Overview
Location	Urclien, Gatalia (Shard)
General Characteristics
Population	~100,000
Key Details	Divian Religions

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Table of Contents

• Divion
  • Etymology
  • History
    • Architecture
    • Geography
  • Details
    • Points of Interest
  • Demographics
    • Species
    • Cultures & Languages
      • Balgi
      • Gilic
      • Gilic-Nimun
      • Urzd
    • Economy
    • Education
    • Government and Politics
      • Nature as a Force
    • Transportation
    • Notable Characters
  • Plot Hooks and Rumors
  • Places of Interest
  • Related Articles
  • OOC
    • Usage

A region in the continent Urclien, on the planet Gatalia (Shard). It is covered in forests and farmlands. The Divion River runs all the way through it, and there are mountains to the south and west. It is controlled by the Parvan Empire.

The name “Divion” comes from the Gilic “dii” which means “river”, and “-vion” which is to mean “place”. The literal translation being “river place” makes “Divion River” a pleonasm, as it means “river place river”.

Roughly 500 years ago the Parvan Empire had peaked. To many people this is now ancient history. This empire spanned many regions, but had steadily declined since that height. In recent history, the territories of the Parvan Empire have all been invaded by competing empires or formed independent nations, and now Divion is all that remains.

The Parvan Empire is named after its country of origin, Perevion, which is now to the north of Divion outside of the Parvan Empire. It used to be called Parve while it was under the Empire's control, but has had many identity changes due to persisting through many invasions and occupations.

Architecture in Divion is largely inspired by “old gothic” architecture out-of-character.

Divion's main features are the Divion River, the Baulglic Delta, and its enormous forests which stretch across the entirety of the region. Divion is surrounded by mountains to the south and west, with a steep decline in elevation down the middle where the river flows. The river itself is densely packed with rain-forests and river towns.

The soil of the rain-forests, although rich, would quickly erode if it was cleared for farms. As a result, Divion's river towns typically import produce from the forests further up, away from the river. These forests were in the past frequently deforested to create fields and pastures, but recently, new farm-able land has become rare. The small, 50-150 person villages in the center of these fields are often surrounded by untameable forests, if they are not connected by farmland to other villages of similar size.

Many species co-exist in Divion, which are separate from the even greater number of cultures.

There are four main cultural super groups settled in Divion.

The Balgi are the primary culture of mundweren people who had settled Divion in recent times. Their populations are firmly cemented into Divion's societies, despite being the newest of the cultures present there.

As a language, Balgi tends to mix a lot of consonants to complex effect. It also makes use of thousands of suffixes and prefixes. One such suffix is “-en” or “-n”, which in most cases transforms a noun into a plural, like in “mundweren”.

The Gilic culture includes the Parves that had built the Parvan Empire, but also includes many neighboring empires to the North. Technically, the geants are the sole originators of the Gilic culture, but it is an ancient and intertwined culture that is no longer associated with any one species. Hiniru miru, mundweren, geant, urzdwer and many others can be seen as Gilic.

The Gilic language consists of a lot of simple syllables. The name “Gatalia” comes from Gilic.

Named as a hybridisation of the “Gilic” and “Nimun” cultures, the Gilic-Nimun is essentially one of the many Nimun cultures to the South that split off and intermingled with the culture of the Gilic. It is associated primarily with the hiniru miru species, but only by a slim margin. As with Gilic, it has been adopted by many species over many centuries.

The language used by the Gilic-Nimun is simply a northern dialect of Nimun.

The Urzd is the super-culture of the traditional urzdwer people. It consists of hundreds of smaller, local cultures in the form of clans. These clans once (and unofficially still do) own(ed) territories throughout Divion. These clans identify themselves as belonging to one of three heritages:

• Scazda (of the West Mountains)
• Urtaru (of the Downriver)
• Kisci (of the Upriver)

Each of those three often make use of their own languages, taking the names of the heritages themselves (Scazda, Urtaru, Kisci). Historically, the Urzd were not a united nation, and often clans warred against each other. The invasion of the Parvan Empire that occurred many centuries ago had united most if not all of these clans, and they now view each-other as being of the same cloth.

The Three Urzd Tongues each make use of a lot of strange consonants that do not exist in other languages. As one example, “rt” is used to denote a short, rolled “R” sound produced by touching ones tongue to the back of their teeth and “purring” at the front of their throat.

