Melanois is a quiet land of silent mists and unspoken intrigue. Its beauty remains in the eye of its beholder, as the landscape of endless moors, dark forests, and tricky bayous is ever at odds with its artful and fashion-conscious cities and estates. There is enough wealth in one Melanoisean city to rival entire nations, it is said, though the divide between hereditary wealth and the near-impoverished lesser classes in Melanois is tragically extensive. The bourgeois, as they say, will always have their way.
Melanois’ many interesting nicknames are usually blamed on its prevalent fog and supposed loose mores. It remains one of the southernmost nations in Crown’s Reach, laying in silence on the northern banks of the Silver Sea. It is one of the newer nations, and has had an on-again, off-again membership within the Ten Kingdoms. Melanois currently holds itself as seceded from Crown’s Reach due to territorial disputes with Burgun-Dach, but rumors persist it is even now hammering out new terms in order to rejoin the official ranks. Of all the northern kingdoms (and despite its distance), Melanois remains one of the closest trading partners with the city-state of Dhoma, and has maintained numerous pacts with the megalopolis over the years. As a result of these trade ties, Melanois often claims to be the most technologically advanced nation in Crown’s Reach (though Flandre would of course dispute that claim).
Locale: Southern coastal nation on the Silver Sea; borders Empyrion (west), Sindathlar (north), and Burgun-Dach (northeast)
Banner: A white tiger-lily on a mist-gray field bordered in red silk (ruby for brooches)
Role: Secretive yet socially and economically advanced turn-of-the-century society
Theme: Perpetually foggy echo of a cosmopolitan 1800’s Parisian environment. Victorian fashion and gothic motifs. Anne Rice would love this place. Are there vampires here? Probably!
Ruler: Her Perpetual Grace, Queen Mariette Sophianne Guilaren V
Duchies (Counties)90: Argot, Aundair, Bordeauxelle, Broume, Chavelliors, Doucette, Montblanc, Sebinne, Varién, Ysse
Capital: Sjor
Cities & Strongholds: Bijou, Ettienne, Faerpont (Faebridge), Nuvau Verdun, Tolour
Notable Towns: Acaiju, Amairs-Egalie, Blaun Tourré, Bon Riville, Bon Sonne, Colotte, Dafornon, Dapeau Rouge, Edavoulle, Gousette, Mons Alors, Polville, Vert, Wisp
Landmarks: The Argot Coast, the Argot Flats (aka the Mud), Bisére Bayou (Kisser’s Cove), Broulliar Montagne (Misty Mountain), l’Chams a’Rouge (The Red Fields), the Downer, the Ghostwood, Golfe d’Broullia (Bay of Mists), l’Parc du Decébois (Deathwood Park), Remi’s Bight, the Rill, Whispering Wood
Exports: Wine, silk, fashion, wigs, corsets, sex, murder
Internal Factions: The Lotus d’Noir (the Black Lotus), l’Etélange d’Cramois (the Parade of Crimson), l’Perfum d’Oreile (the Perfumed Pillow), l’Soucre Bise Adieu (the Sweetened Kiss Goodbye)
Old Tongue: Laloun (a likely derivative of 19th century French, with seeming odd touches of 20th century Creole), which seems a distant relation to Lacénean Frous, though the dialect is said to flow in a slower drawl.
Nobiliary: de (example: Lord Etienne de Fromme)
Noble Houses: Algincourt, Allesaire, Avers, Bordeaux, Boucet, Chavelliors, Dartancour, Derenmoor, Devereaux, Doucette, Dumont, Duvort, Fromme, Front, Garde, Garotte, Guilaren (ruling), Huerl, Juliens, LaDor, LaJour, LaMieure, LaMond, LaPont, Marquet, Messiers, Montelior, Tambrelle, Vouille
Faiths: Illumination Reformation (49%), Apapo Orisha (20%), Deith Diadh (13%), Vindici Deorum (9%), Olympos Athanatoi (4%), Society for Social and Societal Scientific Advancement (4%); Glitterati (1%), Zvystni Bohova (2%), Other (1%)
Mythical land of plenty, where mores are loose (or nonexistent). Named for Cockaigne, via French myth.
The fog-shrouded capital of Melanois. Sjor is a flat but twisting maze of seemingly endless streets, alleys, canals, and by-ways. Tucked within a rare quiet cove called the Bay of Mists, and shielded from the worst weather by the cove and numerous large and prospering willows that surround it, Sjor is a quiet city made for quiet, discreet people. The wealthy families of Sjor are secretive by nature, though not necessarily lawbreakers; few laws hold sway when one can afford a proper barrister anyway. Unlike many other cities, the wealthy of Sjor live within the city proper at its epicenter, high above the lesser masses in multi-leveled manses and in trendy, posh apartments. The outlying marshes, fens, and bayous hold little attraction if any to a man or woman with the means to climb above them. Some accuse the dilettantes of Sjor to be little more than sycophants and poseurs, vainly wishing to be more akin to the modern, free metropolis of Dhoma… but any Sjoran worth his salt will tell you their city holds secrets that noisy Dhoma never could.
A purportedly haunted isle off the coast of Melanois (and reputed home of the immortal witch Morigana le Fey), Melanois was once apart of the mainland, until the Godswar sundered it and drove it into the city, creating the Sundered Sound. Still believed to be wholly haunted.
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