Vashkar

Across the vast ocean from Noverra and Arius, the continent of Vashkar remains a land of mystery, resilience, and quiet strength. Where Arius has built its legacy on industrialisation and Noverra has been shaped by war, Vashkar has endured through isolation, adaptation, and deep-rooted traditions.

Unlike the rapidly modernising nations across the sea, Vashkar’s development has been shaped by its harsh geography, diverse cultures, and long-standing conflicts. Its people have lived through great upheavals, natural disasters, internal wars, and the slow encroachment of foreign influences. But despite these challenges, Vashkar has remained largely self-sufficient, wary of outside powers and protective of its way of life.

While not untouched by technological progress, Vashkar’s people have approached modernisation on their own terms, adopting selective innovations rather than wholesale industrialisation. The continent is home to sprawling cities and powerful trade networks, yet much of its land remains untamed, ruled by ancient customs, warlords, and political intrigue.

Geography and Climate

Vashkar’s landscape is as varied as its people, with distinct regions, each shaping the lives of those who inhabit it.

The Western Highlands

A rugged expanse of mountains, deep valleys, and mist-covered forests. Small, independent kingdoms and warrior-clans dominate this region, resisting outside control for centuries. The terrain makes large-scale warfare difficult, favouring guerrilla tactics and defensive strongholds. Some highland cities have begun embracing mechanised industry, using water mills and early steam power, but modernisation is slow.

The Central Basin

A dry, windswept plateau, home to nomadic groups and scattered city-states. The people here have mastered water conservation and trade, controlling vital caravan routes that stretch across the continent. Once home to a mighty empire, the region is now politically fractured, its cities competing for dominance through commerce, diplomacy, and occasional warfare.

The Southern Rainforests

A region of dense jungles, winding rivers, and coastal trade hubs. This is Vashkar’s most economically connected region, as its ports serve as the primary gateway for foreign trade. However, much of the interior remains wild and uncharted, with indigenous communities who have resisted outside influence for centuries. The rainforests also hide the ruins of long-lost civilisations, attracting explorers and scholars, many of whom never return.

The Eastern Coast and Archipelagos

A maritime region of rocky cliffs, fishing villages, and scattered island chains. Seafaring nations dominate the region, maintaining naval trade routes and private fleets that enforce their control. These coastal cities act as Vashkar’s primary link to the outside world, engaging in selective trade with Arius and Noverra, though they remain deeply cautious of foreign intentions.

Society and Political Landscape

Vashkar has never been a single, unified nation. Instead, it consists of competing kingdoms, city-states, and tribal federations, each with their own governance and ambitions. Power is fragmented, and alliances shift frequently, with diplomacy often proving as valuable as military strength.

Key Powers in Vashkar

The Highland Confederacy

A loosely allied group of clan lords and warrior-kingdoms in the Western Highlands. Historically distrustful of centralised rule, these states resist foreign intervention and have maintained their independence through military resilience and strategic diplomacy.

The Ivory League

A powerful trade coalition based in the Central Basin, controlling caravan routes and resource production. Though officially neutral, the League wields immense economic power, often influencing political decisions across the continent.

The Republic of Sanjur

A major coastal power in the south, embracing industrialisation and foreign trade. Sanjur’s leaders have adopted many Arianian and Norvadan technologies, modernising their infrastructure while maintaining their own cultural identity. This has put them at odds with more traditionalist factions, who fear outside influence will erode Vashkar’s independence.

The Maritime Principalities

A collection of naval city-states along the eastern coast, controlling shipbuilding, trade, and piracy. These principalities are known for their ruthless pragmatism, striking deals with foreign merchants while ensuring that no single outside power gains too much influence.

The Ember Pact

A secretive organisation said to operate from within Vashkar’s deepest jungles. Rumours suggest they are the descendants of an ancient ruling class, quietly influencing events from the shadows. Whether the Pact is real or a myth used to explain political intrigue remains an open question.

