Loc Plane of Vaern

Races of Vaern


 * Elven Races: Elves are the dominant race of Vaern, but this is akin to saying that Humans were the dominant race of Solon. Physically, Elves (when in Vaern) are twice as strong as a grown man and only slightly weaker than draconians. Where most races struggle to cast magic or power their Arts due to the thin aether on Vaern's atmosphere, Elven metabolism is much more efficient at consuming aether. They can therefore cast magic or use Arts much more easily on Vaern than other races. They need catalysts on other Planes to regulate their aether intake however, since they would be easily overloaded by the higher aether density. Side effects of aether overload include power incontinence for mages, hallucinations,vomit, internal bleeding, mental breakdowns and even death. Fun for the whole family. On foreign planes elves usually wear suits to regulate aether absorption.
 * There are several ethnicities within the Elven people, and racial/societal issues have flared and ebbed throughout the years between these people, including:Vaern.png
 * The Northern elves, more hierarchical and rough (like vikings). Pale of skin, very tall. Physically imposing. Northern Elves are divided into clear social strata. At the top are the great landowners or magnates, in the middle were the farmers and at the bottom the slaves. The great divisions in society are between the free and unfree, rich and poor, as well as between men and women. In the Viking period honour, family and lineage are crucially important, and society is bound together by traditions and norms. If these norms are broken, then an individual’s honour and society’s approval can be lost. Personal honour is achieved through particular attributes, such as courage, cleverness, generosity and fellowship.
 * The Eastern Elves, more traditional and martial driven (medieval Japan). Mid-height. Slim but swift. Stand out features of Eastern Elven society include the replacement of the aristocracy by the sword lord class as the most powerful social group, the establishment of Sword Saints as military rulers and their regents, the decline in power of the emperor and religious monasteries, and a stratification of feudal society into lords and vassals as well as a lasting class differentiation based on profession. The eastern countries are still witnessing long periods of civil wars as warlords and large estate owners (daimyo) fight for prominence and the central government struggles to unify them into an Empire.
 * The Southern Elves: closest to traditional elves in high fantasy. They are also the closest to a facist group in the setting, as they believe in the purity of elven blood. They are masters of the marble citadels fused into their massive forests. Southern Elves are peculiar in that each of them is sworn to a tree at the moment of their birth, and they cannot die as long as their tree stands. They are therefore fearsome, nigh-invulnerable killing machines. Of course each tree is protected by a vast array of spells depending on the individual's social class and importance. Though they are split in Clans, their society is religious in substance and structure, with the Clergy controlling every aspect of societal life and values. Southern elves have various shades of dark skin and different hues of shining, bright eyes.They are very tall and formidable foes in their forests, due to their symbiosis with nature and their ability to draw strength from it. This explains why they have not been defeated despite their extreme views, but also why they have not been able to spread. Their strategy has been to expand the reach of their forests, whereas the remaining elves have always been careful to keep the reach of their forests as limited as possible
 * There are no Western Elves. The West of Vaern is where the pieces of Meru Amrasi, ancient god of the White, were scattered and burnt to dust by the Old Elven Gods after a titanic battle. This is thought to be the origin of Vaern's Cinders, a substance in these parts of the land that is lethal to regular Elves but harmless to other races. Spirits and fantastic creatures freely walk this land, and the Planar Veil is at its thinnest here, which makes astral projections rather common. Unsurprisingly, Maderit is part of the many small archipielagos that surround the Black Sands. The migrating humans took advantage of the Elves' reluctance to occupy this part of the continent and have not looked back since.
 * Human races: mostly gathered around the Western lands of Vaern
 * Hybrids/Mulats: mixture of human blood with either Elven, Fae or Draconian. This unnatural mix usually grants hybrids extraordinary gifts inherited from their more exotic bloodline...at the cost of major disorders or deformities, courtesy of those same bloodlines (growing horns, glowing eyes, strange appendages, strong allergies, altered lifespans...). Given the nomadic nature of humans in the three planes, there is wide acceptance of hybrids as natural members of the human race. In the home Plane of Solon, however...
 * Nomad humans: The classic black, white, brown, asian...original humans from the home world. Due to their need to adapt to foreign environments, many have implanted cybernetics and catalysts of many types. However, they usually still retain an unmistakably human appearance. Note that thanks to technological advances and blood mixing for generations, most nomad humans have developed longer lifespans, now averaging 200 years. It is also difficult to distinguish humans by ethnicities and physical traits, since references to the Plane of Solon's geography have faded to myth.
 * Encubai/sentient: the subspecies of sentient beings who inhabit Vaern. Reclusive and mysterious, these are the losers of the wars that the Elves won to assert dominance over the continent. Now they are content with watching the elves fight each other.

