Vulmùra

The Middle Lands

The birthplace all things corrupt and contemptible, the many lands of Vulmùra have been a source of grief for the Dekàlyr for thousands of years. It is the land where the craven Yrūn lords had dark dealings with their Eylfi masters to rule the world and brought to its knees one of the greatest Yrūn civilizations the world has known. The Old Empire was fragmented as a result of this unholy alliance, but not destroyed. One day it is told, the ancient armies will rise again against the Eylfāe and their subjects and a great reckoning will come to the shores of Vulmùra.

Regions, Geographic

The Middle Lands of Vulmùra are considered among the most volatile of lands since before the arrival of the Yrūn at the end of the Third Age. Before that time, the Middle Lands were home to the Dwürden and Eylfāe people, and hosted many wars between them. Following the Lyrasti migration many more wars erupted across the land.

The landscape of this unfolding history is varied. The continent of Vulmùra is an extension of the Lyrasti landmass, a historically divided finger of land made impassable by a knot of mountain ranges and hostile indigene. Vulmùra is dominated by a large central forested plain bounded by tall mountains and a small inland sea. The southern coasts offer warm temperate climates while the northern coasts range from cold temperate to arctic wastes. Along the northern coast lies a massive sub-arctic marsh, the largest of its kind in the world.

The extremes of climate in this, the second smallest continent of the World of Teréth End, are due to competing currents and weather systems carried by the Great North and Mar Acèntyris. The weather patterns meet but are kept separate along the continental divide which cuts across the land’s middle. The great central forests are warmed by winds and currents from the southern seas, pushing temperate weather deep into the northern reaches of that region.

People

Referred to by some as the Old World, Vulmùra is considered the birthplace of occidental culture among the Yrūn. The Mortal Race that inhabits the region can be found everywhere from the windswept steppes of Wyrr to the temperate shores of the Mar Acentyri. Unlike Lyrast (a more true “homeland” of the Yrūn), the continent of Vulmùra is not dominated by the Yrūn but rather by the Eylfāe, who rule the immortal Tahrya Anahl alongside the chaotic Feyri. Sharing the western reaches of the continent live the remnants of the Dwürden kingdoms, left over from the twilight of the Third Age.

A study of Vulmùri history is a study of sweeping wars and moving people. It is believed that at the end of the Third Age the Yrūn moved westward from Lyrast into the ancient lands of the Dwürden and Eylfāe. The migration was prophesized centuries earlier by Eylfāe seers, who convinced their Queen that war would be futile. News of these portents were delivered to the great Dwürden halls in the hopes that they would seek to repel the invaders, and fall doing so. The mountain people prepared nearly 340 years to do war against the coming Yrūn. When the Yrūn finally arrived, the Dwürden repelled them again and again but the Yrūn numbers were too large and the Dwürden casualties too great. In time they learned that the Eylfāe had set them in the path of destiny’s hammer and seeing their folly thereafter welcomed the Yrūn into the lowlands of coastal Vulmùra. This movement of Yrūn into the Dwürden lands is accepted as the dawn of the Fourth Age.

The migrated Yrūn traded frequently with the Dwürden and exchanged all manner of goods, produce, and knowledge. This exchange of lore prepared the Yrūn in ways unavailable to them in their previous home of Lyrast. Here the Mortal Race was taken by the guiding hand of an Elder Race and prepared for timeless vengeance against the Eylfāe. It is guessed, that many of Yrūni wars were instigated by the Dwürden to prepare the young race and give them experience for the wide-ranging wars to come. Those wars have not yet occurred.

It is worth mentioning that the Eylfāe are not oblivious to the Dwürden agenda, and have sought to crush Yrūni powers throughout the world when the opportunity presents (i.e. the Second Dekàlan-Acentran War). The Eylfāe are a patient and calculating people. Their aid in the Great War saw many dividends. First, with their aid Acèntyran armies they were able to stem the inexorable growth of a powerful Yrūni empire that in time would have threatened their homelands. In this they succeeded in limiting their own loses. Second, their aid in the liberation of Acèntyra earned them the good will of the Coastal Vulmùryr and allowed them to marginalize the Dwürden. Vulmùri history remembers the Eylfāe as those that fought beside them when the Dekàli Empire was destroyed. It remembers the Dwürden as ancient allies who in time of need, hid within their mountain cities.

The Vulmùryr are typically divided into four regions:

Coastal

The Yrūn of southern Vulmùra are dubbed the Coastal Vulmùryr, though the majority of inhabitants live along shores and rivers. The Coastal region stretches along the southern shores from Palda to the edge of the Great Anahl. Coastal Vulmùryr are a tan-skinned people of moderate height with hair color ranging from brown to black. Though some small variations exists (i.e., Illyris tend toward fairer skin tones), Yrūn natives of the region are mostly indistinguishable from their Vulmùri neighbors. Eye color of most kinds can be found in this region though brown and green-blues pervade. The Coastal people include:

  • Acèntyryr
  • Allyryr
  • Dirímoryr

Old Vulyryr

Above the Dwürden ranges which bisect western Vulmùra, live a fair-skinned race that is both tall and light-haired. Though most are tanned and burnt from the unyielding northern sun, the features of the Old Vulyran are unmistakable. Old Vulyryr are taller than most Vulmùryr with blonde to brown hair and brown, green, or blue eyes. There is some variation this due to centuries of diluting marriages and the enslaving of their southern neighbors. Due to a historic record of raids into the prosperous South, the distinctive Old Vulyri appearance is not welcomed in Coastal Vulmùra.

  • Wurm Nomads

Flaanyr

Though maps chart the Great Flaan as trackless uninhabitable swamp, the region is host to a pocket civilization of Yrūn that have existed for millennia with limited contact from Vulmùra proper. When the Flâni do appear in the streets and trading bazaars of Allyria, most consider them traders from distant Lyrast. The Flaani are shorter than most Vulmùryr with a muted olive-green hue to their skin. Their hair and eye colors range little, from dark brown to black. As a whole, the Flaanyr are a stocky people. Few Flaanish travelers attract attention to themselves. Among strangers they typically walk with their heads bowed as a sign of deference.

  • Flaanish

Kaldàryr

Separated from most of Vulmùra by the Eylfāri Great Anahl, the Kaldàri people do not interact much with their western kin for both geographical and political reasons. Unlike the Coastal Vulmùryr, the Kaldàri have a venomous relationship with their immortal neighbors, the Eylfāe. This relationship is best exemplified by the Great Thorn Barrier. The Kaldàryr are a medium-sized people with fair skin and dark hair, which is often curly. Their eye color encompasses a wide spectrum but tends toward gray-blues and gray-greens.

  • Kaldàryr

Nomenclature: Vulmùra Dekàlic: Vulmùra (place), Vulmùri (pertaining to), Vulmùryn (resident), Vulmùryr (people)