Locations

This will be an index outlining locations in the world of Terra, especially on its eponymous planet.

=Terra=
 * For information on the history of the planet of Terra, see History.

The year is now After-times (A.T.) 1007 - over a thousand years after the dawn that would mark a new era for mankind and its civilizations. Things such as eikons have all long come and gone; buried in the far past under the rampant growth of the planet. The ruins of their legacy remain upon the flourishing earth; old relics rising with new sciences and developed technology. As battles are fought across the world, history stirs, and new warriors take up arms to fight for causes that have echoes in the distant past.

Terra is divided into thirds, from westmost to eastmost.

Iapetus
Iapetus, known as the western realm of Terra, is home to many coastal nations, and for many, a reminder of the last vestiges of the era of eikons due to its history in the form of Neridia, home to the protectorates of Bahamut. Within its seas and gulfs, Iapetus possesses remarkably well-preserved history, and out of the three realms, has enjoyed a long era of flourishing peace due to its countries' capacity for trade.

Ossyra
A rich tapestry of world cultures, the coastal nation of Ossyra is one of the most populated continents on Terra. On her shores, all of the great races are said to live and walk side by side. Ossyra is characterized by its beautiful inland, predominantly green and temperate throughout the continent, while the ruins of the old world peek forth from many sites. In Middle Ossyra the air is warm and humid with wet winters, to the south leaning more towards rainforest-like weather, and the north possessing many evergreens which have stood the test of Kolodstal's blizzards to the north, connected to the frigid region during some parts of the year by an ice bridge which serves as the isthmus.

When the Ossyran Alliance was first formed in a process of decades-long dialectic among its citizens, the goal of it's constitution was to unite the countries of Ossyra mainland and maintain and protect the relative peace that had existed for so long. The legislature of Ossyra, which establishes essential rights and laws for any person who walks upon it's land beyond the continent's general laissez-faire law, is decided by the councils, leaderships of each respective citystate that differ in their own ways but all subsist of multiple bodies of people, with it being a democratic process. Rather than having country leaders as many other would countries do, the councils of the Ossyran city-states elect a team of representatives every year to represent their city state and serve at meetings in the Ossyran Conference, the host location of which is meant to rotate every 20 years but is currently held in the artisanal city of Amnis. The Conference is how the Alliance decides any matter pertaining to greater Ossyra's peace, especially actions taken against threats such as the Vual Bleeds.

The Ossyran city-states include:
 * Azur Limina: A sprawling marine port city to the east, the thalassocratic Azur Limina is a major economic driver of the planet which enjoys supremacy all over the world in its maritime trade routes. It brings in people from all over, and due to the more relaxed and peaceful political climate, has become new home for many refugees over many years, and host to their many cultures - open and free, Azur Limina is said to have something for everyone, so long as you aren't prone to seasickness. Known for its white-rock architecture, part of the port city is built on top of the seas, even sweeping around an inland sea at Leve Harbor. Technology built upon the sea-swept towers and ports since then has resulted in a unique aesthetic. Many sailors and navigators call Azur Limina home, proudly boasting their skills built during the calamity of Bahamut that has lost its negative connotations in the era of prosperity. Azur Limina's Council is largely headed by representatives of the sailors, who conference in the Azur Tower, also known as the Lighthouse.


 * The Silverlands: Encompassing the more frigid north, the Silverlands were said to be named so for their pure, silver snow. The Silverlands are a peaceful region, headed by the just knightdom of the Silver Order. From a young age, the youth of the Silverlands are said to take heart in their noble traditions and vow lifestyles of courtesy and chivalry. It is said that any citizen among their ranks can take up the sword and shield if they pledge vows to protect, resulting in many warriors coming from their forests. In the Silverlands, it is not only thought, but sworn, that a knight's nobility should come from actions, instead of the other way around. The Silver Knights lead the council of their lands.


