Farms collapsed, crops perished, communities were erased from both
the implacable ice sheets moving south, as well as the howling winds
blowing dry sands northward.
The noble houses, without heirs, and without marryable children to reinforce ties to other nobles, went into disarray. The structures of governance were in many cases left to languish, instead funds were often put into the arming of knights and the equipping of expeditions to search out and find the missing princesses and heirs. Or to fortify themselves against the catastrophes of weather and monsters.
The strongest centralized countries had cities their populations could retreat back to. The northern mountains, especially Lys Yraht shielded the worst of the final march of glaciation, the land rising up to nestle the Valelands and their mighty forests. Zelemja, bordered by the tall peaks of Lys Vyreth, and sitting on a high plateau dotted with it's own forests, absorbed a large population of refugees. However, even these relatively verdant sites became frost-rimed, and difficult to farm. The feeding of the people within the Spans became of paramount importance.
Near the location thought to be the last place the twin forces of sand and ice would converge upon should the worst occur, a large estate grew. It was comprised of many buildings conjoined as if from a town where there were no streets, but courtyards opening up from only the surrounding buildings, a labyrinthine mansion with a taller tower-like edifice in the center, and glass panes covering gardens protected from the elements spanning rooftop to rooftop. This was the expanding tower-site of the first Gardner, the wizard Yan Afelsam.
Yan studied plants extensively, and although a Wizard of Greate Power, was also a devout follower of the Goddess Miara, and was known to have divine favor. This rare combination allowed him to explore natural sciences especially in the means in which one may allow life to flourish. Most of which he originally used to grow flowers. However, along the way he learned some rare combinations of the Elemental Languages (that holy types as well as mages speak), gained many students, grew flowers, and divined the coming of a woman to replace him, who he called the Orchid (he was fond of the flowers anyhow, so most people just figured he was unsure of who exactly this successor was going to be). His Tower, as well as the always growing maze of buildings and greenhouses, he therefore named The Orchidium.
Understanding the necessity, and with magic formed from language that tapped into the generative forces (and a good sprinkling of the knowledge of Shevóram sorcerers he had the foresight to bring into council), Yan was able to grow and cultivate extraordinary amounts of fruits, grains, and vegetables. Swelling the ranks of his Gardeners, they nearly single-handedly fed the Spans during the worst years when the sun barely crept from behind blowing clouds of snow, and the sands buried much of even the once huge Salt Sea, also known as the Zorál, that once extended far to the south.
With the survival of the peoples of the Spans hinging on the production, and eventually dispersal of the bounty flowing out of the Orchidium, the Gardeners, Yan's council of magic-users, became extremely powerful, both in temporal power, as well as arcane power. More arcane knowledge gravitated toward his demense as students and diplomats were sent from neighboring regions. One, the Nilatese orphan called Uma of Alsates, rose into the ranks of the Gardeners, then into Yan's inner circle. Younger than most of the others within his council, she brought ambition as well as skill and a drive to gather spells from other magic-users. This, then, was Yan's Orchid.
He retreated to chambers at the top of his inner building, living with Uma, and seeing only his closest friends and highest ranking Gardeners. Eventually he closed the top chambers to all, with the instructions that Uma should inherit the Tower and responsibilities of the Orchidium.
Now known as The Luminous Petal, Uma of Alsates became the most powerful individual in the Spans. And with the resources at her command, she found that the works of the Rectification were healing over; the wobble was slowly but inevitably returning and the world was shifting. Her astrogeomancers assured her that the ice and sands would soon be retreating. Despite her earlier ambition, she had no wish to become mired in the duties of a despot. She knew that the nobles and governing bodies of the various regions would become a constant headache, an ongoing responsibility when the worst of the emergencies were past.
So, although the strongest wizards could certainly become absolute rulers, she set down that the major Towers would have oversight in particular areas and activities in the Spans. This would allow the wizards to be able to do what they most wanted to do (gain magic knowledge and power), while still being the wisest people around (as the Archmages all think themselves to be, obviously), and theoretically keep any one Tower from becoming to powerful (like Balthazar and the catastrophe of the Rectification).
Tower L'Athos would have the region of Pridwia pretty much to itself, Nicodemio and his apprentices free to deal with whatever horrors pressed in from the north. Tower Dharsati would keep an eye to the desert, as well as keep the Iridescian Wakes under observation. The Dharsati family graciously agreed to this, as they were making gold hand over fist siphoning the raw magic and materials to the Merchant Families of Nilato. To the west, the stolid, battleready mages of the Tower Svedra, lead by the enigmatic wizard known by the callsign Falcon 1 keep a weather eye on the unknown quantity of Balefire and it's alien inhabitants, the Tropæan Ocean, but especially upon Azageer's ambitions upon Nilato and it's wealth. Tower Orchidium remains near the center, close to the Queen's Cross where the major roads meet (and the area that remained untouched by either environmental extreme) settling disputes, and keeping the lines of communication open between the Archmages, and being the last recourse when things get really out of hand by adventurers, meddlers with powerful artifacts, and princesses' curses.
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| Hey! My janky map! It has more scribbles on it now! |
Next?! Powerful Princesses, Masterful Monasteries, and Ass-kicking Assassins!
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