Introduction to Domus

RabidFox · Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject: Introduction to Domus

Hierarchy Role-playing Status: Controlled by JamesG (Andre Divinney III)

The third most powerful nation of Feila, ruled by the Canine. The current system of government is Feudalist/Absolute Monarchy, with the monarch as the control of power and the aristocracy. Its military is fourth largest in number, and weaker than Gawain's or Edwin's. It consists of the Domus Army and Navy. It is geographically one of the smaller nations of Feila. Similar to Earth's medieval France.

Following this paragraph are charted areas of Domus. While you can do what you please in your role-playing, create and destroy any area that you wish, this information will not reflect on the chart.

The Domus Area Chart

Chant du Cygne -- Tending toward the eastern center of the country and protected by the Cocottes Mountains at her back, the Ensanglanté River to the south west and the Petit Fer Mountains to the northeast, the capital of Domus and its main palace, Parasélène, are home to the dog royalty. While one of the largest cities in the country, Chant du Cygne, or ‘Chant’ as it is generally known, is limited in growth due to its position in the foothills of two mountain ranges and along the banks of a major river. It is a very fertile region as the Ensanglanté, starting in the Cocottes, brings rich sediment filled with minerals from the mountains with each yearly snowmelt.

Thus, Chant is the biggest agricultural center of Domus with more than half the population of the city making their livelihoods as farmers. Wood is in great abundance, as well, especially pine and spruce for which the Cocottes and Petit Fers are known respectively. Fishing is popular as a pastime, but the Ensanglanté is a treacherous river both to ford and fish as her flows in the spring and late summer are fairly unpredictable. In addition, there is a great deal of historical and cultural significance surrounding the river that makes her a bit of a ‘sacred’ thing in the eyes of many Domish citizens.

The climate is one of surprisingly mild winters and warm summers. The Parfumé Winds tend to drive from north to south throughout Domus, so the mountain valley traps and holds much of the heat blown off the northern coast within Chant. There are some phenomenal thunderstorms in the region, though, when the Verglas Winds from the south, blowing down in frigid gusts from the Cocottes collide with the Parfumé Winds. These are especially common in late summer.

Rennes -- Located on the west coast of Domus, Rennes is the largest city in the country, as well as its most profitable. Its major export is fish caught from the Cloison Straight between Domus and Edwin. However, it is also a city of ‘finished goods’, if you will, trading for lumber, iron ore, and other base materials within Domus (and beyond her borders in some cases), before processing these components into desirable products. Domus, in general, is known for the quality of its wine, wood furniture, and wardrobe, the latter two being primary exports from Rennes.

The lands surrounding Rennes are wide, flat meadows with forests interspersed, mainly on the few gently rolling hills to the southeast. The weather is somewhat depressing for those that enjoy sunshine as the coastal city tends to have rain at least once a day, if not more. The showers pass quickly, though and most are little more than drizzles that the residents of Rennes have grown used to over time.

Due to its economic status and size, Rennes is also the main headquarters for many of the guilds that exist throughout Domus. The Woodworkers’ Guild is by far the most powerful in the region and has many of their members in positions of authority. However, the Tailors and Seamstress’, and Weavers’ Guilds have banded together to try to compete with the larger organization.

Chopine -- Situated to the northwest, Chopine is the second-largest city in Domus. Second-largest, perhaps, only due to the sprawling vineyards that surround the city and prevent its outward expansion. Chopine is Domus’ vinicole, or ‘wine-producing’, region. Almost the direct opposite of Rennes, it experiences almost year-round sunshine with pleasantly warm, humid temperatures that may lean toward hot during the months of juliette and août.

Each year, Feila’s largest wine festival is held in Chopine with wines from around the world being displayed. It is considered one of the highest honors in the wine world to be asked to present your products at the Caviste Festival as it is a mark of the quality of the product (at least in the eyes of the Festival board members).

While grape-growing and wine-making are the primary jobs of many citizens in Chopine, coastal fishing is another important aspect of the regional economy, as well as spice and medicine production. Beyond the vineyard are miles of rolling meadows and forests that provide such plants as ginger, chives, common rue, and white willow.

Aquilon -- Located on the northeastern coasts of Domus, Aquilon is a medium-sized town. Its climate is agreeable and its landscape breathtaking. Situated atop the Folie Cliffs, one of the highest points in Domus north of the Cocotte Mountains, the town overlooks the wide Sel Sea that stretches toward Maze’s southern coast.

Although it is not the largest or most fertile region by far, Aquilon is famous in its own rights throughout Domus due to the sheer number of artists, poets and writers to be birthed there. Numerous paintings, poems, short stories, and novels have been painted of and written about the city and the majestic Folie Cliffs. It is said, in fact, that no artist may be known in Domus until he has walked the streets of Aquilon and felt the Parfumé Winds there blowing warm and sweet through his fur.

Lourdes -- Lourdes is the largest town south of Chant du Cygne, though given the frigid climate of southern Domus, especially past the Cocotte Mountains, this is not that great a distinction. Lourdes is actually positioned in the southwest of Domus within the Cocottes themselves.

“A fur from Lourdes is a fur of Céleste.” So the Domish saying goes. This derives from the fact that the largest shrine to Céleste is located in Lourdes. The population almost exclusively believes in Céleste, or at least present the front of believing. A quarter of the citizens are priests and priestesses for Céleste, and the town has an influx of visiting believers each summer when the icy mountain trails are passable.

For those not working for the faith, the predominant jobs in Lourdes are mining for iron ore, coal and silver, logging, and trapping. The winters in Lourdes are cold and harsh, while the summers are brief and cool.

Surgelé -- South of the Cocotte Mountains, Domus is more frozen tundra that grassy meadows as the Verglas Winds blasting off the Moribond Sea chill the land to its core. Surgelé is one of the few towns able to persist and even thrive in such climes. Founded by Baroness Hiver, the town is located just to the south of Lourdes in the foothills of the Cocottes. It thrives because of a rich vein of gold found in one of the mines there. The population is almost exclusively made up of miners and their families, though a few traders make a living there by undertaking long and dangerous journeys through the Cocottes each summer and early fall to bring back food and other goods to keep the townsfolk alive.

The citizens of Surgelé are of a hardy stock and the few who have left their freezing home can easily find jobs in manual labor in any other city. Very few do leave, though, thanks to the tightly-knit community that has been developed over the years. Unfortunately, this also makes outsiders feel rather unwelcome in town. It is not that the townsfolk of Surgelé are mean or unkind, they are just wary of those who would dare to enter their frozen world.

A Map of the Towns and Counties of the Kingdom of Domus