An Introduction to Kreivok
Known as Kreivok by its inhabitants, the realm of Kreivok is an ancient one or at the very least the fragment of something greater with truly ancient roots. It's past is buried beneath layers of ice, crumbled mountains destroyed by the warring of the Former Empires or the rising of the oceans. Today it is known as a cold Realm, filled with a hardy, strong and bloodthirsty people. The winters of Kreivok are harsh and, indeed, in some places it snows nearly or always year-long. Away from the civilized lands the Uncreated Night gnaw at reality as the law of nature come undone, breeding unnatural beasts only held at bay by strength of arm and cunning. Nevertheless pockets of civilization exist, beautiful cities of wood and stone sometimes built around the ruins of something far more ancient. The people of Kreivok know there is much hidden in the past yet they do not care. They live, they fight, they die. It is all that matters until the Inevitable Doom, foreshadowed to end all life on Kreivok arrives.
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| Art by Vsevolod Ivanov. Had to crop a certain part. |
Climate
Kreivok is a cold realm, where winters are long and harsh and the summers are short. How cold exactly varies between regions and on the level of damage it's Celestial Engines have endured. One thing all inhabitants of these lands know is that Kreivok is getting colder every year with winter lasting longer and longer. While other environmental instabilities exist this one is the most noticeable. Fortunately, warmer lands still exist and at the height of summer one can walk freely on the ground lush with vegetation, the sun bright in the sky and one can swim and bathe in the running rivers. Such a time is short and it is seen as a time of bliss.
Great storms are known to occur at random: these are caused by the Celestial Engines of what is now Kreivok breaking down. Only a few storms occur yearly across the entire Realm and with luck only once every few decades does it's epicenter hit a civilization center. When it does, death and destruction follow both from the storm and from the Uncreated which pour forth from the metaphysical instability, hungry for blood, flesh and mayhem. It is not uncommon for the Uncreated which manifest in Kreivok to be elemental-like creatures, seemingly embodiment of a spiteful nature and reality about to crumble.
Fauna and Flora
The lands of Kreivok are full of life in spite of how harsh the climate is. The plains and taiga are home to herds of auroch-like creatures of varying size and temperament, from the fairly 'normal' brown two horned creatures which both hunt and raise in captivity alike to the twelve feet tall omnivorous, four-horned shaggy beasts who appear as placid herbivore and act as such until the land grows cold, at which point they will devour any small animal in their path. Large predators, especially giant saber-teethed cats and cave bears can eat men whole and even giant predatory owls have been known to grow so large as to snatch children. Stranger beasts lurk away from the civilized lands.
The waterways are home to fish and seal of varying size and the colder beaches are home to giant howling walrus whose tusks are harvested to create spears. In deeper water, giant snakes, squids and horrific beasts, loosely described as translucent half seal-half bear lurk to snatch unwary travelers. It is unknown if these elusive creatures are natural beasts or some horrific mutation but their ability to evade detection is nearly supernatural.
The forests are nearly exclusively coniferous. Giant deer and caribou move between the immense trees, hunted by the aforementioned giant cats and bears as well as wolves, giant or otherwise. However for the most part the forests have far less mega fauna. Things such as mammoths and woolly rhinos live exclusively in the plains and taiga.
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| Art by Mauricio Anton(?). |
Technology
There isn't much coherence to the technological level of Kreivok: while most of it's civilization are roughly at the level which would be associated with the 'iron age', some maintain the secret to mostly-lost arts of advanced metallurgy and chemistry. Quite a few ancestral heirlooms and legendary artifacts are extremely advanced pieces of theotechnical working: self-repairing armor, impossibly dense hammers, mechanical steeds and rings which hold complex sorcerous personal force fields are but possible example. Such artifacts are in the possession of great lords and heroes or hidden inside long-lost barrow mounds. For the most part, however, the warriors and hunters of Kreivok make do with iron, steel, bone or even stone.
