SO2rpg Locations doc

Version 1.0
Last modified August 13th, 2000
GM Radien <radiens@geocities.com>

	This doc is not yet complete.  Check back soon for another update with more important locations, including the continent of El.

Castle Town of Lacour

	Lacour is a large and powerful kingdom, with a varied and many-faceted population.  One of the ways the Lacourian continent displays its many skills is the Lacour Tournament of Arms.  This is a contest for fighters of all kinds; a tradition which began as a method of attracting skilled combatants to Lacour Kingdom for use in the coming war.  As the monsters slowly receded, Lacour won that war, and the Tournament of Arms has remained as both a celebration of the victory and an incentive to keep troops trained and ready for battle (Indeed, Lacour’s regiment of soldiers appeared almost cowardly in comparison beside the trained mercenaries Lacour hired near the end of the war).

	Years later, Lacour prepares for its annual Tournament of Arms once again.  However, unbeknownst to the hundreds gathered to watch and participate, it will be rudely interrupted in the first round.  All is not lost, however, as the Kingdom of Lacour has a hundred tournament fighters within its walls, many of whom would gladly investigate for a generous reward. 

Tiagret  Village

The Fellpool have never been numerous, but they have always been a strong race.  Priding themselves on their ability to survive, the Fellpool have never really had any doubts about the outcome when struggles start to involve them.  Now is one of those times:  during the Sorcery Globe incident, the Fellpool population was plagued by monsters that attacked their small villages, causing them to scatter.

Fellpool numbers dwindled for awhile, but the Village of Tiagret came back after the adversity was over.  Tiagret lies in the middle of a thick forest, halfway between Lacour and Linga.  Their houses are simple, but efficiently built, and there is even enough facilities for a few scientists to set up places to study.  Tiagret researchers observe nature and experiment with machinery more than their Linga counterparts, where astronomy and calculus play a much larger role.  Tiagret is small, and will probably stay that way, but it is an important haven for Fellpool and friends of the Fellpool on Expel.

University Town of Linga

	Since a few years after the Sorcery Globe incident, Lacour Academy (the university at Linga) has been largely divided between two opinions, and bickering amongst themselves has become quite commonplace.  Researchers at the Academy were always considered a bit… “off” by the rest of the kingdom, so it largely went unnoticed as they went about celebrating the disappearance of monsters and the return of the heroes who presumably had defeated the Sorcery Globe.  However, the Academy has certainly always prided themselves on expertise in the field of Astronomy, and some of the professors believe the threat has not yet passed.

	The debate continues, while more oddities show up, years after the original incident.  Small, unexpected meteor showers have increased infrequency, although the size of the meteorites are so small as to pose no threat on impact.  The position of the stars hasn’t shifted like it did during the previous crisis, but some report that the relative brightness of many of them has changed.  To the educated of the Academy, it is appears that something is definitely about to happen, but without even being figure out what needs to be investigated, no one can really offer a course of action to the King of Lacour or anybody else.

Port of Hilton

	Hilton still acts very similarly to it’s namesake: as a hotel.  It serves as a very important connecting point between the Lacour continent and Cross, but most travelers are more interested in moving on to Lacour and Linga than making a living in Hilton.  This suits the locals, however, as they receive goods from all around the world and never have to deal with cramped surroundings.  Most think the town is just the right size as it is.

Hilton is still the best place to go for a huge variety of wares, stocking everything from rare weaponry, to exotic foods, to musical instruments.  Their street fare is almost as impressive as old Clik’s was before its destruction.  It’s also one of the best places on either continent to get drunk – without waking up a few thousand Fol lighter and in a gutter.

Currently, Hilton is a very busy place, as everyone has come to see the Tournament of Arms at Lacour.  The inns of Lacour are so expensive and busy that a few extremely thrifty folk stay in Hilton and make the daily journey to Lacour.

The Hoffman Ruins

North of the continent of Lacour lies a large island surrounded by mountains and ice.  It’s unfriendly coastline makes it a particularly undesirable place to visit or settle on in the first place, but what really keeps people away is the disaster which happened their ages ago.  No one really likes to talk about it, but that’s largely because no one really knows what happened.

