Lilliend

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Lilliend
Culture Level 5: Medieval
Ecology Full
Climate & Terrain Temperate forest and mountains
Year Formed 613 BC
Population
Races (%) Elves, Half-Elves, Humans, Ogier, Lilliender Vampires
Languages Lelender, Elven, Ogier, Sylvan.
Religions Artemis, Ashar, Athena, Brightwell, Carolin, Coralin, il Demonio, Harbrye, Kurhan, the Shadow and the Light, Thunder-Father
Government Monarchy
Ruler(s) Queen Alexandra Lenkherr
Darklord(s) Camille Churnstone
Nationality Lilliender
Analog "Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu
Related Categories
Locations in Lilliend
Transportation in Lilliend
Inhabitants of Lilliend
Former Inhabitants of Lilliend
Flora of Lilliend
Fauna of Lilliend
Native Monsters of Lilliend


Lilliend is the first Domain visited in the series of reports written by the scholar Ciska on her reconnaissance of the Wartorn Cluster. The land has come into being as both the territory and gaol of the vampiric Sorceress-Darklady, Camille Churnstone.

Location

Lilliend is located at the southwest edge of the Wartorn Cluster, a Cluster that is apparently at a considerable distance from the Core even when following the Mistway that connects them. However, the distance may be deceptive, given that the path that connects the two is apparently subject to temporal drift.

Lilliend borders on Conquista to the east. To the far south-east, it borders on Masogan. To the far north-east, it borders on South-Raba.

Geography

Ciska describes Lilliend as a land of hidden edges and deep falls. The country is composed of mountain terraces and elevated above its closest neighbours, Conquista and Masogan. A sharply inclined slope known as the Final Incline forms the only route to leave the domain or enter it from the rest of the Wartorn Cluster.

L'Haut

The western half of the domain is known as L'Haut; this section is composed of many small mesas or terraces (some barely large enough to host a single bramble-bush) and sharp inclines, many of which are almost perfectly vertical. Any terrace large enough to support plant life is typically overgrown, leading unwary travellers to step over the edge and plummet to their death. Local wildlife tends to be highly aggressive in protecting its territory, and is likely to attack humans and other intruders. The weather in L'Haut is so inclement that even if a terrace is found large enough to build a residence there, it is generally inadvisable to clear it of local plant growth; all too often, such plants are the only available barrier against powerful winds, hail, rain and snow. The domain's two great rivers, the Wittwentraen and the Bitterflut, both have their origin in L'Haut. Whereas the Wittwentraen is born from rain and snow pooling in natural basins that overflow, the Bitterflut springs from subterranean sources.

Le Bas

The eastern half of the domain, known as Le Bas, is composed of gradually larger terraces, eventually forming the Letztafl, a massive plateau where the majority of the land's sentient creatures dwell. Land has been cleared for agriculture and settlements by the domain's human population, whereas the Elves and Ogier dwell in the old growth forests that still cover many of the larger mesas. Le Bas ends in the final slope that leads out of Lilliend and down into Conquista.

History

It is difficult to tell false and true history apart in Lilliend. It is a fact that the Lilliend that exists in the Demiplane of Dread came to be because of the actions and crimes of Camille Churnstone. Whether the domain was torn from the Prime Material Plane or created wholesale out of the Mists by the Dark Powers is currently unknown.

Archaeological evidence found by Ciska, and before her by Maximilian Lockstone, suggests there have been four waves of invasion; first the Elves supplanted and enslaved a native, red-haired people who would become the Weisücher family. Next, the Elves were overthrown by the ancestral Lenkherr people. Finally, the Lenkherr were themselves deposed by the Lockstone/Churnstone ancestors. No local histories reflect these waves of conquest, nor do they reference that each successive wave brought innovations to the land.

Local history books claim the nation was once ruled by men, until a particularly unwise king took every battle-ready man with him on a 'crusade' to 'punish the wicked heathen' across the border. While this was meant to boost the nation's economy with an infusion of plunder, it almost crippled the nation as the king took every skilled worker as well as his knights with him. In the king's absence, the queen and the leading ladies of the nation's four noble families decided that men were unfit for rule. When the king finally returned with his armies, laden with plunder, he walked straight into an ambush set for him by the queen and the noble ladies. The king and his officers were executed by decapitation, and the Mists supposedly rose at the moment of the king's death, cutting Lilliend off from the surrounding lands. The Mists would later recede and reveal Lilliend's current neighbours on the occasion that the Lockstone Rebellion ended with the death of Maximilian Lockstone.

Currently, the land is in a fragile balance. Traditionally, the throne and crown would pass between the main branches of the nation's four great families (Churnstone, Lenkherr, Lockstone and Weisücher), but the Churnstone main branch was wiped out by an unidentified disease (implied to be the feeding habits of Camille Churnstone), the Weisücher main branch was destroyed by the domain's Darklady for trying to seize absolute political power, and the Lockstone main branch was extinguished during a brutal rebellion started by Maximilian Lockstone. Today, only the unliked Lenkherr family still has a main branch that can hold the throne, leading to resentment. There is civil unrest in the Lockstone lands, especially in the city of Schlotstein. The current queen's attempts to bring innovation to the nation's capitol of Luzander are being actively sabotaged by her own nobles and the reactionary citizens.

Diplomacy

The people of Lilliend tend to xenophobia, seeing their nation as surrounded by enemies. Repeated attacks by savages from Masogan and one particularly bloody assault by rifle-wielding Skullmen from Vieuxlyons have worsened this mindset. If not for the nation's ongoing crisis, caused by Camille Churnstone ordering the death of every man who has sired a daughter and feeding freely on the girls who attend the nation's boarding schools, Lilliend might close its borders. As matters stand, Lilliend maintains limited trade relations with its neighbours so its merchants can spread rumours abroad that any man who comes to Lilliend can have his pick of the women there.

Gender Roles

In Lilliend, men are treated mostly as a commodity. A valuable one, given the actions of the domain's Darklady, but still a commodity. Men are expected to obey women and focus on siring children once married. Male travellers who come to Lilliend often find themselves wooed by local women, only for the welcoming smiles to turn to commanding snarls once they have agreed to wed or court a local woman.

Chronology

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