Lyrica : The Map & Important Locations  Boreios Kingdom - The Northern Realm Orthios – Even if Orthios is the capital of the Boreios Kingdom, it does not consist of much. Forestry lined with stone benches upon the granite pathway, Orthios only holds Queen Euterpe’s castle which looks more like a medieval monastery on Earth. Stained glass portraits of Euterpe surround the castle along with pictures of the kingdom’s accomplishments. To even step onto the Orthios grounds, you must have some sort of business and are questioned by a guard unless of high status (Guardian rank or higher.) Rose bushes in hues of rose, crimson, and yellow surround Orthios, it is quite a pretty land even if inaccessible to the majority of Northerners. Leocadia – Lined with dainty homes and baskets of wildflowers on doorsteps, the seabreeze from Leocadia can be smelled from miles away. “Fresh Fish” signs are abundant and lots of lower rank Northerners live here proudly. Those of all walks of life mesh together in Leocadia without any qualms even though the area is ridiculously populated. Leocadia also serves as a port for Northeners to leave for the Kougla Isles or if Queen Euterpe has sent someone into exile, they are cast off in a boat to Ygros Swamplands from here. Little tea boats adorned with lanterns are all around the town, they are used to house some of the families with fishermen in them. This port town is used to tourism too for those wanting to catch a boat to another land or visit a relative here since the area is so densely populated. Out of all the places in the Boreios Kingdom, Leocadia is one of the ones with the most hustle and bustle in addition to its over crowdedness. Aquilias – An enormous city, Aquilias has the headquarters for warrior training and the galaxy’s ancient library as it is the oldest city in the entire galaxy. Before being sent off to the Black Curtain, warriors of all sorts train in this city and it is not uncommon to find soldiers of all sorts roaming Aquilias. Women who are married to those of the Warrior rank have moved here to become closer to their husbands or lovers. Some call Aquilias “the City of Tragedy” as women who have children lose their husbands to battle and their children continue this trend by marrying another warrior who is pummeled in battle too. Even if Aquilias is on the water, it is never used as a port because it is so close to the Notios Kingdoms. Homes of all sorts are found in Aquilias because the city has been around for such a lengthy amount of time compared to others. The royal market place is in the heart of Aquilias, a favorite among Northerners at all times of the year. Aquilias seems to be a historical city full of all the shopping a Southerner could desire of expensive or inexpensive taste and a place for warriors to increase their prowess. The slums are well-known in Aquilias for the lowest of ranks with run-down architecture being used as mass housing for the poorest of Northerners. Nereida – The art capital of the Boreios Kingdom, Nereida is also considered the most beautiful. Flora and wildlife roam everywhere while the cottages remain scattered upon the hilly land. Even if Nereida nearly borders the Black Curtain, the people are still as creative and tranquil as can be. Nereida borders Lake Sylvia which has provided inspiration for numerous artists and has brought peace through even the nastiest of fights between the two kingdoms. Of all of the Boreios Kingdom, Nereida has produced the most art forms and music genres, but this is most likely due to the vast amount of Artistes in the area. The Lyrikos River rests by Nereida and only the wealthiest can afford to live on the river. Guardians have retreated to the manors adjacent to the Lyrikos River the most. As far as chaos goes, Nereida appears the least chaotic as it is not overpopulated like Leocadia or Aquilias but still has people of all ranks. Forest surrounds this serene area with fresh gardenias aligning the dirt pathways, a floral scent that never goes away. Generally, when Northerners wish to travel but are tired of the same Kougla Isles trips, they enjoy Nereida’s cool and refreshing forest grounds, away from the usual crowds. Scotch broom and English ivy nearly cover Nereida’s floor. Baio (Kougla Isles) – Deep within the rainforests of the Kougla Isles rests this pacific town. Northeners from the mainland travel here most often to get away from the overcrowded cities and hustle and bustle of normal life. Most of the natives here are farmers or shepherds, gathering the fruits and herbs that fall onto the forest grounds or bringing animals out to wander. Farmers gather fruits and herbs mostly from the floppy rosewood and snapdragon trees above them such as mangos, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, guavas, pineapples, cayenne, black peppers, and tomatoes. The fashion in Baio tends to be the most revealing because of the hot rains and humidity, women tend to wear what looks like lacy bikini skirts with a matching top and the men in simply lightweight pants, shirtless. People from Baio are also the darkest in skin color even if the trees act as canopies to the forest. From a distance, anyone on Lyrica could tell who grew up in Baio and who did not. Oasi (Kougla Isles) – A beach resort for the most part, Oasi is the newest addition to the Boreios Kingdom. It was claimed years and years ago and has been made into the ideal beach land for all Northerners. Some people who sail to get to Baio often stop at Oasi too. The most exotic parties are formed in Oasi with alehounds finding much attraction in this city. A lot of people on their way to Baio had a little too much fun in one night at Oasi and have decided to live in this tropical region, which is how Oasi has become a city with people living there all year around. Most people who