With its wildly diverse climates, North Berena holds the bite of a rainforest, the endurance of a tundra, the creativity of a perpetual monsoon season, and everything in between. As the previous stomping grounds of the ancient shalledrim, today’s thriving civilizations mark the power of human resilience and innovation. Seek out the myths, and you may just find the small truths that walk among us yet.
Chiropole
Sandwiched between two fierce and majestic seas, Chiropole is a land where stories flow like water. To be Chiropolene is to know and love the theatre, and interaction with the region’s many stories is essential to cultural literacy, whether you are a leading role in one of the performances, a no-nonsense stagehand, or an ever-vital audience member. After all, the Chiropes view the world as one endless play being put on for the amusement of their gods; if they live good lives, they believe, they will earn a place in the eternal audience. Art is therefore not just a source of entertainment–it is an act of worship.
In its gentlest seasons, the sun shines down upon the balmy, humid environment; in its most tumultuous, monsoons are a regular occurrence, flooding the lands with enthusiasm. All this moisture lends itself to a landscape of rich greenery covering both the plains of the west and the rolling hills of the east.
The Kingdom of ka-Khasta
Home to two of the Nine Wonders of the Ancient World, the grandest library in the Bereni system, and a line of infamous and intriguing royalty, the Kingdom of ka-Khasta is a land of living legend. The largest of all of North Berena’s regions, ka-Khasta is broken up into nine dominions that rule over fifty-seven provinces, all of whom pledge themselves to the Yükbasar royal family in the walled city of Babagaz.
Geographically, dense boreal forest covers nearly 60% of the land, which is rifted with stunning mountain ranges that are rich with various metals. Many ka-Khastans will joke that their kingdom built the rest of the continent, seeing as their bounty of lumber and ore is exported to nearly all the rest of the continent. Indeed, ka-Khasta’s might gives it a strong hand in the shaping of many surrounding governments. With its striking landscape and intriguing political history, this kingdom is the powerhouse of North Berena.
The Pilgrim State
Nestled among Ol-Penh, Shaipuri, the eastern coast of the Iphigene Sea, and the southern edge of ka-Khasta is a site so grand and mystifying some say it rivals the Shattering for intrigue. The Pilgrim State is a temple city, a vast network of spiritual sites and monuments spanning 50,000 hectares of gently rolling lowlands. The area is self-sustaining and free of political allegiance, unaffiliated with any of the nations that surround it–indeed, it is truly a global city, with everything from ostentatious Ol-Penher cathedrals to humble Thalthashan shrines in the shelter of the evergreens. Any and all are welcome to wander its bridges and walkways, to linger in its temples, even to build monuments of their own. Founded at an unknown time, and for an unknown reason, the Pilgrim State has gained a reputation as being one of–if not absolutely–the holiest places on the planet. Many have reached enlightenment here, and many yet will come.