A long time ago, mining became especially prosperous in Lacour.  Certain ores could be found through mining that could not be gotten any other way.  Additionally, starting their own mining would allow Lacour to cut their ore imports, since they previously got all their best ores from other countries.  This venture was facilitated by a recent discovery:  the rocky, ice-encircled island to the north housed some exceedingly strange ruins, which boasted some very impressive mining potential.

Nobody really knew what these ruins were, but at the time Lacour was not all too preoccupied with “scientific observation.”  An aspiring young man named Hoffman proposed and led a venture funded by the then King of Lacour to mine below the ruins.

They were immensely successful at the start, and brought home numerous valuables to the King.  They did bring a few scholars along at the time, to determine what had happened here and which would be the best places to mine, but there were only a few and they didn’t get as far as they would have liked.  After several weeks of digging, the miners came across a series of walls with foreign markings and art.  It was soon discovered that the Ruins had a much more powerful resource in their depths: something which the scholars could only describe as Energy Stone.  This strange mineral seemed to emit energy continuously, and was found to be virtually unbreakable by physical or magical force.

The miners went crazy with the possibilities that this presented, but it didn’t last long.  Just a few tiny samples of the stone were sent off to Lacour before a wall collapsed on the far end of the Ruins and a an onslaught of giant fire lizards spewed forth, attacking the miners.  Some survived, many were killed, and no one who escaped ever wanted to come back.  It was said that Hoffman himself never made it back from the Ruins.  In any case, Lacour withdrew all interest in the Ruins, and had no reason to investigate them further, since the monsters seemed to have no desire to come above ground and the island was so difficult to get to in the first place.  Leon S. Geeste led a small expedition into the Ruins to find a single Energy Stone for a special purpose, but the Hoffman Ruins haven’t been explored again since.

	Castle Town of Cross

	The Kingdom of Cross is a peaceful little monarchy which tends toward old-fashioned ways.  Cross’s royal family has gained a reputation for its lineage of caring and benevolent rulers, who are more concerned with the commonfolk than most monarchs.  This concern has pulled them through hard times, including the utter destruction of the larger of Cross Continent’s two ports.  The royal family’s benevolence is represented by it’s most recent heir, who chose to marry a villager rather than the princess of Lacour.  This newest princess, Celine Jules of the village of Mars, has used her time and influences so far to encourage the development and creation of Heraldic Crests, as well as the founding of a Guild of Heraldry in Mars Village to increase the spread of magic use across world.

Arlia Village

	Arlia Village remains one of the only places on Expel which, as it seems, was never directly affected by the arrival of the Sorcery Globe.  Located on the perimeter of the Shingo Forest, it remains a peaceful place to this day, although the forest has always been considered a place to be cautious.  The villagers are very proud to be able to say it is the home of Rena Lanford, the girl who braved the continent of El to investigate the Sorcery Globe while accompanying Claude Kenni, a boy who was rumored to be the Hero of Light from Cross legend and religious prophecy.  Since the reported outcome of the investigation turned out to be rather jumbled and confusing to the locals, not to mention Claude’s claim that he was not in fact the Hero of Light of legend, some believe the prophecy was actually left unfulfilled.  That, however, doesn’t stop the believers from using the story to attract visitors to their small village.

	Recently, the Shingo Forest has seemed to become increasingly dangerous.  Attacks from the wildlife of the forest have risen, mostly during night, which worries the villagers.  However, it hasn’t become severe enough to pose any major threat, so for now they’ve simply avoided walking in the forest unless necessary, in which case they go in groups.

	Rena Lanford has not been seen in her hometown for quite some time.  If asked, her mother Westa simply says that she’s gone on a voyage far away with a friend.  Rumor has it that she’s holding back, but most people conclude that it’s a personal matter and don’t press it any further.