 * Amnis: Founded in the late 700s, Amnis is a city of waterways and artificial stone islands that both rings the coast of, and extends into, the Bay of Fiorente. At first, the settlement began in 703 simply as an isolated school of the arts, where a master painter of the time had sought to provide a quite space where those of an artisanal mind could come both to learn, and to pass on what they had learned to others, but it's popularity at the time led to the rest of the city gradually growing up around it over the course of a century or so, and it entered the Ossyran Alliance as a fully-fledged city-state in 796. The city itself is a stunning example of eighth-century Terran Gotchic architecture, with canals winding through it's streets in place of roadways, the blocks of buildings framed with a pier-like pavement on their four sides and connected to each other via an array of bridges, and even now buildings constructed in the city must adhere to a certain standard. Nowadays, it is a place for any who wish to express or invent to gather and flourish, with a long list of famous artisans hailing from or having lived there in their time. To it's residents, it seems barely a week can go by without a film festival, or a race of hand-crafted boats through the canals, or an exhibition of the arts; some manner of event of expression or another - most an annual tradition stretching back decades - occurring. In the later half of the last century, the city saw an influx of refugees from the former Zelkovan Coutry due to Ossyran laws on entering the Alliance's territory, and today there are quite a few establishments selling goods and cuisine that would have one been Zelkovan traditions. The council of Amnis meets in the Grand Hall, a vast building that sits on the site of the old School of The Arts, which was destroyed in a fire in 755, and contains representatives from many of the aspects of Amnisian innovation. Amongst the firms based in Amnis are Precisione Ingegneria di Lark, a high-end weapons manufacturer, Faber-Albani, who fabricate both commercial and military aircraft, Scriptum Rex, one of the world's largest book publication companies, and luxury carmakers Stallone and Velocità.


 * Helaeth: A recent addition to Ossyra comparative to it's centuries-old neighbours, Helaeth was technically bought from Lasair in 856 - or at least, the land on which it now sits, sold to a conglomerate of wealthy investors working in tandem to purchase the unused land just inside Lasair's border, with the city itself sitting a mere 200 kilometres from Aiseag and 250km from Rònaigh. The group in question, now known as the Founding Families, sought to create a resort city, where people could come from across Iapetus, and the globe, to partake in gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and nightlife, all at their leisure. The leading financial and commercial centre of Helaeth's economy are it's casinos and musical theatres, collectively known as 'The Starry Belt', given the majority of them exist on a single 5-mile street named 'Starlight Avenue', that runs the length of the city north-to-south. As well as their famed gambling floors, the vast hotel complexes that run down the length of the Belt house a variety of shops and restaurants, and dotted between them are performance venues for music, comedy and stage acts, as well as souvenir stores and luxury boutiques. The seven biggest establishments in modern-day Helaeth - 'Hotel Borealis', 'The High Roller', 'Elysium Theatre', 'The Grand Leviathan', 'Meadows Casino', 'The Citadel', and 'The Grand Halcyon Hotel', are the surviving ones that were originally created when the city was founded and built, with two of the original nine having gone out of business since then. Their owners, known as the 'Lucky Seven', serve as Helaeth's Council, meeting in The Starlight Building, a thirty-story government office in the geographical centre of the Avenue.

Lasair
Occupying the largest island off mainland Iapetus’ [DIRECTION TBD] coast and the peninsula to the island’s immediate [DIRECTION TBD], joined by a massive and rather elaborate suspension bridge, Lasair is a proud nation, from which the majority of the world's Wyrmhearted hail, either by birth of by ancestral heritage, and was founded by the being known posthumously as Saint-King Dìonach the First, some time in the late 4th Century AT, a dragon who claimed to have been a direct scion of the eikon Typhon.

