Antilia & Exilian – Asthalia Wyrldica

Table of Contents

Other Realms

We close with the two that cannot be properly set aside as belonging to any of the above. They are not part of the Empire, though they are within it in one case, and neither will acknowledge the Empire as having any say over their lives.

One is old – so old, that they have histories and stories that date back before the God’s War. The other is young and new and somehow favored in some ways by some Power or other.

We speak, of course, of the Exiles and the Free Peoples, who defy the Ways of the World and tread paths few others would dare.

Antilia

Introduction

The youngest Realm is slowly becoming more than just a rumor or a whispered dream, and those who live there are often more worried about that then perhaps they need to be.

Antilia rose from the disaffected, the outcasts, the left behind, the unwanted. It remains much like that and is deeply different and very much not a part of the Empire.

The thing that those who visit it will most often remark on and carry with them is that in Antilia, even goblins are welcome and more than that there is every kind of person involved in the way the realm operates, is governed, and throughout the realm itself, all living without constant strife.

Worse is that Antilia refuses to be part of the Empire, and stands alone, denied trade, while it uses a from of government where the people choose who leads them, and even a Thyrs can be elected.

Features

Towns

Haredale: A mining and quarry town, with a side job in lumber.

Miradale: Located in the foothills of the mountains, it experiences some unusual activity from Salathen of different types and is the source of some of the strangest rumors, such as the half-man and half horse people or the goats that walk on two legs.

Arendale: Said to be a town near a dungeon, and for many a year the people there said they were cut off from the wider world by a thick fog that seemed to be the edge of the world. An incarnate named Gigax visited once and said it reminded him of a town called Fandelver in Yrthe.

An Observation

Antilia is a young realm, and not just in terms of time. It has walls of wood that are just now being changed over to walls of stone. It is ambitious and wants to be mercantile and open to all, yet the overland route from Dorado or Akadia is filled with risks because it is not a well patrolled area. The sea lanes are a battle ground between Duat, Thule, and the Sea Peoples all around the edges of the Sea of Silence and the massive sea monsters that live and prey there.

And this ignores the thing they like to think of as the most important part: they are nearest to the unknown lands. It is said that there are Dragons ruling there. There is little unity in Antilia, and it is as likely to tear itself apart as it is to create what it dreams of – though even that great ideal will have many challenges.

Antelle says that there has never been a Utopia and that there never can be. While I don’t know exactly what she means by that, I cannot argue with my Patron Goddess.

Legacy

To the far west, in a pleasant regional vale, there is a city that was founded by people who were tired of nobles and kings, laws and rules they could not change or roles they were being bound into and forced to take.

A legend passed among some that there was a place the Exilian were searching for but had never found, and that became the goal: to build that place The rumors were a bit garbled, so they named it Antilia, the Free City of the Lost, and it is the youngest of all the cities, and the towns that support it are even stranger than it is.

One of the hallmarks of Antilia is that they will accept anyone. They will let former Lemurians be a part, and gossip suggests that they are ultimately aiding in the rebellion against the Lemurian Fascian Lords. There are Thyrs who want nothing to do with the Matriarx, and who seek to live a life of peace. There is no known entry of the Underdark, and so it is a place that is sheltered from all save for the Thyrs, who do indeed raid the place at least once seasonally.

Antilians are always concerned, because they are ultimately defying every authority there is in the known world, and forging a path where everyone gets a voice. Their leaders are chosen by casting lots, called voting, for everyone’s favorite pick, and anyone can run for office. They have low taxes – it is said that the high gate fee covers most of it, but the port fees aren’t low either.

They seek to establish trade with the Empire, but that means overcoming the oft demands of the Seneschal that they bow to Imperial Authority and the demands of the Aztani that they pay the tolls to enter the seven seas.

Asa result, they often trade with Islandia, who then take their goods to the Empire, but they are always afraid that someone will take that which is most important to them away: their freedom.

Nobles and rules that they had no say in are something they loathe, and they can be more than a little rude about it. It is only recently that we have been seeing adventurers coming from there – the last ten or so years, and they can be a disruptive bunch.

Attitude

Antilians have a general problem with authority. Even the authority they themselves chose and have built; they have a problem with. They are a fractious people, often plagued by old prejudices, old ways of thinking, old hostilities and habits. As everyone n Antilia comes from somewhere else unless they were fortunate enough to be born there (and the oldest of those is still only in his 50’s), there can be a lot of strife in a place where Goblins engaging in Rebellion against Lemuria or Thyrs fleeing from an especially cruel Matriarx, or Duatians who decided they wanted to actually do something can all come together and meet with Imperials and Aztani and Doradans who all have been told just how wicked and evil those people are.

As a result, there is a need for and a recognition of that need for Authority, and it comes in the form of sometimes seemingly brutal rules and policies.

During the days, Antilia swarms around the Marketplace, which is not merely a place to sell wares, but also – in the words of the founder – a marketplace of ideas. There are small oratorias around it, two great libraries where even today scribes are collecting oral histories and collating them. There are entertainments that come from all over, and music and so many foods that it can be overwhelming, all among the richness of the crafts and arts and goods of the Antilian people and those who manage to get there.

At night, Antilia is a silent and dark place. They have none of the fancy lights of Durango or Lyonese, only lamps that are set at each of the intersections in a city said to be made of circles and curves, with the only straight lines being those that go up. This is an exaggeration of course; there may be no straight roads, but there are many straight walls for many different kinds of homes.

