Anduria
Now behold, my amazing drawing skills. I'm starting to use a program called wonderdraft and it does allow for really beautiful maps, but I'm still learning how to use it. For now, this is what I have.
Anduria is made of 4 large masses of land. The continent on the left is what is actually called Anduria with almost all the stories I have planned happening there. I still don't know if the world itself is also called Anduria or not, but the people that live on that continent do think so.
Going through each of the countries on the continent we have:
The Karloff Empire
I'm a huge horror junkie and it was inevitable that I would have at least a part of my world being heavily inspired by Gotick Horror. This was one of the funniest parts of the world-building process as I could just dump all the cool horror-related stuff that I wanted to have and then define how it all worked together. The Empire itself is called after Boris Karloff and its Emperor is Edgar Karloff (Named after Edgar Allan Poe and again, Boris Karloff)
As you already see this is also my little way of making a tribute to all the horror's icons, be it in written form, movies, or something else. Almost all the Characters (that are relevant for the story) are named after one or more such people.
Right now I only have 3 actual chapters written that happen on the Empire but the rest of them are named Richard Cushing, Bram Cushing, and Mary Weaver (The names come from Richard Matheson, Bram Stoker, Peter Cushing, Mary Shelley, and Sigourney Weaver)
The Empire itself is a very strange place, where each person that dies returns as a zombie-like creature but instead of mindlessly attacking the living they are used by special mages as a workforce. Under the control of those mages, the Emperor's clerics, those undead creatures work day and night without getting tired allowing the Empire to grow faster than almost any other country.
I will eventually write dedicated articles do each zone but for now, just keep in mind that this very large space is a place where the people who die return as zombies, and those are used instead of being just a threat to everyone else.
Saklor
Saklor is a place where life would be good if not for all the horrible things that keep happening there. They have been at war with Karrinstorn for years and years in the south, have a country full of undead abomination in the north, and on the east a giant desert is slowing growing and eating away the land.
The king itself is a good man and everyone knows it, but some would argue that in his old age he might be becoming soft, always trying to keep his borders instead of expanding to conquer his opponents.
Saklor is also where almost all the stuff I'm working on right now is happening, but I imagine this is going to change in the near future, but for now, it's, alongside the Karloff Empire, the most developed regions of the world in terms of actual lore, not scientific advancements, that would be Isthbal
Saklor is heavily inspired in medieval Europe, with its cities behind huge walls and small towns along rivers or near the sea.
Karrinstorn
Karrinstorm is the mirror's version of Saklor. It is inspired by the Roman Empire, and it's the only country that is openly trying to expand its border, be it by land into Saklor or by sea into the broken islands to the south or Rudria to the East.
They are a people of passion, with fights with gladiators (normally starting as slaves) being the most sought-after sport.
Karrinsotrnmians learn the art of war as they learn to read and write, and it is expected that if in a pinch any soldier can rise up and lead its follow soldiers in a victory, which has allowed some victories that should have been won by clever tactics from the opposing side.
In Karrinstorm victories and glory is everything.
Rudria
Rudria is very similar to Saklor, but on a smaller scale as it is one of the smallest countries in the world (which isn't saying much, there are like, 9 of them). Historically they always had an army bigger than what you would expect for a country of its size but, while it is enough to keep its borders they never actually tried to expand. Recently they have been forced to engage in war on the seas to protect their border from the Karrinstornian navy.
Also, fun fact, remember the "The Angels" story that kick-started Anduria? While its main characters were from the Isthbal, the story itself was set in Rudria, so this small country planted by the sea was the first one to gain a shape.
Uthua
Uthua is a warrior's nation but its efforts are aimed at the East instead of the rest of the continent itself. I will go into greater detail on this in the future, but that massive continent to the right wasn't there at the beginning, it just appeared one day. The continents only touch on Uthua's border which kinda makes it their problem as the other countries can't or won't help to protect it. The other continent is full of orcs, trolls, and all that stuff and periodically there are huge battles on the middle valley or in the sea next to it (I haven't yet come up with a good enough nome for that place).
Arbor
Arbor is at the center of the world and they know it. This is the merchants' holly land and the government itself is composed of the most wealthy. Almost every trade route right of the desert goes through Arbor's lands and they make sure to gain their due for it.
Arbor almost has no army, instead, its combating force is normally set on protecting big caravans even while outside of Arbor's borders
United Kingdoms of Isthbal
Alongside Rudria, Isthbal was the first place that I created in Anduria. Originally they were just a bunch of smaller kingdoms, some little more than one big city or just a castle a couple of towns near it. This ended when some generations ago someone managed to unite the kingdoms. Some generations have passed and this alliance, while frail to some, is still standing.
Right now the ruler of the kingdoms is Alexander Aboshan, who is the older brother of the main character in "The Angels" and also its final antagonist. I will be honest here, I have no idea if this will end up being canon or not but for now, I see no reason to change anything about this.
Osmen
I have nothing for Osmen. I had no story that needs to go there and I haven't had any cool idea that makes it stand from the rest. For now, it's like Saklor, close to medieval Europe and they have to stop the zombies from attacking from the west
Argatria
I left the strangest ones for the end. Argatria is a country, but they have abandoned almost all of it and now they are just an overpopulated big city.
This might sound strange, but it gets stranger. There is a rift in the sky over the city of Argatria, a literal tear on the fabric of creation that serves as a window to another land, with a very different set of rules than Anduria, with flying tall people
This rift has been here for a long, long time and soon the people from the city found out that babies born in the city come out taller and stronger. It didn't take long for the city to stop entering to all foreigner women to avoid any non-argatrian from being born with this boon.
This was centuries ago. Nowadays Argatrians are huge people, away stronger than the average person, with each being a powerhouse. This has lead to a cast system that would define how close to the center of the rift you are allowed to live (especially during pregnancy).
Argatria is also the only power trying to disrupt whatever is happening in the Karloffian lands. They have performed huge raids into the undead's domain, killing thousands and thousands of them each time. Unfortunately for Argatria, it's one city fighting an empire and the numbers are always against them.
Arcadia
This little island wasn't there at the beginning, instead, it was created by a single man at the end of the second age of the world (I will get into this in another post, but basically Anduria is in its third Age, each being the age of Gods, Legends and Men)
At the end of the second age of the world mages everywhere were being hunted and Arcadia was raised to be a safe haven for all born with magic abilities and a promise that never again a mage would try to gain control over the common folk. Since then Arcadia became a monument to knowledge and cooperation between nations. Other than the Karloff Empire and Karinstorn all countries send their mages to learn there so they can learn to control their abilities and avoid any type of accident.
Since then Arcadia has been a neutral party in all wars, not helping any side, only intervening if a particularly powerful mage takes a side and only until that mage is neutralized.
Final thoughts
This was just an overview of the political powers in the world, but there are people that live outside those regions. For example, on those huge points to the West of Argatria there are lots of smalls villages that don't belong to any established country
This is it for now. This post is already huge and adding more stuff here would just be overkill.
I love you all <3
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