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{{State
{{State
| name = Tarkhos Dominion
| name = Tarkhos Dominion
| capital = Skarov's Spine
| capital = Skarov’s Spine
| located in = Eastern Continent
| located in = Eastern Continent
| population = 4100000
| population = 6200000
| landmarks = [[Skarov's Spine]]; [[Ashroad Concourse]]; [[Inferno Canal]]; [[Ridge-Pass Emberway]]; [[Smoke-Loft Courier Lines]]; [[Steppe-Rail & Skyband Ways]]; [[Stonewail Rise]]
| geography = The Tarkhos Dominion is a harsh land of volcanic ridges, ash plains, obsidian badlands, and wind-scoured high passes. Fire and stone dominate the terrain, shaped by ancient eruptions and ongoing resonance burn. Lava flows have cooled into black roadways, fumarole fields exhale constant heat, and entire regions glow faintly during deepglow as buried embers answer the moons’ light. Tarkhos occupies a broad southern swath of the western continent, straddling key overland routes between coastal states and interior trade corridors.
| other_settlements =  
| people_and_culture = Tarkhos is defined by oath-bound society. Clans, caravans, and dominions are held together by sworn promises that carry physical and metaphysical weight. Humans, Orcs, Earthkin, Infernis, Halflings, and Fauns live within strict honor frameworks where identity is measured by what one has sworn and whether one has endured keeping it. Betrayal is not merely social failure; it is a tangible danger.
| coords = 22.0,132.0
| hazards = Oath-Echoes; Emberquakes; Ashfall Storms; Griefglass Brandscars; Molten Pass Collapses; and Vow-Bound Revenants.
| landmarks = [[Skarov’s Spine]]; [[The Ember March]]; [[The Oathscar Caldera]]; [[The Black Roadways]]
| other_settlements = Ashring Post; Forgewake; Redwind Crossing; Vowreach
|coords=-4.7284,80.4438
}}
}}


= Tarkhos Dominion =
= Tarkhos Dominion =
Tarkhos is a realm forged in fire and oath. Its people measure worth not by coin but by the temper of their steel and the endurance of their promises. Known across Velthuryn for embersteel, an alloy smelted in volcanic furnaces from ore veined through the [[Stonewail Rise]], Tarkhos supplies half the continent with blades, ploughshares, and contracts etched into metal itself. Every caravan carries not just goods but law: scrolls engraved into embersteel sheets, untearable and fireproof, their clauses binding as long as the plate endures.


Tarkhos stretches across the northwestern corner of the eastern continent, bordered by [[Torral]] to the north, [[Nokhul Vale]] to the east, and [[Aeterron]] to the south. Its western shore opens onto the [[Bangrave Sea]], dotted with shipyards and smelter-harbors that trade directly with [[Lexharrow]] across the gulf. To the east, Tarkhos shares a great interior lake with Nokhul Vale, its waters steaming in places where volcanic vents bubble beneath.
== Overview ==
The Tarkhos Dominion is a land where promises burn. Here, oaths are not symbolic gestures but binding forces that shape bodies, weapons, territory, and fate. To swear is to stake one’s life and memory against the world itself. The land listens, and it remembers who kept faith and who did not.


The land is a study in contrasts. The coastal areas have harbors and fishing villages that thrive where sea winds cool the ash plains. Salt caravans follow the shoreline, exchanging grain and embersteel for western goods. The Stonewail foothills are jagged ridges and glacier-fed valleys where ore is quarried and ember-furnaces roar. Its volcanic interior is a badlands of obsidian and ash basins, punctuated by nomadic camps. Sulfur geysers and fireglass fields make the land hazardous yet rich in resources. And the lakefront basin with its fertile soils rims the shared lake with Nokhul Vale, sustaining barley terraces, mushroom fields, and settlements that double as trade marts.
Where other states adapt to or suppress resonance, Tarkhos forges it into obligation. Broken vows scar flesh, warp weapons, and give rise to hostile Echoes that hunt the faithless. Tarkhos is not cruel by intent, but it is unforgiving by design.


