The Midland

Capital: The Flying City

Government: Council
Rulers: Elementalist, [Diva], Runemaster, Lord Protector and Order of magi
that try and make trees, plants and animals on the grass sea.
Population: Estimated 2,600,000. Midlanders(80%) , Norse(10%), West(1%), East
(4%), South(5%), Vampires(0.03%)

The Midland is called by the locals The sea of grass due to the massive plain is the
nation. From the north to the south it spans almost three hundred kilometers and
from east to south another two hundred and fifty kilometers. Spread over the hills on
the plain along the rivers mostly there are plenty of smaller towns and villages that
live of the land. Most of the buildings in such places are made from stone since wood
is a scarce resource and common folk are encouraged and even sponsored by the
government to plant trees. There are no forests on the massive plains due to the
strong winds that can blow over them so the few trees that do exist are small and
commonly grows in smaller clusters where they can withstands the strong wind.
There have been attempts by several magi over the years to grow larger trees and
with varying degrees of success. The last attempt resulted in a catastrophic event
that created the great lake in the west of the plains.
There is only one large city in the Midlands and that is the capitol, the mighty city
that rose from the ground to protect the people of the Midlands from the invaders of
the Nations of Four Seasons. The great magus and hero now only remembered as
Bahrehltahn which means Maker in the language of the Midlands.
The nation have after the war become a haven for traders and people who wish to
attempt to make a better life on the harsh plains or in the grand city itself.

The War of Four Seasons

The war of Four Seasons began when the northern King Gubrandr
proclaimed that he had been ordained by the Wanderer to seek the spear
that was lost, he managed to unite the Winter kingdoms and marched down
from the north onto the plains with a host that to this day have never been
seen again over three hundred thousand men and women marched with
him, the Ulvar from the frosty forest and the Hrmursar of the mountains
joined his host as well. There are a few old texts that remain from that time
that speak of the Host of Gubrandr as the end times. The few nomadic
tribes that then lived on the Midlands were no match for the great host and
soon they had made camp about fifty kilometers of what would become The
great city. With his army and orders from his God he began his search,
ignoring borders and marching straight into the other three nations. The
Mistress of Autumn was enraged by his intrusion against her nation and
with the aid of the Summer Emperor they joined forces and marched on the
Winter host. But even such a combined army was no match for the massive
host and all would have been lost if it was not for the intervention of the
first of the Sirens who came with the army of the Spring Kingdom and
managed to not annihilate the host but stop it, for while the Sirens song
was indeed a mighty one this was the first time that the Winter Kingdoms
had gone to war and little was known about their magic. She could not have
foreseen the might of the Galdrar, Sejdrar, Staafvirjar and Steinteckrar. The
Runes proved to be a match even for the power of the Siren. But as the
three armies managed to slowly push the host back with force and magic
Gubrandr unleashed a girl no older then fifteen that walked out from the
host towards the armies of the other Seasons and this is what the Scholar
Al-Tunis writes about the event.

From the ranks of giants and beasts a girl that could not even reach
the shoulders of the men she passed, walked with ease as she made
her way to the front. Dressed in nothing but linen with no shield, she
began her walk towards the Three Seasons army. Arrows could not
touch her, steel would not bite and stones shattered against her.
With nothing more then a look men turned to dust and with a wave
of her hand entire regiments vanished. I have seen the weaving of
power before but never anything like this. There was no chanting, no
ritualistic movements and no runes like the other of the Winters
weavers had done. It was clear that what we were dealing with was
unlike anything this world had ever seen. The grand army of the
Three Seasons fled before a girl that cant even have seen her
sixteenth summer.
Al-Trunis, Collected scrolls of the Season war, 4

