Scavenger Lands

The most populous hub of the East, consisting mainly of the River Leagues members, the most notable members of which are the city-states of Lookshy, Nexus, and Great Forks. The landscape is dominated by the major rivers of the Yanaze, the Yellow River, the Grey River, and the River of Tears. The Rolling River and the Avarice River are two other 'minor' rivers in the region, though each is competitive with the largest rivers on Earth.

The Scavenger Lands are so named because of their many ruins, filled with treasures of a past age, such as Denandsor, the Empty City, giving rise to an entire scavenging profession. This profession is made up of professional adventurer-archaeologists and flat-out treasure-hunters, all seeking relics of the Shogunate and First Age with which to enrich themselves.

The Confederation of Rivers

The Confederation of Rivers - sometimes also called the Rivers League, or the League of Rivers - is a political and trade council made up of the major powers and most of the minor powers in the Scavenger Lands. Generally speaking, most of the locations in the Scavenger Lands have representatives on the Confederation council, and those that don't tend to be those with stated antipathy for the Confederation: Thorns, Greyfalls, Joraba and similar locales.

The Lords of the Rivers

These nations and city-states are easily the most powerful of all the nations and cities in the Scavenger Lands. Each of them holds a position of tremendous importance in the Confederation of Rivers, and is a force to be reckoned with.

• Nexus: The largest city in the Scavenger Lands, Nexus is ruled by a shadowy council known as the Council of Entities, and serves as the headquarters for the Guild. A genuine hive of scum and villainy, Nexus has many laws and edicts, but only one real rule: nothing may obstruct trade.
• Lookshy: The severe and disciplined city-state of Lookshy is the most potent military force in the Scavenger Lands. Ruled by a handful of Dragon-Blooded houses referred to by the First Age term "Gentes," the Dragon-Blooded of Lookshy do not serve the Scarlet Empire. Instead, they are the last remaining elements of the old Shogunate, and have defied the power of the Scarlet Empress on many occasions. Their ability to do this is due to two things: the pervading military culture that defines citizenship in Lookshy, and the potent store of First Age artifacts and magical technology the Dragon-Blooded population of Lookshy have at their disposal.
• Great Forks: Considered a city of wonders, Great Forks is known for its overt hedonism and party atmosphere. It is also known for the large population of gods that dwell there, for Great Forks is also called the City of Temples. It is ruled over by a triumvirate of gods, and its laws tend to favor divinities.
• Sijan: The Funeral City is more than simply a necropolis - it is a culture and civilization based around funereal practices and the propitiation of the dead. Distinctly neutral in disputes between mortal states, Sijan has acted as mediators between the nations of the living and the nations of the dead in the past. It is ruled by the Mortician's Guild, an elite gathering of embalmists, necromancers and ancestor cult priests.

The Hundred Kingdoms

The eastern half of the Scavenger Lands, the Hundred Kingdoms is a huge swathe of territory in which have risen and fallen hundreds upon hundreds of various nations, territories, city-states and other political formations in the years since the Contagion. To this day, it is a seething morass of political aspirations, petty warlords, alliances and betrayals, made up primarily of kingdoms and domains a week or two across at most - the majority of the "kingdoms" in the Hundred Kingdoms are made up of singular cities, with a few outlying settlements in every direction that look to that city for protection.

The Hundred Kingdoms region of the River Province is the largest unified region in Creation that is not part of the Realm. The exact number of nation and city-states in this region is constantly changing, but they are nearly all member-states of the Confederation of Rivers.

The Hundred Kingdoms are generally looked down upon by the Realm and the superpowers of the River Province because they do not wield much power individually, and are a constant political and military nuisance. Hundred Kingdoms nations lining the Yellow, Gray, Meander, and Maruto Rivers are often thought of as little more than pirate states for the taxes and tariffs that they impose on travel and trade, while at the same time thy contribute little.

However, at several times in the past the Hundred Kingdoms have proven to be the deciding factor in military and political conflicts throughout the East. Military contingents assembled from the region, for example, were crucial in turning away several Realm invasions, including helping in the most recent Realm invasion via the city of Thorns. The southern Hundred Kingdoms, with the aid of the Seventh Legion, have proved to be an effective shield against the hordes of the warlord Ma-Ha-Suchi, while the northern Kingdoms have proved effective in that same role against the Linowan.

