Triaxus - Planete des dragons

[Le maître du jeu(Eretas)]

Pour vous vous aider à comprendre la planète, voici un texte de référence en anglais. Si c'est un problème, faites le moi savoir.

Seasons

Traixus’s  seasons  are  caused  by  its  eccentric  orbit,  yet that  orbit  itself  is  mysterious  and  perhaps  magical  in nature, with the planet seeming to move in slow motion compared  to  its  brethren.  Both  winter  and  summer on  Triaxus  seem  reluctant  to  relinquish  their  reigns, occupying most of the planet’s long “year,” while spring and fall rush past in a generation.In  summer,  Triaxus  is  a  sweltering  paradise  of  fertile fields, dangerous jungles, misty mountains, and warm seas. Food is plentiful, and many cultures abandon traditional farms and cities for long walkabouts and nomadic periods, or else expand their cultivated territories in great leaps and bounds. At the first signs of autumn, however—often given names like the Portent, the Chilling, or the Falling—wise societies begin to make arrangements for the planet’s rapid cooling  and  ecological  shifts.  Glaciers  spring  up  almost overnight  as  winter  arrives  in  earnest.  The  seas,  already gentle and languid because of the planet’s lack of a moon, freeze over at the edges, and many ports are forced to either close  their  harbors  or  uproot  and  move  their  structures miles  out  onto  the  treacherous  ice.  Some  islands  find themselves  suddenly  connected  to  the  mainland  or  each other via ice bridges, allowing people and animals to trade or  migrate  between  them.  Farming  anything  but  those plants and animals adapted to the cold becomes folly as the ground freezes or is buried in snow, and many societies shift to hunting and gathering models. Thus, it’s with great relief that most Winterborn residents welcome the eventual Thaw or Time of Floods, as spring is often known. Yet even this welcome warming of the planet is not without its dangers. As the seas warm up and the glaciers melt, the entire planet is  plagued  by  floods  and  monsoons  that  are  every  bit  asdestructive as the bitter—but stable—cold. New predators forgotten for generations awaken, and skills developed to survive in the winter become obsolete as the traditions of summer living are dusted off.
Triaxian settlements change with the seasons. During the winter, cities are often squat and fortified against the beasts  that  prowl  the  blizzards,  filled  with  hard  people who  protect  what  little  they  have  with  deadly  efficiency.
Some retreat into caves and caverns, and others craft the ice itself into great structures. Those without cities often travel in sleds pulled by domesticated beasts, dwelling in interconnected  igloos  or  animal-skin  huts.  In  summer, however,  the  stone  cores  of  winter  cities  tend  to  be surrounded  by  sprawling  masses  of  breezy,  thin-walled wooden  structures  housing  the  booming  population. While  many  winter  cities  have  tunnels  and  hallways connecting  important  buildings,  some  of  the  greatest cities  are  built  for  both  seasons,  with  the  walls  of  these insulated hallways being taken down in the hot summers to reveal shaded lattice walkways.
At the time of this adventure, Triaxus is still in the grip of winter, though rumors whisper that the weathermages and meteorological prophets have seen signs of the coming Thaw, and that the first of the Transitional Triaxians have been  born—though  how  soon  the  shift  might  begin  in earnest is anybody’s guess.

[Le maître du jeu(Eretas)]