Vashkar and the Outside World

Vashkar has maintained a deliberate distance from the struggles of Arius and Noverra, engaging with foreign nations on its own terms. While some regions, particularly Sanjur and the coastal cities, have embraced elements of modernisation, most of Vashkar remains wary of outside influence, fearing exploitation and cultural erosion.

Relations with Noverra

The nations of Noverra, weakened by war, have little direct involvement in Vashkar, though some Noverran merchants and refugees have begun seeking opportunities along its coasts. However, Vashkaran leaders view Noverra as a warning, a land consumed by war and industrial greed, a fate they do not wish to share.

Relations with Arius

Arianian explorers and entrepreneurs see Vashkar as a land of opportunity, ripe for economic partnerships and resource extraction. Some Vashkaran cities have welcomed Arianian innovations, while others vehemently resist foreign involvement, seeing it as a prelude to domination.

Vashkar’s Own Future

With the world changing rapidly, Vashkar faces a difficult question: embrace modernisation and risk losing its identity, or remain isolated and risk being left behind? Tensions between traditionalists and reformists are rising, and in the coming years, Vashkar’s decisions may shape not just its own fate, but the fate of the world.

The Road Ahead

Vashkar is no longer an isolated frontier, it is a land on the cusp of transformation. Foreign nations eye its resources, internal factions vie for power, and long-standing traditions clash with the pressures of modernity. Whether through war, diplomacy, or quiet resistance, the people of Vashkar will determine their own fate.

And in the depths of its uncharted lands, there are still secrets waiting to be uncovered and truths that could change the course of history.

The Shadows of the Past

For all its resilience and determination to forge its own path, Vashkar is a land haunted by its past. Though much of the world views the continent as a place of rugged independence and untapped potential, those who have lived through its hidden conflicts know better. Beneath its bustling trade routes, towering highlands, and dense jungles lies a history of lost civilisations, forgotten wars, and secrets that many would rather keep buried.

The Ruins of the Old Empire

Centuries ago, before Vashkar became a land of fractured city-states and feuding factions, it was home to a great empire—one whose name has been lost to time. Scattered ruins, ancient roads, and crumbling fortresses dot the landscape, hinting at a once-unified power that spanned the entire continent. What happened to this empire remains a matter of speculation; some claim it fell to infighting, others to a cataclysmic event no one wishes to speak of. A few scholars whisper of an ancient betrayal, of something buried deep beneath the earth, something that was meant to stay forgotten.

The Warlord Eras

Following the empire’s fall, Vashkar entered an era of chaos and bloodshed. For generations, warlords, kings, and self-proclaimed rulers fought over the ruins, carving out territories with steel and fire. These conflicts shaped the modern nations and powers of the continent, but they also left scars, old grudges, unsettled debts, and ancestral feuds that still linger in the minds of many. Some of the most powerful families in Vashkar trace their bloodlines to these warlords, their fortunes built on centuries of conquest and survival.

The Hidden Powers

Not all wars in Vashkar have been fought with swords and gunpowder. In the shadows of its cities, in the depths of its jungles, and in the ruins of its lost empire, whispers speak of forces that still pull the strings. The Ember Pact, if it truly exists, may be the last remnant of a forgotten order, one that seeks to guide, or control, the fate of the continent. Others believe in more supernatural influences, ancient entities tied to the land itself, waiting for the right moment to rise again.

The Future of Vashkar

With the world moving forward at an unprecedented pace, Vashkar stands at a crossroads. The industrialised nations of Arius look to its shores, seeking new markets and resources, while the weakened nations of Noverra may see Vashkar as a place to rebuild or escape their war-torn past. The choices made in the coming years will define whether Vashkar remains a land of independence or falls into the same patterns of conquest, colonisation, and conflict that have shaped its history before.

But one thing is certain: Vashkar has endured before, and it will endure again.