Realm of Beasts

Ruler: Varana, Goddess of Beasts and Stories

The Endless Wilderness is spoken of by the people of Ianis only in story. Where many of the legends of the land are based on fact or passed down stories, The Endless Wilderness is seen as a true myth. But the reality is, The Endless Wilderness is as real as any other place on Ianis.

The Endless Wilderness exists beyond Ianis, in the vast expanses of the universe roamed by Celestian at the beginning of time. A realm apart from the mortal plane, The Endless Wilderness is as dangerous as it is, well, Endless.

The lower realms are a dangerous place to be

The entirety of The Endless Wilderness is blanketed by a thick layer of fog extending for thousands of kilometres in all directions. Under the fog is one of the more savage places in the universe. A dense, untamed forest dominated by thick fronds, ferns and feral beasts. The lower forest of The Endless Wilderness is home to some of the most wild and monstrous animals to ever be spawned by the Gods. Blind, bloated and hungry for flesh; they crawl through the fog and attempt to eat nearly everything in their path.

The Endless Wilderness would be a bitter and miserable place were it not for the Vin-Anir-Al-Asai, or, fog striders. Giant deer, supported by dozens of legs, that roam The Endless Wilderness. In the past the fog striders were uninhabited, content to roam The Endless Wilderness, oblivious to what occurred below them.

Abandoned creations of the Gods, the lower realms of The Endless Wilderness were populated by the Beast People. Once a proud people, they were cast aside like so much refuse when the Gods grew bored of them. No longer enjoying their protections, the Beast People fell prey to the creatures of the forest. Afraid, and on the borders of extinction, all hope seemed lost.

But all that changed with the arrival of Varana, a young lioness that was determined to change the fate of her people. Varana climbed the fog-strider, Van-Alar, and pleaded with it to have it and its kind save her people. The fog-striders were moved by the plight of the beast people, and now, their backs are home to great cities.

The Endless Wilderness’s inhabitants live on the fog-striders in relative peace and have done so for many thousands of years. Resources on each fog-strider are somewhat scarce, but not so much as to drive factions to outright war. Rather, it’s considered perfectly acceptable, and even in some cases entertaining, to attempt to steal from and overwhelm other tribes.

Vin-Anir-Al-Asai have roamed since time began

The most commonly stolen resource is the currency of the endless wilderness, ball bearings. Solid, collected balls of the fog from below, each ball bearing represents a story. When a story told in the endless wilderness is great enough, it will manifest physically as a ball bearing. The total number of ball bearings that someone has is not only a representation of social status, but also of monetary worth. It is not uncommon to see the very rich or very elderly in possession of tens or even hundreds of thousands of ball bearings; each a story.

Varana rules the endless wilderness from the back of Van-Alar. She governs with a benevolent, if iron fist, content for her people to live how they see fit; but never allowing anything to threaten to the stability of the fog striders. However, whispers abound amongst the beast people that Varana has her eye set on a distant realm, and that soon the fog of the endless wilderness will flow across more than one world.