The Riding of Ardbealach comprises several small villages and farmlands across the surface of Dra\u00edod, and is a major trade hub, being situated on a main crossing from the surface to several below ground towns and Ridings. During the Season of Uncertainty it was the site of the Siege of the Blazing Host, a protracted battle between members of Cumhacht na R\u00e9ige and a massive host of Caorthainnigh which raged both above and below ground.<\/p>\n\n\n
Bronnglic is a subterranean Riding, one of three that divides Crag Oscionn. Like the other Ridings that surround the capital, Bronnglic has traditionally gone to the Saoi that demonstrates best command of one of the three schools of magic, in this case Evocation. The deepest of the three Crag Oscionn Ridings, it is often subject to random prolonged bursts of magical activity, which require the Cure spells of Rider Saoirse Drakebane to end. The sole Broken Chain among the Saoi, Drakebane was appointed during the Season of Uncertainty after the previous Rider drowned in a flooded tunnel. Some claim Drakebane\u2019s appointment is a token gesture to appease the Broken Chains, others claim it is a sign of progress, and others whisper that Drakebane must know secrets that go far beyond mastery of evocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Settlements: Crag Oscionn, Pebblefalls, Stonehaven<\/p>\n\n\n
The borders of any Riding in the Five Realms are hard enough to define, but when they are underground it becomes particularly difficult. Doirvios starts at the edge of the southern rim of the Ring Mountains surrounding Dra\u00edod, and then spreads even further south, some might think through the mountains and under land claimed by Bruid. The Rider of Doirvios, Saoi Vealtin, is keen to argue (Vartach are fond of argument in general) that the presence of Vartach and Fathach in the northern marches of Bruid on the other side of the Ring Mountains does not confirm that they have \u201cburrowed in\u201d from Dra\u00edod, and the accusations of smuggling and theft of timber and illicit commonage are internal matters for the Iarlas of Bruid and not her concern. Rumours abound of yet another Riding even deeper below Doirvios that requires greater resources to maintain itself, but most Bruidigh dismiss this as a fiction invented by the Rider of Doirvios to excuse her sponsorship of squatters on rightful Bruideach territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doirvios has a close relationship with Slievegamal, the riding that lies above it on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n
Gaoisduais is a subterranean Riding, one of three that divides Crag Oscionn. Like the other Ridings that surround the capital, Gaoisduais has traditionally gone to the Saoi that demonstrates best command of one of the three schools of magic, in this case transmutation. Most of Gaoisduais lies aboves Crag Oscionn, and this places it in unfortunate proximity to the Arcane College’s Alchemy Labs which are situated in the capital’s uppermost chambers so the fumes do not poison the entire city. This means that the flora and fauna of Gaoisduais are rather strange, having adapted to a toxic environment over so long. Rider Cervan’s transmutative magic is put to good use often providing protection from the various ill effects for denizens of the Riding as well as passers-through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Settlements: Crag Oscionn<\/p>\n\n\n
A rare above ground Riding that focuses more on the outside world than what lies below it, Inior is on the Green Marches, the border between the Realms of Dra\u00edod, Bruid and Baol. The Rider, Aoibh Donn, is a former gall\u00f3glach identified by the Iarla of Dra\u00edod as particularly dedicated and cutthroat. She presses the western border of Dra\u00edod out as far as she dares, using all manner of disruption tactics and outright attacks to secure more land for her own riding, and more good pasture and territory for her Realm. She faces resistance from her neighbours to be sure, but the rewards of her strategy are potentially massive.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mealld\u00e1v is a subterranean Riding, one of three that divides Crag Oscionn. Like the other Ridings that surround the capital, Mealld\u00e1v has traditionally gone to the Saoi that demonstrates best command of one of the three schools of magic, in this case Enchantment. Rider Caoimh\u00edn Thunderbrand advocates that true mastery of the principles of Enchantment means one rarely needs to actually cast a spell, and has used their shrewd political acumen to turn Mealld\u00e1v from a token strip of land to the largest of the three Crag Oscionn ridings, including claiming the Shrine of the Shaper. It is host to the majority of the Arcane College campus as well as settlements where most of the College\u2019s workers live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Settlements: Crag Oscionn<\/p>\n\n\n
Lead by Rider Flintfinger of the Order of Necromancers, Muin\u00ednsi\u00fail is best know for the settlement of Cillcloch, the starting point of the Way of Wisdom, and the entire riding has benefitted from the business it brings to taverns, inns, and other merchants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Settlements: Cillcloch<\/p>\n\n\n
Named for the act of bravery that led to it becoming a Riding in the first place, Shepherd’s Stand is in western Dra\u00edod and stands above the main entrance down into Crag Oscionn. The records of Dra\u00edod say this was the first Riding created above ground after the advent of the R\u00e9ig, and the first Rider was a humble shepherd who defended the entrance against a troop of Blutigcn\u00e1mh that had invaded from Bruid and the Great Forest.<\/p>\n\n\n