Magic
What other Realms would see as 'magic' is both ingrained into the mindset and lives of the people of Kreivok just as much as it seen as alien. Local traditions and schools of Low Magic have been shaped by the years of hardy lifestyle and centuries of war. Biochemical enhancements, temporary or permanent, are commonplace and not seen as magical by the people: the heart of ancient beasts are eaten, their blood used to bathe would-be practitioners of these form of Low Magic and ritualistic mutilations are common. This form of Low Magic is rather simplistic and comparatively far less impressive on a visual level, as these warriors don't launch bolts of fire or fly. Instead they learn to harness life force and anger to enhance their bodies, to become stronger or heal faster or even to fly into murderous rages. On a more practical level this form of magic allows to mend wounds, which is very useful if one wish to keep on fighting. Death in battle may be honorable and sought after but that doesn't mean one should die from infected wounds. Better to die in a single blow with one's head flying off from the stump!
Other forms of Low Magic include the art of predicting (and later controlling) the great thunder and ice storms which wrack the land: these are seen with much more awe and suspicion due to the destructive power it wield. Magic in Kreivok is not for the weak nor the faint of heart: it is for the mighty, the willing and the strong-willed. One will not find scrawny scholars with their noses in books in such a Realm.
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| Savage Punch by Wesley Burt. PUNCH THAT FUCKING BEAR! |
Religion
There is no major organized religion in Kreivok, only local or regional cults which draw upon related cultural traditions, some of which are believed to go back to the Former Empires. To the people of Kreivok, there is very little purpose in directly worshiping a distant/missing God. Rather, ancestral cults are very much the norm. The shape they take varies between cultures. Many famous ancestors and ancient kings have been deified by the people of Kreivok.
The Land
In truth, very little of Kreivok truly make sense according to the ancient and outdated (and once-logical) models for climate and geography of the Former Empires. The Realm's damage has altered sea levels several times and caused tectonic instabilities, leading to some unusual geological formations which, while stable (for now), do lead to some incoherence. Climate, likewise is increasingly unstable: however to it's inhabitants it is what pass for normality. Yes, this is an excuse to allow for impossible geography.
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| An early map of Kreivok without any nations added. |
Stormlands
The inhabitants of Kreivok call these 'stormlands' for a reason, for it seem as if the very land is as chaotic and as raging as a storm. Earthquake, volcanic eruptions and thunderstorms are common in these lands where the very energies of creation and destruction have become unstable. Only truly hardy yet alien beasts dwell there permanently as anything else risk being destroyed by the earth splitting itself apart or suddenly erupting into a spire of stone. They are akin to fissures in the engines which maintain the ground and geology of Kreivok and most of them are surrounded by dryer plains, as no forest can maintain itself in their vicinity. However, the Stormlands are also a source of minerals and resources for the people of Kreivok and many nations seek to harvest the Stormlands in their year-long 'cool down'.
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| Stormlands at their worst. This is a mountain from the Magic: The Gathering set Zendikar. |
The Dark Forest
To the west of Kreivok stretch the oldest and darkest forests. As one goes deeper and deeper to the west, the trees grow larger and the canopy grows thicker. In time, one will find themselves inside a maze of ancient, twisted and mutated trees: this is the so-called 'Dark Forest'. Here the laws which define reality grow weaker thanks to horrifically damaged Celestial Engines. This is a land of monsters, of trolls and goblins which feast upon the entrails of courageous men and vile cowards alike. There is no law here, no honor, only the endlessly hungry forest and the dark soulless void which await one at it's edge. Ancient hags are said to live there, at the edge, in huts of wood and bones.
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| More MTG art, this time a forest from Shadowmoor. |
The Wetlands
Called as such by the natives, these pocket areas as generally far more humid than the neighboring locales and are by comparison booming with life. These also include the many islands found all across Kreivok. Their true origin has been lost to the inhabitants: these are the last locations where the ancient environmental reshaping of what would become the realm of Kreivok still function, creating these pockets of fertility. Some have begun to malfunction, however, spawning some twisted life of their own. Many have unique, peculiar features too.
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| Another MTG forest, from Magic 2015. |
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