The Eyirath Kingdom sprawls from Nepenthe Haven in the south, along the coast of the Om'at Tributary all the way up to Firefly Grotto in the north. Though The Divide separates the two kingdoms, up north the borders between Eyirath Kingdom and the Sun Dynasty actually touch, which results in great conflict near the Firefly Grotto if the border patrols happen to meet. The dense jungle that makes up the northern half of Eyirath Kingdom is ripe with hiding places for an ambush, as the lone road leading from Nepenthe Haven through the Bloodwood stops long before, at the bridge leading to Willowglen across the Om'at Tributary, leaving those seeking passage to Firefly Grotto to navigate the dense foliage on their own. A longstanding sentinel against the encroaching Sun Dynasty, Eyirath Kingdom was founded by Adachi Takamoto after receiving a leaf from the Yggdrasil Tree, which he and others took as a preordained sign of his right to rule. In contrast to their closest neighbors, they have long cultivated an air of elegance and civility, with a looser approach to conflict despite the number of patrols they carry out being even greater than those of the Dynasty. However, this has led to a tendency for veiled threats and attacks from the shadows, for their smiling faces are only a mask to hide their true thoughts. Eyirath Kingdom is one many find hard to trust.
An arrangement of beautifully built structures on a hillside culminating in a towering temple, Nepenthe Haven is the heart of Eyirath Kingdom. While it does not lie in the center of the territory, it is the most populous settlement, with many of the Kingdom's noble families hailing from somewhere within its walls. The buildings themselves are mostly colored white and blue, while the foliage around them consists of Bloodwood Maples and Everbloom Cherry Blossoms, leaving red and pink petals to paint the settlement in cheerful shades. There are several different levels where people can live within the settlement, with the highest levels dedicated to the royal family and the lowest belonging to farmers and hunters within the territory. Pebble-lined pathways wind around the hill in a meandering style, leading up to the foot of the temple where the royal family resides. Underground, tunnels allow citizens to pass between levels unhindered, with some secret passages even leading all the way to the royal apartments. These tunnels hollow out most of the hillside, with some chambers deep within that are used in times of war for citizens who cannot fight to hide from the encroaching forces. From these inner chambers, there are tunnels leading out to the bridge that crosses to Issan Estate, allowing them to escape into Yggdrasil's roots in the worst case scenario.
Surrounding the area of Nepenthe Haven, stretching between Amaranthine Cove and the Summer Sea, the Bloodwood gets its name from the towering red palmate maple trees that grow in the area, with delicate many-fingered leaves that call to mind a rain of blood when they fall in autumn. The land beneath these trees is softened, leaving deep tracks from any who pass through; yet, strangely, it is not wet, bringing to mind the crunch of old bones, or the gentle give of a softened carcass. Though the trees are numerous and their branches spread wide, the red of their leaves and the expanse of their canopy means that in full daylight, the Bloodwood is bright, almost inviting, if one can ignore the sickly sweet scent of the coral bell ferns and flowering dogwood that sprout beneath them. To the southwest, the Bloodwood gives way to cliffs looking out over a soft-sanded beach, which covers the entire southern border and connects directly to the steps of Nepenthe Haven. To the northwest, it is bordered by the highly contested, unclaimed area called The Divide leading to the Phantom Veil; to the northeast, the Moslye Jungle takes over.
Traveling east from the Bloodwood, one may find themselves on the shores of the Summer Sea. An old, somewhat crumbling stone bridge stretches across a narrow channel to an island known as the Issan Estate, where the paths are lined with smooth river stones and the trees, while numerous, appear almost...placed. There is something just shy of unnatural about the Issan Estate, with its burbling freshwater ponds hemmed in along careful waterfalls, circling into each other and away from the salt of the ocean beyond its shores. Shoots of bamboo can rarely be found growing amid the tall red maples, but more frequently than those fresh green stalks, strange constructions of a smoother, browner material can be found by the water. Their purpose is unknown, but observation of those that have not been destroyed by time or local creatures shows that the water flowing through them will cause one part of the construction to smack into another at irregular intervals. In the center of Issan Estate, there lies a strange stone sitting atop a shelled creature, in the shape of some monkey-like animal holding a long pole. The trees stretch their branches to one another but do not crowd, as they would in the jungles or forests beyond, providing a gentle covering of shade for much of the island. A careful and fastidious explorer may find the crumbled remnants of stone buildings, strange trees that seem to have grown sideways and around each other, and even the occasional hollowed stone. Following along the northern edge of the island, it's possible to spy The Gullet island in the distance; and, even further, crossing the Southern Gullet Bridge to Yggdrasil nearby.
Nestled into the foot of the mountains beneath waterfalls cascading down around it, Firefly Grotto has a history as a battleground more than a settlement. Though there are buildings, beautifully structured in the same style as Nepenthe Haven, they are tucked away, hidden in the deeper foliage of the Moslye Jungle, and many are damaged in some way. Most of the settlement is lush with greenery, the jungle reclaiming any paths that might have once existed and hiding any new ones that are made. Many of the buildings have a secret exit to allow inhabitants to escape when war comes to their territory again, most leading to the mansion of the Daimyo beside the waterfall but some leading deeper into the Moslye Jungle. The mansion is the only building in the settlement that is easily visible, a place where forces can be mustered and a target for the enemy all in one. In a cave beneath this building, tunnels wind their way deeper into the mountains, and eventually lead to a sacred cistern, a cavern with a lake set centered beneath a hole in the ceiling that allows moonlight through. The cistern cannot be accessed except by these tunnels, and the water is cool and refreshing but not cold, a product of being ice-melt from Burnsul Freeze.
Eyirath Kingdom
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