Ecology

Triaxus’s  unique  environment  has  given  rise  to  two distinct  ecosystems.  While  the  physiology  of  a  few creatures,  including  the  Triaxians,  shifts  and  adapts  to the  changing  environment,  most  plants  and  animals are  ascendant  during  only  one  season,  going  dormant or dying back to a tiny minimum population during the other. Such survival methods vary wildly. Some organisms bury eggs or seeds deep in the soil that are programmed not  to  hatch  or  sprout  until  the  favorable  season  has returned,  while  sufficiently  long-lived  creatures  might hide  and  hibernate.  Some  winter-adapted  creatures  like the  fire-horned  acelope  retreat  to  snowy  mountaintops and polar regions during the summer, while the last of the sun-loving karbalands mate and then worm their way into stony niches to die, leaving their gestating young to gnaw their way out of the corpses over the course of decades.
At the moment, the grassy prairies and deep jungles of summer are only a distant memory on Triaxus, as are its summer  residents—the  great  silver  hunting  cats,  leech-bats,  stilt-runners,  porabees,  echo  moles,  and  so  on.  In their place are the hard-edged predators of winter—giant furred  insects  whose  chittering  mandibles  can  tear  a person in half, terrifying frost worms, and the snowbirds whose beaks can punch through plate armor. Some land-based  herbivores  manage  to  subsist  on  the  snowmoss, pale  fungi,  and  hardy  icefruit  trees  that  grow  along  the glaciers and frost-choked fields and taiga, yet in the winter the great lakes and seas are a far better source of food, as aquatic life proceeds with only minimal changes beneath the bergs and ice sheets. Those Winterborn Triaxians who don’t  rely  on  ice-fishing,  whaling,  sharking,  and  other coastal pursuits often raise herd animals like the stringy, goatlike shabals for their blood and milk, working hard to protect them from the moonflowers, stormghosts, ice-shelled  gammenores,  and  psychically  gabbling  moyeyes who would happily take such easy prey. Icy forests make up a large part of the winter landscape, and  Triaxus’s  trees  have  various  ways  of  coping  with  the extreme winters. Some, such as the great conifers, simply shrug  it  off  and  change  hardly  at  all.  Others  lose  their leaves and go dormant, sometimes actively expanding their capillaries and allowing their sap to freeze solid, turning themselves into frozen sculptures that thaw in the summer. Those that don’t run the risk of exploding as their sap freezes inside  the  wood—the  smooth-boled  burst  tree  actually does so intentionally, filling every branch with sap as the temperature  cools  and  using  the  resulting  explosions  to spread its seeds, and turning its groves into shrapnel-filled deathtraps. Still other trees have even stranger variations, such as long-rooted dapoya, which lifts itself above snows and  f loods  like  a  mangrove,  and  the  gora,  whose  thin
summer trunk is wrapped in great scales of flexible fibrous bark, used by locals for everything from making twine and baskets to shingling houses and crafting armor.
One  of  the  most  common  domesticated  animals  in the Skyfire Mandate and other portions of the northern continents  is  the  wolliped.  This  creature  is  shaped somewhat  like  an  eight-legged  alpaca  with  two  large, downward-curving tusks. Its copious fur keeps it warm in the winter and sheds to a length of just a few inches in the summer, with the discarded wool either felted or spun and woven to make most of the cloth in the region. In addition to its utility in textile production, the docile wolliped is also used as both beast of burden and steed, with ground-based cavalry often riding armored wollipeds into battle. Though wolliped tusks are normally used to break through ice or churn tough ground, the creatures also employ them for  self-defense  and  mating  displays—a  battle-trained wolliped can inflict horrific damage on the battlefield.

[Le maître du jeu(Eretas)]

The Drakelands

No  one  knows  exactly  how  or  when  the  first  dragons appeared  on  Triaxus,  but  legends  suggest  that  in  the beginning,  there  were  only  the  somewhat  humanoid dragonkin and the bestial drakes. For untold millennia, they lived alongside the Triaxians and other races with no more or less aggression than might be expected.
Then came the true dragons. Whether these were visitors from  another  world  or  plane  or  a  natural  evolution  of dragonkin into something more powerful, the newcomers immediately  took  up  rule  over  their  lesser  cousins.  From their appearance in the heart of the continent now known as the Drakelands, the true dragons warred with each other, established nations, mustered armies—and began to spread.
Thus  began  the  War  of  Heroes.  For  generations,  the humanoid  races  of  Triaxus  not  already  enslaved  by  the draconic conquerors banded together to halt the spreading destruction. Joining them in this fight were those dragonkin who  resented  enslavement  and  subjugation,  as  well  as  the good-natured metallic dragons who sought to oppose their conquest-minded brethren. It was this first great alliance that eventually halted the dragons’ advance, ceding them a single continent for their territorial disputes and establishing the Skyfire Mandate to guard against further growth.
Today,  the  Drakelands  are  a  squabbling,  chaotic  mess of  independent  fiefdoms.  These  territories  range  from true  nations  complete  with  functional  governments, metropolitan  cities,  and  high  quality  of  life  for  their subjects,  to  simple  slave  camps  and  villages  paying terrified tribute to an overlord. Yet at the head of each state is a true dragon who sees the nation as his or her territory, and its governmental coffers as a shining hoard.
Life  in  the  Drakelands  flows  according  to  a  strict  caste system.  At  the  top  are  the  “true”  dragons,  chromatic  (and occasionally  metallic)  nobility  with  total  authority  over everything  save  each  other.  Below  them  come  the  less powerful but far more numerous dragonkin, who often work as generals, government officials, consorts, and other people of influence. Lesser still are the bestial drakes and dragon-blooded  Triaxians—those  humanoids  who  can  trace  their ancestry  to  a  draconic  dalliance.  But  even  these  are  better than the mundane humanoids, who fall somewhere between peasants and livestock in the views of their superiors. The  political  geography  of  the  Drakelands  is  always changing,  with  nations  falling  or  expanding  as  the dragons vie for power. This is especially true as the seasons change—during  the  winter,  the  barbaric  whites  tend  to be  ascendant,  only  to  be  driven  back  into  the  northern reaches  during  the  summer  by  the  more  powerful  reds and politically cunning blues. Greens and blacks, for their parts, tend to form more isolationist settlements to pursue their own ends, yet aren’t above being drawn into conflicts or alliances when their territories are threatened.
Contrary to popular belief, not all of the dragons in the Drakelands are evil. While it’s true that many of the noble metallic dragons were slain during the War of Heroes, and that those who weren’t were hunted almost to extinction in the pogroms that followed because of their “racial treason,” a  few  metallics  still  hold  their  own,  banding  together  to protect each other’s nations against the chromatics. These lands  are  something  of  a  fairy  tale  among  the  lowborn subjects  of  the  other  nations,  and  many  Triaxian  slaves run away in hopes of making it to these fabled utopias. The few who actually succeed find themselves welcomed with open arms—though not necessarily with the lives of leisure and plenty they might have imagined. The metallic-ruled nations  are  often  highly  militant,  constantly  forced  to make hard choices and fight for their right to exist. Small wonder, then, that many of the metallics who managed to escape the Purges but didn’t flee the planet altogether choose to forego nation-building and simply hide themselves away in remote locations, or within Triaxian societies.

