Taria is big enough to be its own continent and it is. Cold plains, catacomb cities, a royal court where a princess can be pardoned on Monday and arrested on Thursday. Tarians who can leave, leave. Those who cannot learn to say very little.
The capital sits on catacombs older than the nation. The priests keep death rites down there that look like culture to outsiders and like a schedule to the priests. Eight hundred years ago something in those tunnels ate the records, an entire nation forgetting in waves, and the lower levels were sealed. The old stone below the seal is warm. The warm zone is growing. Nothing comes up from below level four.
The war of Urartu against Aurelia ended Taria as a military power. Aurelian STARs crossed the line after an EMP killed every Tarian tank and jet, and whole regiments died on foot. One royal soldier came out of it with a story about an Etherium blade and a dead STAR. Nobody in Taria believes him. Nobody in Frysia has stopped listening.
The Bone Market still trades in the remains of old monsters. The court still hunts its own. And the princess is still in the cell.
Notable Figures
Neighbouring Lands
Connections of Taria
The World Does Not End Here
Taria is one thread in a larger story — the rest of the world waits beyond its borders.