Karral

The planet Karral was green and verdant, and it’s people like any in a typical category lesser-7 un-contacted civilisation. They fought their wars, worshipped their gods, wove their spells. Their world was as peaceful as can be reasonably imagined, and brimming with the richness of life and magic as a world reasonably can be.

The arrival of the Exarchs of The Argent Court was like a dam breaking, a flood of technology and new war swept over Karral. The Argent Court brought across the stars the knowledge of industry and production, the harnessing of magic into power and energy to power the machines of a new age. They, and their chosen followers, were the founders of a new empire, crushing the old world beneath them.

Above it all, the great ash eye still turns its gaze down upon the world, an unblinking watcher of the planet below.

The World of Karral

The world of Karral is the long past of Ashkar. It is a roughly-earth sized rocky moon, orbiting a gas giant known as the Great Ash Eye, or the eye.

• Karral is:
  • Roughly earth-sized rocky moon (surface gravity 0.93 earth’s), and with a day cycle of 22 hours.
  • Orbits the Great Ash Eye at a period of 3 Karral days.
  • Orbits the eye out of the solar plane, meaning eclipses are rare.
• ~50% surface one large landmass, also referred to as Karral.
  • Was once predominantly lush jungle, rolling plains, and airy mountains. Now the great desert grows from the West as the mining concerns of the dragon empire continue to expand.
  • Extreme and relatively slow tides, creates complex ecosystem at shoreline.
• The life on the planet is rich and vibrant.
  • The forests are dark and strange, richly coloured and scented, with a thick underbrush, giant mushrooms, and trees reaching up to a canopy far above.
  • The creatures are strange and diverse, with anything from 4 to 8 limbs.
• Karral is a world of old magic
  • Not everyone can work magic, it requires rigorous study, or an innate knack
  • But everyone is aware of it, and only a very poor (or shortsighted) noble house would not employ a wizard at their hold.
  • Magical power comes from many sources:
    • Veins of the inky black liquid metal running through the earth called the Formulate, this is a precious resource brimming with magical potential, and the Argent Court arrived on this planet to extract it.
    • The power of the Eye above.
    • The power of the dragons themselves.
• Karral has undergone a technological boom, with the knowledge of the Exarchs spreading across the world. New machines, technology, and strange devices are found everywhere.
  • They are powered by cells, honeycomb crystal structures set in metal frames that can storage magical power. They are reusable, but their manufacture is a closely guarded secret of the Dragon Empire.
  • Machines in this world are very clicky and clunky, with levers and knobs and dials. They are made of rusty or oily metal, and are dirty. Rarely wood, rarely ornaments - save on expensive magical handguns and other devices of high expense, made for the nobles of the Dragon Empire.
• Karral is now almost entirely unified under the rule of The Argent Court, the dragons sitting at the top of the Dragon Empire.
  • The old nobility capitulated or died defending their holds.
  • The Silver Church is the only allowed religion.
  • A few mountain countries, and some of the outlying islands off the coast of Karral remain unconquered, due to the protection of ancient wardings or simply being too unimportant to conquer.

The People of Karral

The people of Karral are known collectively as mortals. None of the mortal races have any particular affinity for magic over any of the others, and before the rise of the Dragon Empire lived in as much harmony as different intelligent species can ever be expected to.

Humanity

The most abundant mortal species on Karral. Traditionally held to be peoples of the plains and mountains, they now live primarily in the new cities of the Dragon Empire.

They have a reputation amongst other mortals of being intensely focused sometimes to the point of bloody-mindedness and generosity.

Domiporta

The Domiporta concept and all of this detail was provided by one of the players, Rachael.

The Domiporta and nature are one and the same, their lives are the natural cycle of the world. They believe themselves the oldest beings of Karral, created by Obo in the first days. The Domiporta do not die, they return themselves to the world and are reborn when the great God Obo decides they are needed again. They used to roam freely and widely through the thick forests of Karral but their habitats have shrunk and reduced by the war and now they only exist in the deepest and most unreachable corners of Karral.

