Nova Vaasa

A realm of endless plains, brooding nobility, and tightly gripped reins, Nova Vaasa is a land where freedom is illusion and loyalty is a leash. Once a fractured expanse of feuding steppe tribes, Nova Vaasa was united by the legendary warrior Myar Hiregaard, a man whose stern honor masked the rage of a fractured soul. In binding the land to law, he also bound himself to torment—creating a Domain of Dread governed by fate, fear, and duplicity.

Nova Vaasa stretches endlessly—grass seas, wind-carved hills, and scattered stone keeps define its geography. Dust-stained rivers cut winding paths through the open land, and herds of wild horses still thunder across the high plains. Beneath this natural beauty lurks the truth: Nova Vaasa is a nation built on ancient blood oaths, dynastic rivalries, and ritual control.

• The City of Kantora, the only major urban center, is a grim stronghold of horse-lords and merchant nobles, where masked priests and duelists walk side by side.
• The Taal Ridge, a series of wind-lashed cliffs, is dotted with ancestral shrines, cairns, and execution poles.
• The Orlun Steppes remain wild—home to tribes who revere the old gods and fear the Black Rider, a ghost of justice past.
• Weather in Nova Vaasa is extreme: bitter winters, blazing summers, and skies often filled with ominous red thunderheads.

Myar Hiregaard is two men in one—a noble general driven by justice and a brutal alter ego named Malken, born of repressed wrath and vengeance.

• As a ruler, Myar is distant, commanding, and revered as the Sword-Lord of the Steppe.
• But his every act of restraint births Malken, who manifests at night in a different body, wreaking havoc across the land.
• Malken is not merely a murderer—he is a shadow self, aware of Myar’s secrets, ambitions, and fears. He kills those Myar dares not confront and delights in tearing down what his other self builds.
• Myar awakens covered in blood, unable to recall Malken’s acts, forced to atone again and again. He believes Malken is a curse sent by the gods, but his prayers receive only silence

Nova Vaasa is a rigid society, stratified and ceremonial, where personal honor and inherited status dictate one’s fate.

• The Hiregaard Dynasty rules through vassals, generals, and sacred bloodlines.
• The Law of Blades is absolute—justice is dispensed through ritual duels, and those who refuse to fight for their honor are branded and exiled.
• The Church of Lawgiver preaches strength through obedience and hierarchy. Its inquisitors, called Red Judges, hunt blasphemy and “chaos-bearers.”
• Commoners—known as Dustborn—live hard lives of herding, labor, and fear, subject to the whims of nobles and tribal chieftains alike.

Dreadful Inhabitants

• The Black Rider: A spectral figure who rides before storms, delivering omens and punishment to oathbreakers. Some believe he is Malken. Others say he is older than the land.
• The Dustbound: Spirits of warriors whose souls were tied to their swords; now they wander, seeking proper burial rites or revenge.
• The Broken Sons: Cults of outcast warriors who believe Malken is the land’s true god and worship chaos through violence.

Themes and Terrors

• Duality of self: Myar and Malken embody the eternal struggle between law and passion, civility and rage.
• Honor as chains: In Nova Vaasa, personal freedom is sacrificed to the demands of duty, title, and vengeance.
• Inheritance of violence: Every noble house is built on spilled blood. Feuds last generations, and justice is a blade.
• The mask of law: The system claims to protect the people, but every law is a weapon, and justice favors the powerful.