[Le maître du jeu(Eretas)]

The Skyfire Mandate

In the rise of the true dragons, many Triaxians saw not only enslavement, but the potential extinction of their race. It was only through an alliance of Triaxian men and women, dragonkin, and  metallic  dragons—an  army  the likes  of  which  has  never  been  seen before or since—that the menace was halted.  Huge  sacrifices  were  made, including  the  lives  of  most  of  the humanoids’  true  dragon  allies,  yet the spirit of their alliance continues to live on today in the form of the Skyfire Mandate.
The  Skyfire  Mandate  occupies  the  long  land bridge  between  Triaxus’s  western,  dragon-controlled  continent  and  the  eastern  lands of the Allied Territories. Rather than being a single nation, it is instead a vast collection of semi-independent  military  units  in  charge  of protecting  individual  regions,  called  holdings. Together, these soldiers make up the famed Dragon Legion, sworn not to a monarch or a government, but  to  the  promise  of  keeping  the  Drakelands from expanding.
Though  all  races  are  welcome  to  take  up  the Dragon  Legion’s  cause,  in  practice  the  group consists  almost  entirely  of  Triaxians  and dragonkin—hence  the  legion’s  reliance  on  its iconic dragonriders. These legendary pairings are fearsome in combat, the dragonkin often fighting with huge lances and glaives while their riders support them with archery or magic,  yet  it’s  a  mistake  to  think  of  the dragonkin  as  steeds.  Rather,  these  duos are  true  partnerships  between  equals, bonds  of  love,  trust,  and  fellowship that  extend  beyond  the  battlefield,  with the  Triaxians  acting  as  the  dragonkin’s domestic partners and caretakers.
The  governmental  structure  of  the  Skyfire  Mandate  is a loose one. Commanders of the various holdings must be chosen  by  the  acclaim  of  their  soldiers  and  sponsored  by two existing commanders from other units. Once instated, only  a  vote  of  no  confidence  from  the  men  and  women under their direction can remove commanders from power.
Policy and overarching strategy for the legion as a whole is set  in  meetings  of  the  Tribunal—13  of  the  most  seasoned and  respected  commanders  in  the  service—but  beyond this,  commanders  have  complete  authority  within  their holdings. Though disputes between commanders are heavily discouraged, they can be settled through meetings arbitrated by  other  commanders  (called  “parleys”)  or  brought  before the Tribunal, or in extreme cases can be decided through single  combat.  Outright  military  action  against  another commander  is  considered  high  treason,  with  all  other commanders  immediately  seizing  the  offender’s  holding and carrying out the sentence of death by high-altitude drop.
Of  course,  the  majority  of  citizens  within  the  Skyfire Mandate  are  not  legionaries,  but  rather  simple  farmers, woodcutters,  merchants,  and  other  common  people.  They organize primarily into small townships and even city-states, though the formation of full-on nations is discouraged by the  legion  (a  process  many  would-be  rulers  get  around  by establishing  far-reaching  guilds).  These  people  are  largely left to govern themselves, though the Dragon Legion both recruits from their ranks and retains the right to requisition what  supplies  they  require—a  little-loved  process  known as  “tithing.”  Though  the  commoners  naturally  grumble about the military “fatting itself while producing nothing,” those who’ve seen the legion or its enemies in combat rarely challenge the practice.  Lately,  however, many of the larger city-states to the east have begun protesting, demanding that the legion leave them alone, and sometimes even going so far as to claim that the dragons are no longer a threat.
As the Skyfire Mandate is hundreds of miles wide, the border holdings naturally see far more action than those in  more  eastern  regions.  While  this  gives  those  gung-ho commanders  who  claim  the  border  fortresses  that  much more  respect  and  prestige,  the  eastern  holdings  still pull  their  weight  by  regularly  rotating  units  into  certain fortifications along the border maintained specifically for that  purpose,  running  minor  invasions  and  annexation missions, dealing with local governments, and patrolling the  vast  stretches  of  sea  to  the  north  and  south  to  make sure the dragons don’t simply try to fly around. Still, the fact that these soldiers get to retreat to relative safety rather than  constantly  living  in  the  contested  Parapets  makes “eastlander” a popular insult among western legionaries.