Originally, the nation's peoples began as a half-dozen clans that occupied the Iapetan mainland section of what is now modern-day Lasair, having been driven from their ancestral island home in an exodus centuries prior by a demonic invasion brought forth by a mass summoning from a worshipper of Satan in the 1st Century AT. Dìonach, proclaiming himself to be a direct descendant of Typhon, rallied an army of warriors from amongst the clans, united them, and lead them in a march on the demonic presence on the island, spurred on as the aforementioned demonic incursion was beginning to assail and invade the Iapetan mainland, knowing something had to be done. Dìonach's army pushed onto the island and began a long and bloody attempt to take it from the demonic horde occupying it. When their numbers began to grow too much, and the army was pushed further and further back, Dìonach, in a heroic act of last resort, willingly gave his life by sacrificing his entire soul, and by extension it's plentiful supply of aura, to bring Typhon into tangible form long enough to turn the tide. This became known as the Five Hour War in modern times, though back then the survivors knew it as An Lasair Glanaidh - 'The Purrifying Flame' - from which the country was named. Typhon single-handedly set the entire island alight, turning the demons to ashes and sparing Dìonach's remaining faithful from the blaze, the flames melting their skin but causing no pain, turning them into scales and leading to the creation of the first of what would later be known as the Wyrmhearted. Within two years, the burned ground began to flourish, the volcanic-esque ash of the Five Hour War's great inferno fertilising the land, and by 570 Lasair was a full-fledged kingdom that spanned the entire island and their old tribal home on the continent, with shipping routes connecting the two. The first King of Lasair (or second depending on how you look at it), was Niall the First, who is fondly remembered by his epithet 'Niall the Builder', gained after insisting he assist directly in the construction of what would later be known as the Ruby Palace, the seat of the new Lasairian monarchy. Niall was the highest-ranking officer remaining after the Five Hour War, and had taken over the restoration and settling efforts in Dìonach's stead. He took up the name of a new clan, MacLasair, and thus the royal family came to be. Each of the smaller armies who rallied under Díonach's leadership formed a clan from their own survivors, and a few of the common surnames in Lasairian society today - MacLahren, MacTeash, MacFalaine, MacArfur, etc. - all span from these original clans. There are other Wyrmhearted who have less traditional names by now of course, and they exist all over Terra, but even today there are still a few historically-inclined individuals who can trace their family's history of service all the way back to Dìonach's original counter-invasion force - and most who can are usually very proud of it.

Niall ruled for eighty years, before coming to the decision that his longevity meant his continued rule could lead to cultural stagnation, and as such the Flame Concordat was written up, ordering all Lasairian monarchs of the future to abdicate after 50 years, and pass to the next in line to the throne, making sure Lasair's ruler was always one in touch with their subjects. Though Lasair is now a democracy, and has been since 850 and the ascendance of King Eilidh the First and the creation of the Lasairian Parliament, there is still a constitutional monarchy. The current King, Aoife the Second, is Lasair's eighth monarch, and ascended in 1000. King, or in Lasairian 'Rìgh', is a rank, rather than a title, a remnant of their military past, and it's current holder, whoever they may be, is still the Head of the Lasairian Armed Forces. Aoife and her immediate family also undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic and representational duties in spite of the Parliament now handling most of the governance of the land. Aoife's heir-apparent in Prince Eoin, who will take her place in 1050, and currently spends his time working as a professional Hero, under the alias 'Autarch'.

Lasair's most famous innovation, and one of the few areas in which it is particularly technologically ahead of it's neighbours, are christened Aeon Chips, after the Aether that inspired it's inventor to create them. Aeon chips are a type of microchip that can translate thought into movement through aura expenditure, used in prosthetics, precision engineering and construction industries worldwide. Lasair, most famously, has used them since their inception in 904 in their military to produce 'Dragoons'; large, steel-plated war-machina commanded by members of the Lasairian 0th Royal Guards Brigade and 1st Mechanised Infantry Brigade. The first Dragoons were purely ceremonial vehicles, produced by royal blacksmiths, but a contract for their modernisation was won by a foreign robotics company ten years ago, and they have been producing a modern-day Dragoon chassis for the military since then.