Eastern Hundred Kingdoms

• Aryvyras: Ruled by the hooded Despot of Aryvyras and his secret police, Aryvyras is a place of paranoia and fear, where everyone is careful to follow the Despot's Code, lest he be turned in by a neighbor.
• Bourbon: A small city-state in the midst of a massive bayou, Bourbon is best-known for the incredible decadent carnivales it throws every Calibration. Bourbon is almost perpetually at war with its neighbor across the river, Rana.
• Cho-Holuth: A city ruled by the Salinan Sodality, the council of headmasters of the Academy of Cho-Huluth, one of the largest thaumaturgical academies in the Eastern Hundred Kingdoms, based out of Cho-Huluth.
• Darangin: The matriarichal culture of Darangin is ruled by a traditional grandmother-mother-daughter triad: the Dowager, the Queen Mother and the Royal Maiden, all of whom act as the brides to the god of Darangin.
• The Girian Protectorate: A nation made up of four sizeable cities, the Girian Protectorate is less than a century old. In its short existence it has made a name for itself as a home to mercenaries, and is ruled by the Council of Armsmen, a ruling council made up of the leaders of all the member mercenary companies.
• Kalishar: The Kalishari people are a small nation made up of a single large city a number of smaller towns between the Keldin City-States and the Sandy River. A culture based on the principles of enlightened geomancy, they are ruled by the Fang Shih, the hereditary master geomancer who governs the nation's growth and development.
• The Keldin Cliff-Cities: A nation of ancient settlements dug into the cliffs that overlook the Yellow River, the Keldin Cliff-Cities are known for their fine statuary work and stone craftsmanship. The Keldin Cliff-Cities are ruled by the Ivory Star Dynasty, a lineage of kings descended from Soaring Majestic Father, the god of the Keldin Cliffs range.
• Laris: Dramatically reduced from its Shogunate splendor, Laris entered into a vicious conflict with Velen that left both of them nearly crippled.
• Mahanaga: A small agricultural center, Mahanaga is known for its large numbers of serpents (and the products thereby), and the impressive Monastery of the Serpent King which overlooks the town.
• Marita: An otherwise unremarkable city-state of little influence, Marita's central location has made it the headquarters for the Confederation.
• Matetha: Called the Gate of Chaya, Matetha acts as the border between the Hundred Kingdoms and the kingdom of Chaya.
• Meresh: The center of a large number of baronies, Meresh is the oft-fought over crown jewel of the Mereshi Houses, none of whom quite have the power to proclaim themselves the Kings of Meresh.
• Nathir: A major Guild stopping-point, Nathir is ruled by the Otamijo Dynasty, rivals of the Keldin nation's Ivory Star Dynasty.
• Nechara: The site of a major battle between Guild mercenaries and the Seventh Legion against the Arzhecki Horde that turned back the Horde the last time they came rampaging through the Scavenger Lands, sacking several cities along the way.
• Rana: The bayou-nation of Rana is made up of thieves, river pirates and cut-throats, and is nearly impossible to get to save by air. Rana is almost perpetually at war with its neighbor across the river, Bourbon.
• Velen: Dramatically reduced from its Shogunate splendor, Velen entered into a vicious conflict with Laris that left both of them nearly crippled.

Western Hundred Kingdoms

• Helz: Practically torn apart by feuding martial arts societies, Helz is well known as a center of the martial arts world. Helz is ruled by the Eight Silver Coins Clan, and its elder, a Water-Aspected Dragon Blooded who hosts the annual Eight Silver Coins Gathering, the biggest martial arts tournament in the Scavenger Lands.
• Lugwaal: A small city-state, Lugwaal was recently invaded by the organized military state of Varsi. Though most of the populace has been pacified, there is still something of an organized resistance, referred to as the Sons of Thunder.
• Melevhil: Destroyed during the Realm Invasion of RY 88, Melevhil is a popular site for Scavenger Lords, thanks to the old relics and artifacts that remain from the climactic battle between Imperial forces and the Seventh Legion there. Over the years, it has been all but stripped clean, though rumors indicate that there is still a large haul still awaiting discovery there.
• Mugadesh: X
• Puyo: X
• Starshalla: Formerly a Marukan range-town, Starshalla's excellent placement along Guild trading routes led to an impressive boom in both population and prosperity in the area. It is still in the middle of a power struggle between the native moneyed ranchers (many of whom have dramatically expanded their family holdings and businesses) and the Guild.
• Varsi: A military state in the tradition of Lookshy, Varsi has recently expanded its holdings to include Lugwaal. Strangely, this has drawn little or no comment from Lookshy, at least in the public arena.
• Werendut: A small unremarkable city-state, Lugwaal is in a state of near-emergency, having been assailed by an unheard-of infestation of Fire Ants over the past decade.

The Last Vestiges of the Realm

Though the Realm is all but ousted from the Scavenger Lands, particularly in the wake of the Scarlet Empress' disappearance, there are only two places that are yet under the thumb of the Blessed Isle's Great Houses: the far-off nation of Greyfalls, and the southern jungle-kingdom of Joraba.

