Lexharrow
| Lexharrow | |
|---|---|
| Capital | Aurenhold |
| Located in | |
| Population | 8,800,000 |
| Landmarks | The Auric Scriptorium; Codex Bastion; The Whispering Steps |
| Settlements | Thesca Dell |
| Factions |
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| Coordinates | -45.0,-93.0 |
| Campaigns | |
Lexharrow
Overview
Lexharrow is less a kingdom than a vast academy-state: city-cantons bound by magically notarized accords, each sworn to the Concordic Canon, a living codex that weighs precedent, ethics, and practical spellcraft in equal measure. From the marble courts of Aurenhold to the pollen-swept libraries of Thesca Dell, parchment and rhyme hold more power than any sword. Bureaucratic factions—the Glossarists, Redactors, and Axiom Guilds—contest elections by publishing contradictory commentaries; citizens vote by inscribing their names beside the thesis they endorse. When a commentary gains quorum it is stitched into the Canon with silver thread, and law shifts overnight.
Geography
Lexharrow stretches across a rolling belt of tall-grass savanna that cradles a sun-scorched basin known locally as the Meridian Bowl, a true hot-desert heart where lemon-gold dunes shimmer beneath Solivar’s twenty-hour longbright. Northerly rains spill from the Northfang Range and Trine Peaks, coursing into braided rivers that wind south through the savanna before vanishing into the Bowl’s thirsty sands. To the south and west, breezes off the Waters of Tunneau and the Mellheiller Ocean keep coastal cantons lush with deciduous orchards and wine-valleys.
The state’s eastern edge climbs into foothills before giving way to Gravenreach’s mountains, while its southeastern frontier knots into a land border with Sunlash Coast. During deepglow’s ten violet hours, the larger moon Tassaryn softens the desert heat enough for safe travel, while the smaller Cyressel completes two arcs a night, its ember hue used by astrologers to time lectures and court sessions.
Capital – Aurenhold
A city of radiant towers, bound libraries, and floating calligraphy gardens. Life here is ordered and contemplative; every citizen has a civic study quota. Aurenhold’s towers overlook both savanna and desert, their balconies hung with heliograph mirrors that track Solivar’s arc. Floating calligraphy gardens drift on warm desert thermals during longbright, then settle beside moonlit reflecting pools where scholars debate by deepglow. Markets specialize in spell-ink distilled from dune-thistle sap, enchanted quills fashioned from Cyressel-bright owl feathers, and scrolls encoded to withstand the Meridian Flare’s glare.
The Codex Fracture
To stand at the Codex Fracture is to witness law buckling under resonance: treaties that rewrite themselves mid-sentence, codexes that erase their own margins, echoes that replay trials that never occurred. For a people who believe civilization endures only through law, the Fracture is not just a borderland—it is the edge of annihilation.
Customs of Knowledge
- **Proof Wandering** – Graduates spend a year testing their thesis in living context. Simiah itinerants are often hired as guides, their agility and knack for gathering stories making them ideal companions.
- **Memory Courts** – Disputes judged through griefglass memory basins. Dwarves supply resonance-stable tablets, while Clanks preside as incorruptible arbiters.
- **Lexicon Festivals** – Word-minting competitions each full moon; Goblin collectives flood districts with slang and inventions.
- **Ink-Tithed Guilds** – Artificers donate spell scrolls into communal archives. Orcs ritualize their donations with oath-songs; Infernis sometimes smuggle dangerous fire-texts into the Canon.
Halls & Landmarks
- **The Auric Scriptorium** – A mile-long pergola where golden quills transcribe oral histories. Halfling gondoliers and Goblin scribes collect the writings, while Elves curate them into living epics.
- **Codex Bastion** – A fortress-library garrisoned by Inkward Custodians, including Clanks etched with forbidden leaves.
- **The Whispering Steps** – An amphitheater of shifting Gravenreach marble; Elf archivists annotate every recited debate.
Diplomatic & Trade Links
- **Sunlash Collegia** – Exchanges of lecturers and spell-choristers; Tidekin sages fold oceanic lore into dream-schools.
- **Ember-Ink Pact** – Rune-glyphs etched on Tarkhos embersteel, ferried along caravan routes.
- **Vaultstone Ferries** – Dwarven barges bring memory-ore from Gravenreach into Lexharrow for Memory Courts.
Dangers to the Unprepared
Knowledge here is guarded by etiquette sharper than any blade:
- **Plagiar’s Mark** – Magical brand placed on idea-thieves; Goblins loathe the mark, and rivals sabotage one another with false accusations.
- **Debtor’s Silence** – Defaulting on an information tithe binds a tongue in parchment sigils; Infernis are frequent victims.
- **Canon Heresy Trials** – Slandering the Canon risks Disjunction Duels; Elves treat them as sacred duty.
- Visitors who respect citation rites find welcome; falsifiers find ruin.
Mythic Figures (Lexharrow in Historical Context)
- **Archivist Keldra the Mute** – Founder of Lexharrow; tongue removed so she could not lie.
- **The Masked Scribe** – Recorded the end of the Silence Wars before vanishing.
Borders and Legacy
Lexharrow consolidates into a lawful city-state; Gravenreach forges Echo-Holds; Thirasil retreats into protective migrations. Trade and heliograph towers knit Aurex, Lexharrow, and Tarkhos into a single network.