do live here though are drunkards, dancers, or people obsessed with partying and lying out on the beach shores, uncaring about starting a family or even working. From this, hordes of civilians have become poor and have given their lives to partying, drinking ale, or gambling every night versus working. Then again, not many people from Oasi care about starting a family or much else than what Oasi naturally offers to them; a partying experience unlike any other. Tube lights devour the land’s palm trees at night in hues of white, red, and yellow, the most recognized symbol for people who are looking to stop by and have a good time for the night or finally devour a strong drink out of a coconut shell. Kato Megali – The capital of the Notios Kingdom, Kato Megali is an underground metropolis with towering ancient oriental architecture. With its neon lights everywhere and seedy looking places only illuminated by candles, it is probably the most confusing of places in all Lyrica too. Kato Megali is like a labyrinth of dark brick paths that lead to thousands of shops, all which are privately owned by each civilian. The shops, styled in the typical Southerner’s oriental style abodes, hold the family bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms in the basement while the rest of the premise is dedicated to the shop. Irises grow all along Kato Megalo in hues of black, indigo, royal blue, and lavender, Southerners have appreciated this by creating a multitude of flower shops dedicated to creating flower arrangements of irises and any other rare flower finds they have. Southerners love and adore anything floral despite living underground and it shows by the general floral accessories they adorn themselves with. Queen Calliope’s palace is here too, built on dead trees with the top of her palace breaking through the underground of Kato Megali so Calliope could see her eternal midnight sky. Iris and rock gardens are abundant in Kato Megali, by almost each home there is a small garden of some sort which Southerners pride themselves in maintaining. Leona – Unlike Kato Megali, Leona is more like a town versus a city with its lack of people scattered everywhere. Leona is also underground like most places in the Notios Kingdom and has much woodlands. Beyond the woodlands, a stone entrance to a cave has most of the Southerners traveling here to explore it. It is a town of great mystery and some considered the cave to lead to the other end of the galaxy, but perhaps this rumor is to scare off all the trickster Southern children who are tempted to explore it. Leona is mostly a farming town with only one inn to shelter anyone who has any ideas about traveling through the woodlands and into the cave. Lots of storytellers and poets have lived in Leona; it is a place of much mystery and diversity with people from all parts of the Notios Kingdom meandering here. Cyrillus – One of the wonders of Lyrica, Cyrillus is right beneath the Vitalis Springs. The flowing water and the citrus scent of the minerals in the spring can be felt and smelled from Cyrillus. Cyrillus is almost as abundant as Kato Megali with people seeking work in the water business, supplying the Notios Kingdom with the most delicious of water. Rocks border the city and the richer folk live in the towering rocks overlooking the city. The poorest of people from Kato Megali often come here in search of work, this is most likely why Cyrillus has an enormous crime rate and slums to boot. The slums are simply tented homes with a few families living under each one. Queen Calliope barely visits this area or acknowledges the accomplishments of those in Cyrillus, this is probably with good reason too. Basilia – Basilia, the only large city that is not underground, consists of a stone forest. Green ferns and other pretty shrubbery are scattered everywhere and are mixed with the lofty stone trees above. Nobody is quite sure why the camphor and oak trees were turned into stone thousands of years ago, but this mystery leaves a lot of storytelling for citizens to do. The legend of Basilia has been invented hundreds of times by different storytellers with different theories, it is one of the most popular stories in the Notios Kingdom. Even the path through Basilia is made of stone. Most people from Basilia are quite independent as there are barely any other people besides their own who live above the ground. Basilians have taken advantage of this abundant amount of land they can use and use skylifts to go from place to place, lit by lanterns to guide them through the dark skies. Basilia is much larger than Kato Megali thus even if Basilia has the same amount of people as its capital, it hardly seems that way because of the spaciousness of the austere stone paradise. Eythys (Chioni) – Evergreens scatter over this area where it is only known for its ice palaces. It is told that Princess Snow Kaguya, while in existence, had been fond of coming to Lyrica to reside in Eythys. While Eythys is not known for being an origin of much art, it is indeed a striking ice land to visit. And despite the chilly weather and the very light skin of the Southerners, they still wear just as much clothing as they would in any other part of the Notios Kingdom. Much like Northerners retreat to Oasi and Baio, Southerners often come to be pampered in one of the ice palaces in Eythys for a few days. Eythys is the favorite of Queen Calliope and is often used as a meeting place, such as when she and her sister Euterpe discussed the Proelium Cantus wars that should take place to settle their disputes. There is an underground water tunnel with ferryman that will take citizens to Kato Megali from Eythys and vice-versa, this seems to be the most popular method of getting to this ice region. Often, Queen Calliope’s royal boat can be found taking up half