The Six Provinces of Rekōdo
Rekodo City is at the heart of the Country of Rekōdo and is the epicenter of its magik. On all sides it is surrounded by the 6 Provinces. Rekōdo City itself does not cater or favor one specific province, but like any big city with a vast network of cultures, it has sections that are "Little Provinces" and sport the colors, fashion, foods, educational advancement and practices of a particular province.
Below are the Six Provinces and their current Council Members:
The Province of Taroc
Guild Master: Alain LeCavalier
Founding Spirit: Clow
Colors: Red & Gold
Tradition of Magik: Divination
The Taroc are a very serious people for their art and do not take the magik they do as lightly as the other provinces do. They came from the West originally, navigating by the stars and guided by them to what would be Rekōdo. Their destiny brought them to this land. Their primary practice is in predictions, fortune, and prophesy: the Arts of Divination. Many from this province are the "authors" of the predictive texts. They are a people constantly trying to advance their magik and sight through harnessing the magik of foresight with tarot cards, star-reading, reading tea leaves, prophetic writing and vision-seeing. Initially, they were the gypsies and fortune-tellers of the land, but have since grown into a powerful province of sophistication, might and dedication. There are orders and temples dedicated to the specialization of each of the areas of Divination. The land of Taroc ranges from ocean cliffside in the north to rolling hills where wild horses roam, long stretches of grassland for farming and ranching and warm southern beaches. It was a woman called Deanna of the Hills, born of the first people of Taroc, who was said to have captured the heart of Liar'Adon the Creator and as favor her people were gifted with the Stars in the night's sky. It is said that the Taroc are an arrogant people, but who could not be proud of such a rich, strong history?
The capital city is Clow. It is the largest city and boats a wealth of fruition from hundreds of years of hard work. Taroc boasts the most developed cities of all the Provinces. It also has the most extensive coastline and strongest fleet of ships, both air and naval. The island of Faraking is home to the floating Heli'Dom, the largest telescope in Rekōdo. The people of Taroc are everything from sailors to farmers, to visionaries, to seers, and businessmen, ranchers and traditional gypsies. Their strength of unity and organization rivals all other provinces and is one of their greatest assets. They are varied, but they are extremely loyal. Taroc is located on the Western most border of Rekōdo City.
The Province of Shamaa
Guid Master: Mindoka
Founding Spirit: Siochana
Colors: Brown & Blue
Tradition of Magik: Earthen/Spirit Magik
Natural Magik is one of the oldest magiks known to man. It dictates that everything (people, animals, plants, rivers, mountains, etc.), everything natural, not man-made, has a Spirit that can be called upon to guide, help or give information etc. This is known as Animism. The Shamaa are the only ones who can naturally call upon these Spirits. The Shamaa can see into the 'Spirit World' (sometimes thought to be the Dream World) where these spirits dwell. The Shamaa are very traditional and many remain in their tribal formations and lodgings. Some have adapted to city life, but adhere to traditions during sacred times. Many think them barbaric when more sophisticated living is available to their world. Though the Shamaa are among the native peoples of Rekōdo, it is they who have the most people who have talents for Dream Walking, waking or sleeping freely in the World of Dreams with control and without the use of a Totem. The Shamman also have a master of herbology and potions, making them among the best naturalists and makers of old potions and medicine. Each person born a Shamaa as an Animal Spirit to guide them. In essence, it is like a Familiar or patronus, personifying the person's soul in animal form. A Shamaa man or woman can undergo a Rite of Passage by venturing into the Tiarna Wood, the oldest place in Rekōdo, where old, wild magik still reigns. There, they drink the waters there- water that nullifies all magik ability- and have visions. By this, they can become honored members of their tribes. The Shamaan are among the greatest animorphs, taking on the appearance of their spirit guide or projecting them.
The people of Shamaa often dress naturally, using natural things such as animals, bones, furs, skins etc. over man-made fabrics. Their land is rich in unspoiled beauty. The edge of the Hundred Year Plains skirts across their northwestern border with Taroc and to the south and east are lush, ancient forests steeped in lore and Old Magik. Shamaa hosts two great lake-riverways. One flows to the north and out along the Taroc-Maginus border, the other South into the Sea of Sul. Tradisi shelters a deep trench called Echo Deep where ancient creatures are rumored to lurk. The forests melt into moist marshlands on its southern-most hook where is borders the Wilderlands. The capital, Siochana is nestled directly in the middle of the lakes at the heart of the Province. Shamaa is located on the Southern most border of Rekōdo City.
