Ochellus

Ochellus is the only known continent on the planet of the same name.

Geography

The continent of Ochellus can best be described as treacherous; defined by its six enormous craters and their jagged rings of mountains, deep gorges, twisted rivers, and shattered islands,  it has many scars from when it was struck by celestial bodies in ancient times. Its climate ranges from frozen tundra and ice-locked ports in the north to arid steppe land and small jungles on its most remote southern isles. The rough terrain features many volcanoes, cliffs, and sheer drops due to its violent origins.

Setting

Eighty years ago, a great war rocked the continent after the momentous discovery of magical beings hidden deep within the earth.

While the people of Ochellus had long worshipped the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the great ring which encircles the planet, it was only a scant century ago when an earthquake revealed to an enterprising mining guild the unexpected boons that the heavens had sent down to lie dormant in the earth: human figures, locked away in gems of all kinds, and seemingly asleep for centuries.

When these creatures were released and their divine powers revealed, it was not long before the three kingdoms sought the means to control them. The first miners tore the enormous gems apart for their incredible value, and through experimentation and dialogue with the alien, celestial creatures, it was found that their souls could be bent to the will of mortals through the use of soul-rings forged in the volcanic fires of the great Mount Arula. The wonder of discovering magic, real magic, was short-lived, however: less than three decades after their discovery, these Fallen were turned to the weapons of war.

The ensuing conflagration raged across every corner of the continent, from the free cities to the wild lands. The three kingdoms' bitter struggle for supremacy took on a brutal new hue as men and women flung these Fallen into battle. Eventually, after a decade of war that threatened to tear down the foundations of civilization itself, the ruling monarchs of the three kingdoms realized the need for peace.

Since then, the three dominant kingdoms of the continent have reached a tenuous balance, each one enjoying a long period of relative stability. With the peace came agreements which in fact worsened the lot of slaves across the continent; no longer could a freed slave seek refuge in one of the neighbouring kingdoms without fear of repatriation. Technology advanced: the first airships took to the skies, and now the shadows of their passing are a common sight across Ochellus.

The world of Ochellus is in balance, but it is not tranquil. Inequality is boundless, determined by birth, with all the powers of the world deeply invested in maintaining the status quo between nobles and commoners, masters and slaves, the civilized and the savage. The terrible might of the Imperi Trave marches on the free cities in the east. In the north, dragons threaten the settled lands of Mod Kulden. And in Capala Calor to the southwest, the king was assassinated only three years ago to leave a child on the throne. Most chilling of all, the assassin is reputed to have been a rogue Fallen.

At the center of these great empires lies the Ringward, a great keep of four towers established as a base of operations for the Guild that once discovered the first Fallen. Tremendously wealthy after that discovery, the Guild became the caretakers of magic itself in the years following the war. In a rare show of unity between the kingdoms, the Guild is tasked with the great responsibility of seeking out renegade Fallen and their descendants of magical heritage and capturing, killing, or otherwise neutralizing the threat that they present to the world's peace.

And now a new influx of nobles approach the towers of the Ringward, come from all across the three kingdoms to replace the score of Guild members lost to a terrible and mysterious disaster.

Unknown to the people of Ochellus, the world balances upon a knife's edge, and at its center is the secluded Ringward.