[Storyteller's Point Of View] City Drawbacks

[Gossamer]

The following posts are a result of the first ever mandatory storyteller assignment. We thought if you saw the raw results as players, you might have a better insight into the domains you are playing in. If your storyteller doesn't post his or her POV here promptly, feel free to nudge them.

Why Wind Reach Sucks First off, living at the top of the world, a huge snowfall happens every late fall or early winter that piles not just inches but feet of snow onto the roads and into the passes and pretty much everywhere. This is commonly called the First Freeze. And truthfully by the time all the freezes and snowfalls happen throughout the winter, the snowpack is so huge it can't be counted in feet at all. It is so stormy that the eagles rarely get out to fly. It's cold enough to freeze your skin instantly if its exposed so basically any food stores the Wind Reach folks have been able to save from the spring, summer and fall are put into play to feed everyone throughout this cut-off. If the eagles could fly, they could drop to lower elevations and hunt, but this is a rare happening thus fresh meat is rare. Okay, so the threat of starvation aside. Wind Reach is cut off from almost everyone. Rarely some traders will come by but basically what's known in the city is known by the whole of the community. There are no real chances for expansions of knowledge. This leads to a whole host of issues - inbreeding, stagnation of concepts and culture to name a few. Wind Reach is prone to disease because everyone lives in close quarters. If you aren't telepathic or have ESP type gifts, odds are the eagles aren't going to pick you as a rider. That means the gifted keep breeding with the gifted getting stronger gifts, and the ungifted keep getting the shaft over and over and over again. Those who are pretty, talented, smart, and creative eat. Those that have none of these issues, usually don't. If you have a physical or mental handicap that affects your ability to work, your status is not your choice. You become Chiet at best or Dek at worst. In these classes, you have no choice over anything that happens to you in Wind Reach. The have's keep getting more and the have nots seem to supply it. If you are of the Dek class, you own nothing, not even yourself. If you are a chiet or dek, anyone above you in rank can use you however they'd like from manual labor to sexual slavery. No one cares if people disappear or die from these ranks, so the Symenestra often openly harvest and its shrugged off. This harvest comes in the form of a handful of symenestra a year dropping by in the warmer seasons and leaving with a handful of dek. They are openly welcomed too if they bring knowledge or technology that might be needed. There's a geis on WR folks. None of them know who Ivak is. The Eagles openly keep secrets from their riders. If a pair bonding doesn't work out, riders often 'disappear' or die in mysterious accidents and the eagle looks for someone else. No one ever says anything about this, but it's an unspoken knowledge that the tomb of the fallen has taken a few live riders to their deaths instantly. There's a huge underground lichen and mushroom forest that is filled with wonders that will truly challenge a person's ability to live. Wild things live there that are not documented as of yet. Some of them make glassbeaks look like cute kittens or chicks hatched fresh out of the shell. Other gods, like Rhaus, walk the halls of Wind Reach and no one notices really. Why should they? They live in oblivion to what happened to the world. Mention the Valterrian and most will give you a blank look. And finally, the walls of Mt. Skyinarta are so steeped in divine magic its not even funny. It influnces the way people are, how they think, what actions they take. Skyinarta is teaming with it. It's one of the reasons why the gifted keep getting better at what they do, and the weak perish so easily. It also makes overgiving within Wind Reach way more common - earth reimancers will tell you this is true, because often they are sick in their work - carving out new tunnels, warrens, chambers... and overgive instantaneously with no explanation why. Its because the stone they work with is filthy rich with divine djed - the djed of a dead god. There's so much more, but I'll leave it to my AS's to sort through on their own posts.