Geography of Vaern

The name Vaern, or Varna, is believed to be of Luhain origin (ancient elven, like the Greek for elves), as it is the name of a princess in Luhainian mythology. Vaern is a massive stretch of land with varying climates A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on three sides. Vaern's hinterlands are also well irrigated by strong rivers. Vaern's main peninsulas are the xxx, xxx, and xxx, located in Eastern Vaern, and the xxx and xxx, located in Western Vaern.

Vaern's physical geography can be divided into several branches or related fields, as follows:


 * Geomorphology: is concerned with understanding the surface of the Plane and the processes by which it is shaped, both at the present as well as in the past. Vaern is a single, massive, uninterrupted stretch of land encircled by countless minuscule islands. Vaern is notable for its flatness and the fact that the entirety of its landmass is below sea level. The low density of aether has forced Vaernians to invest heavily in fuel-based, sun-based, wind-based and water-based technology rather than relying on aether to perform even the most mundane tasks, like the fae do.


 * Hydrology is predominantly concerned with the amounts and quality of water moving and accumulating on the land surface and in the soils and rocks near the surface and is typified by the hydrological cycle. Thus the field encompasses water in rivers, lakes, aquifers and to an extent glaciers, in which the field examines the process and dynamics involved in these bodies of water. Hydrology has historically had an important connection with engineering and has thus developed a largely quantitative method in its research; however, it does have an earth science side that embraces the systems approach. Similar to most fields of physical geography it has sub-fields that examine the specific bodies of water or their interaction with other spheres e.g. limnology and ecohydrology.
 * Glaciology is the study of glaciers and ice sheets, or more commonly the cryosphere or ice and phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology groups the latter (ice sheets) as continental glaciers and the former (glaciers) as alpine glaciers. Although research in the areas is similar to research undertaken into both the dynamics of ice sheets and glaciers, the former tends to be concerned with the interaction of ice sheets with the present climate and the latter with the impact of glaciers on the landscape. Glaciology also has a vast array of sub-fields examining the factors and processes involved in ice sheets and glaciers e.g. snow hydrology and glacial geology.
 * Biogeography is the science which deals with geographic patterns of species distribution and the processes that result in these patterns. Biogeography emerged as a field of study as a result of the work of Alfred Russel Wallace, although the field prior to the late twentieth century had largely been viewed as historic in its outlook and descriptive in its approach. The main stimulus for the field since its founding has been that of evolution, plate tectonics and the theory of island biogeography. The field can largely be divided into five sub-fields: island biogeography, paleobiogeography, phylogeography, zoogeography and phytogeography.
 * Climatology is the study of the climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a long period of time. Climatology examines both the nature of micro (local) and macro (global) climates and the natural and anthropogenic influences on them. The field is also sub-divided largely into the climates of various regions and the study of specific phenomena or time periods e.g. tropical cyclone rainfall climatology and paleoclimatology.
 * Meteorology[dubious – discuss] is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and short term forecasting (in contrast with climatology). Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that illuminate and are explained by the science of meteorology.
 * Soil geography deals with the distribution of soils across the terrain. This discipline is fundamental to both physical geography and pedology. Pedology is the study of soils in their natural environment. It deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, soil classification. Soil geography studies the spatial distribution of soils as it relates to topography, climate (water, air, temperature), soil life (micro-organisms, plants, animals) and mineral materials within soils (biogeochemical cycles).
 * Palaeogeography is a cross-disciplinary study that examines the preserved material in the stratigraphic record to determine the distribution of the continents through geologic time. Almost all the evidence for the positions of the continents comes from geology in the form of fossils or paleomagnetism. The use of these data has resulted in evidence for continental drift, plate tectonics, and supercontinents. This, in turn, has supported palaeogeographic theories such as the Wilson cycle.
 * Coastal geography is the study of the dynamic interface between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography (i.e. coastal geomorphology, geology, and oceanography) and the human geography of the coast. It involves an understanding of coastal weathering processes, particularly wave action, sediment movement and weathering, and also the ways in which humans interact with the coast. Coastal geography, although predominantly geomorphological in its research, is not just concerned with coastal landforms, but also the causes and influences of sea level change.
 * Oceanography is the branch of physical geography that studies the Earth's oceans and seas. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics (biological oceanography); ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics (physical oceanography); plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor (geological oceanography); and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries (chemical oceanography). These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of the world ocean and understanding of processes within it.
 * Quaternary science is an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the Quaternary period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years. The field studies the last ice age and the recent interstadial the Holocene and uses proxy evidence to reconstruct the past environments during this period to infer the climatic and environmental changes that have occurred.
 * Landscape ecology is a sub-discipline of ecology and geography that address how spatial variation in the landscape affects ecological processes such as the distribution and flow of energy, materials, and individuals in the environment (which, in turn, may influence the distribution of landscape "elements" themselves such as hedgerows). The field was largely funded by the German geographer Carl Troll. Landscape ecology typically deals with problems in an applied and holistic context. The main difference between biogeography and landscape ecology is that the latter is concerned with how flows or energy and material are changed and their impacts on the landscape whereas the former is concerned with the spatial patterns of species and chemical cycles.
 * Geomatics is the field of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information. Geomatics includes geodesy (scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the earth, its gravitational field, and other geodynamic phenomena, such as crustal motion, oceanic tides, and polar motion), geographical information science (GIS) and remote sensing (the short or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by the use of either recording or real-time sensing devices that are not in physical or intimate contact with the object).
 * Environmental geography is a branch of geography that analyzes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. The branch bridges the divide between human and physical geography and thus requires an understanding of the dynamics of geology, meteorology, hydrology, biogeography, and geomorphology, as well as the ways in which human societies conceptualize the environment. Although the branch was previously more visible in research than at present with theories such as environmental determinism linking society with the environment. It has largely become the domain of the study of environmental management or anthropogenic influences.

