Viatica: The Land of Adventure

It is unknown whether the Polyhedrals, when they were rolled by the Creator’s Great Hand and birthed the world of Viatica, intended for their world to be under such great strife, division, greed and duplicity. The great polyhedrals, the Gods on High, are prayed to, and never more than now, for peace, for tranquility. But that is not the lot of the people Viatica.

It has been a over a year since the death of the good queen Threcia of the Dragon Kingdom. With her death came the end of a great, long-standing and bloody feud with the lands of the White Wolf, and also the severance of parts of the kingdom. But these have scarcely been felt. Her fourteen-year-old daughter Quadra has come into her own as the new Queen, bringing prosperity to the Dragon Kingdom. It is perhaps the only prosperous land left in the world, as its old enemy declines. Albeit, some of Quadra’s edicts are rather strange. For one, she has made no moves against the rebellious Old Guard of the Old Kingdom, to reclaim their stolen lands. But most strange of all is that some months past, she ordered a massive hole be dug just south of the capital city of Asburo. The new Queen is looking for something – and the enemies near and far have become less a concern for her, than to find the object at the bottom of this hole. What that object is, nobody can discern, from the greatest oracle to the meanest peasant. What could a Queen, in the greatest youth and beauty she shall see, want to dig so deep a hole for?

When Queen Threcia passed so unexpectedly, the shockwaves were felt everywhere. But it was a time of critical importance for the Old Guard. Set in the Old Ways, they knew that with the rise of Queen Quadra, the land would move towards as strange a future as only a youngster could envision it. Fearful of losing their exalted traditions, the Old Guard rallied the most ancient parts of the Kingdom and severed into a new nation. Queen Quadra not only allowed this, but silently gave them a blessing by ignoring them thereafter. The Old Kingdom is one in name only – it is a complicated series of fiefdoms ruled by mildly differing traditions, each of which is the most correct to its people. It is ruled by coalition, at the best of times, but can be divided by strife over which ancient philosopher or which sacred edict is the most classic and of proper accordance to the ancient traditions. Rather than worship they Polyhedrals, the Old Ways exalt the Creator and his Great Hand above all. It was His act of rolling, not the results of the Polyhedrals or their Shapes, that they believe of utmost importance to the Creation. The Creator to them is flawless.

In the White Wolf Forest, the war is over. They believe themselves to have won – the Dragon Kingdom has ceased its hostility, has stopped short of their great capital, and they feel that their own culture has never been more superior in its intellect and depth. But the Dragon Kingdom ceased fighting, it was never defeated. Queen Threcia would’ve captured the whole of the vast Forest and its stubborn elves. She came closer than anyone had ever done. Perhaps that would have been a mercy – for Queen Quadra has left them with only poverty and decline to look forward to, as their great works lay destroyed and much of their knowledge lost to future generations. Perhaps under the Dragon Kingdom, they wouldn’t face the specter of Famine, nor the terrors of civil war. But in their independence they can endure and hope to come out stronger, to be the envy of the world – if possible.

Meantime, the dark lands of the Mount Palladium bide their time. For years uncountable the peaks have hidden evils unmentionable. Perhaps their time draws near, as the Fallen Lands of The Forge gather strength, propagating their monstrous artifice to whatever warlord or nation will pay for their strength. But mercenaries alone they are not – within each land they seek after the fabled locations, dungeons within which rest relics of the Creator himself, who’s Great Hand rolled the Polyhedrals and brought the world to life. Should the Forge discover the very essences of the world, no one knows what terrible innovations they might wreak upon the stability of reality as Viaticans know it. One of the Great Temples they seek is believed to reside in the depths of Mount Palladium.

The Savage Lands rage as they have always raged. Splintered and divided into multiple groups they war, but not for kingdom, country or ideology. No, the people of the Savage Lands war because they are fast and furious in action. They war for the love of the war. With the Dragon Kingdom and the White Wolf Forest having taken their preferred theater from them, they have no recourse but to transfer the war within their own lands. The Savage Landers care little for politics, heroics or discourse – what they value is action.

Jackson Hills is a secret place. There, the great tinkerers from all over the lands have united to make their own utopian civilization, secreted away from what they consider the greed, stupidity and fallen nature of the rest of the world. Little is known about them, but their ancient magic may become key to the terrible events that may soon unfold.

Viatica is a land filled with adventurers – but what it needs are heroes.