[Phoenix]

Why Wind Reach Sucks... The Left Overs. As Gossamer mentioned, we all worked together to figure out why Wind Reach sucks.. We each picked our favorite little bit, and here is mine. The Inarta are racist bastards. For the most part, if you come from the outside, expect to find arrows wizzing in your direction, and Giant Eagle poop falling from the sky, aimed at your head. That being said, Wind Reach is woefully ignorant, as a whole. As mentioned before, they are inbred and the divisions between the Castes are widening even more as time passes. So, as a rule, each generation gets a bit dumber, a bit more isolated and a bit more ignorant. Wind Reach is located on top of a volcano. While this might lead to a really pretty view in the spring....it's a volcano. An active volcano. Kaboom, no more Inarta. And since they refuse to leave their little safe haven, and the Wind Eagles pretty much assure that all the promising, bright, talented Inartans are tied to them, and therefore destined to live on the volcano forever...well, Every worthwhile gene that the Inartans possess would probably die out in one fowl lava blast. (Fowl....giant birds...geddit?) So, I think it pretty much sucks that your home and entire population lives on the brink of extinction every day. The end.

[Alice]

Why Mura Sucks Yes, the Konti do have awesome gifts, but the huge drawback is that they sometimes can’t control them. Especially if their gifts or their visions become too strong and uncontrollable or are permanent (like Satu’s emotion radar), they develop weird behavior to protect their fragile psyche from damage. Some are lucky to have their gnosis marks removed by Avalis if things get worst, but some also commit suicide or simply lose (read: ignore) their sense of empathy and do strange things with others. Most Konti, however, feel what others feel. That also means they’re extremely careful not to hurt themselves or let themselves hurt and will go to great lengths to ensure that there’s no chaos around to trouble their visions and emotions. If they feel evil intents or pain, they often experience it more intensely and are easily overwhelmed (consequences are as stated above). Due to protect themselves, they won’t allow any crime or ill will or any disharmony at all on their island. They see themselves as protectors of the entire island (yes, it’s even named after them). While they avoid conflict as much as possible, they will also be very quick and efficient if conflict is brought upon them. Slavers, sadists, murderers, thieves or any other dubious folk will not even be allowed to reach the harbor. And while Konti don’t know much about weapons, they do know a lot about the mind and how it can be influenced. Of course, they will always suffer the most and really feel like martyrs... This is not only limited to crime, but also to people who take risks, don’t accept fate, don’t believe in the use of fortune telling and have anything else about their set of ethics that seems wrong to a Konti. Way to be unpopular! Basically, everyone who is not nice to them, their mindset, their deities their animals, their nature and their water will not be allowed to live with them. Also, if you somehow manage to work around their sense of knowing your true intentions, you will probably be disposed of by their goddess. Avalis is fiercely protective of her children. Yes, people are given second chances occasionally, but only those who are honest enough to deserve them. And if you’ve passed the test, chances are that you’ll probably be used for their causes pretty soon. Again due to their gifts, Konti know things about fate and the future. You’ll probably get roped into some kind of mission with as much information as a ‘You were destined to do this.’ (It can happen to outsiders AND Konti, by the way.) There’s also a high probability that your neighbor will tell you to go to certain places or do certain things (or stay away from doing/experiencing them), because your future says that your actions will reflect upon them/their sister/mother/friend in this or that way. And you’re seriously required to do so, because if they get a vision from their goddess, they ALWAYS do what it says. Basically, Konti are nice and friendly, but if something isn’t nice and friendly to them, they do what is necessary to keep pain from the community. They avoid being victims as much as possible, and do everything to ensure that peace and harmony is maintained in the long run. As for the geographic location of Konti Isle, the only real source of fresh water is Silver Lake. If someone doesn’t wish to be influenced by the impact vision water has on their minds and extrasensory perception or doesn’t sympathize with Avalis, they will have a hard time surviving. Vision water is a part of life on Konti Isle, it influences its population, animals and even plants. On some occasions people have even found their hair and skin color bleaching from the water, although this is rare. Their body will also probably not react well to the water and become ill. Also, due to the high concentration of rare animals and plants that are unique to Konti Isle, hunting as well as exporting large amounts of flowers or herbs is strictly limited to nearly impossible. Hunting on land and underwater is controlled by the Konti, and if anyone is caught hunting animals without their consent they can get into serious trouble. Fish and plants are taken care of by every Konti. They act like gardeners, and protect their Isle from any harm. (In addition, catching any animals might be hard due to the entire environment basically being white and pastel colored.) However, although most animals and plants are not hostile (if not provoked, that is), the wilderness of the Isle is not explored and documented and might provide treacherous holes and caves that can leave someone starving somewhere far from any civilization. The land is as untouched by civilization as it was when the Konti first settled at the outskirts of Silver Lake: The area around Mura is pretty well-known, but everything a few miles behind is no-man’s land. Mura itself is built into Silver Lake and partly above ground, partly underwater which makes it hard for non-aquatic races to reach certain locations. They are cut off from some important locations and can’t experience what defines Mura and Konti life. Due to the intricate infrastructure that is built into nature, around trees, small lakes and near forest paths, it is very likely to get lost and lose track of what is Mura and what is countryside. There are swan boats, but they are more of a tourist attraction than a real means to get to the important locations. As an OOC addition, I’d also like to say that adventures filled with action and dangers are very rare if you play in Mura. People are nice and reasonable (most of them, anyway), nobody freaks out or wreaks havoc (at least not with serious consequences) and even wildlife is not as hostile as in other places of Mizahar. Mostly adventures can only be had on the mental, mystery/religious or (rarely) societal side.