	Port of New Clik

	After a tsunami hit the Port of Clik – a disaster widely rumored to be a direct result of the Sorcery Globe incident – Clik was found to be decimated to the point where no one thought it could ever be salvaged.  However, in the past few years it has become profitable for a country to have contact with the rebuilding Elurians, therefore encouraging the King of Cross to authorize a plan to rehabilitate the former Port of Clik on the northern part of the continent with funds and new plans for the future.

	This time, however, their goal is not just to make New Clik another port town.  The channel between the Cross and El continents is so narrow it has spawned a new plan to connect the two with a huge suspension bridge.  Even now, the bridge is being constructed from raw ore mined from the Salva Drift, under the direction of architects from the Port of Herlie.

A structure of wrought iron, decorated with glittering gold and paved with a type of bluish stone, the Road of Sapphire is quite a sight to see.  In the meantime, until it is finished, New Clik provides a small ferry service to El which suffices the few travelers who can’t wait for the bridge to be completed.  The town is small yet, consisting mostly of those who are being paid to work on the bridge, plus a few entrepreneuring vendors and merchants who supply them with goods from Cross.

Town of Salva

	Built on top of what some would call a “heap of dust and sand,” the town of Salva has never been an overly popular place. Rather, it is somewhat of a halfway point between Cross’s bustling capital and it’s most quaintly beautiful village, Arlia.  Nevertheless, they have made themselves a reliable income by mining for ore in the Salva Drift, which makes them Cross’s largest supplier of iron and rare minerals.  In addition, Salva stands right in the middle of the mountain pass which divides the Cross Continent, so anyone who wishes to pass will undoubtedly go through Salva.  Rather than make the longer trip to Cross, many Arlia villagers frequently do their trading with Salva instead.

	However, Salva’s reputation suffered somewhat during the Sorcery Globe incident.  One if their most influential persons became possessed, and a two-headed demon dragon infiltrated the mines.  Some people believe that Salva is an unsafe place to live, and insist on avoiding it until the cause for these abnormalities is proven.  And perhaps they are right… Salva miners will soon make a foreboding discovery which could threaten the safety of the town, or worse.

	Mars Village

	Much has changed over the past few years in Mars Village, Cross’s most dedicated village of magic-users.  When Celine Jules – one of the leading Heraldic Wizards of Mars who joined a party of explorers sent out to investigate the Sorcery Globe incident – returned home, she came with two remarkable announcements: the beginnings of the discovery of a branch of  Heraldic Recovery Arts, and her engagement to the Prince of Cross.

	Since then, Mars has lead the way to a new revolution in the field of magic.  Celine Jules and Arlian Rena Lanford were accredited with the creation of the first Heraldic Recovery Crests, which allowed individuals born with a special unopened talent to perform healing magic when adorned with the new body art.  As Cross’s new princess, a woman with the unique ruling advantage of having personal ties to “commoners” across the continent, Celine made possible a new Guild of Heraldry.  This new branch of commerce and education was nothing less than a godsend for Cross, giving the kingdom enough added strength to truly begin recovering from the destruction of the port of Clik.

	However, despite being so gifted in the Heraldic Arts, Mars Village has always been a quiet and somewhat isolated place.  While some welcome the rising amount of positive attention the Heraldic Arts are now receiving, others worry that charging forward so quickly will pose a great risk to the family knowledge Mars protects and the Heraldry Forest itself.  For this reason, the Guild of Heraldry has branched off, to some extent, away from Mars Village.  It’s membership includes Heraldic Wizards across the continent, although most of them hail from the Cross capital or Mars Village.

The Guild of Heraldry

	Halfway between Cross and Mars Village, and a slightly towards the Port of New Clik, lies the new Guild of Heraldry.  It’s exactly location is not generally known to the public, and considering the fact that passersby can’t seem to get a glimpse of it anywhere from a distance, it is probably well-hidden.  In any case, the area where the Guild of Heraldry is built is at the very center of the cross continent, where high ranges of lush green hills separate it from Cross Castle.