• Greyfalls: A satrapy of the Realm, Greyfalls is a sizeable nation, with quite a Dragon-Blooded population (including a Cathak Legion) and several Immaculate monasteries.
• Joraba: A nation once heavily segregated by a divinely-mandated caste system, Golden Joraba was "liberated" by the Legions nearly fifty years ago. Now one of the few strongholds of the Cathak Legions away from the Blessed Isle, Joraba is one of the few places in the Scavenger Lands still fulfilling its duties as a satrapy of the Realm.

The Range Towns of Marukan

The range-towns established long ago by the Marukani tribes for trading, the Range Towns have formed a government among themselves that is separate from the lives of the tribal horsemen.

• Celeren: Capital city of the Marukan Alliance, and set of power of the Mayhiros clan.
• Mishaka: A small walled town where the Battle of Mishaka was fought, driving back the Dragon-Blooded led armies of Thorns. Known for its hatred of mercenaries and Nexus.
• Deren's Ford: The smallest of the Marukan Range Towns.

The Republic of Chaya

A peaceful, friendly republic that experiences a strange annual madness.

Notable Cities: Larjyn

Lands of the Dead

The Scavenger Lands suffer from not one but several massive Shadowlands. Into these places, the dead always rise up from the Underworld, and in at least two cases, a Deathlord - one of the mighty and ancient dead lieges of ghosts - have arisen as well, and built their black citadels in the heart of these fell places.

• Walker's Realm: An ancient Shadowlands south of Great Forks, this Shadowlands is rulled by the Walker in Darkness from his citadel, the Ebon Spires of Pyrron.
• Thorns: The youngest Shadowlands in the River Province, Thorns was once a thriving city of the Confederation of Rivers. Then, its royalty ceded power to the Scarlet Empire, and war broke out between Thorns and the rest of the Confederation of Rivers. Thanks to the overwhelming numbers of Hundred Kingdom soldiers, and the advanced tactics and weaponry of Lookshy's Seventh Legion, they were beaten back and the Dragon-Blooded put to flight. Thorns was weak and vulnerable, however, and it didn't stand a chance when the Mask of Winters came with his terrible undead army and his citadel atop the massive animated behemoth corpse known as Juggernaut. Now, it is a land of the dead.

Scavenger Lands Barbarians

The tribal folk of the Scavenger Lands range from the quite savage to the nearly civilized. Even the wildest of them, however, know that they stand to benefit from trade with the stinking cities, and so tend to limit their attempts to raid the greatest of settlements. Still, this doesn't quite protect the outlying villages and traveling caravans of the area from falling victim to the occasional barbarian raid.

• The Hill Folk: Barbarian tribes to the east of Great Forks.
• The Riverlin: Small groups of river-boat nomads, known as gypsy-like tinkers, fortune tellers and petty thieves.
• The Marukani Alliance: The nomadic horselords and herdsmen of the western Scavenger Lands.
• The Karala: A tribe of semi-civilized herders on the savannahs outside of the Republic of Chaya, known for their connections to Lookshy's Seventh Legion and the annual raids they wage on the Kingdom of Joraba.

Criminal Syndicates of the Scavenger Lands

• The Five Shades Association: A rough collection of various gangs and local crime syndicates, the Five Shades are notorious for their powerful fighting skills, and their flair for revenge. They are known to organize themselves into a variety of clans, and identify themselves with a system of coded tattoos.
• The Grass Spiders: A shadowy organization of assassins purported to take great pride in ironic or whimsical deaths and avoiding the harm of anyone save those they are contracted for, the Grass Spiders traditionally leave a warning sign to those they are contracted to kill: a grass spider in their beds.

Martial Arts World of the Scavenger Lands

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Famous Martial Artists

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Known Martial Arts Temples & Cults

• Palace of the Heavenly Lance: In Kalishar, the temple to Ko-Fuso, the God of Spears trains those priests who manage to enlighten their Essences in the techniques of the Crimson Pentacle Blade Style. The discipline and just nature of the Heavenly Lance Priests have made them welcome, leading to the establishment of smaller temples in The Keldin Cliff-Cities, The Girian Protectorate and other cities in the eastern Hundred Kingdoms, as well.
• The Serpent Monks: In the town of Mahanaga, the serpent monks of the Monastery of the Serpent King develop the ascetic techniques necessary to learn the Golden Janissary Style, making them terrible foes against demons and the dead.
• The High-Peak Cloister: The monks and priests of the mountain-god Soaring Majestic Father, god of The Keldin Cliff-Cities, study the techniques of Jade Mountain Style martial arts in the cliff-top monasteries across the Keldin Cliff-Cities.
• Dedicates of the Ovanda Sutra: Originating in Great Forks, the Dedicates study the scriptures of the sex goddess Ovanda, who teaches that extreme indulgence is just as spiritually demanding as asceticism. All her monks study the Orgiastic Fugitive Style of martial arts. Her worship has proven popular, given the holy lovemaking techniques her Dedicates share with everyone at the holy brothel-temples established in her name in Nexus, Great Forks and along the Grey River.