The Province of Astral
Guild Master: Herotus
Founding Spirit: Dayena
Colors: Purple & Yellow
Tradition of Magik: Illusionary & Creative
To the Southeast of Rekōdo City is the luxurious and lush Province of Astral. Its western border is lined with border forests that mirror Shamaa's. Its center is rich in the lush southern grasslands of the edge of the Hundred Year Plains. A river and lake near the capital city of Dayena divide the Province into its wealthy upper half and naturally beautiful and peaceful lower half. The eastern portion of the province is tropical and a tourist hot-spot. While it touches no oceans, Siadharri and all of Lake Doras make up for that. the Zhido Canal, which divides Lake Doras from the Da'Jinn-controlled Lake Anaya, is rich in trade. Adaya's Temple upon the lake is a mecca for those craving the wilds of night life. The mysterious Six Stones of Past lie in the southern heart of the Province and the infamous White Towers of Dayena are where all, regardless of their province of birth, who have talent in the White Light of Healing go to pursue their training.
It is a beautiful province and it is filled with beautiful people. Astral puts a lot of value in the created as much as the real. The Arts are honed and perfected in Astral and it boasts the best artists, dancers, musician, sculptors, painters, singers and healers. They are also the most crafty, employing some of the best illusionists, magician and inventors. They are expert mathematicians and have found ways to bend geometrics and physics to the will of their magik. Astral spends a vast amount of time trying to create a world where anything and everything is accepted and possible. It is a province wealthy with talent and beauty, both in their terrain and people. The Astrals are chiseled pieces of human perfection, more self-centered than their naturally-centered neighbors to the west. The people of Astralian are a semi-self centered people, feeding their ego with the images they project and maintain. Their bodies are flaunted in their tropical climate and exotic, sometimes seen as scandalous, garb. Much stock is put into their physical appearances. Astralians are among the most beautiful and exotic-looking people of Rekōdo.
The Province of Da'Jinn
Guild Mistress: Jinai
Founding Spirit: J'Adonai
Colors: Orange & Green
Tradition of Magik: Elemental & Wish/Fate
To the East of Rekōdo City lies the dry Province of Da'Jinn. Opposite of Taroc, the people of Da'Jinn are ancient nomads that came to Rekōdo from the Far East, across the Shifting Sands and Desert Eternal Sun. They are a skeptical people, a self-isolated people steeped in ancient, undying tradition. Its fully desert-like climate makes for little change in a vastly nomadic people who travel to great cities and out again as quickly as they entered. Some use portals, traveling long, magikal routes from the Ancestral Ruins, mapped out eons ago by their ancestors, to doorways in the desert- though the old ways have long fallen into abandon and disrepair with the inescapable influence of modern magik. Most of its population prefer a more physical movement among the desert with tents and beasts of burden. Their harsh, strict lifestyles are opposite to much of the other provinces in Rekōdo. Because of its unwavering glue to tradition and nomadism, Da'Jinn has the least amount and least-populated cities in all of Rekōdo. The only exceptions are J'Adonai, its capital and the most western of cities where the hub of trade and western politics mingle with eastern goods and fares and Mararat, the city farthest east and richest in merchants and their wares from across the desert. Mararat's population shifts seasonally with the occasional nomadic tribe stopping in for supplies before moving out again. Lake Anaya and the Sea of Serpens provide water of food, but little else in the ways of income and tourism due to their arid and fluctuation in supremely hot and bitter cold climates.
The magikal forte of the Da'Jinn are wishes and fate. Their Provincial name literally means 'masters of Jinn.' A Jinn is an elemental force of nature birthed from the elements. The two main types are the Jinn (spirits of air) and the Efreet (spirits of fire). Earthen and Water-based Jinn exist, but those elements are scarce among the hot, airy desert landscape. Both are incredibly powerful and difficult to deal with if you are not a Da'Jinn. To better master them, the Da'Jinn have Totems hidden on their person to help control their Jinn of Efreet. These Totems can be anything from a necklace to a nose-ring to a gold cap on a tooth, but are traditionally something precious. Some Jinn are confined to lamps and sold into the markets of Rekōdo as genies- spirits who grant wishes. It is an archaic practice, but still used especially among the nomads, to sell people into the bonds of such or other types of servitude. The bands on their wrists and legs mark them as bound servants to pay off a magikal debt by bringing wishes and fortune to those who possess their prison (lamp). The Da'Jinn dress in long garb and wear turban or wrap-styled hats to avoid the desert heat, wind and sand. Women, especially those married into or daughter of great wealth, often wear a shawl over their hair and faces and vast amounts of sculpted jewelry to show off such wealth. it is a highly partiarchal society where women have little sway.