	The Guild of Heraldry is headed by a woman named Synthia Lyltan, a resident of the Village of Mars, respected Heraldic Wizardess, and good friend of Celine Jules, who entrusted her with the position when the agreement between Cross and Mars heralded it’s creation (no pun intended).  Synthia’s main goal at this time is to seek out and invite potential Heraldic Wizards to the Guild who show signs of possessing the talent to use a Crest of Recovery, a new type of crest created through the cooperation of Rena Lanford and Celine Jules.  The Crest bestows the ability of healing magic and adds to diversity of elemental spells available to Heraldic Wizards.

The Guild is not a school, necessarily, but there are a few teachers there to teach the necessary skills a Heraldic Wizard needs to progress.  In addition, Synthia has appointed a handful of “seekers” to scout out local villages and towns in search of individuals with recovery magic potential.  Without formal training, the skill of individuals with this talent is miniscule at best, but the seekers have been taught how to detect their talent with the person’s acquiescence.

	Port of Herlie

	Until recently, Cross’s second port town was not a shadow the first, as a desirable place to make a living.  This was largely owing to the iron grip a certain gangster named Zand had over the town.  Citizens of the town were constantly badgered by his underlings, and were subject to the whim of the gang if they didn’t keep them occupied by allowing them to conveniently forget their debts.

The kingdom of Cross had a hard time purging this gang, because no one could successfully connect Zand with the damage his underlings did, and the most they ever managed was to imprison one or two of his thugs temporarily for individual crimes.  However, they finally caught and convicted Zand of the one crime they could trace: Tax Evasion.  Zand is currently serving time in the Cross dungeon, and his mansion and other belongings have been confiscated as payment for his debts.

As it turns out, Zand had built quite an impressive mansion, one that the King of Cross planned to put to good use.  With cooperation from the Lacour’s royalty, they planned to create an institution which would solidify the ties they lost when the Prince of Cross refused to marry the eldest daughter of the Lacour lineage.  Herlie’s manor was turned into a college for the study of both Heraldry and Science, with professors from Mars Village, Cross, and Linga, as well as a few intellectuals from other towns.  The College is still quite small in comparison to the university at Linga – Lacour Academy – offering only a few main courses of study, but it is growing quickly owing to their decreased building costs.  Time will show its effect on the people of the Kingdom of Cross, as well as students from other parts of the world.

New Kingdom of Eluria

After the destruction of Eluria, the people of the country fled and hid from the encroaching threat.  Monsters scoured the land, and every human settlement was attacked and mostly destroyed.  One of the remaining colonies, which met the coming party from Lacour which intended to assault Eluria tower, believed they were the only ones left.  However, the situation wasn’t quite as bleak as they thought… several other colonies found resourceful methods of hiding from the monsters, including escape by sea route and finding refuge underground.

As the monster threat died down, the Elurians reunited and obtained help from their neighboring nations in a rare gesture of unconditional friendship.  Over the past six years, they’ve been building a new kingdom … and a new Eluria castle, at the top of a cliff on the northwestern side of the continent, to offer better protection than the last.  New Eluria is still a small kingdom, and its castle is only partially built – but it is an effective, if humble capital.  The continent of El now thrives on a new resource, discovered early during the rebuilding period.

Village of Kelent

After the initial destruction, the continent of El had many “holes” in it from impact.  During the rebuilding process, someone discovered a huge deposit of Orichalcum on the western side of the continent, at the very base of Kelent Falls.  This lucky discovery was a godsend for Eluria, as it provided a new means of income with which to rebuild their kingdom.

The village is growing rapidly, and its inhabitants are paid very well to work in the mines or scout out new veins by climbing Kelent Mountain.  Most of the Orichalcum mined is exported directly to Lacour and Cross in exchange for supplies, labor, and capital; the rest of it is sent to New Eluria to create weapons and armor, as well as attract travelers from other countries.

Eluria Tower

The so-called “Eluria Tower,” named thus only because it represents the twisted ruins of the castle of the same name, remains an ugly stain on the continent of El.  Nothing seems to be happening there, but no one has even dreamed of trying to destroy it or take it over.  It seems to have lost most of its frightening aura, however, as the continent of El around it recovers.  Maybe someday someone will unlock its secrets and ensure that no threat remains.