Architecture

The elven lands are composed of vasts seas, deep forests and massive mountains surrounding highly perched megalopoles.

Though this includes geological factors, the two most important pieces to a civilization’s physical existance are (1) who are their neighbors and (2) where is their water? Start here whenever possible.

Geology. These are the resources that dictate their survival. This will vary drastically based on atmosphere, gravity, sunlight, water cycles, nitrogen in soil, presence of CO2 in atmosphere, and the rest, but those resources will dictate both their struggles and strengths. (eg. rich soil, spice on Dune, the fires of Mordor)

Survival. How do they live longer and then finally thrive?

Food. How do they get energy and how or do they enjoy it? Do some of their everyday foods get traded for delicacies in other countries? Do any of their delicacies make foreigners gag? What seems normal and strange to consume? There was an entire story written once entitled The Plant that Ate Dirty Socks. That alone provokes us to turn to the first page.

Clothing. What protects their physical body while exposed to elements? In the bush, a loin cloth protects you more than a space suit precisely because you need to run more than you need protection from radiation and the vacuum of space.

Defense. What protects them from threats animal, environmental, existential, etc.?

Shelter. What protects their common space and their individual labors?

Education. How do people learn to think, speak, and write for themselves in order to learn, problem solve, and persuade others? What skill set do they need in order to succeed? Wielding a rapier gets you arrested in Brooklyn and promoted in the Musketeers.

Transit. How do people and goods get from one point in spacetime to another? Is it fast or slow? Convenient or inconvenient? Expensive or cheap?

Communication. How do they share ideas and relationship? Telepathy? Sign language? Secret codes? Spanish? Gary shorthand?

Economy. How do they get what they want and need? Barter? Representational currency? Bloodprices? Sanderson often interweaves his magic into the economy because money often is power and vice versa.

Technology. What tools did they devise to make everything on list possible or more efficient?

Social Structure. How is power, honor, and innocence distributed? What are the consequences of fear, shame, and guilt? What is a family? What are friends? Colleagues?

Beliefs and Traditions. What’s their idea of ultimate reality and how do they celebrate or mourn it?

Rules and Regulations. How does their understanding of moral law translate into legal code and how do local interpretations of that legal code translate into status quo that may need upending?

Beauty & Bliss. What do they make to express joy, bliss, and the beyond? As separate from their religion and beliefs, what does their mythology and poetry tell them about the world beyond their rocks and stocks and rivers? How do they express the humanities?

Organizations: Which governments, political factions, power groups...

Locations: Main continents, countries, cities...


 * Cities:
 * Maderit: known for as long as anyone can remember as "the city that never sleeps". This is due to the appearance of the Eternal Bastion above it, an interplanar anchor that was used to travel to Solon before the whole place caught fire. For centuries, the Eternal bastion reflected the light of Solon and its unending flames. The events of the book are triggered when the flames suddenly die out, prompting people to realize that the Plane of Solon might be accessible once more...