Terasil
| Terasil | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Regions | Sanctuary Vale • Yalta Expanse • Fractured Wedge • Citadel Mountains • Murazkar Range • Boundary Mountains • Khargaath Range |
| Spirit | Varunel • Tehrum |
| Native Races | Duranthi • Capamnos |
| Notable Settlements | Kar-Thal |
| Significance | A realm of stone and memory. |
Terasil is a realm of mountains and memory situated within the wider material plane of Orethil. At the core of Terasil stands the Citadel Mountains, an unyielding range that forms the boundary of the Domain of Oras, the last untouched expression of Oras’s intent. Surrounding this sanctuary, the realm of Terasil unfolds in dry valleys, weathered hills, massive mountains and savannah expanses.
During the age of ascendance, Tehrum, the spirit of mountains and stone and Varunel the spirit of memory made Terasil their home and shaped the realm we know today. To live in Terasil is to walk upon a living record. The stones carry not only names and moments, but also the burden of unalterable memory. While the realm provides stability and clarity, it also resists transformation. Innovation is viewed with suspicion, and even necessary change is often filtered through layers of precedent, ritual, and ancestral permission.
History
The Age of Ascendance (c. BME 100,000-50,000)
After the realms stabilized, the ascendant spirits took over the primordial realms in pairs. Varunel and Tehrum settled in central Orethil but the domain of Oras. Tehrum, shaped the tangible aspects of the realms. The mountains and highlands, but also geographic instability. Varunel the intangible aspects. Imbuing the land with memory but also stagnation.
The Great Migration (c. BME 50,000-20,000)
Trueborn humans migrating from their ancestral home of Awenelir during the Great Migration, moved throughout the newly formed Orethil. In Terasil humans became the Duranthi.
The Age of Deep Roads (c. BME 20,000-0)
As surface erosion intensified, subterranean life expanded from nearby Minthal. The Minthari forged extensive tunnel networks. The development of the Deep Roads facilitated trade and cultural exchange between the Minthari and Duranthi.
Modern Terasil (0 ME-Present)
Terasil today endures as a realm defined by continuity and resilience. Its landscapes—mountains, valleys, and underground cities—bear the imprint of transformation. While the Duranthi maintain ancestral customs rooted in spiritual attunement with stone and memory, the Capamnos continue to maintain their isolation in the mountains of Terasil.
Geography
The geography of Terasil is a physical record—its terrain acting not just as space, but as a layered archive of history and memory. From the impenetrable stone flanks of the Citadel Mountains to the weathered expanses of its valleys and steppe lands, Terasil reflects not only geological time but cultural stillness.
Regions
The prime regions of Terasil are the valleys of Sanctuary Vale, Yalta Expanse, and the Fractured Wedge. These are nestled between the mountain regions of the Citadel Mountains, the Murazkar Range, the Boundary Mountains, and the Khargaath Range.
Climate
Terasil exhibits a range of climates based on altitude and terrain. Mountains experience cold, arid conditions, while valleys maintain temperate climates with seasonal rainfall. Plains are generally arid with sharp temperature variation. Subterranean regions retain consistent, cool temperatures year-round.
Flora and fauna
The biodiversity of Terasil reflects its elemental alignment and geological age. Its ecosystems are home to resilient species adapted to rocky, mineral-rich environments. Life forms range from surface-dwelling herbivores to deep-dwelling predators, with many possessing unique traits influenced by the realm’s spiritual energies.
Native Races
Duranthi
The Duranthi are a human-descended people native to the high valleys, ridge cities, and plateaus of central Terasil.
Capamnos
The Capamnos are natives who live high in mountain villages of various ranges of Terasil.
Native Spirits
Spiritual life in Terasil is governed by a stratified ecology of spirits that reflects the realm’s deep alignment with earth, memory, and the burden of continuity. While the spirit Tehrum anchors the physical foundation of Terasil, Varunel, the spirit of Memory and History anchors the metaphysical. Together, these forces define Terasil's spiritual logic.
The spirits of Terasil range from momentary flickers of awareness to enduring entities inscribed in cultural and geological memory. Their interaction with mortal life is structured and deliberate—spirits are neither worshiped casually nor summoned lightly, and all rituals are shaped by archival precedent.
Nascent Spirits
Nascent spirits are newly formed, unstable presences. Often tied to minor geological actions, they manifest from shifting sediment, mineral formation, or momentary resonance. These spirits are brief and reactive—invoked in basic rites by novices or used as indicators of change in a deeply static world.
Mature Spirits
Mature spirits arise from repeated patterns and communal recognition. Unlike nascent spirits, they possess defined personality traits and limited agency. They are invoked in everyday Duranthi and Capamos life.
These spirits are neither fully autonomous nor entirely symbolic—they occupy the middle realm between presence and concept, often entangled with local rites or vocational traditions.
Ancestral Spirits
Ancestral spirits are the oldest and most deeply rooted entities in Terasil, often embodying events, lineages, or epochs. Unlike gods or elemental lords, they are not omnipotent—but they are vast, weighty, and embedded in the realm’s long memory.
They are rarely invoked directly. Most communication occurs through rituals. Appeasement, not command, defines the relationship.
Examples:
- Tharoz-Mir – The spirit of the Deep Roads and the memory of every journey beneath the realm. Felt more than seen, Tharoz-Mir listens across distances, recording the passage of all who travel the underpaths.
- Orak-Thun – Revered as the first sentient mountain, Orak-Thun serves as a point of lineage realignment and generational reckoning. Its presence is marked not by voice, but by seismic stillness and unchanging shadow.
Notable settlements
- Kar-Thal: An ancient Orasian city carved into a mountain. It houses governing elders and sacred spaces.
Notable Features: The Great Hall of Oras and the Catacombs of Eternity, both central to Orasian ritual and governance.