[Cayenne]

Why Falyndar Sucks. Taloba Taloba, quite frankly, is dangerous. It’s dangerous for people to live there, and it’s dangerous for people to go outside of it. But not going outside of it, unless you are either elderly or crippled is impossible. If you do not go outside of it, people will starve. The city as a whole needs to be fed, and raising domesticated –ha, domesticated…– critters isn’t enough for them to survive on. And further more, how else are they going to get sacrifices to their Gods if they don’t go hunting for stragglers who shouldn’t be in the jungle in the first place? Even the children have to go outside of the walls and do so routinely. There is no room for weakness here. Weaknesses need to be worked on or purged, because Myrians rely on each other for survival. The weak, foolish, and stupid often die. And did I mention you’re isolated from most other races, because very few are actually going to brave the jungle to visit Taloba. It’s not exactly on Mizahar’s Must See Cities Before You Die, because you might well die trying to get there, or die when you do. Sacrifices, don’t you know. You are locked in an undeclared war with the Dhani to the northwest, who, despite the best efforts of your scouts, might well have managed to slip out to exact some measure of revenge and earn their accolades by bringing your corpse back in for feeding their hatchlings. Talobian society is also quite rigid. Males can never hold top posts, nor can they own the familial houses – it must pass to the females, just as bloodline is passed down. If your mother was unlucky enough to have only sons and no daughters, and you have a small clan? Your name dies with you unless you can for whatever reason convince the elders, and a willing female, to carry it on. For what the males have, they have to work very, very hard for. This isn’t to say that the women always get a free pass, as they don’t – but they have the advantage of never having a divine decree about their rank and status that came from an altercation before you were born… before the Valterrian! Thieves can’t operate in Taloba without running the risk of being killed. Just ‘giving it back’ isn’t good enough, because being caught is enough reason to have your hands cut off. The Myrians have a piss-poor attitude towards other races beyond Kelvics and they hate the Dhani, Nuit and Symenestra, who cannot come into Taloba without getting killed. By the way, you also have latrines and have to get your water from wells. Tskanna crap is also really, really gross and the herd produces a lot of it. Makes great fertilizer, but transporting it to the rotating pastureland outside the city? Iiiick... Zinrah Um, well. You are surrounded on all sides by cannibalistic savages who want your skins just for existing, and will kill you the moment you poke your scaly heads out if they can catch you. Giant salamanders can eat your babies in here unless you eat them first. Everything, and I do mean everything, from food that you need to survive to the basic necessities (excepting water) must be smuggled past those Myrians who have blocked you in and do their very damndest to make sure nothing gets back inside. Very few races actually know where Zinrah is, and those that do are usually other Dhani who might not be up to the Constrictors’ religious standards, and to top it off, those so-called diplomats are eating your precious supplies. Politics are nasty. Males are the guards, the hunters, the gatherers while they protect and worship the all-important females who must produce the eggs for the next generation. And those females can be very nasty, and are encouraged to be nasty. It would suck never