Valley of Lions

The climate of this region is hot and dry. Mountains obstruct the prevailing winds in such a way that much of the area is desert, though not inhospitable. Rains fall from late summer into the early winter.

There are three cultures here—Gold, Red, and Blue. Gold and Red are both enduring, well-established peoples. Blue arrived more recently, representing aggressive foreign commercial interests.

Gold have a stable social and political culture that has not varied for generations. They are accomplished in fiber arts, and engage in modest trade to exchange matting, ropes, and bolts of linen for cured meats and sundry luxury items. The trade season is inaugurated with ceremonies of state, to see the traditional reed boats safely off on their journey. The festivities conclude when a ship crewed with effigies is sent ahead of the fleet carrying a “divine portion” of the season’s goods for trade, and then razed on the waves by a volley of flaming arrows.

Red are likewise and old and stable culture, ruled by a long succession of benevolent dynastic leaders. Claims that the line stretches back to time immemorial are reasonably substantiated by the several tomb cities in the sacred valleys of the interior. It is popular among Red nobility to hunt lions on the savannah that stretches along the western coast of the their kingdom. Outside of the hunting season, the ruling class feast and make merry in the well-appointed country estates among the vineyards of the bucolic north coast.

The peninsula to the south is home to a massive Blue trading hub. Though they are considered newcomers by the northern nations, Blue have been here for quite some time. Their city, piled against the cliffs of the rocky coast from which they stage their shipping interests, oversees the routes that pass through the southern islands. Local trade is decidedly secondary to the city’s role as a port servicing the resupply of interregional enterprises—the ruling guild has successfully exploited this pivotal function in its rise to prominence here and abroad. The guild masters also rely on this influence to sustain smuggling and privateering operations with impunity.