Volcor
Rivers of lava carve through the land of Volcor. At its heart stands Ashvahan, the imperial capital, a city of glass, iron, and fire, where the Emperor’s will is law. Across the realm, the Volcai toil under the shadow of obsidian towers and noble banners, caught between the molten tides of nature and the smoldering ambitions of the Dracai. But Volcor is no scorched wasteland. Its fertile soils sustain thousands of villages, orchards, and garrisons. Life here is not merely endured, it is tempered and tested, again and again, in the forges of fire and power.
Ashvahan
“The burning heart of Volcor laid out before me. Sprawling cities spread across glassy plains of tephra. At the center of this mess of humanity, a tamed volcano simmers and broods, its flank adorned with towers and halls that belittle all others in their grandeur.” – Iyslander
The capital city of Volcor, Ashvahan is built into the living body of Mount Volcor. A marvel of enduring architecture, the city rises from basalt foundations and spreads like lava across the mountain. Grand towers and ceremonial halls adorn its volcanic flanks, while the Imperial Palace, home of the Emperor, sits near the summit, casting a watchful eye over the empire.
Though beautiful from afar, Ashvahan is a city of oppression. From within the Emperor’s inner circle, his right-hand general controls every entry and exit, strictly enforced by imperial guards, with checkpoints requiring papers for passage. Its districts are clean, well-organized, and heavily patrolled. Any signs of unrest are met with swift retaliation. Riots are crushed, their leaders executed and displayed publicly to maintain order through fear.
Beneath the city, a vast network of aqueducts feed clean water from distant springs, while warded channels of magma supply the city’s forges, bathhouses, and power everything from streetlights to distilleries.
Imperial Forge
At the city’s core lies the Imperial Forge, a massive arcane foundry carved into the mountain. Here, blacksmiths and armorers craft armaments for the Volcor military. Blades are quenched in lava. Armor is hammered beneath roaring vents. The heat within the forge is unbearable to most, save for those trained in its fury. Court wizards enchant items when necessary, embedding steel with arcanity for generals to bear the tools of fire-born conquest.
Dragon Festival
Ashvahan is not without celebration. Once each year, the people gather to mark the Dragon Festival, a lavish display of imperial pride and unity. Fireworks burst across the sky, entertainers perform street-wide displays, and citizens flood the roads in a vibrant show of loyalty to the Emperor. For a single night, Ashvahan glows not from its furnaces but from its people. Yet, beneath the grandeur, there is tension. Beneath the parades, there is silence. Ashvahan’s population simmers as surely as the volcano beneath it.
The Royal Court
The palace of the royal court sits on the slopes of Mount Volcor, high above the lands it governs. Home to the Emperor and his inner circle, it is a sprawling complex of basalt halls and obsidian towers. An elite host of wizards, generals, strategists, and consorts live within its lava-lit chambers to serve and safeguard the throne.
The Emperor
A formidable wizard and brilliant tactician, the Emperor rose to power during the last civil war. Unwilling to accept the legacy of a weak and selfish father, he tore down the previous dynasty to forge a unified Volcor. For a time, he succeeded, bringing peace to warring Volcai and Dracai alike. Finally crowned in Ashvahan, he ruled with a purposeful vision.
From the Chamber of the Dragon, the Emperor gives and takes. Favors, resources, lives. All of Volcor, from the highest tower to the lowest village, is bound to his will. Yet, in recent years, he has grown distant. Withdrawing into the heart of Mount Volcor, he communes with the Aesir itself. In his absence, the court grows restless. The people grow bold. And across the empire, the embers of rebellion flicker once more.
The Fireseer
The Fireseer is one of the most powerful positions within the royal court. Considered to be the eyes of the Emperor, the Fireseer is both spymaster and prophet. Through an art known as Firesight, they look through the flames of the empire’s lanterns, torches, and hearths as though they are windows. They see the land as a shifting tapestry of light and heat.
Military Prowess
Volcor’s history is one of near constant warfare. Generals campaign endlessly against one another, driven by intergenerational grudges, territorial ambitions, and the manipulations of scheming Dracai. The reasons change, but the outcome remains: scorched earth, fallen cities, and heated conflicts that never cool. The generals operate from fortified bastions. These strongholds tower over nearby towns, vigilant sentinels that peer into valleys and across plains. From these seats of power, the generals command armies of fire and iron. The most powerful generals rely on support from lord wizards to win their wars. Without arcane dominance, even their vast armies would struggle to maintain the upper hand. As such, the military strength of Volcor is as arcane as it is martial.
Court Life
The palace is a monument to ambition. Power is everything, every word and motion considered a weapon of political war. The court is filled with splendor and subterfuge, its deadliest battles fought in hushed whispers in quiet corridors. A single misstep can mean exile or death. Entire branches of the noble bloodline have been banished from court for misjudgment or scandal. Some disgraced Dracai are sent to govern far-flung provinces or establish new towns on the imperial frontiers. The more dangerous ones are kept close, reduced to being mere servants of more powerful lord wizards. And when shame is not enough, assassination has its place. Quarters are consumed by flames. Chalices are embittered with poison. Though the court life might seem luxurious to Volcai, it is precarious for Dracai.
