the more powerful they became. This could well have been Skaryn's original motivation for settling in Miroa after being banished from all Shar`Vaire Imperial lands, sometime after theWar of Betrayers. The most ancient of undead that lurked here in their eternal damnation were said to rival some Infernal beings in their terrible power, though most preferred to be left alone with their torment, rather than organizing into a viable force that could feasibly struck elsewhere on Imarel.

The exceptions to this rule were of course Skaryn and an undead Half-Elven witch known only as Xona the Silver-Maned. It is unclear whether this was her name in life, or a moniker to shadow a past life long forgotten; the name, regardless of its origin has been causing more and more trouble for the lich as of recent times. Until roughly twenty years ago, any dead that rose were automatically drawn to his thrall. Right before the coming of Nilharys Blackthorne and the original Warriors of Miroa, depending on where somebody died on the continent determined largely whether the undead in question would fall under Skaryn's thrall, Xona's thrall or become  roaming, uncontrolled undead. The secret Miroa holds to how these undead are drawn to one or the other is another mystery of many this land holds and had been a continual source of vexation for Skaryn.

Towards the end of 1323 AC, another power found its way into Miroa. Arisyeema the Deceiver had retreated to the north eastern-most corner, where she knew few would hunt her. Having struck some manner of deal with Skaryn, she claimed an abandoned hold not far from S'Kyrai, where here and her Kiris Miran toiled on a plot to eventually conquer Shalzaar, strengthened by the undeath aura and protected by millions of unkillable servants of Skaryn.

With the purification of the Heart of Imarel, at the center of the ancient Asyndi city of Illidania in 1325 AC, the grip of undeath upon Miroa has been all but expunged. The Blackgate Vanguard managed to break the curse placed upon the environment-regulating artifact by Kazaar, with the help of the Spirit of Life, Trent Greenthorn. With the ability to empower undead gone, the Vanguard was able to seek out and destroy Arisyeema, with her own son, Nilharys striking the killing blow. With that blow, the face of Miroa would be changed forever.

With no further business in Miroa, the Vanguard returned to Blackgate and resumed their duties protecting the freeholds of that land. Nilharys shed his commission to the Vanguard and called to him some of the more cutthroat mercenaries that had served with him. These men and women would eventually become the first Warriors of Miroa.

Nilharys and his wife Taric would spend the next 20 years gathering more soldiers for his army, then march across the cold wasteland, purging it of every last Undead Lord of Miroa. They would also have three children, Malisar, Arathys and Syvalia. Malisar would be schooled to one day lead the fledgling nation, Arathys trained to lead its armies and Syvalia to lead its scouts into battle.

In 1340 AC, the Warriors of  Miroa, now under the command of Arathys, stormed S`Kyrai at the head of over 12,000 soldiers and purged it of every last horror and treasure it contained, including Skaryn himself, who Nilharys faced in single combat. It was a great victory for Nilharys and proved to the citizens of this fledgling militant nation that their leader was indeed strong. It would be the last campaign under his father's banner for Arathys however, having a question of morality and ideals that brought him to abandon his commandership and seek self-exile.

The Miroa of today is ruled still by Nilharys, though now without either son, with Malisar having been slain by Arathys at the end of the Second Godswar in 1346, the kingdom is at a delicate place. Until his wife bears him another heir (Syvalia also refused to take rule), the right assassin could bring Miroa tumbling into chaos. Fortunate then that the kingdom itself is strong, at least securing its stability so long as Nilharys lives to reign.