The Province of Maginus
Guild Master: Darmon
Founding Spirit: Arxus
Color: Black & Dark Blue
Tradition of Magik: The Dark Arts
The Northern-most Province is set in a colder, more hilly and mountainous climate and it's reflected in their wardrobe. The Magini wear long, layered robes, high-necked sweaters and everything wrapped in additional shawls and cloaks. Maginus has a strict caste system with little upward movement for those who are not so fortunate to be in their upper crust. Theirs is the power based from witchcraft and warlockery, of ancient runes and dark rituals centuries old. The Dark Arts often involves blood rites and rituals of the oldest kind, from the age when people were primal and sacrificed or worshipped in exchange for power. Many of the modern Magini specialize in the Soul, ancient runes and creatures of lore. Controversially, there is still much in the way of Necromancy, especially among the High Priesthood. Ancient, family power is revived through ritual surrounding the deceased. While considered taboo and against nature, re-animation of the dead or the re-use of Souls is a practice that has not fully been extinguished in Maginus.
The Province of Maginus is a place that has know warfare for much of its life, and it is reflected in the reflected cities it has populated along its borders with other provinces. The cities of Windf'rte, Elve and Krig all stand across the border from another province's major city in a defensive gesture. The northern-most province of Rekōdo sees the Hills of Deanna swell into steep hillsides of the Northern Hills along the entirety of it's western and northwestern half. It boasts it's own cliffside shorelines along the throat of the Bay of Rekōdo that it shares with Taroc. The southern, eastern and northeastern entirety of the province is the drier, alee portion of the grasslands of the Hundred Year Plains. the mountains, the vast Great Swells eat up the entire northern portion of the province. The city of Arx, its capital, it protected from its greatest rivals in Taroc, by the southern-most tip of the mountains. Well forged trails and roadways lead into the Great Hold, the stronghold and mightiest fortress of Maginus. It is home to the Guild Master, the High Priests and the greatest Maginus has to offer. In the Dragon Range, along the border with the Unsettled Lands, Maginus has station Lesser Holds in defense against their never-ending disagreement with the Dragons that live beyond. The Hydros islands in the Sea of Serpens by its border with Da'Jinn are, scornfully, the only islands Maginus can lay claim to in either of it's watery borders.
The Islands of Enchantry
Guild Mistress: Nalia
Founding Spirit: None
Color: Green & Black
Tradition of Magik: Totem Discovery & Creation
Enchantry is located in a scattered grouping of islands called the Aile Bones between Taroc's Faraking Island and the western coastline of Maginus. The closest island to the mainland boasts the city of Capios, the single city and capital of the newest and smallest province in Rekōdo. The Guild was founded recently by Nalia al'Vatar, whose exiled birthright is Astral. the purpose of Enchantry stems from Nalia's passion: the discovery, unearthing and education of old artifacts on the islands called Totems. Totems are anything magikal in origin from the early eras of Rekōdo that heighten a specific magikal ability. Stone rings on a necklace are Totems often found on people who wish to Dreamwalk, though such artifacts are not handed out lightly. Totems are most prevalent in two places in Rekōdo: The Aile Bones and the Tiarna Woods. The only other place to still have Old Magik is in the territories around Rekōdo: The Unsettled Lands and the Wilderlands. The Ailes are terribly old and riddled with ruins and artifacts. Some have potentially dangerous power. Enchantry has made it its mission to find, catalogue and distribute as necessary to the Guilds where they would best fit any Totems that are uncovered within the boundaries of Rekōdo. They are stored and studied by the people of Enchantry. Some artifacts have unknown abilities and women who tried their power have died using them. They are the keepers of all great artifacts found in the Provinces of Rekōdo.
Nalia's talents are not something that stem from her birthright and, though she was exiled and trained in both Maginus and Taroc, she created Enchantry so that any who felt out-of-place in their own homeland had a haven where they could potentially employ their talents. Unfortunately, men are shown to have a harder time adjusting to the constant hum of the Old magik that permeates the Ailes. To prevent a civil war within the city-guild, and to prevent any permanent damage from the madness brought on by the Old Magik, the men were expelled from the Ailes. The province of Enchantry is the only Guild that is open exclusively and entirely to women. The term for the women is Enchantresses. The name usually refers to the magik of coercion and control, but such things are illegal.
The Aile Bones are a small smattering of land within the cold, northern waters of the Ocean of Liar'Adon. The islands range from beautiful hillsides to rough, craggy outcroppings of rock jutting from the water. The climate is moist, receiving much rain that makes the hillsides a rich emerald green. The summers are cool and the winters cold and snowy. Trade with the mainland if prevalent to the function of the Enchantry Guild, though extended stay is not recommended for many who are not accustomed to the constant feel of Old Magik. The City of Capios is the only developed city on the Ailes, though the Enchantresses and their Novices often make excursion out into the other islands through the use of old Totems that were fashioned as teleportal stones linked to the larger of the Ailes. Though small, Enchantry's influence on Rekōdo if great. It is a link to the past and a gateway to the future for many who do not fit the provincial norms of their world.
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