Lasair has five major cities, two of which are ports - a holdover from the time in which the massive Sovereign Suspension Bridge did not exist, now used as international trading ports rather than transport hubs. The island is bisected, divided laterally, by the Sgiath Mountain Range, with the city of Muirlan built around the only gap in the otherwise-impenetrable range wider than a ravine, a massive canyon three miles wide said to have been carved by Typhon himself in his final attack of the Five Hour War. The port city of Lochan sits along the north edge of Wayfarer’s Bay on the [DIRECTION TBD] coast, and is where the other end of Sovereign Bridge connects to island. Lasair’s sole major city on the mainland, Aiseag, serves as an intercontinental port for most of the [DIRECTION TBD] coast of mainland Iapetus, as well as the city in which Granthalle University resides. On the north side of the island, amongst the Great Lus Forest, lies the city of Luaithre. Finally, in the centre of the southern half of the island lies the capital of Calnavidh, where the seat of the Lasairian monarchy, the Ruby Palace, and it’s Parliamentary building both reside, as well as the tower of the PAVISE Array, which protects Iapetus' [DIRECTION TBD] coast from attack. Much of the north half of the island is covered in the aforementioned Great Lus Forest, a massive pine forest, while the southern half and any pockets of plainsland in the north are dotted with either farming communities or mining towns, active or otherwise, depending on their proximity to the Sgiath Mountains and their plentiful subterranean natural resources.

Kolodstal
Under construction.

Cydonia
Under construction.

La Mesca
Sometimes referred to as Middle Terra, La Mesca is the continent in the middle between the realms of Iapetus and Yarlung. Hot, wild, and harsh, much of La Mesca has been scarred by geological events that some attribute to the eikon Nidhogg. La Mesca is divided into two regions, Upper and Lower, marked in the middle by a sprawling series of mountain ranges named Errans Spine.

Upper La Mesca
A massive stretch of harsh, unforgiving desert spans from the north coast to central La Mesca, and the only native life that remains on its dunes is guaranteed to be hardy. Upper La Mesca is spotted with small towns all over, with miles of scorching sands stretching between the small dots of civilization in Upper La Mesca.

Wahih
UC some else edit pls :)

Errans Spine
UC :) sm1 edit pls

Linnean city idk edit pls
sm1 edit pls

Lower La Mesca
Dangerously dry and dusty, Lower La Mesca is characterized by its sweeping plateaus and highlands, with gorges and craters twisting through the landscape closer to Errans Spine, and white-sanded plains to the south. Yue Machina railways spread from the main civilization of Areia across Lower La Mesca to the rest of the continent, and a few branch out to the maritime train routes.

Areia
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The Outpost
A small pile of scrap settled right by Areia, the Outpost is a small settlement constructed of rusted metal and scavenged goods, shorn from anywhere their Scrappers can find it - or steal it. The Outpost's population is made up of outlaws, vultures, and loners, - and though they may look out for each other, they only trade favors and honesty amongst themselves, with every nicety a debt to repay. When the wind blows in a tumbleweed around high noon, the people of the Outpost know they're about to see somebody get shot.

You can buy almost anything in the Outpost, so long as you have stuff to trade with. Unique scrap parts, ammunition, fuel, and other like things are common, with common manpower in the form of thugs being readily available as well. Out in the wastes of La Mesca, Scrappers thrive on only essential skills such as their makeshift inventions, trade skills, and medicine, like a desert weed that refuses to die.

Dunebikes, a popular method of traversing the sandy areas all across La Mesca that are otherwise torturous to cross, were originally a Scrapper invention, and follow no dictate of common modern science or technology - built from literal scrap, hovering dunebikes are a shining example of adaptability. There are small little Mini Outposts where one can rent them all over the continent, but the greatest dunebike mechanics are found in the main outpost in Lower La Mesca.

Yarlung
Also known as the Far East. The scars of war bear heavy marks on many regions of Yarlung, and the Nanyue Calamity brought ruin to many places within its lands. Having endured an age of conflict since Shenlong's conflagration and devastation of its main continent Nanyue, many lands within Yarlung's borders have since struggled to rebuild from the extreme changes in climate - but even those cities that survived were ultimately brought under helm of an empire of recent prominence.

Nanyue
The main continent of Yarlung, Nanyue, was wrought from the seas on its creator Shenlong's whim in the before-times. With the Heart of Yue, which was placed at the continent's heart, she raised Nanyue, all of its vast land, and much of its ancient lifeforms and wildlife.