Solivar's longbright makes the ash plains shimmer red, while Tassaryn's glow reflects in the volcanic lakes during deepglow, a phenomenon called the Twin Ember, regarded as a sacred omen.
== Geography ==
Tarkhos spans a volatile region of volcanic uplands and ash deserts, punctuated by obsidian ridges and active calderas. The ground is warm even during deepglow, and embers sometimes surface through cracks in the stone. Longbright casts harsh light across blackened terrain, while deepglow causes buried lava channels to glow like veins beneath the land.


== Capital – Skarov's Spine ==
Trade routes follow ancient lava flows that have cooled into durable black roadways. These routes are dangerous but reliable, forming the backbone of Tarkhos’s economic and political influence.
'''Capital – Skarov's Spine:''' Rising from the fossilized ribs of a long-dead fire titan, [[Skarov's Spine]] crowns a caldera where the Stonewail foothills tumble toward the Bangrave Sea. Forge-terraces ring the volcanic basin, their chimneys breathing crimson by longbright, while rope-latticed towers sway above ash-savanna winds that funnel down from the Rise. Here the forge-clans and rope-bands entwine in rhythm: the Sunbellows drive molten ore with desert thermals by day, while the Moonquench temper blades and caravan axles in the caldera's black quench-pool beneath Tassaryn's light.


Simiah rope-runners are the city's lifeblood, sprinting across sky-bridges with contracts, ledgers, and embersteel ingots before a secret can cool enough to be stolen. Each leap between towers is a vow renewed, their movements binding trade as tightly as law. At the lake's rim, apprentices gather under Cyressel's arc to leap into the mirror-water, their sky-dances joining moonlight to steel; smiths say cooled blades do not only "remember the moon's courage," but also the balance of every dancer who risked the fall.
== People & Culture ==
Tarkhos culture is oath-centric and resilient.


Skarov's Spine trades in embersteel blades, volcanic salt, and glass-veiled armor, but its greatest export is speed: the famed Skyband Couriers, rope-trained emissaries who can carry a treaty across Tarkhos faster than any rider. Revered and feared, a courier's mark is treated as binding as embersteel itself, for to carry the Band's seal is to carry the Dominion's will.
'''Humans''' — Caravan leaders, oath-scribes, and diplomats.


== Interior Trade Routes of Tarkhos ==
'''Orcs''' — Clan enforcers, warriors, and oath-guardians.
The interior of Tarkhos is stitched together by roads, canals, and sky-lines that carry ore, contracts, and oaths from peak to harbor.


