Korovia #
Korovia is an independent city-state located in The Wastes. As a modestly large city of around 19,500 denizens, it is the largest gathering of semi-intelligent and intelligent vampires on either plane. The demographic composition of Korovia is approximately 65% vampires, 25% demons of varying types, and 10% varied/other races.
Geography #
Korovia is located in Shademarsh, a wetland region located in the southern-central part of The Wastes. The city is round, roughly 16 kilometers/10 miles in diameter, and is built over a number of connected stonework foundations. These large stone slabs were originally situated upon a series of hills fortified through both magical and architectural means to be resistant to the soil movement endemic to the region.
| Domain | The Wastes |
|---|---|
| Size | Large City |
| Demographic (Primary) | Vampire |
| Government | Aristocracy |
| Current Ruler | Lord Agorian Dravak |
| Allegiance | City-State |
| Population | 19,500 |
Korovia is the seat of power for organized vampiric society and is home to the autocratic noble houses which exert control over it.
The city itself is divided into an outer ring, where the lower castes and feral creatures live, and an inner ring where the nobility lives. The outer ring is segmented into five districts by huge gated walls, with the districts containing roadways in and out of the city being reserved for vampiric inhabitants and the districts deeper inside the city (and thus less accessible) being home to the non-vampiric citizens.
The inner ring is made up of one single district with distinctive areas, including a marketplace, housing estates for the nobility, facilities for the refinement, storage, and distribution of blood tithes gathered from the city’s living inhabitants, and other buildings related to serving the luxurious whims of the vampiric elite.
Climate #
During The Primordial Age and the forming of the two planes, the natural distribution of elements followed the migration patterns of the Precursor Colossi. Over time, it developed that The Wastes had a lower concentration of water than The Ever Reach, a geological pattern that was cemented with the death of the Precursor Colossus of Water at the hands of the Dragons. With the Great Division, when the Mortal gods split the Wastes from The Ever Reach, all naturally occurring sources by which the water cycle of The Wastes was replenished were forever cut off. At the same time, the significant bias towards elemental fire and chaos supercharged the climate cycle, driving the evaporation of remaining water sources and increasing the overall dryness of the plane. As a result, the Wastes took on the properties of a barren, dry, and dead land.
The Shademarsh stands out as the single unique region in that it contains water reserves. These reserves are supplied by naturally occurring water and ice formations in the northern region of The Ever Reach which are gradually expelled over the edge of the world and into the emptiness of space. As it falls near the radiant heat of the plane, it melts and reaches the very edge of The Wastes where it pools in the Shademarsh as liquid water. This water maintains most of the same properties of natural elemental water in The Ever Reach, however the presence of elements such as chaos, evil, darkness, and more alter it slightly, increasing its acidity and turning it into a dirty green liquid that, in large enough quantities or over a long enough period of time, can be toxic to living creatures that drink it.
Although these water reserves are poisonous, certain types of plant life native to The Wastes have a natural resistance to the toxins that originate from the elements local to the region in which they grow. This plant life is generally twisted and dark, having adapted and grown in a world of such elements and without the influence and balance of elements such as life, light, or order.
The resulting landscape is a bleak, sickly looking hill-scape of marshy lakes, dead trees, and dangerous predatory vegetation. With no natural day-night cycle, to end the perpetual darkness, visibility is generally low and limited by what little moonlight is available. While not overly cold, temperatures generally remain cool enough that a noxious fog hovers over the land in perpetuity.
Few living inhabitants of The Ever Reach have ever ventured into the Shademarsh, and fewer still have ventured into Korovia. The scarce reports that have been gathered by The Arcanum Order make clear that the region is unsuitable for long-term habitation by living creatures, and that those who wish to venture into it for any reason should be prepared for the highest levels of environmental danger.
Society #
Government #
Trade #
Since most of the inhabitants of Korovia are varying forms of undead, needs such as food and water do not generally apply to them, and they are impervious to the dangers of the elements. Additionally, political and military might in the city-state is derived from magical prowess and affinity, which itself is gained and potentially redistributed only during a celestial event known as the prominence. As a result, socio-economic growth and movement among the citizens is highly uncommon, and not influenced by value or wealth. Concepts such as entrepreneurship and wealth-making are nearly nonexistent. Likewise, without the need for basic provisions, trade generally centers around the various desires held by the different creatures living there. The vast majority of economic activity within Korovia relates to the acquisition of luxury goods or services, or else the specific affairs of the ruling class.
Because of this, vampiric nobles frequently trade in favors or debts of gratitude rather than a tangible currency, especially when both parties are denizens of the city-state. When legal tender is required, the most common object used as currency are the blood reserves owned by the noble houses engaged in the exchange. For trade with non-vampiric creatures, inhabitants will generally offer objects of some small power or, when no items of sufficient value can be found, raw resources that their trade partner can then take to another settlement to trade for a currency of their choice.
Most higher-end organized trade in the city occurs directly between two parties - while Korovia has a marketplace, most nobles generally view it as beneath them for members of their estate to visit such a bazaar in person. These marketplaces are instead frequented by the semi-intelligent vampires of the lower and middle castes seeking what cheap luxuries they can find. Nobles instead employ a number of servants and negotiators on their behalf to identify objects or services of their desire and determine terms of trade. Only when a deal has been reached will it be presented to them, and if it is agreeable to both parties these negotiators will be compensated in part for their effort.
The most common goods and services traded within the city are artifacts of power, captives sold into servitude or for blood farming, information and items useful for extortion and blackmail, mercenary and magical contracts, and objects to further magical experimentation and exploration.