Banking families are the center of commerce in Divion. They provide checks and loans, and are often the primary way to make large payments. Their currencies are usually named after the families themselves, who might mint and distribute their own coins. They are usually on good terms with each other and have closely monitored exchanges between each other's currencies.

For common people, currency is not always a necessity and many get by with simple trade and bartering. Peasants and farmers might trade livestock, tools, or large batches of dried grains, legumes, or flour.

The Parvan Empire used to mint coins called elytrum and schel (which is a fifth of an elytrum), but this coinage has ceased production. Some still accept elytrum and schel, especially in village communities. It is not commonly accepted in densely populated towns or cities due to its unreliable value.

Nobles in Divion receive the best educations. Common people often only get taught by the more skilled artisans in their small, local areas. If they are lucky, they may be able to find a master and become an apprentice, but this is not normal and usually a privilege only systemically afforded to those born rich. The best place to learn is the city of Baulglic, which has the highest concentration of people as well public forums where debates, plays and preaches are staged. Towns and villages do not generally have forums like these.

Another form of education would come from religious communities. Mystery cults among towns, witch covens in the woods, and monasteries deep in the mountains. There is an unusual tendency for these groups to be scientifically motivated, though they do not tend to interact well with noble scientists such as alchemists. They tend to see each other's knowledge as being biased and unsophisticated. For the nobles, they would cite religious entanglement. Meanwhile, the monasteries and covens would cite monetary gain and job security, as alchemists are prone to hide information to stay employed.

Divion is ruled primarily by a hereditary empire, but this rule is contested by other groups. It is normal for neighboring countries and empires to build outposts on the fringes of the Parvan Empire, and there are many insurgent factions: aristocrats, noble families, outlaws and occasionally even grassroots constantly threatening to make power grabs. These insurgent factions can be anything from religiously motivated to politically.

The flora of the woods and rain-forests seem to constantly be trying to reclaim land and buildings in Divion. Not only that, but despite being far from monstrous, many of the animals in these wildernesses are extremely dangerous. There are theropod-like species that form packs and colonies to brutally raid undefended villages, and massive megafauna which can level towns if they get too “cozy”.

As a result, nature is often treated as its own nation, with the fabled goddess Rtascina as its immortal ruler. Outlaws and other forest-dwellers are said to be allied with Rtascina, although in truth they simply know the ins and outs of wilderness survival and there is no wild nation. For those in civilization, the relationship is complex. Offerings to Rtascina are common place, but so are hunting wars waged to prune back the eternal march of the “Natural Order”.

River boat is the fastest and most efficient method of travel through Divion. Where there is no sailable river, Divion does not have much shore, so travel by road is the only other choice. On road, people may walk, travel by mount; wagon or if they are lucky; carriage. Off-road travel is possible, but as dangerous as wilderness survival on any other planet and certainly not quick.

Notable characters will go here.

Expect personal struggles and/or political shenanigans. Divion is a fraught collection of countries where complicated conflicts can arise unexpectedly.

• The Parvan Empire has recently fallen and now only encompasses Divion. Although many people are not aware of this or simply do not care (taxes are taxes, after all), among nobles and other authority figures, this may be a strong source of political debate and action. Some may vigilantly work for the Parvan Empire in hopes they will return to their former glory, while others may actively attempt to degrade their authority further.
• Insurgent groups looking to uproot the status quo and claim power for themselves are not necessarily “bad guys”. Many have very good motivations for their cause and some are not selfish in the slightest.
• Travelers (hedge knights, merchants, apothecaries, performers, bandits, vagabonds, etc) often interact with a huge range of varied people with fascinating cultures and stories. Meeting one is an eventful day and thrill for most people, and being one yourself is even more exciting, though perhaps a tad romanticized.
• A starfolk ship has (/will have) landed in the southern, rural regions of Divion near the south mountain ranges. On top of the challenges of surviving on an alien planet, starfolk can be polarizing. Some see them as demigods, while others see them as cursed or even daemonic, and others even still do not associate any superstition with them. Starfolk landing on Gatalia (Shard) are rare enough that most village-folk will not have a pre-formed opinion on them, or even know of the last time that a contact had been made.

• Creating A Divian
• Viliva 37
• Gatalian Humans
• Divian Religions

• Player P0rcelain created this on 2022/12/21 19:49.

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