{| class="wikitable"
'''Earthkin''' — Forge-masters and stonebinders shaping vow-forged infrastructure.
! Route
! Description
! Goods
! Hazards
|-
| [[Ashroad Concourse]]
| A 400-mile obsidian highway running from Skarov's Spine on the Bangrave coast through the volcanic basins to the Stonewail foothills and shared lake towns with Nokhul Vale. Patrolled by Simiah rope-runners, the road is kept molten-straight by chained magma myrmidons. Crimson marker-pillars double as anchor poles for rope bridges linking caravan stops.
| Obsidian ore, embersteel billets, geothermal crystals bound for Lexharrow via Bangrave ports.
| Sudden fireglass storms (razor shards on hot wind); raiding bands of exiled Drakona oath-breakers testing caravans for weakness.
|-
| [[Inferno Canal]]
| A series of lava-heated sluice tunnels and brine-fed channels that carry barges from Stonewail forges down to the Bangrave coast. Simiah divers leap between sluice locks, ferrying contracts faster than the current.
| Saltglass ingots, bulk basalt, ceremonial obsidian idols destined for Sunlash collectors (via Bangrave shipping lanes).
| Caustic steam geysers; fire-eiryn spirits demanding tolls in song or blood; rope-divers lost to sudden sluice surges.
|-
| [[Ridge-Pass Emberway]]
| Switchback routes carved into the Stonewail Rise, guarded by Flameward Sentinels and Simiah Band arbiters who run ridges on tightropes. Tribute is often collected through sky-duel contests fought above the chasms.
| Beacon-oil, Aurexian sun-gold exchanged for Dominion armaments.
| Mandatory Trial-by-Ember duels for outsiders; lava-wyrms nesting beneath cantilever bridges; ambushes by oathless Orc reavers.
|-
| [[Smoke-Loft Courier Lines]]
| Hot-air gliders and kite-harnessed rope-dancers ride volcanic updrafts between peaks and coast, carrying sealed runic tubes through aerial currents. Messages reach the Bangrave faster than any caravan.
| Battle orders, clan treaties, jewel caches.
| Turbulent updrafts; ash drake ambushes; rival Band sharpshooters testing balance with arrowfire.
|-
| [[Steppe-Rail & Skyband Ways]]
| A new hybrid of embersteel rail and suspended ropeways, linking Skarov's Spine to Bangrave harbors. Simiah couriers dart between train cars mid-motion to exchange contracts, earning it the title "fastest road in Velthuryn." Goods continue across the sea to Fleaspark and Lexharrow.
| Contract ledgers, patent-sealed goods, Ember-Ink Pact scrolls.
| Band rivalries over route rights; sabotage by Goblin codemasters; Infernis arsonists setting rails alight under deepglow.
|}


== Dangers to Outsiders ==
'''Infernis''' — Fire-workers essential to metallurgy and heat management.
; Ash Serpents (fauna)
Heat-born drakes that coil in volcanic vents and strike with molten breath. Their scales shimmer like glass, and smiths sometimes risk their lives harvesting the creatures' obsidian fangs for ritual blades.


; Glassstorms (geography)
'''Halflings''' — Scouts, runners, and logistics experts.
Razor winds whip across the badlands, hurling shards of obsidian into caravans. Survivors carry lifelong scars called "ember-etchings," treated as both mark of honor and omen of ill-fate.


; Lake Fumaroles (geography)
'''Fauns''' — Ritual witnesses and resonance interpreters.
Along the shared lake with Nokhul Vale, hidden vents belch sulfurous gas. Entire fishing villages have vanished overnight in what locals call the "Silent Suffocations."


; Oath-Breaker's Brand (cultural)
Children are taught the weight of promises early. Many wear visible oath-marks, brands, or scars earned through sworn service.
When an embersteel contract is broken, the warped plate sears molten glyphs into the oathbreaker's skin. The branded become pariahs, hunted across caravans as untrustworthy and cursed.


; Skyband Duels (cultural)
== Governance & Clan Authority ==
Rope-bands that dominate Skarov's Spine sometimes turn feuds into high-wire duels fought between towers. Losing is often fatal, and even victors may fall if the rope snaps. Outsiders caught in band rivalries can be forced into combat.
Tarkhos is governed by a layered system of dominion law and clan oaths.


; Ashfang Boars (fauna)
=== Capital — Skarov’s Spine ===
Hulking, tusked beasts adapted to volcanic plains. They root through ember-cooled slag for minerals, and their charge can shatter caravan wagons. Nomads wear their tusks as crests of survival.
Skarov’s Spine rises along a colossal obsidian ridge formed from an ancient, stabilized lava flow, its tiered districts climbing like vertebrae toward the sky. Reinforced with griefglass lattices and heat-channeling stone, the city serves as the Dominion’s administrative, ceremonial, and military heart.