The Dracai
The Dracai are an elite caste that enact the Emperor’s will across Volcor. All Dracai are descended from the Blood of the Dragon, and are raised to wield political and military power, though not all possess arcane gifts.
For those born with fire in their blood, the gift of aetheric affinity awakens in childhood. Dracai children are usually attended to by imperial tutors and raised as lord wizards. Each young mage undergoes the Trial of Embers. If they survive it, the outcome determines their initial place in the court.
Those Dracai born without such affinity must rely on a mixture of cunning and inheritance to maintain their status. Many such Dracai find a place in the Sayashi, the Emperor’s secret service, or in the hussars, elite cavalry regiments that answer only to the throne. A rare few are born with other affinities, mysterious outliers who complicate the Dracai’s ideals of purity.
Arcanic considerations aside, all Dracai are trained from birth in the arts of statecraft and warfare. Though Dracai are outwardly united in loyalty to the Emperor, they are privately consumed by personal rivalries. Their power plays are as subtle as they are lethal. Assassination, sabotage, and scandal are all fair weapons in the pursuit of imperial influence.
The rivalry between factions exemplifies these internal rifts within the court. The Ezu mask their ambition with populist rhetoric. The Alshoni, loyal to a fault, style themselves as protectors of the dynasty and uphold imperial ideas with zealous passion.
Mixed-bloods and Volcai-born citizens who demonstrate exceptional loyalty or arcanic talent may be granted the title of Dracai by decree of the Royal Court. Yet within court circles, any connection to the Volcai is seen as a blemish. Mixed-bloods in particular are viewed with suspicion, neither belonging to nor trusted by either caste.
Even so, the Dracai maintain a sacred duty to their bloodline. Any Volcoran discovered with the blood of the first emperor in their veins, no matter how distant or humble their origins, is elevated to the protection and privileges of the court. Even a peasant with the right ancestry may one day command legions, if they survive long enough to be recognized.
The Volcai
Making up the vast majority of Volcor’s population, the Volcai hail from all but the very highest avenues of life. They are household servants and wealthy merchants. They are red rice farmers and renowned generals. They are criminals and priests. But Volcai all have one thing in common. They are born without the gift of dragon’s blood.
Historically loyal to their Emperor, the Volcai have felt and expressed their gratitude for decades of stability and growth. However, as the Emperor becomes more reclusive, unchecked ambition among generals and Dracai has sparked unrest. Exploitation is rife: heavy taxation, cruel punishments, and forced conscriptions target those least able to resist, tearing wounds of discontent into the tapestry of the empire.
These disenfranchised Volcai rally behind local dissidents, not in opposition to the throne itself, but by demanding the Emperor curtail the excesses of the ruling class. Their intent is not revolution, but restoration. A return to fair governance, and an end to unchecked Dracai greed.
The Phoenix Cycle and Uprisings
The Phoenix Cycle is a legend passed down through generations of Volcai. Volcor’s long past is filled with such cycles of rebellion, regime change, peace, oppression, and unrest. A phoenix rises, and is cast down, only to rise again.
Uprisings are how the Volcai make their stand, by drawing strength from all facets of Volcoran life: former soldiers, scholars, laborers, slaves, those disillusioned by the ruling Dracai. They wield what weapons they have at hand, whether sword or scythe, and strike with guerrilla tactics. Their knowledge of Volcor’s tumultuous terrain gives them an edge over the imperial forces.
Not all fight for the same reason. Some dream of freedom. Some burn for revenge. Others fight out of naked self-interest. The rebellion is fractured, united only by suffering. Every riot crushed, every leader hanged from butcher’s hooks, deepens the resolve of those who remain. The phoenix is their symbol and their accepted fate. A phoenix rises to challenge the dragon, and when flaming feathers are once more shed for scales, the firebird will rise again.
“From ash we were born, to ash we return.” – Volcoran Funeral Rite
the molten tide
The Volcai have long since adapted to the volatile rhythms of Volcor, particularly the destructive phenomenon known as the Molten Tide. These periodic lava flows surge without warning, overwhelming river systems and pouring across the land in searing waves. Entire towns are swallowed overnight, homes and fields reduced to smoldering ruin.
Every territory in Volcor is susceptible to the Molten Tide. Some remain untouched for decades; others are ravaged again and again. Towns may be cut off for months at a time, their access routes buried beneath smoking stones. In the worst cases, cities have been wiped out in an instant, leaving no survivors.