the width of the tunnel with important guests on their way to Eythys aboard. The “Selini Karnabali,” also known as the “Moon Carnival” takes place here every few months for a week. The carnival uses one of the ice palaces for many activities to take place for Southerners, a favorite among children. Opilio (Makria) – Probably one of the most deserted regions of Lyrica, Opilio is also the coldest. Much like the rest of Makria, it is a frozen forest with a village resting in the middle of it. Most people who live in Opilio are hunters of sorts, providing meat for the rest of the Notios Kingdom while others are tailors who use the hides to make warm clothing. Opilio is probably one of the only places that does not sport the usual Southern attire but instead prefers furry coats to keep them from freezing and pants for both the men and women. Long hair for both genders is common too to keep them from the cold. Nomadic villages wander together along Makria and keep to their community, they are not necessarily friendly to outsiders either which has made this place a perfect punishment if anyone disobeys Calliope’s rules. Currently, any territory listed here is being fought over by the two kingdoms. The ruling over the territory will be settled through Lyrica's civil war and finalized in the Proelium Cantus war. Although it is full of exiles from both factions, it has proven to have benefits upon the lands which has made it such a desirable place to obtain. Not to mention, the two queens would prefer if all of Lyrica's land belonged to either one faction or the other. Those living in the contested areas tend to enjoy their neutrality and way of interacting with people from the opposite of their faction, creating a bitter hate for the dictating queens. The Ygros Swamplands is the only contested territory remaining at this time. Nychta (Ygros Swamplands) - Scattered with canary reed around the dispersed grass swamps, Nychta is considered by both queens as the ideal place to put criminals of any sort. In fact, Nychta was empty until Euterpe and Calliope came into rule and used it as grounds to exile citizens. And when sent here, those in exile were stripped of all money and goods thus most people in Nychta live in mud homes of sorts or colorful tents along the ruddy marsh shores. You would think that the number of criminals living here would make the place full of crime, but most were just citizens who created musical genres and whatnot that the queens could not stand or other ways of irritating them. Any exiles must beware most of all of the poison ivy growing all around Nychta and the creatures roaming the wetlands. Aetia Village (Ygros Swamplands) – This village is also one created by exiles who decided to venture off further into the Ygros Swamplands than just Nychta. The village, much smaller in population than Nychta, is full of tall, grass huts above the water. People also get around by homemade canoes because swamp water has drenched the floor below. Aetia Village is built totally on marshland, unlike on the canary reed grass of Nychta. Lemon verbena, apple mint, palm, and dwarf cypress trees cover any patches of dry land around the village in addition to a few civilians who have taken advantage of grassland with their new homes. The Black Curtain – A shadowy forest region spreading from the southern part of the Boreios Kingdom to the Northern tip of the Notios Kingdom around the Lyrikos River, the Black Curtain serves as the main battlegrounds for the opposing kingdoms. Once Euterpe and Calliope came into rule, this land which once had prominent cities was turned into war grounds for warriors and their guardians(Boreios Kingdom only). Then again, Lyrica was not even divided up into factions before the two took rule. Time-to-time, ancients of Lyrica reminisice on the afternoon the two queens had their coronation. The ancients claim the second the two were crowned, the region now called the Black Curtain had already begun to darken and the cities collapsed into ruins as if it had already known its fate all along. The Black Curtain is an area that nobody dares to enter as it is open for anyone to get killed at any point, a reminder that even if Lyrica is the universe’s capital for music, death still occurs on the planet. If a battle ever takes place between the two sides, it will be on the Black Curtain. Numerous mythical creatures who are not friendly, to say the least, roam the forest lands looking for any poor warrior who may faint soon enough and finish them off. Then again, warriors sometimes begin to do the same. A plethora of soldiers who lost their teams in battle wander around like savages, killing anything or anyone in their sights, even those of their own faction. In fact, at least half of the warriors who have resided in the Black Curtain for a lengthy amount of time tend to inherit the "Black Curse”; a neverending attitude of ruthlessness towards anyone. Some soldiers even return home to their wives in this condition and, realizing their actions and previous few months in combat, commit suicide, unable to deal with the trauma after seeing the horrendous creatures of the Black Curtain and watching their friends get killed. Lyricans were simply not made to fight in any sort of physical battle as they are too sensitive to handle it and were made for the arts, but not the art of war. The Black Curtain is nowhere near safe and is the one place each faction agrees that their citizens should never meander upon unless fighting for their kingdom. Signs border the Black Curtain with warning signs for civilians to keep out or else the kingdom cannot be liable for any sort of killing that takes place upon this land which belongs to nobody. Surprisingly enough, neither Euterpe nor Calliope want this wildwood cemetery veiled by murky clouds day and night. |