Higara
Higara, the Opal Empire, is a temperate sliver of land on the easternmost edge of Orden. To the west lies Khemhara, the Infinite Desert. To the east, the Great Sea.
Higara's Guardian Titan was the Kraken, Titan of the Mindstorm, the great tentacled sea dragon slumbered beneath the seafloor east of Higara.[1]
People
The men of the Opal Empire were known as the Jō-yoi. Theirs was a highly feudal society in many ways a mirror of Vasloria. Their society was more rigid and more highly caste-based than any other in Orden. The noblemen never gave the peasants even a glance.
They dressed ornately in long flowing robes, and took as much care and practice in waging war, as writing poetry, as forging steel. As a result, theirs was the strongest steel in Orden. They had the greatest duelists in Orden, and because their land was so narrow, and their livelihood as a people intertwined with the sea, they were the second-best sailors, after the Riojans.[citation needed]
Notable Jõ-yoi
- Immortal Empress
- Lady Agatamori - a great explorer and cartographer who stumbled into Khemhara under Khorsekef's timeless rule. She inadvertently caused a civil war which eventually saw Khorsekef's downfall.[2]
Empress
Their queen was the Immortal Empress who ruled the Seven Great Houses across the centuries. Under her palace, the source of her power; the Emperor Naga, Father of Serpents[1], progenitor and sleeping god of all Naga. She was anointed by its acolytes and their ministrations gave her immortality. She kept the great houses scheming and plotting against each other.
The Elements
In meditation, each man attempted to embody one of the four elements of Jō-yoi philosophy, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
There existed also an elusive fifth element, similar to the Vanir concept of Wyrd, which the Higaran call Ukiyo – "It is what makes things alive. And at the same time, it is the fact that all life feeds on death. It is death within living, and the destiny of the living to die."[citation needed]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matthew Colville, et al. Flee, Mortals!. (MCDM Productions), pp. 235.
- ↑ Matthew Colville, et al. Kingdoms & Warfare. (MCDM Productions), pp. 160.