The girl a Vyrdma was a magus with a very rare gift of being able to hold
the power of the weave inside of herself, she did not need to chant or
speak to cast her spells for they were as much part of her as her flesh and
blood. As the armies fell back before the Host once more the Mistress of
Autumn sent a messenger to the hermit living on a hill and begged him for
help, it was said the man was a powerful magus and the hermit replied that
he would need three days to save the Seasons but the price would be that
if he saved them that they would never wage war on the grass sea again
and that they would never seek to expand their influence over it. Desperate
as they were the three rulers agreed and holding the host for three days
they did, it cost many lives but in the end the hermit upheld his end of the
bargain. Exactly what happened is not clear but we know the result. The
host was broken, Gubrandr dead and the flying island created on which
the City would be built. What happened with the Vyrdma is unknown she
was never seen again and as far as we know no one like her have appeared
since. At the end of the war the remaining rulers of the Winter Kingdoms
was forced to agree to the bargain with the hermit. So that is the war and
why the Midlands are free and have enjoyed peace for generations.

The Midlands
The important places in the Midlands is The Flying City, The Floating City
and The Pillars.
I will only touch on the Flying City briefly since I will dedicate more time to
that later. But the Flying City is located roughly in the center of the
Midlands and rests on top of a massive island that is suspended in the air,
the city was built after the War of Four Seasons and is now considered at
least by Midlanders as the grandest city in the world. It is one of the larger
cities and certainly one of the more impressive ones.

The Floating City

The Floating City is located on the Great Lake that was created after a
experiment from the Order of Elements went wrong and converted a large
area into water, including the Magi that attempted the experiment. They
were trying to create a forest or a large tree, the scholars cant decide on
which it is and to this day its still a matter of heated debate at the forum.
But it did not take long after this large body of water was created for
people to begin to settle close to it, and after a few rivers had been
diverted to lead in and out from the lake it soon began to contain fish and
other life so the fishermen that became so in love with the water decided to
leave the land behind and what started out as a gathering of several larger
boats soon grew into a town then into a city and now its a large floating
mass of wood and timber that houses almost a four hundred thousand
people that most of them have never set foot on dry land. They live of the
ocean and trade happily with those that come to their town. The floating
city have become renown for its duelers that is said to be among the finest
in the Four Seasons and Midland, fighting with a curved dagger in one hand
and a strange short sword in the other the general style of the duelers is
known as Waterdancing but there are many that claim that they would not
be as good on land as they are on the floating timbers of the dueling
arenas.
The city trades happily with the Flying city and they both are ruled by the
council of Magi even if the Floating city have never sworn fealty towards
the council.
The main source of trade is the gems that divers bring from the bottom of
the lake, this is not as easy as it sounds since the lake is deep and now
filled with many dangerous creatures, but many are willing to pay for the
unique gems that comes from it. The gems found in the Great Lake vary in
color but all of them have a inner glow to them that is visible in low light.

The Pillars
The Pillars as they are known is a set of ten towers that are arranged in a
circle around the Floating City, each pillar about ten kilometers from it. The
towers have no entrance and are at the base almost five hundred meters in
diameter, they are made from a smooth stone that is cold to the touch and
there are no joints that can be seen, it have been speculated in the forum
that the stone was created by magic and as such have no seams, another
theory is that the builder was such an accomplished craftsman that the
joints are just not visible between the stones. Many attempts to enter the
towers have been made over the years but there have so far not been
anyone that have been able to prove they have successfully entered one of
the towers even if many have claimed so.
The towers appeared after the floating island was raised at the end of the
war but before the city itself was built. No one knows who built them or for
what purpose but its believed that they were prisons for the most powerful
or dangerous of the enemies during the war and that the Vrydma might
have been locked up in one and Gubrandr in another, since either of them
was not seen after the raising of the island.
The council have offered a high reward for anyone that manages to get into
a tower and be able to show them the way inside as well. The Order of
Elements have made numerous attempts in the last few years using
Geomancers to no avail since their power seem to be unable to affect the
towers themselves. The only known fact about the pillars is that a magi feel
the weave stronger as he gets closer to the towers.