Known Martial Arts Rebel Movements

• The Mountain Brethren: The yamabushi of the Morning Mist Mountains are a force to be reckoned with. Clad in lamellar and wielding mighty iron staves, they fight against the forces of the Realm in Greyfalls, striking with the morning mist and then fading back into the forested mountains before they can be tracked.
• Sons of Thunder: When the military forces of Varsi moved in and took the city-state of Lugwaal, not everyone gave up the fight. Some of its most valiant defenders went underground, wearing masks and calling themselves the Sons of Thunder. Rumor has that they are led by an Air-Aspected martial artist skilled in the brutal street-techniques of First Pulse Style, which suits their "hit quick, do as much damage and possible, and then disappear" approach to their rebellion.

Known Martial Arts Military & Law Enforcement

• Mercenary Companies: More than a few mercenary companies are able to field small units of martial artists skilled in a given style. Among the best known include:
  • The Iron Brotherhood: A Nexus-based company; Crimson Pentacle Blade Style.
  • Chanerlin's Troop: The Girian Protectorate; Five Dragon Style.
  • The Omen Dogs: The Girian Protectorate; Crimson Pentacle Blade Style.
  • Black Wolf Brotherhood: The Girian Protectorate; Five Gods of War Style.

Known Martial Arts Dueling Clubs

• Fight Clubs of Nexus: The rough streets of Nexus boast more than a few impromptu organizations meant to do one thing: hone the street fighting skills of its members. Sometimes the fights are for money, but only one thing is important - developing skill. These clubs are an excellent place to contact martial artists of a variety of different styles, among them Five Dragon Style, Jade Mountain Style and Seafaring Hero Style. But the style most commonly found - even more than all the others put together - is First Pulse Style, which was developed in Nexus.
• The Blood-Lotus Society: Something half-way between a private arena and an orgy club, the Blood-Lotus Society of Great Forks specializes in finding the most attractive and skilled fighters to duke it out in the club's private facilities. Before the fight, all competitors are feted like gods by those who have bet on them, with the rich and powerful of the city abasing themselves for the chance to dally with them before the fights. Those who win the fights become the darlings of the Society, while the losers are unceremoniously dumped out the servants' entrance. Most of those who come through these doors fight in either the First Pulse or Orgiastic Fugitive styles, and the upper echelons of the Society - the Masters of the Blood-Lotus - are themselves masters of the Orgiastic Fugitive techniques.
• The Twenty Five Fists of Helz: By order of the Eight Coin Clan of Helz, only twenty five martial arts societies may exist in the city of Helz at any given time. Those that are not part of the societies may defeat another society to take their place, leading to an ever-expanding history of vendettas, clan-wars, cycles of retribution and apprentices avenging their masters year after year. Only the the Eight Silver Coins Clan and four other societies - collectively called the Five Iron Fists of Helz - seem to be exempt from this infighting, as they have a large number of impressive martial artists and are quite well defended.

Known Martial Arts Barbarian Tribes

• Riverlin Blade-Sages: The blade-sages of the Riverlin are those among the riverfolk who have sufficient mastery over their Essence to learn Terrestrial martial arts, and have chosen to learn the traditional Seafaring Hero style. All blade-sages are known by the sword-scarves they wield: paired, wicked short swords with three foot silken scarves attached to the butts of the weapons, allowing them to whirl them over their heads or use the fluttering silk to distract enemies in their spinning, shifting techniques.
• Marukan: A rare few Marukani - including the majority of the Mayhiros clan Dragon-Blooded - learn the techniques of Lightning Hoof style, considering it not just a useful fighting style, but an expression of Marukani culture and history.

Known Martial Arts Mystic Enclaves

• Gentle Hand Sisterhood: Though no one knows where they are based out of, most people of means have heard of the Gentle Hand. An order of female mystics dedicated to mastering techniques of defense of others, the Gentle Hand Sisterhood is known as the premiere bodyguarding organization in the Scavenger Lands. Each of them is a martial artist trained in the Falling Blossom Style, which focuses on defense of a given charge, even at risk to oneself. Hiring one of the Gentle Hand is as simple as finding someone in the Guild and paying them to pass the message on to the Sisterhood.