When ancient vualbeasts from the sea invaded her very creation, the alarmed Shenlong granted the Aulin who walked its lands "the hard scales of the serpent, the sleek fangs of the naga, and the wisdom of the sea mammalians", but in turn took their ability to manipulate aura. Using their new draconic power, the Tideborn pushed back the beasts in the Tidekeeper War. Even now, distant descendants of this ancient drakin tribe walk Terra in the form of the Keepers of the Tide - and many people of Nanyue, no matter the race, are afflicted by the aura blight today.

Due to their greed, Shenlong's tideborn tried to gain hold of the Heart of Yue during the early 900s. This lead to the Nanyue Calamity. Shenlong was devastated that her hard work in creating the lands had been betrayed, which soon turned to anger as she cursed all of Nanyue: destroying many ancient relics that had been sources of power, cratering the lands irreperably from fields to rivers alike, turning Ulanara from its green prairie to a scorched desert, and suffering the winds to host powerful storms and typhoons year round that would batter the bottom of the continent into a wet marshland. Nanyue's then-sparse population struggled to rebuild.

But in Shenlong's calamitous wake, as she abandoned her people, they, too, abandoned her.

Using the chaos in the old provinces to bring them under control using whatever means possible, a man that would come to be known as the Yue Emperor laid claim to the continent. From the upturned earth, the Yue forces discovered methods of utilizing exposed aurite to power their war machines and arms. Undeterred by their initially small numbers, the warmonger lead the Yue forces forth into the beginning of an endless onslaught that would eventually bring every sovereign territory on the entire continent to their knees, through annexation or more unethical methods, until and through after the founding of the Yue Empire, which lays today lays claim to all of Nanyue.

The Yue Empire is, as one would expect of an empire, massive. Its rapid expansion has been fueled by constant conquest, most recently its reach westward to grasp what is now Jiusyu in its vice. Though imperial forces control the continent, its center of power is undeniably the Imperial Core. Besides the Core, there are diverse locations within Nanyue.

Imperial Core
Host to the capital city of Zaifang, the Capital, and all of its affiliated outskirts. From the Core, the Emperor rules, unchallenged by his vast ranks of generals and bureaucrats. Once buried by the earth, aurite dominates the landscape, its plants propped up everywhere under the darkening sky, and smog floods the air.


 * Zaifang: The province of the imperial capital that houses the palace, covering what were once thriving lands that now bear the mark of heavy industry. And that industry's blood and veins run rampant throughout the city and its outskirts: aurite. Zaifang's city stands upon the glow of rampant aurite from the cratered earth, something that has given rise to a technologically forward city that steams away with production. Yue Machina railways carve paths through the rest of the continent from its greatest steelyard in Zaifang. Zaifang is powered by aurite grids, and its general structure seems to have served as the model for Zhou.

Nanyue Inferior

 * Ulanara: Once home to the khanate in its seat at Yehebek, after its annexation in 962 Ulanara became the puppet state of Yue. The lush steppes of Ulanara were once ideal for animal husbandry such as the nomadic raising of sheep and goats all over, but after the Nanyue Calamity, Ulanara became desolate, like a sorrowful scar left in the land by Shenlong. The harsh, unforgiving Mei Desert stretches between much of what little civilization remains, carrying shreds of Ulanara's precious culture such as the dancers and its great moving bazaars. It is governed by the imperial viceroy and the legate of their occupation in Yehebek.


 * Yen Dau: Also a victim of imperial annexation, Yen Dau covers the marshlands of southern Nanyue, and may be the only place left that's left in natural resources that are not aurite, but it faces the most harsh weather borne by Shenlong's curse. Once independent, battered by neverending storm, Yen Dau has been tempered into quiet.


 * Yuantouzhu: An isolated pocket that remains out of imperial reach, Yuantouzhu is a martial sect that has existed for centuries occupied by the Mohist faction. Despite being the only sanctuary from the empire, the Mohists have lost support in recent years due to setbacks.


 * Suja

Jiusyu

 * See also the zelkova country.

The island of Jiusyu, once an ancient and proud nation with rich tradition and history, stands to the west of Nanyue and the east of Al Masca, characterized by mountainous and warm temperate climate. Once known as the zelkova country, the isolated nation was not of Shenlong's creation, but had its own history and origins that were fostered by its people for centuries. Ancestral and spiritual reverence lead to the origin of the summoners, and the importance of protecting the home created a defensive military strength in the stalwart shogunate, under which the country experienced relative peace. However, thirty years ago, it was plunged into chaos.