really knowing if you were going to be the pawn sacrificed (and possibly by your own mother or sister!) to try to net a bishop or a rook. You can run the risk of being expelled from the nest, which is tantamount to a death sentence, if it gets to the Priestesses that you are not an avid, fanatical follower of Siku, even if you do worship her, but prefer her much nicer mother, Caiyha. Almost no fire can happen in the damp down there, which means there is a definite lack of certain trade skills, which are simply impossible to perform down there, and doing them elsewhere undetected… well, the odds are not in your favour. Charbosi You’re under the water. Yes, you have trained sharks, yes, you have trained seahorses, yes, there are a few pelagic dragons and giant squids down there to protect the city. But outside that city, there are still plenty of things in the water that will try to kill you. There are fish with teeth as big as your arms down there. You are isolated from the air-breathers, excepting Konti/Akontak and Akvatari who might take a weird chance and go down there. If you step foot on the closest landmass, people try to kill you for EATING, for pity’s sake, which only leaves your merchants with the outlet of the Ghost Town or much, much longer journeys very far away from home. A lot of above-water things, like paper, do not last down there. And yes, Charodae really do taste like chicken. Black Rock Isolation. Pure isolation. Very precious little grows here – almost everything is imported, usually from the Myrians and the Charodae. You are surrounded by Ghosts of all shapes and sizes, many of whom are deeply, deeply troubled, and new ones show up constantly, and some of them are violent and psychotic and can lash out until an Omen shows up to save your butt. To make matters worse, the canals change, and you never really know –how– they are going to change. What might have been a serviceable way to your place of work is now on the other side of the island. Not a great many ships from the rest of Mizahar actually comes to Black Rock, and it is dangerous to go beyond Black Rock’s stated aquatic boundaries, as the pirates know how far they can go and where when it comes to attacking off of the hub. Your coins, the Ashl, cannot leave the island, and there’s also the fact that if you misbehave enough to annoy Dira severely, you’ll find out why those coins never leave the island when your body is changed into several hundred semi-aware coins for a century or two until you smarten up. Jungle Wilds Most of what is in this place can kill you. It will kill you if you do not go out properly prepared and preferably in packs and some way of camouflaging and hiding yourself, and even then, you still might be screwed! The plants are out to get you, the insects are out to get you, there are carnivorous birds out to get out, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got poisonous sloths in there somewhere that look cute and cuddly (who can resist the adorable sloth? Seriously?), but are toxic. The place floods routinely during the rainy season and then it takes forever and a day to recede, and in the mean time, that totally changes everything – what place might have been safe from crocs a tenday ago now harbours a giant reptilian monster waiting to go om nom nom on you. --- So what’s my theme here? Life is hard. Life is not cushy for those who live there. Those who live there earn the right to live, and they have to earn it every single day. Falyndar is extremely isolated. Food is abundant, but the hard part is getting it. There is always a bigger and badder predator than yourself out there, and chances are, one day you’ll find it.