Though unpredictable, the Molten Tide is treated by the Volcai as part of nature’s cycle. They construct reinforced channels to divert the flows, build on higher ground, and prepare for rapid evacuation. It is not seen as a punishment, but a test. Fire is not just a threat, but a teacher, even a benefactor. The Molten Tide scours exhausted land and enriches the soil. Destruction, rebirth, endurance: these are the lessons it imparts.
LAND OF EXTREMES
Volcor is a land of extremes, and the people who succeed here do so out of sheer resilience. They may inhabit fire-born forests or searing deserts; volcanic quarries that breathe black smoke into the skies or the banks of molten lava rivers that carve paths to obsidian shores.
Forest of Flames
The Forest of Flames is a dense, vibrant woodland thriving within a volcanic landscape. Its resilient trees of fire-resistant bark, flourish amidst perpetual flames, providing a haven for wildlife uniquely adapted to this heated environment. The local Volcai offer prayers to each felled tree and carefully steward the wildlife. Such respectful practices define the village of Taoking, a robust settlement inhabited by foresters, hunters, and farmers. Min, a wise matriarch known as the Mother of Taoking, guides the villagers in their daily respect of the forest and its fauna.
Blackrock Quarries
Tucked into the northern canyons of Volcor, the Blackrock Quarries serve as a prison camp for those the empire wishes to use and discard. Dissidents, criminals, and even disgraced nobles are sent here. Once taken to the quarries, none are expected to return.
The black basalt mined here is used in fortifications across Volcor, from military bulwarks to ceremonial plazas. It is said that the lord wizards of Ashvahan walk upon the bloodstained stones of traitors.
Overseers, merchant lords enriched by imperial contracts, ride on horseback through the narrow paths. They wield flame-tipped whips and drive their laborers beyond exhaustion and into death. Attempts to escape are met with public immolation.
Dragon’s Peak
Jutting out from the cliffs on the Obsidian Coast, Dragon’s Peak is one of the most formidable places in Volcor. It serves as the execution site for shamed figures of the royal court. With solemn ritual, members of the imperial caste leap to their deaths in penance for their dishonor.
Below Dragon’s Peak, the obsidian spires protruding from the waters of the southern sea are referred to as the Dragon’s Teeth. To die upon these jagged rocks is to be fed to the dragon. Such a sacrifice restores the honor of those left behind, and reaffirms the strength of loyalty that holds the empire together.
The Red Desert
A scorching wasteland where thirst will kill you if the wildlife doesn’t get you first. The flat horizon is broken at times by sandstone arches, scoured by the relentless desert winds. Long ago, lava flows carved deep canyons and crevices, melting the sand above into brittle glass. These are now deadly traps for the unwary. Navigating the Red Desert is a perilous endeavor, best left to the clans that call it home.
Deshvahan
Deshvahan is a sprawling hub of traders, crafters, money lenders, and nomads wanting to resupply before their next journey. Although outwardly loyal to the Emperor, Deshvahan is vulnerable to corruption due to its distance from Dracai oversight. In hidden back rooms and underground passages, illicit deals flourish, contraband moves discreetly, and forbidden goods, like the dangerous aether-enhancing drug known as Siphon, quietly change hands. Central to many of these shadowy transactions are the Dust Runners.
Wildlife
The creatures of Volcor are strange and majestic creatures, having long since adapted to their hostile and volatile environment. Many of the creatures found in this desolate region are believed to be distantly related to the dragons of old, great scaly beasts who populate the legends of Volcor.
Vuurlin
A large bird of prey that flies at a high altitude, only descending to roost or to attack vulnerable prey. When in flight, the tips of their feathers catch alight, creating flames that streak behind them as they soar through the sky. They’re reliable messengers, and are often used by the royal court and the many generals of Volcor, due to the vuurlin’s keen intelligence and powerful wings.
Longma
Despite their vague resemblance, longma are larger than the mounts used by Solana, ink-black in colour and covered in a dense coat of fur that helps to protect them from embers. Longma store heat within their bodies as a source of energy, smoke escaping their nostrils with every exhale. These hardy creatures are excellent for long-distance travel, able to withstand the heat of Volcor’s landscape.
Ryoki
These are small creatures, similar in appearance to fish, that inhabit the lava streams and rivers of Volcor. Despite the immense heat, these creatures thrive in the extreme conditions, lurking beneath the glowing surface of the magma. While their scales are almost black, their ‘fins’ catch alight when they break the surface of the lava, leaping from stream to stream.
Morrows
These tiny wisps are artificially created by the wizards of Volcor; puffs of smoke brought to life by a breath of aether. Once formed, they subsist entirely on embers, flitting to and fro amongst the fiery landscape.
Apophis
A large serpent with barbed scales, which can be found lurking within larger bodies of magma, storing energy and lying in wait. These creatures move with Volcor’s lava flows, moving through the magma to feast on those caught in the flow’s path. While they can occasionally be found on land, they move much more slowly, and are thus vulnerable to attack.