; Stonewail Quakes (geography)
Great oath-halls carved directly into the Spine host public vow ceremonies where treaties, trade compacts, blood-feuds, and military campaigns are sworn before witnesses and the land itself. Beneath the city, magma-heated forges burn continuously, and every major structure is etched with the history of promises made and kept.
The Stonewail Rise occasionally convulses in resonance-quakes, opening fissures of molten ore or collapsing entire caravan roads. Local lore claims each quake is the "oath-shudder" of the fire titan whose fossil bones formed Skarov's Spine.


== Hospitality & Custom ==
The High Ember Council convenes in Skarov’s Spine, arbitrating disputes between clans and adjudicating oath violations whose consequences might otherwise destabilize the land.
Travelers who respect Tarkhos custom, presenting an iron-etched sigil of peaceful purpose, then offering a symbolic bead of cooled slag upon entering a Band's territory, are granted rope-escorts and fierce hospitality. Those who try to pass bandless or cheat the Ember-Bound Realm find the ropeways cut from under them, the land itself siding with the Bands to drive intruders back to the sea.


== Ancestry Distribution in Tarkhos ==
== Hazards & Oath-Bound Threats ==
; Concentrated Ancestry (Predominant)
Tarkhos’s dangers are inseparable from its values:
* '''Simiah''' – Tarkhos is their heartland. Agile climbers and acrobats, Simiah culture has infused the state's architecture and politics: buildings are strung with rope bridges and towers designed for aerial passage; caravan guards train in "sky-dance" martial forms; merchants trust Simiah roof-runners to carry contracts faster than any horse. Their kinship groups (called Bands) dominate trade, espionage, and festival pageantry.


; Integrated but Minority Groups
Oath-Echoes — Manifestations of broken or twisted vows.
* '''Humans''' – Present across merchant guilds, many have intermarried into Simiah Bands, adopting some of their acrobatic customs.
* '''Dwarves''' – Found in trade outposts and mining enclaves, valued for secure transport of ores and weaponry.
* '''Orcs''' – Revered as caravan enforcers; their oath-signed protection sigils guarantee the safety of Simiah caravans.
* '''Goblins''' – Serve as tinkers, locksmiths, and code-writers for trade maps, often in competition with Simiah for control of secret routes.


; Marginalized / Outsider Groups
Emberquakes — Seismic events triggered by resonance stress.
* '''Fungril''' – Often seen as unsettling in a land obsessed with open sky; they are pushed to the fringes of ruins, where they trade rare alchemical spores.
* '''Infernis''' – Suspected of arson in caravan disputes; rarely tolerated in cities, sometimes hired covertly as saboteurs.


Tarkhos Dominion is a nation that treats oaths as metal and roads as living tests. Those who can balance on its ropes, endure its ash, and keep their word under fire may find the Dominion a fierce but loyal ally.
Ashfall Storms — Volcanic weather carrying toxic and resonant ash.


Griefglass Brandscars — Persistent wounds from vow-bound weapons.


== CULTURE AND LAW ==
Molten Pass Collapses — Sudden terrain failures along lava routes.
Tarkhos has no written code. Law is remembered through '''precedent trials'''. When a dispute arises, elders recall similar trials and the outcomes endured. Judgment is not about fairness. It is about whether the involved parties can bear the consequence they demand.


Leadership in Tarkhos is temporary by design. Every leader must periodically reaffirm authority through open challenge. These challenges do not require death. They require demonstration. Endurance. Composure. Refusal to break.
Vow-Bound Revenants — Undead enforcers formed from unresolved promises.


This makes Tarkhos stable but never comfortable.
== Economy & Trade ==
----
Tarkhos controls key overland trade corridors. Exports include embersteel, obsidian tools, griefglass-forged weapons, and oath-sealed contracts recognized across Velthuryn. Many foreign powers rely on Tarkhos routes despite the risks, often swearing temporary passage-oaths in Skarov’s Spine before caravans are allowed to depart.


== MAJOR FACTIONS ==
== Relations & Reputation ==


=== The Stonebound Councils ===
Ohlai Steppe — Shared caravan culture, differing views on oath permanence.
Elders who remember old trials and enforce continuity.


