User:Aarnott/Lego Bin 15/Geography and Environment

Geography and Political Regions

The world of Mystos is broken up into hundreds of city-states, at least as far as civilized regions are concerned. City-states all follow the same political structure more or less. There is a king or queen that usually is also a warlord. This king or queen commands people because their family has traditionally owned the land or they usurped the throne. Either way, the king/queen makes the big political decisions, but doesn't really control much beyond their single city.

Resources are always scarce even for the most prosperous cities and, as such, there is a lot of war going on. In fact, war is happening so frequently that asking for a map outlining different city-states would get you laughed out of town. Of course there are major cities that remain stable, but these are the exception, not the rule.

There is one major set of islands, shaped in a crescent and west of Mise, that are considered more or less "civilized". That basically means that humanoids live on a majority of these islands and go around killing each other. The farther away from these islands you go, the more terrible creatures there are. The crescent of islands that are west of Mise is called Mystoi (literally "the islands of Mysta").

Surrounding Mise are several flood plains and inhabitable regions (although monster-filled) often refereed to the "near east" (being east of Mystoi where most real civilization exists). Unlike Mystoi, monstrous rulers have gained control over the full territory surrounding the mountain that reaches into the heavens. And during the rule by these monsters, there have historically been several massive invasions into Mystoi. And, despite the constant warring between city-states, the people of Mystoi can tend to agree that they don't want to be conquored by some monster ruled army from the near east.

On the eastern side of Mise is a small scattering of islands called the "far east" or the "beyond". This is where the nastiest monsters live and where the strangest islands are. Only the greatest heroes have adventured here (and most have never had their bones recovered).

Major City-States

Here is a listing of major city-states that tend to survive through the generations (although many have had several name changes):

Note: Unlike a lot of the adapted greek myth, I've just used the actual names of greek city-states, rather than inventing new ones, but I adapted their purpose to fit the game world.

• Argos - Korla's favored city. Many heroes come from Argos and as such Argos has the bones (and blessings) of many heroes of the past.
• Athens - A city of humans that are praised for their advanced legal system and political structure. They run a successful democracy.
• Corinth - The wealthiest city and is the home to sirens (of all creatures). The wealth is probably so abundant because sirens, as a race, aren't very interested in that sort of thing and, therefore, do not spend it. Corinth as above water, which is suprising as well for sirens.
• Delos - A tortoise folk city known for its merchants. This city is also the headquarters for a common fund to be used in the event of a near-eastern attack.
• Delphi - Jango and Jangi's famed oracle lives here.
• Mycenae - The biggest city-state. In some ways people consider this city to be the capital city.
• Olympia - Home to a competition every four years that spans across Mystos and is in honor of Mysta.
• Sikyon - An elven city dedicated to the arts. Sikyon is very peaceful to others, but will not hesitate to use force in order to secure valuables they need to expand the arts (such as gold for jewelry, marble for sculpture, etc.)
• Sparta - An orc city known for its skilled warriors and strange practice of discarding children that have any physical defects.
• Thebes - A rival to Athens and has sided with the near-easterners in the past. Thebes is, however, where Selione died and is said to be the home of mortal acheivement and enlightenment (even though such things are less developed in Thebes than in Athens).
• Tyrins - The birthplace of Korlamos, the greatest hero.