[Cheshire]

Why Avanthal Sucks The quite obvious reason why Avanthal sucks in the fact it is winter all year long. Because of this fact it is impossible to grow food without a little help. While stormgems help with the growing process by giving off heat they do not create sunlight. All crops have to be grown above ground behind Winterflame hold. The heat can keep the plants growing as long as the sun is out but during the winter more Stormgems are needed to keep the plants healthy. Sadly, there is not always enough Stormgems to keep the plants growing on top of the obvious lack of sunlight in the harsh winter. During the times when the sun is scarce the people of Avanthal need to rely on their hunters which brings us to the next reason why Avanthal sucks. The permenent winter in Taldera is a huge roadblock against the hunters of Avanthal. Not only is it more dangerous due to the cold temperatures and storms but the animals are also more hard to hunt. The game of natures balance is a big player in Talderian hunting. When the hunters catch the prey, like rabbits and deer, they take food from the bigger hunters, like leopards and bears. Without their natural prey the large predators will seek out more intellegent prey, people. Although Icewatch tries their hardest to keep the Talderian animals from the city there are times when they carry off a few citizens. The beasts are very large while Vantha are smaller than other races. Often Icewatch will have to fight off large collections of more dangerous animals and in almost every attempt people die. The beasts are strong and they will fight to the death to protect their right to hunt and eat. Another problem which is not as health detrimental but still a bit of a downfall. Not many people want to risk their lives to venture to Avanthal making it somewhat closed off to other cities at times. There are times when food is low. Hunts often come back unsucessful for the sheer fact there is nothing out there to hunt or the hunting party simply died either by beast or by the workings of snow, wind, or hunger. People freeze to death very often. Much more often then people seem to play out. If you are a person walking around in Avanthal with skimpy clothing you WILL be cold and you WILL get hypothermia. To add onto my little rant, if you go into the Reaches or the Wastes without proper coverage of the body, enough food and water, skill in wilderness survival, and defensive/offensive skills YOU WILL DIE. There is no "I was born in Avanthal, I can handle it". It is petching cold and if you can't wrap yourself up in some furs you will be losing some fingers (or other body parts) to the ice. Mines. The Iceglaze mines are dangerous. They are important to the production of Icestone but the mines that hold the mineral are unstable. Many people die because of cave ins.

[Mercury]

Why Wind Reach Sucks… 1. The library and education system bite. The city is so focused on surviving there is little if any time to train pure scholars focused on just learning. There is no proper university. True scholars are also very rarely lauded; they are sometimes even regulated to the commoner class: chiet. And the library could do with some extra stocking. 2. We are so far away from traders that there is nothing really fun or new to play with or learn from, that is from the outside world. And if people do visit, they are usually symnestra trying to eat our Dek (not that we care). 3. The inbreeding… Our city has a limited population that is constantly being weeded thanks to botched Eagle bondings and plain stupidity (Natural selection woot), but because we can’t really feed a lot of people nor do we get injections of outside blood, our people are inbreeding like crazy. And while this problem may exist in all of Mizahar, it might really become a serious issue in Wind Reach in no more than a handful of generations. 4. Caste resentment. While caste systems are good at rewarding the hard working and just naturally superior, it is very discouraging to the lower caste. Even if the lower caste work their bums off at their own jobs, they rarely get the respect they deserve from snotty hypocritical Endals who came from the Chiet caste in the first place. This causes caste resentment which could lead to issues (rebellions and sabotage) if not properly handled. 5. Everyone looks the same… it’s just kinda creepy. 5a. Have you ever tried to describe someone to a friend? I.E. "I was talking to that cute blond gray eyed guy over there." Well that's basically impossible in Wind Reach. Its more like - "Hey have you seen the ginger... um, I mean the one with blue eye-... crap we all look the same"

[Kelpie]

