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A curious passerby · 1y

What's Nortalia like? what's common and what kinds of people live here? Is it more magical then Surland?

Alright, so this'll be a lot! I'll try and keep it concise:

Nortalia is composed of 3 countries within its mainland—Psionia, Hyfeld, and Yoshido—as well as an isolated landmass that neighbors a few small islands to its south and has lost all land means of approaching, with all bridges that once connected it to the mainland being destroyed. The country has a huge concentration of magic that makes it distinct from the relatively contemporary and magicless Surland.

Psionia, on the west end of Nortalia, is a country belonging to a culture of monks that practice psychic abilities. The environments vary between steep mountains, gorgeous valleys, stepped villages, and grand cities build with stone and marble. In recent years, it's been subject to a huge political upheaval that's resulted in a lot of death and chaos, with corrupt actors now sitting at the top of the social order and forcing subservience upon the populace. There's a lake to the center north that is filled with a dense fog and is impossible to cross without crossing into the afterlife. No one knows what lies at the center.

Shadie and Bruce, Gengar sister and brother, once lived there before escaping to East Jerzi for their lives. Shadie is still upset with leaving her home and this leads to friction between the two. Berika, a Drowzee, escaped during the same upheaval and used her psychic ability to teleport to Earth-95, living in Canada with her friends and running a soap and scent shop there.

Hyfeld, in the center, is a truly varied country—home to lakes, waterfalls, green pastures, a vast forest to the west, a volcanic mountain to the north, and fields leading all the way to the Surland border to the south. There are many medieval-styled civilizations living amongst the eclectic landscape, each of them living in an easy alliance.

To the west are the Deku Woods, which houses the Deku Kingdom deep in its center. The current monarchy was established via a takeover, and has left the prior prince of the kingdom—a Deku named Budwise—to live as a vagrant, being taken in as an apprentice by the outcast witch known as Spellen and teaming up with Duski the twili dragon. On the outskirts of the Deku Woods lives the lone wolf warrior, Zane. He lives a solitary existence in the woods within his own log cabin, and takes it upon himself to deliver vigilante justice to thieves and monsters to save passersby on the roads.

The country of Yoshido greatly resembles Edo period Japan, culturally and aesthetically, although with its own identity. There's a huge blacksmithing culture there and plenty of armor and weapons have made their way out to other areas of Nortalia illegally. An island within the center has been commandeered by an extremist cell of lizardfolks—experimenting with doping drugs and radicalizing kidnapped lizardfolk and those who are willing for the cause—looking to plan a violent revolution across the rest of Nortalia to take revenge for their treatment.

The eastern country of Yoshido is the uneasy home of all lizardfolk; once a willing civilization that allowed plenty of tourists, both in and out, Yoshido is now where lizardfolk are enforced to stay since they were outlawed in the rest of Nortalia. The reasoning was due to lizardfolk being made the fall guys for the existence of monsters, who were actually created by a villain in the shadows unbeknownst to all. Lizardfolk who live in Surland or escaped from Yoshido into Surland enjoy relative freedom but are at times subject to racism from the less accepting folks.

Yondo (a yoshi) and his friends escaped Yoshido to Surland at a young age, now living as a tough gang in the badlands of Paramos.

The final landmass of note is Aisoleit, the aforementioned isolated continental island to the center north of Nortalia. An icy and inhospitable glacier, home to hoards and hoards of monsters and a huge tower that belongs to no one, if you had to ask anyone living in Nortalia. It was, however, designed by and belongs to the one who created all the monsters that plague Nortalia—and the one who made lizardfolk take the blame for it. What are their ambitions? No one seemingly knows, or is even aware of their existence.

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