I apologize for the tardiness of this post. I asked a friend of mine if he was interested in contributing to the blog, and he was excited to. He had the article to me on time, but I forgot to post it yesterday. Anyways, here is it. Please enjoy!
The
realm of Déscaradh (DAY-skar-ah) in the plane of Færie is separated into three
distinct parts: the White Kingdom, the Red Kingdom and the Chessboard. The
White Kingdom is the lair of the White Queen and her subjects. It is a place
where freedom and creativity are treasured. The Red Kingdom on the other side
is a place of slavery ruled by the Red Queen and where fun is seen with cruel
tricks. Creativity is treasured there as well, but looked upon more favorably
the crueler it is.
White
Kingdom
The
White Kingdom is a place of eternal beauty. The White Queen, a beautiful Azata
of incredible power is in dominion over it. She celebrates freedom and
creativity of the most beautiful kind. The art of nature is abundant here yet
constantly flowing: sculpted gardens, fountains that pour crystal from their
spouts, even paintings done in living flowers are here. The Queen loves art and
the artists that produce it.
The
White Queen is always experimenting with something new and is rarely seen in
the same shape twice as her form is shifting with her mood. Two things that
remain static though are her incomparable beauty and the theme of white in her
being and outfits. She is flighty and pleasant to deal with unless it comes to
the war where she becomes as serious as stone; at her core she has become a
warrior for her cause and her kingdom.
Within
the court proper there are seven other very powerful Azata all of whom share
the queen’s love of beauty and freedom. One named for each of the seven pieces
on a chessboard: two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights, and a King. What many
don't know is that the King himself holds all the power despite being the least
powerful there as the White Queen must review all her plans through him.
The
weather is always shifting but is mostly considered enjoyable and fair from a
light rain to a beautiful summer morning, even sometimes the floor will be
dusted with snow. The weather is at the beck and call of the realms queen.
The
Red Kingdom
The
Red Kingdom tends to mirror its white counterpart with some very stark changes.
While beauty, creativity and freedom are such huge precepts within the White
Kingdom the Red Kingdom is rather the opposite. The Red Kingdom reveres the
beauty of cruelty and perfect hate, the creativity of torture and pain, and it
reveres slavery rather than freedom.
Ruled
over by the Red Queen a Demon of unimaginable power, she is in a form that
befits beautiful cruelty. She does not change form though many believe she has
the ability. She is constantly seen as an elven woman with an elaborate red
dress and a beautiful face she always caries a weapon of some sort on her and
is quick to use it. The one thing she respects is her war with the White
Kingdom. She has been known even to offer help, though it normally is
detrimental in the end, to a new warrior of the White Kingdom.
The
Red Kingdom itself is all sharp corners thorns and jutting rock. The weather
though never extreme is always oppressive or overbearing and the screams of the
victims of the Red court can be heard from almost anywhere in the Red Kingdom.
The
Red Court like the White is made up of seven demons: again two Rooks, two
Knights, two Bishops, and finally a King. Though powerful the King is
consistently berated and put down, sometimes even to the point of him being
tortured. His power lies though in his ability to veto much of what the queen
says so she is careful never to push him over the edge.
Chessboard
Between
the two kingdoms lies an expanse of land exactly 80 miles wide and 80 miles
long. It serves as battleground, center of power and home for the inhabitants
of Déscaradh. This expanse is called the Chessboard. Similar to an actual
chessboard in several ways it had very stark defining lines every 10 square miles.
The
color schemes in these squares are designed to be able to tell them apart:
white squares and black squares. Each white square has a different environment
dictated by the queens. Some are snow covered, some are deserts, while others
are an expanse of brilliant white and blue crystal harder than mithral when set
yet more malleable than gold in its raw form, there are 40 white squares each
one stark and lacking many inhabitants. The black squares differ in this in
that they aren't all black; in fact most of them are lush and vibrant. These
squares vary from farmlands to cities grown from trees, to deep and foreboding
forests. Most of the denizens of this plane dwell either on these squares or in
the kingdoms proper.
On
the Chessboard you will find the overall climate ideally suited to the
specifics of each individual square. Some are freezing, so cold that a person
would freeze without a heavy coat, others, sometimes the next square are
perfectly temperate with frolicsome fey children enjoying the perfect weather
that their queens have blessed their square with.
The
one consistent fact about every single square is that it is constantly at war.
Some of the fighting is obvious, with huge soldiers battling it out with each
other bloodying the field; other squares are less overt, and the battle being
fought there is quiet with spies and silence, information being transferred
from one hand to the other. Everyone who lives on the plane from the biggest
meanest troll to the sweetest looking sprite is a warrior and everyone who
enters a square is considered to be a warrior.
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