Why Lhavit Sucks Let's start off with the crazies! People come into Lhavit thinking "oh it's so beautiful", but underneath all that cute crystal and rainbows there is violence and suffering, and lots of it! Which is always great fun. Lhavit has wizards, quite a few of them actually, and like every wizard they are prone to going batshit insane, and it has happened, and it will happen, and it does happen. Crazy wizards on occasion go out on killing sprees or summon stupid things like cute monsters from other worlds or suck the life force from people with their ugly tentacles (okay maybe not tentacles but same difference.) These wizards primarily come from the three Houses, Dawn, Twilight and Dusk, but there are and have been stray wizards that have not registered at the koten temple and live in secret. Those are the ones you have to watch out for. In relation to the above, the Shinya guard these wizards and are supposed to detain and/or kill them should they have degraded too far. But Shinya are corruptible. There have been cases where a Shinya has helped a crazy wizard murder others (usually members of the opposing House) and then subsequently cover it up, probably under the influence of hypnotism or the promise of an elevation in rank, or even power. So the Protectors? The weak-willed don't last long. Obviously crime is a common factor of life blah blah. Due to their height on the peaks and so near the western shores, Lhavit can have some wicked bad storms. Fiercely bad. Anything and everything that is not made of skyglass is usually destroyed, crops are swept away and the water supply maintained for the city might become tainted by a dead body or some such. So when this happens, the city might resort to rations from the stored stash in case of an emergency, many of the lower classes starve, especially the slaves/servants. Due to the proximity of Kalinor to Lhavit, the city is prone to have women stolen from them. Symenestra who are not immediately arrested/killed on the spot are kept on close watch, but they have been known to slip past the guards. Lhavitians are incredibly racist to them, to the point of tossing respectable Symenestra out of stores or taverns, and denying them jobs. Unless they build up their own repute, they are considered "filth". Suicide rates are high among a high-ranking Lhavitian who has been tossed into the "slave class", or even what some might consider something like an "honor killing." Basically the family's or the person's mentality is, "The mark of shame is erased by his/her death." If there is no death, the family disowns the individual, and they are left to fend for themselves. Due to Ataraxia being retired, I'll be posting his POV as well: Looks like I have my work cut out for me, since Pao and Ophie already went. I'll touch on something about Lhavit that i've been thinking about for a while. As they both said, there is a rigid class system. What some of you who are not RPing in Lhavit may not know is that those who attempt to become a Shinya and fail are essentially turned into servants for the current Shinya, and are treated quite poorly as well. The catch? These boys and girls become men and women, but at some point they did learn projection, and possibly other magical arts. I would imagine there have been more than once instance of a Viraya have become dissatisfied with their life as a servant and lashed out at the society that binds them. This only further compounds with the fact that there are quite a few people in Lhavit with magical abilities. So what do we have? A city that is guarded by magic, and is at constant risk of it's own guardians (and failed guardians) going berserk. If one were to take it one notch too far with a downtrodden Viraya on the wrong day, they may find themselves being attacked by a man or woman armed with magic and nothing to lose. Also, the number of Shinya. There aren't that many. The Syliran Knights can patrol the area around their city, but the Shinya can't feasibly pull it off as the Knights do. Sure, the main roads to and from Lhavit may be patrolled on a semi-regular basis, but off the beaten track there just isn't the manpower to worry about civilians. There aren't even Shinya posted permanently at the docks, located below the city on the shore. I imagine that there is a considerable amount of shady dealings that occur there every day, and I also wouldn't doubt that it's a major launching point for slaves to be taken to Sylira. I think what we've come up with is enough detrimental stuff to really account for the harshness of the city. It is visibly beautiful and a sight to behold, but beyond the beauty lies a cruel society that firmly believes in their hierarchy and treats the laborers that sustain it as though they were nothing. If those low class citizens (Shimobe) were to ever take a stand against their conditions, Lhavit's economy would fall from it's delicate balance. With the way things are, it's probably only a matter of time until someone steps up to lead these people to a better life. Would they be wrong to try?