Repeated attempts at incursion by the eastward Yue Empire began an age of blood and at last culminated in the destruction of the shogunate in 977, when the zelkova country was unable to resist the military power of Yue and was thrust under occupation and declared a provisional imperial territory. It fractured into countless pieces, with the shattered provinces and old families fighting for power.

Its true name has since been lost in the shadows of war, and much of its culture has followed suit. In Yue's aim to dominate the proud people of Jiusyu who would fiercely protect their home, innumerable lives have been crushed underfoot. Under the iron reign of its occupying forces, its faith and precious traditions have been oppressed with bloodshed and destruction. Of its people, not all of the people of the zelkova country have earned Yue citizenship and its rights. However, there have been rebellion, though whether or not they would eventually see success remains unknown.

The new map of Jiusyu encompasses these major regions:
 * Zhou: For more detail, see Establishment of Zhou. A steelyard-turned-city, and the symbol of imperial occupation. As the new capital, the provisional imperial territory of Zhou is the industry and travel point for most of Jiusyu, and a geological and economical center. Great Yue Machina steelyards take up large parts of the city's heart with the trains and Frames that they house, and all of their roads cross this center. Zhou is also the most peaceful city in Jiusyu at present, with certain benefits being afforded to it for being an imperial territory, such as shelter, education, transportation and medical services, etc. It has developed greatly in present years, though is still a bit behind other leading cities in terms of technology. Though unclear, it may also be the most populous city. It has a Hunter's Post establishment. Similar to the imperial capital of Zaifang, Aurite technology is widespread, with the entire city being rumored to have been built upon core of steel and steam that keeps it running deep, deep down in the heart of the city. Some say that it is an experimental reactor still being researched by Yue themselves. Whatever it may be that provides Zhou with its power, it never seems to need maintenance, and its output is enough to keep all of the city going constantly. Nobody goes down there - the threat of Yue aurite calibers is answer enough, and what's more is that urban legends tell tales of those who would dare search the depths of the city for Zhou's heart, only to... disappear.


 * Kanata: A province to the northwest under imperial influence, stretching to the coast. The old clan and its branch families who once ruled the lands of Kanata decided to surrender to imperial rule in thought that it would preserve their honor - and while the family has still been diminished to the point where its name is not memorable, it is true the land has had relative peace in comparison to other regions. Using its western coast to open Kanata Port and facilitate trade, Yue has taken Kanata in a direction has resulted in the once-isolationist Jiusyu becoming more open, as well as the province itself slowly becoming more worldly and politically neutral.
 * Nagi: Nagi is a stretch of lush, green land in Kanata that is crammed between Kanata Superior and Sodeyama. Having always been a land of farmers, Nagi is full of terraces of crops and is today a valuable source of agriculture for the Yue occupation. However, the Yue extrication of its rich land, particularly the existence of aurite mines, have ruin the land, leading to a drought that has only continually worsened for the past two decades.


 * Sodeyama: A mountainous region, the peaks of Sodeyama encompass the south region of Jiusyu, and were host to many clans and families alike, not to mention its problem with the mountain thieves. Due to the harsh terrain, the Yue occupation has been limited in this region, but that also means it's basically cut off from society in some ways. In recent years, there have been much activity from the Shonan forces in the area.


 * Little Yori: In the east after Dawn's Fall, Yue quickly took control of what remained of Amakehata, and established it as Little Yori. With the region's historically strong association with Jiusyuan mysticism such as summoning, Little Yori is characterized by the harshest restrictions upon its people. The old nobles have long fled; and now only the lowest of the low live in Little Yori, where abuse and crime run rampant. Everyone seems to have a gun. The imposition of martial law keeps the criminals in and the outsiders out, and people are unable to make enough money to leave. Gangs seem to go through a constant cycle of rise and fall, but none have amassed enough unified firepower to be taken seriously. Yet.