* Authority comes from memory, not rank
Fleaspark — Frequent conflict over broken contracts and unsafe goods.
* Resist change unless it has already proven itself
* Increasingly strained by generational exhaustion


'''Tension:'''
The Bastion of Aurex — Uneasy cooperation regarding containment obligations.


What happens when the memories no longer agree?
Velkar Spires — Trade partners through high passes and storm routes.
----


=== The Ascendants ===
Tarkhos is respected for reliability and feared for the cost of betrayal.
Warriors and leaders who actively seek new trials.


* Believe stagnation is weakness
== Ancestry Distribution ==
* Push for harsher tests and broader definitions of strength
=== Predominant ===
* Admired and feared in equal measure


'''Tension:'''
Humans, Orcs, Earthkin


They may fracture Tarkhos by forcing too much change too fast.
=== Significant Minorities ===
----


=== The Quiet Hands ===
Infernis, Halflings, Fauns
Supporters, healers, builders, and guides who never lead trials but make them survivable.


* Considered essential but rarely honored
=== Transient Populations ===
* Know every weakness in Tarkhos society
* Increasingly questioning their lack of voice


'''Tension:'''
Merchants, mercenaries, pilgrims, and oath-breakers fleeing justice


If endurance is all that matters, where does care belong?
== Fauna of Tarkhos ==
----


== ICONIC STATE PROBLEM ==
Ashhorn Runners — Herd-beasts adapted to volcanic plains.
'''Strength Has Become the Only Language'''


Tarkhos resolves all disputes through endurance and trial, but some problems cannot be carried on one back or solved by personal resilience. External pressures, resource scarcity, and generational fatigue demand cooperation and compromise that Tarkhos culture struggles to value. No one knows how to change without proving weakness first.
Cinder Drakes — Fire-scaled predators nesting near calderas.


This problem cannot be solved by conquest, reform, or tradition alone.
Obsidian Crawlers — Burrowing creatures that destabilize stone.
----


== CAMPAIGN HOOKS ==
Ember Vultures — Scavengers that track battlefield heat.


# A leader survives a challenge but clearly should not have
Oathbound Hounds — Resonance-trained trackers used to hunt vow-breakers.
# A trial kills someone it was never meant to endanger
 
# The Quiet Hands threaten to withdraw support from future trials
== Oath, Fire, and Consequence ==
# Outsiders demand arbitration using Tarkhos methods and cannot endure them
In the Tarkhos Dominion, identity is contractual. Who you are is defined by what you have sworn and what you have endured to keep it. Fire does not forgive weakness, and the land does not forget promises. To live in Tarkhos is to walk always with the knowledge that every vow leaves a mark, and every broken word will eventually come back to claim its due.
# A sacred path begins collapsing and no one agrees who must climb it

Latest revision as of 23:23, 13 January 2026

Tarkhos Dominion
Capital Skarov’s Spine
Located in Eastern Continent
Population 6,200,000
Landmarks Skarov’s Spine; The Ember March; The Oathscar Caldera; The Black Roadways
Settlements Ashring Post; Forgewake; Redwind Crossing; Vowreach
Factions
Coordinates -4.7284,80.4438
Campaigns



Tarkhos Dominion

Overview

The Tarkhos Dominion is a land where promises burn. Here, oaths are not symbolic gestures but binding forces that shape bodies, weapons, territory, and fate. To swear is to stake one’s life and memory against the world itself. The land listens, and it remembers who kept faith and who did not.

Where other states adapt to or suppress resonance, Tarkhos forges it into obligation. Broken vows scar flesh, warp weapons, and give rise to hostile Echoes that hunt the faithless. Tarkhos is not cruel by intent, but it is unforgiving by design.

