Kigstow

Planet: Kigstow

Capital City: Kigstow (City)

Size: 1.5 X the size of Mi’Roden & Sha’Roden (~1.5 the size of Earth)

Day: 36 Hours

Year: 365 days

Moons: 3

Kigstow is a vast planet, covered largely in forests both dense and sparse. The northern portion of the planet contains the only true mountains, which remain unnamed due to the lack of necessity.

These mountains are the primary home to the dwarf inhabitants of the planet, choosing to make their homes in the caves below the mountains and carving them directly into the rocky core. The main cities of the dwarves are Midtown, Vel and the capital of the Kingdom of Steel, Iron Well. Though their cities are numerous, these are the few easily accessible from the surface of the planet. Lost to the dwarves some years ago, is the city of Eld Hergotten.

Hergotten sat nestled into the recess of the northern side of the northern mass of the mountains. Their homes buried within the confines of the mountain and spreading into the lands below. They were a folk of particularly deft ability for mining and crafting of weapons and armor, producing a majority of the Kingdom of Steel’s armory supplies. There was always trade, stout ale and a healthy hearth to be found within its confines. Yet all the weapons and armor they produced wouldn’t save them from what came in the dusk hours.

As the third moon rose into the sky and the day moon began to set a rain of arrows fell upon the lower villages and fields and the sound of Orcish horns blared from the thick of trees at their borders. Amassing their warriors, the gates of Eld Hergotten’s Storm Hall slid open with the precision and silence that only dwarven stonework can bring before slamming solidly in place. As the doors locked back to allow the passage of the army, they triggered the war bells sounding out into the valley below that death, dwarves and steel were on the move. It was those same bells, however, that let the giants and ogres waiting in the mountain tops know the doors had been opened and that it was time for their great entrance into the symphony of war. Death, dwarves and steel certainly did move in the night that dread evening, but in the end it was mostly death and steel that twisted in the darkness.

The giants sent wave after wave of stone pouring down the mountain side like water down a drain pipe. Boulders destroyed houses and farms by the hundreds, killing any who failed to escape their path and dividing the dwarven army, now flanked by the cruelness of the dense forest and the giants and ogres invading their stone fortress. As the battle raged, those few dwarves still within the stronghold did their best to hold back the intruders, but when the final horn was sounded and Lord Stergon Cresthammer was slain they did what they knew they must. They fled into the under tunnels connecting the inner cities and collapsed the only path into Eld Hergotten behind them. This, they knew, was the only way to prevent the ogres, orcs and giants from breaching their defenses and flowing death straight into Iron Well like a flood.

Filled with rage at this insult to his kingdom the king of Iron Well, Haldorak Ogrebane, vowed that the head of any orc, ogre or giant brought before him would fetch a hearty price.

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Also in the northern portion of the planet, spreading south below the mountains in the eastern hemisphere, is the Loredesh Desert; Divided in no certain way between the Kingdom of Steel and the Cerulian Nation. Neither nation cares much for the space except in that it is divided between them and that it is ever a point of contestation as to where one’s border ends and the other’s begins. Vast and hot, the desert serves little purpose to any on the planet, save those who use its sands to create glass.

Bordering the western edge of the Yobem Sea is the city of Cerul, ruled by Talamh Ri. A primarily elven populated city, it is the capital of the Cerulian Nation. Spreading to the west, the nation is comprised of many a tree top city and several larger cities at the Three Rivers Fork’s: Listan, Chaltel, Savank and River Pass. The Nation also controls “The Crossing”, the only true link between the northern river and the two lower passes. To avoid The Crossing and its tolls, one must venture all the way to the Yobem Sea and change courses within its open waters.

Below Cerul is Rocht, a fortress of a city, that stands as Cerul’s warden of the south and borders on the edge of the Rot Wood.

None know what evil consumes the Rot Wood. Only that its borders grow with each passing year and the tainted air from its seemingly undead plants and blood seeping ground drive most men to madness. Few venture into its depths, fewer return and those that do are plagued by nightmares of the void between life and death. Rumors abound that a powerful lych destroyed an entire city and consumed the souls of its citizens for some evil spell. Unfortunately, no one who enters the wood returns with enough sanity to convey their findings.

To the south of the Rot Wood is the only other mountain range on Kigstow; A small grouping of sharp rocks jutting high into the sky like an immense wall, its base littered here and there with the bones of various races and animals. This range of menacing stone seems to be the only thing keeping the evil of the Rot Wood from spreading to the Kaj Wood further to the south.

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The Kaj Wood, so called for its main city of Kaj, marks the southernmost territory of the Basul Dominion. The northernmost city of the Dominion is RenLair. A small farming city, cut into a clearing in the forest. Commanding a more closely knit network of cities, Basul is a matriarchal society led by Edithe Sherbourne. A queen of her own making, she took her throne with the thin blade of a rapier and the stout power of her spells. While each kingdom maintains their own farming lands, the Basul Dominion is a large supplier for the food stores throughout the planet due to its immense and well kept farm lands.

The largest and most densely populated kingdom is that of Kigstow. First of the kingdoms, they put little stock in referring to their territory as anything but Kigstow and carry the, mostly, common opinion that any nation, dominion, or “kingdom” that must declare itself such within its own name is no true kingdom afterall.

The city of Kigstow is the largest single city on the planet and is host to the interplanetary teleportation circles. Within its kingdom are the two smaller islands, and their cities, in the Yobem Sea and the city of Ke’Iso. Ke’Iso is the only city in Kigstow’s domain to reside on the main land mass.

With the arrival of the first interplanetary traveler, the capital city of Kigstow, now ruled by King Lucien Castlion, called for peace amongst the kingdoms. This call resounded through all the kingdoms and struck a chord with a people who were tired of the endless meaningless wars. Due primarily to its size and partially to its part in bringing peace between the kingdoms, Kigstow was named the capital of the planet and keeper of the gates.

Beyond the power of the individual kingdoms are several cities who used the newfound peace to declare themselves free. These free cities do not hold themselves to the contrived laws and taxes of the nations around them, but choose to impart their own law systems and hold their own militias. These few Free Cities are: Alistel, Barr Crainne, Longdale and Misdayl.