Details

• Follow a snail deity: the Giant iridescent snail “Obo”.
• Believe that Obo is the first god who created all life and who used to roam the forests freely visiting the tribes but sightings decreased and hasn’t been seen at all in over 150 years - believed slain or weakened by the dragon empire.
• Domiporta believe all humanoids evolved from gastropod form and the more humanoid = more disconnected from Obo.
• Tribe didn’t know about the war but saw the dragons and associated their first arrival with the beginning of the tainted times and suspected they are the reason behind the shrinking ecosystems - tribal belief is not that they are some occupying force but that they are an omen or evil spirit that was first spotted overhead 180 years ago.
• Favourite plant: Gunnera Gastropoda - giant rhubarb leaf plant, leaves can grow over 50 feet, flowers once every third year - flowers reflect oil slick iridescent lights - different colours from every angle, produces fruit so bright and sacred that Domiporta only age up on fruit producing years (referred to as The Bloom) - they MUST get to a gunnera for this or their spirits become chronologically disconnected from other Domiporta (believed to lose some snail traits and become more humanoid) - require ritual using ground gunnera seeds and shaman to realign with our ancestors if we don’t get home - this powder is hallucinogenic and addictive (the Domiporta don’t seem to realise or understand this).
• Biologically hermaphroditic, essentially egalitarian society but I guess there are no genders so I don’t really know the term.
• Age as humans but don’t use human years as ages, use the years of The Bloom, therefore age we use is essentially a third of human age.
• Develop with shells and grow like little snails until Domiporta age 2 or 3 - any who do not lose their shells are considered by some tribes as more pure and greater connection to Obo - most will keep their shells as spiritual but also they are highly durable and excellent for storage.
• Skin is always slightly moist, like a light glisten, not abundantly obvious but noticeable when close and understood by few who would have knowledge of the snail tribes - need special suit to effectively not dry out when outside of humid natural environments.
• Humanoid form, mouth like snail with many small teeth, eyes on stalks but can retract and held in position like weird uncanny valley human.
• Stayed within tribal areas due to difficulties with travelling etc - Helicarionidae tribe developed limited suits for moisture maintenance to allow them to go out into the world.
• Believe tiny actual snails are spirits, there are different beliefs surrounding this within the Domiporta people, some believe that they could not be reformed into full Domiporta due to a waning of Obo, some believe it is an incubation period of the spirit until their destined time comes, some believe they must be protected as they will regreen the world vs return all humanoids to their snail form vs rise as an army to defeat evil etc etc etc.
• Ancient beliefs are that all are evolved from the true snail form, having been created by Obo in the Greening Times, but have become more humanoid as our spirits and lands are driven further from their divine form.
• The major tribes are:
  • Powellinphanta - aggressive war tribe - reports of cannibalism - attack any who approach.
  • Pomacea - rainforest tribe - swampy amphibious, difficult to find as hide in aquatic tree roots etc.
  • Helicarionidae - fast moving jungle snails - live in deep deep jungle and relocate commune regularly - seen as inferior to other Domiporta as they rarely maintain their shells.
  • Hedleyella - larger nocturnal tribes - live in caves and deep caverns.
  • Thersites - coastal - first to be destroyed by the war as more exposed.

Kilch

Kilch are squid-people, found along the shoreline of Karral. They live, traditionally, in small communities on huge inverted rafts¹ anchored in shallow waters. They can, in actuality, stay on land largely indefinitely, but they prefer not to. The Dragon Empire’s industrial fishing operations have caused a lot of Kilch to migrate away from their homes and up to the frozen north or south of the continent.

They have a reputation amongst other mortals of being creative sometimes to the point of total impracticality and tactful speaking.

Golgolgol

The Golgolgol are a race of six-limbed lizard folk. They have bony plates over their back and neck, and while they usually walk on four legs they can also use their front legs interchangably as a second set of arms. They traditionally lived in the deep jungles of Karral, they now live primarily in the new cities of the Dragon Empire or in desperate fringe settlements at the margins of society.

They have a reputation amongst other mortals of careful analytical thinking to the point of coldness and honesty & fair dealing.

Footnotes

1. The rafts are made up of logs or other buoyant material strapped together, the buildings the Kilch live in are then built on the underside of this large flat raft, submerged into the water. ↩