[Le maître du jeu(Eretas)]

Other Major Regions

In addition to the Drakelands and the Skyfire Mandate, there are several major populated regions of Triaxus.

Allied Territories: Spanning the entire continent of Ora, this region—often simply called “the Territories”—is a riot of  nations  both  small  and  large,  including  monarchies, theocracies,  democracies,  and  more.  Once  these  nations struggled against each other in a political free-for-all, yet the first great wars against the dragons of the Drakelands drove them to ally into a single federated unit in order to ensure that humanoids would survive as anything more than just a slave race. After the great victories of the War of Heroes and the establishment of the Skyfire Mandate, however, the dragons became a less immediate threat, and old rivalries began to splinter the bonds of blood and fellowship. Today, the Allied Territories are a union in name only, frequently engaging in border skirmishes and even absorbing each other completely, while still paying lip service to the humanoid alliance of old. Should the dragons ever make another significant push into their  continent,  however,  it’s  likely  that  such  feuds  would quickly be mended, and all spears turned outward.
The  composition  of  the  Allied  Territories  is  always  in flux, particularly as portions of their population are driven south from the poles in winter or drawn north in summer, but of the hundreds of nations and free cities that spring up  periodically,  a  few  are  particularly  well  established, having survived many seasonal cycles. The riders of Aylok, for  instance,  hold  fertile  plains  and  are  widely  notorious for breeding the best cavalry. Zo, the Port of a Thousand Ships, boasts markets where anything can be found, and in winter maintains magically melted shipping lanes. Prieta, the Scholar’s Paradise, values learning above all, and even the basest of its mercenaries seek to improve their minds. And everyone in the Territories has heard of Kamora, the wealthy  gateway  to  the  Uchorae  Jungle,  whose  residents pay for their nation’s bounty by constantly defending their high-walled cities from vampiric predators.

Ning: An island continent separated from its neighbors by the wide Sephorian Sea, the Immortal Suzerainty of Ning is an independent empire rarely challenged by the armies of  other  nations.  Nevertheless,  the  empire  maintains a vast standing army that it uses to protect the countless rural  villages  strewn  across  its  landscape  from  the  many predators—both  bestial  and  dangerously  intelligent—that dwell within the forests and valleys of the continent’s interior. Many of these communities are reachable only by treacherous roads through sharp-toothed mountains and deep jungles, and thus one of the first things constructed in any new settlement is its shelterstone, a ziggurat-shaped fortress  designed  to  house  citizens  during  invasions  by monsters, and which usually contains some magical means of contacting the empire’s military for help.
Perhaps  the  most  unique  aspect  of  Ning’s  culture  is its  focus  on  social  station,  honor,  and  custom.  Ruled  by the  benevolent  Immortal  Suzerain  (a  title  conferred  on each  monarch  when  the  previous  one  dies  or  abdicates), everyone  in  the  nation,  from  government  officials  and nobility  down  to  common  farmers,  is  obsessed  with matters  of  etiquette,  and  those  who  flaunt  the  rules—either  deliberately  or  through  ignorance—can  find themselves treated as invisible by the affronted populace.Another  peculiarity  of  Ning  society  is  a  unique  caste called  ukara,  or  “battleflowers.”  These  individuals  are elaborately  decorated  and  androgynous  warriors  who renounce  all  ties  to  family,  social  status,  and  personal gender  in  order  to  compete  in  ritualized  gladiatorial bouts.  Those  who  do  well  are  treated  as  high  nobility, with  great  houses  and  powerful  merchants  competing for the honor of their favor, while those unable to prove their  worth  after  their  first  year  are  banished  from  the major cities forever, forced to spend their lives defending
outlying communities.

Sephorian Archipelago: The seas between these several hundred  islands  are  remarkably  gentle,  allowing  travel by  canoe  in  the  summer  and  by  walking  across  mazes of ice floes in the winter. Despite regular trade between them,  most  of  the  small  island  communities  maintain their own customs and traditions, with even a few miles between  islands  creating  vast  differences  in  culture.  To the  more  “civilized”  nations  of  the  continents,  the  most interesting aspects of the archipelago are the mysterious cylindrical towers on some of the islands that periodically exhale smoke and, aside from being used as navigational aids,  are  treated  as  taboo  by  the  residents.  Many  of  the more fertile islands are also left fallow, for reasons either unremembered or unexplained to outsiders.