The March



In the far north lie the green lands of the Marchmen ; from the rolling hills of Fenland to the deepest forests of the Taiga, the March is notorious for its natural beauty. The March culture is a mixture of the two races who call it home: the wise Marchmen and powerful Kin. The March is a politically passive, non-interventionist state officially run by the capital in westmarch, Cordova. The eastmarch is almost entirely self reliant, though there is little desire for independence as Cordova has shown no interest in controlling how the east runs its affairs. The unity of the relatively separate cultures is a remnant of the once impending invasion by the rapacious armies of the Reach. With the arrival of The Scar as a natural barrier, The March has settled down, abandoned most of its southern forts, and returned to its quiet life of study and reflection.

Fenland
Perhaps the first thing called to mind when one mentions the March are the green hills of Fenland, typified by the pastoral beauty of Grennock, a farming community. The plains of the North-Western March support vast wheat and potato crops, while the terraced foothills of the Paiko Downs (just North of Grennock) are the only region known to grow rice, an exotic grain.

Cordova--Now the capital and largest city North of the Scar, ancient Cordova began like any March town, centered around a wooden hill fort at the highest local point. The low lying earthy farmer homes have given way to the sprawling urban center with cobblestone streets, but the historic wall remains intact, still delineating the “old city.” Except for the ports of Liman, most of the March is entirely March or Kin, being simply too remote for ethnic assortment. But Cordova sports a thriving underground of shady characters from all over, often hiding outside the influence of the Reach or Breakhelm. Many people also come to Cordova looking for honest employment, for a bustling hub city always has work to be done. The Amphista family dominated the early history of Cordova, and although today they rarely make waves in the Assembly, they still manage the Wizard’s Guild, maintaining some of the oldest wisdom on rune-magic and alchemy, and continuing to research the fundamental forces of the universe. The Wizard’s guild in Cordova holds some of the most ancient manuscripts known to exist, instructions on the application of runes purportedly from the Pangrammatica Rünwerk. Folklore claims that the ancient tome was the first book, the original act of intelligence, the gift of the earliest men of the March. Spells of unimaginable power, so the story goes, were contained in Pangrammatica Rünwerk, which subsequently was hidden away somewhere in the Paiko Downs after countless wars were fought over the secrets it contained. If it ever did exist, it has since been lost.

Lake Country
In the Paiko Downs, you can stand on the Northermost point anywhere on the Edge, and the sight is well worth the journey through the craggy cliffs. For the less daring, a series of hotsprings hopscotch down the mountainside, one above spilling into the other below, all the way down to the placid Nupaiko Lake. Travelers dont just stop by Feru on their way to Paiko’s cascading pools; it is also known to grow the most popular strains of pipeweed.

On the other side of the wide, fertile valley sit the turbid waters of Nuyan, whose dark and sickened southern shore fends off the sickly fingers of the scar. Locals swear that the waters of the Nuyan absorb the evil and buffer it from advancing. Others say the scar is terrified to go past the waters, to challenge the tougher darkness in the jungle of the Taiga. Superstitions all, these tales clearly show the abundant reverence for nature found in Thasos, the border between Lake country and the Taiga. Historical bordertown between eastmarch and west, Thasos represents a place to catch your breath, to rest easy at the end of a trek through the jungle, or to gear up before heading in; to base a journey up high into the craggy peaks of the Sakir Yan, or to sail out on the broad sea. The northern waters of the Nuyan are unaffected by the sickness of the Scar, and support a thriving fishing industry which supplies the ample delicacy to anyone lucky enough to live within a few days travel. Thasos is a city of opposites, and has always been the meetingplace of March representatives from the East and West. Most locals live on the shores of the Nuyan far from the hustle and bustle of the commercial center whose taverns and shops profit from travelers heading East and West and up the mountains, and merchants trading food and pipeweed from the West, fish, ore, and runes from the South, and wood and herbs from the East. Corvus, a small town of elite mages and understudies from the university of cordova, as well as a strong military presence. the broad plains of the march, from perthory to corvus once were once dotted with forts as the threat of invasion from the south was real, but they have all since been abandoned, except for corvus. corvus is where the march does its official research on the Scar, how to fight its monsters and bad effects, why it arrived in the first place, and ultimately how to control the forces at play, and push it back (though its in vogue in cordova to wish it to remain, as a perfect barrier from the "barbaric" reach empire.). they conduct raids and shit into the scar, bring back ghouls to do experiments on. theyre the magical equivalents of the companions from shrike. Corvus has the largest Dos population in the March outside the Liman ports

The Taiga
Eastmarch is characterized by the thick jungle of the Taiga. Much of the Northern jungle remains untouched, left alone to the forest demons that dwell there. There are scattered Marchmen communities, most notably Liman and Thetis, as well as some roaming clans of Kin pushed out of their ancestral lands for one reason or another. The Sakir Yan mountain range just South and West of Thasos looks out over the Cove of Tiamat into the Bay of Storms. The horrible weather conditions North of the Scar prevent airships from landing anywhere in the March West of Liman.

Liman The second largest city in the March, Liman is the nucleus of Eastmarch and the primary point of trade with the Reach and Dos to the South. Exotic goods and wealth float through every day, carrying people of all races and creeds with them. Dos rebels and Reach agents are always up to activities, even though they have no business here. Kin looking to enter the world of men usually first encounter Liman, the closest city to their secluded homeland. In addition to trade, the airships which dock here are also often used to poach Whalegulls, magnificent four winged beasts inhabiting the Bay of Storms.

Thetis--the forgotten city of the March. With the third largest population in the March, it is made up almost exclusively of Marchmen and Kin. Self reliance a virtue, very few people come or go, Thetis being a popular destination for neither tourists, pilgrims, nor merchants. If Liman is the most colorfully diverse melting pot of the March, then Thetis is the best example of a quietly integrated social hybrid. Both Marchmen and Kin are relative pioneers in the North Taiga, and Thetis has always relied on the two cultures getting along. Kin tend to scoff at March as their sickly little brothers, and March stereotype Kin as brutish and ignorant, but in truth an extraordinary amount of wisdom and culture have been adopted by both cultures from the other, usually passed on because of the facilitative accepting integration in Thetis.

Kinland
The Kin believe that Theda, the Great Mother, charged them with watching over all lands in creation, and it is in the palm of her hand that their homeland is nestled. Kinland is marked by the extremely dense jungle. Historically, Kinland has been identified as the land where the short red Deshra shrub grows, although the smaller modern district is defined by Cordova as the land East and South of the Sakir Tep ridge. Kin culture is centered on the clan, and values strength and hard work above all else. Kin tend to think of the other races as little more than rats who learned to talk, and as such rarely see much good in interacting with the violent and stupid outsiders, particularly given how racist the Reach and Breakhelm can be to kin.

Menkara The kin rarely group together in numbers large enough to be considered even a small town. Menkara stands alone as the city of the kin, a capital of sorts, where the leaders of all clans convene. It has an extremely small non-kin population (Mostly Marchmen), and only Kin are ever allowed to enter the inner city. Some people believe that the legendary tree of life bestowed upon the Kin is preserved by the cunning in some remote Sakir Tep monastery, but most evidence indicates that it is living in some forbidden corner of Menkara.