Knaar


There are many worlds, some of them infinite, with no end, and some of them definite, like earth. Knaar, is one of the definites. It has an end. Unlike Midworld, a place linked to Knaar through a series of Gates, most of which were closed long before the Fall of the Gods, more than seventeen thousand years ago. It has been told that the Twin gods, Liiost and Leoness closed the Gates to prevent the demons of Midworld from crossing into Knaar and destroying a place of rare beauty.

The Eastern Continent

Knaar is, in many ways, very much like earth. The air is pure, and many of like plants live there. A person from Earth who somehow was thrown into Knaar, probably would not note any differences. That is, until they took the time to truly look around them. Knaar consists of two major continents. The Eastern Continent, Centra, is rather shaped like a strawberry, broadest at the north. Roughly halfway down it's western side, about one hundred standard miles off the coast, lies Kaylis, a small island perhaps only ten or fifteen miles long and only half that wide. Centra is based on farming and trade, with very little true industry. Any technology that DOES thrive exists only in the three largest coastal cities, all along the western shore.

Malaga, home of the Raiun, a priests' school, is one of them. Some of the most powerful mages of all time reside there, or at the very least, make frequent visits.

Gateway lies just to the south of Malaga, and is the principal shipping point both overland to the east, south, and north, but also to the west, across the Great Central Sea to the Seven Kingdoms, the Western Continent. Traders with any sense pay their way into the massive Square of Candles in Gateway. It has been rumored that on any given day, more than a million people are in the cobble-stoned Square at any given point, mingling with horses from the Great Central Desert more than a hundred miles to the east, peddlers from the tiny communities all around the coastline, and thraders of both high and low repute. A artist once likened the Square of Candles at night to be "What the Halls of the Gods must look like", decorated with the gaily colored banners of the traders, the tiny glow-beasts kept in cages that act as candles, lighting the Square until well after dark. It is a place known to awe those of the most stout heart.

Far to the south then, more than two hundred miles down the coastline of Centra, lies Shadril. Any man would be hard pressed to find a greater den of snakes than Shadril. The government has long since been under the control of the Thieves' Guild. Only the very shrewdest or the very dumbest of traders ever stops in Shadril. The latter never leave.

Besides these three, Centra is little more than scattered "baronies", large patches of furtile land ruled over by the local baron. The heart of each barony rests in its main complex, usually a tower hulk of a structure, a city within walls, the streets cobbled, with a massive castle at one end, where the baron resides. They vary in size based on the taste of the baron himself, or baroness, and the wealth of each barony. Thusly, the "cities" are more of a show of power than anything else. A few of the largest, or best known are the Ruins of Salion, a barony complex destroyed by dragons more than five hundred years ago, but still a place reeking of magic and the ghosts of royalty. Agras lies to the north, under the control of a rather cruel baron named Lethan Aslan, a man more obsessed with planting the royal seed, so to speak, then governing, a habit which has begotten him more than one illegitimate son. Alexandria, a tiny barony under the rule of a young baron, thrives. It is inland, and south of Salion. The "palace" is a small place, nothing more than a large house really, but the barony thrives on trade and marketing, through the skillful manipulations of the baron, Justen Lightspire........

The Western Continent

Little is known about the Western Continent, only that it is called the Seven Kingdoms, and ruled from a city perched high in the mountains along it's northern border, the cloudtop city of Mythe, home of the queen, Edilia Reyarth the Eternal. Her reign has lasted for more than a thousand years. Under her command is only one man, a creature created through black magic, bred to be evil and secretive, but choosing to remain with the one kingdom that has remained through his long life. His name is Sebastian, the Guardian of the Seven Kingdoms. Among the dangers of the Western Continent, few have not allied themselves to him or his dying race, the Black Mages. Among those are the Fande Trees of the southern half, carnivorous beasts that have the ability to slowly move, but rather enjoy waiting and looking like shrubbery, lurking and then capturing the unwary travelers in their branches, assuring the human a slow and painful death. They will attack almost anything, but humans are preferred. They are "softer". All in all, the Western Continent is not a place to the trifled with, and a few of the truly brave traders and seafarers frequent its coasts, but rarely venture inland. After all, one never knows when the tree they sit under will be licking its lips.......

[Back to Main Page] [About the Spire's Creator] [Links] [Tales]
[The Inn of the Weeping Rose]