Geography

Tarkhos spans a volatile region of volcanic uplands and ash deserts, punctuated by obsidian ridges and active calderas. The ground is warm even during deepglow, and embers sometimes surface through cracks in the stone. Longbright casts harsh light across blackened terrain, while deepglow causes buried lava channels to glow like veins beneath the land.

Trade routes follow ancient lava flows that have cooled into durable black roadways. These routes are dangerous but reliable, forming the backbone of Tarkhos’s economic and political influence.

People & Culture

Tarkhos culture is oath-centric and resilient.

Humans — Caravan leaders, oath-scribes, and diplomats.

Orcs — Clan enforcers, warriors, and oath-guardians.

Earthkin — Forge-masters and stonebinders shaping vow-forged infrastructure.

Infernis — Fire-workers essential to metallurgy and heat management.

Halflings — Scouts, runners, and logistics experts.

Fauns — Ritual witnesses and resonance interpreters.

Children are taught the weight of promises early. Many wear visible oath-marks, brands, or scars earned through sworn service.

Governance & Clan Authority

Tarkhos is governed by a layered system of dominion law and clan oaths.

Capital — Skarov’s Spine

Skarov’s Spine rises along a colossal obsidian ridge formed from an ancient, stabilized lava flow, its tiered districts climbing like vertebrae toward the sky. Reinforced with griefglass lattices and heat-channeling stone, the city serves as the Dominion’s administrative, ceremonial, and military heart.

Great oath-halls carved directly into the Spine host public vow ceremonies where treaties, trade compacts, blood-feuds, and military campaigns are sworn before witnesses and the land itself. Beneath the city, magma-heated forges burn continuously, and every major structure is etched with the history of promises made and kept.

The High Ember Council convenes in Skarov’s Spine, arbitrating disputes between clans and adjudicating oath violations whose consequences might otherwise destabilize the land.

Hazards & Oath-Bound Threats

Tarkhos’s dangers are inseparable from its values:

Oath-Echoes — Manifestations of broken or twisted vows.

Emberquakes — Seismic events triggered by resonance stress.

Ashfall Storms — Volcanic weather carrying toxic and resonant ash.

Griefglass Brandscars — Persistent wounds from vow-bound weapons.

Molten Pass Collapses — Sudden terrain failures along lava routes.

Vow-Bound Revenants — Undead enforcers formed from unresolved promises.

Economy & Trade

Tarkhos controls key overland trade corridors. Exports include embersteel, obsidian tools, griefglass-forged weapons, and oath-sealed contracts recognized across Velthuryn. Many foreign powers rely on Tarkhos routes despite the risks, often swearing temporary passage-oaths in Skarov’s Spine before caravans are allowed to depart.

Relations & Reputation

Ohlai Steppe — Shared caravan culture, differing views on oath permanence.

Fleaspark — Frequent conflict over broken contracts and unsafe goods.

The Bastion of Aurex — Uneasy cooperation regarding containment obligations.

Velkar Spires — Trade partners through high passes and storm routes.

Tarkhos is respected for reliability and feared for the cost of betrayal.

Ancestry Distribution

Predominant

Humans, Orcs, Earthkin

Significant Minorities

Infernis, Halflings, Fauns

Transient Populations

Merchants, mercenaries, pilgrims, and oath-breakers fleeing justice

Fauna of Tarkhos

Ashhorn Runners — Herd-beasts adapted to volcanic plains.

Cinder Drakes — Fire-scaled predators nesting near calderas.

Obsidian Crawlers — Burrowing creatures that destabilize stone.

Ember Vultures — Scavengers that track battlefield heat.

Oathbound Hounds — Resonance-trained trackers used to hunt vow-breakers.

Oath, Fire, and Consequence

In the Tarkhos Dominion, identity is contractual. Who you are is defined by what you have sworn and what you have endured to keep it. Fire does not forgive weakness, and the land does not forget promises. To live in Tarkhos is to walk always with the knowledge that every vow leaves a mark, and every broken word will eventually come back to claim its due.

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