[Seth]

Ravok is a horrible place for non-humans! While any race may be granted entrance into the city, it is important to emphasize that the city population is 90% human with only 10% non-human. Of those 10%, 90% are slaves. Non-humans or those that can't pass for human are not highly regarded by many of the full citizens of Ravok. Truly unique, non-human visitors to the city run the high risk of being harassed at the least all the way up to being captured and auctioned off at the slave market. People don't seem to understand this, but I plan on making them understand! If you are not human, you are constantly in danger! You are a walking source of profit that everyone will want to get their hands on! Someone could walk up to you on the street, stab you in the stomach, knock you out, and then sell you the very next hour. It would be as simple and easy as that, and no one would ask questions. Non humans get sold, non humans get harassed, and I am going to start showing it more and more. We already have one Kelvic who has gotten attacked in her home, and a Akalak who is getting tricked into slavery at a whore house. All in all, for non-humans, which we are seeing more and more of... it is a dangerous place. All the above can apply for people who don't have citizen-ship papers (registered with the Black Sun), but I will let one of my cohorts explain that. And for humans? Ravok is watched over by the God of Chaos! There is constantly a feeling of chaos in the air, as if the city could erupt into riots at any second... but then you have the lover of the God, the Voice, who keeps the Order... but what does this Order entail? EVERYTHING is under the control of the Voice, who leads the Black Sun and the Ebonstryfe. You want healing? You better be on the right side. You want food and housing? You better be on the right side. The Black Sun is always breathing down your back, and if you oppose Rhysol... you WILL be found out. In Ravok, Rhysol sees all. Crime is encouraged! A lot of the time, a blind eye is turned to it! Stealing, drug dealing, assault... people are allowed to carry bare weapons in the streets! It is a dangerous place, especially for a non-human. If you are human... well, you better be on the right side, or it can be even more dangerous. I wrote this all up really quickly at work, on my break! It didn't take me a second to think of how dangerous Ravok can be! <3

[Flicker]

Wind Reach Six months out of the year, you're playing your character in a disease ridden mountain with no hope of doing anything outside. There are no "families". Just because someone popped you out doesn't mean they owe anything to you. There are Dek to look after sniveling snot factories, the more talented members of society have better things to do with their time. And if you can't excel as a child with the whole community educating you, then you sure aren't worth claiming after you've been weened of necessary dependence. Siblings bond because they're of similar capacities, they were raised together by the same physically incompetent Drudge, something stronger than having spawned from the same primordial sludge. Sludge disappears quickly in the heat of a volcano. There is no default support system. Each Inarta makes their own or has no one. If an Inarta leaves...they're pretty much disowned. That awesome trip to Falyndar? Forget it. No one is going want to hear you blabber about your imaginary land with big orange cats. No one is going understand your defection. How are you going to get all the money and supplies to survive the trip over, anyway? Glassblowing and falconry don't exactly give you a lot of opportunities for wilderness survival experience. Anything super awesome you buy is most likely going to be requisitioned with no compensation by an Endal. And Endal...don't get to leave. If they wanted to, their Eagles would probably not have chosen them. And no one is going to understand why you came back unless you have a lot of super awesome amazing trade goods for the community.

[Rage]

Falyndar Wilds Just to add to what Cayenne said, Falyndar has all sorts of nasty stuff like diseases that are natural byproducts of its environment: dengue, cholera, malaria, swamp fever... you know, the fun stuff. And even though the local Myrians have more resistance to them compared to visitors of the region, it's not all out immunity - they are still vulnerable to it despite developing a more robust immune system. The vast biodiversity of the region also creates problems for the ignorant: apart from the poisonous animals that roam the jungle, even the plants have their own form of self-defense. Locals may just suffer stomach cramps and the runs from those delicious looking berries, but imagine what it would do to outsiders. Even the much sought after Mikmik fruit bites back and the whipvine that guards its tree can trigger all sorts of allergies on anyone. And then there are the pools of Wild Djed - patches of land that even the divine would not dare tread upon. Why? Nobody really knows what kind of effect these places would have on them and most of the time, it's best not to find out. It may just be funny if you get your gender changed by this unstable form of magic, or an inconvenience when you grow a third limb, but nobody would be laughing if you suddenly turn into a Charoda while parlaying with a Myrian patrol. Bottomline: the Falyndar outdoors is NOT an excursion for anyone. Even the prepared.