Antilia’s overall appearance may shock people – it is almost as if there was a little bit of everything all dropped into the same place. Different housing types, different symbolism, and more – each quarter is like a sort of tiny copy of the places that the residents come from. It is the most diverse city in the world, and though each village may be very much the same kinds of people, even there one can see how throughout the lands, the real trick to the peace they seek is to let go of what lay behind them and focus on what lies ahead of them.

Lifestyle

Antilians have much the same lifestyle as anywhere else, save that it is not quite so preoccupied with the trappings of wealth or the preparations for war.

Family

Government

Antilia is ruled by a Council that is composed of people chosen by those who live in the assorted quarters. There are specific Quarters for Humans, Therians, Camions, Seraph, Halflings, Dwarfs, Elfin, Goblin, Thyrs, Grendel, Kobold, Triton, and so forth.

Closest to the Council House is the Blended Quarter, where anyone and everyone is able to live. It is filled with a large variety of wealthier folks, and a larger number of folks who serve them. Getting a place in the Blended Quarter is considered a mark of accomplishment.

It is not permitted for someone who does not live in that Quarter to be out after Dusk and before Dawn within any of them. This curfew is strictly enforced, with penalties for simply being out typically consisting of three to seven days in a cell – or worse if they are thought to be doing something illegal or harmful.

The city itself is divided into sections called “Quarters,” of which there are 16. Each Quarter is, in turn supported by three to five smaller settlements outside the city, and all quarters are very specific to the people that live in those quarters and in the dependent settlements. A quarter is overseen by a Secretary, who divides the Quarter up among seven Seats, each held by a Councilor, who is elected from among those who live there. A councilor must live among the town or Quarter they oversee. Villages and Hamlets are overseen by elected Senators and Reejes, and the full Council consists of three bodies: The Reejest, which is the smallest body and has veto power; The Senate, which is the body that makes the laws and appoints the judges; and the Counsel, which votes again on laws or negotiates with the Senate, and which also handles the apportionment of taxes, and how they are used by the City.

Over all of this is the prime Minister, who is assisted by several Ministers of assorted departments – essentially the advisory group that only has power regarding how they negotiate within the Council House and what they bring to the Prime Minister. The PM has the task of enforcing those Laws so passed, Keeping the Peace, and negotiating with the broader world and handling trade and economy. They call themselves very civilized. The citizenry also elects the PM at large, but from all of the hamlets, villages, and towns. An election takes about three months to formally count, and all elections are held in the sixth year out of every seven, overseen by the Reejest.

Antilians enforce a wide variety of essential crimes, but cling to some ancient ideals regarding the propriety of how one treats other people, and all their laws descend from these 30 specific points, often finding ways so that none of them overwhelms others. They do not like criminals in Antilia. They do have jails, but those are for holding criminals until their court dates, and there is no appeal process in Antilia. Lose your case, and you are finished.

Punishments for thievery are branding and exile. Punishments for murder are branding, removal of offending limb, and exile. Judges hear both sides of those affected, with the City often taking the role of those who are harmed if the crime has an impact on the general population. This can be in addition to individual claims – and all claims are individual. While the City can have a Lector speak for it, everyone else must speak for themselves. There are no lawyers or barristers, only police, the judge, and the parties.

Fines are almost always set up to make the folks fined feel like they never want to do that again – they *start* at half of property and go up from there.

Antilia has no military, but it does have a Police Force, a Guard, and a Militia of volunteers. They can field about two regiments in total. They do not want to allow Agents in, but as expected the Agency is present everywhere. I suppose it helps when your secret organization is secretly backed by the powers that be.

Antilia is not part of Any Empire and avoids coastal settlements because of the risk of Duatian or Thulian raids. They have a series of forts set across the entry to their small region to help prepare for such a thing, and there are some plans in the works to construct a massive wall across it.

Commerce

Education

Children are fairly rare in Antilia, and no one has figured out how to do a school there yet, so most education is limited to that which parents and experience provides.

In the villages and hamlets and towns, it is assumed the family will provide the education for the children – and there are often more of them than adults.

Culture

Arts

Values

Antilia’s basic core values so far are Respect, Compassion, Understanding, and Temperance.

Fashion & Style

Antilia hasn’t quite figured this out yet.

Culture Heroes

Nagasakie: a Goblin who was the first one to ever hold an office of responsibility in Antilia. He was much beloved, because he was a very fair and very wise magistrate and would go to extra lengths to help those in need.

Gaf and Shek: A peculiar partnership and bond of love brought this Imp and Thyrs together. Not only did they help turn the tide of successive Thulian raids, but they also helped to build the tanjin and laid out the roads that link the towns with the city.

Ridel Methis: A former Corsair who is credited with founding Antilia mostly by building a nice little place to live along a river and putting in a damn that helped stop his former compatriots from finding him and the treasure he hid. He was infamous during his days with the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Cultural Weapons

Antilian Longswords are the primary weapon. Straight, double edge, tapering from hilt to point, about 30 inches long.

Antilian Whistles are small, sharp-edged disks with a hole in the center, that are thrown at enemies and slash them or stick to them. Some have small, barbed burrs that stick out, but all have the peculiar quirk of whistling as they fly.

Antilian Beaded armor is a blend of leather in three layers and comes in the form of a tunic that is covered in hundreds of tiny beads made from assorted substances. It is heavy but affords surprising protection against common forms of injury. It Is also extremely expensive, and very rare, and needs repair about once every three months if it sees significant use.