Reputed to be the highest Riding in the Five Realms, Sky’s End is situated in a dead end valley in the northern range of the Ring Mountains. There is a legend that it was here that the Saoi defeated the last of the dragons and put an end to the dragons’ dominion of the skies of Tirneach. The Riders of Sky’s End often act as hosts to scholars visiting from the Arcane College as well as Drakeblooded looking for remnants of their ancestors. Keeping the two groups from murdering each other, particularly during winter nights when the Riding is cut off from the rest of Dra\u00edod, can be challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n
Slievegamal is a fairly typical Riding on the surface of Dra\u00edod, consisting mainly of pastures for hardy livestock and fields where there is enough good soil to grow root vegetables. The Riding is hard up against the southern rim of the mountains which surround the main valley of Dra\u00edod, the joke is that so much of the Riding is on a hill that the goats\u2019 milk brought elsewhere will make a slope in the cup. The Rider, an earnest human called Oscar Beag, is more merchant than man-at-arms, and is constantly concerned with the flow of goods to the riding of Doirvios below his own, ensuring that his \u201cdownstairs neighbours\u201d have enough to live on. Surveyors from Uasa are typically critical of these relationships, as all Riders are supposed to be on equal footing, whereas the Saoi are clearly a rung above their non-Saoi counterparts on the social ladder.<\/p>\n\n\n
There are many places in upland Dra\u00edod where the magical emanations rise up from below and create strange effects, but few are so pronounced as the Riding of Spellshade. The Riding was created to contain the phenomenon which first appeared around a century ago. Entering Spellshade in broad daylight, a traveller finds themselves in perpetual twilight. Scholars have theorised that it is actually a temporal effect that keeps Spellshade in this state, however they have not found a solution. There are few long-term denizens, and indeed the position of Rider is often vacant. The current Rider is a Creidhe named Dubhglas, who has offered a rich bounty to any who can find a solution to the perpetual gloom that his Riding suffers under.<\/p>\n\n\n
Cillcloch is the beginning of the Way of Wisdom, the pilgrim\u2019s trail dedicated to the Shaper\u2019s aspects of teacher and wielder of magic. The town makes its business catering to pilgrims, with many inns to stay, guards to hire, cinnir\u00ed to consult, and trinkets to buy. <\/p>\n\n\n
Crag Duv is known for its darkness. Of course all of underground Dra\u00edod is dark, but a strange magic lies over Crag Duv which means that any method of illumination fails after a short time, and the larger the light the sooner it will sputter and die. The source of this effect is long studied but unclear, and leading theories connect it to a dying curse from a long-dead Saoi. Crag Duv lies on a confluence of leylines which makes it a bountiful source of magical power, so the Arcane College maintains an outpost here. The residents depend on markings made on the floor and walls to navigate the settlement, which they can check in between lighting small candles to find their way.<\/p>\n\n\n
Home to the Shrine of the Shaper and capital of Dra\u00edod, Crag Oscionn is situated in a massive cavern below the ground, in the approximate centre of Dra\u00edod. It is also near the confluence of a number of leylines which flow unseen through the bedrock of Dra\u00edod, where magical energies are strongest. All Vartach visit Crag Oscionn at some stage in their childhood to receive an induction into the magical arts, and this is also where many Fathach are born, as it is considered auspicious to begin where the animating magic is strongest. The Shrine of the Shaper is a huge diamond-shaped chamber carved into the rock itself, and pilgrims traverse it by means of steps, platforms and walkways. It is said that the Shaper\u2019s presence can be felt by those who go there on special feastdays. When the R\u00e9ig makes their pilgrimage there no-one except for members of the Council of Prelates is allowed to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crag Oscionn lies on the intersection of three ridings – Bronnglic, Gaoisduais, and Muin\u00ednsi\u00fail.<\/p>\n\n\n
Lavran is famous within Dra\u00edod as where the earliest written record mention the Fathach living alongside the Vartach. It is on the nexus of several ley lines and is considered an auspicious place for a Vartach to awaken a Fathach. Many Fathach consider it a spiritual home in the caverns of the Learned Realm, as it stands in proof of their place in Tirneach.<\/p>\n\n\n
Margan is a surface settlement in southwest Dra\u00edod, which catches merchant traffic passing through the Green Marches. It hosts a market each spring season where the magical wares of underground Dra\u00edod are available for those afraid to venture into the depths.<\/p>\n\n\n
Pebblefalls is a small town in Bronnglic, near Crag Oscionn. It began as a gathering of farmers taking advantage of the extremely fertile soils in the caverns to grow mushrooms, and the village pays most of its tithes in food.<\/p>\n\n\n
The centre of the Valley of Dra\u00edod is dominated by a great lake, Loch Corcra. Rathlinn sits on the eastern shore of the lake, and much of the town is built on the lake itself, with buildings resting on stilts and on earthen banks. The town\u2019s main activity is fishing, at least ostensibly. Visitors to the town notice that though many of the warehouses along the jetty are indeed for storing and processing fish, there are others with many more Fathach guards on the doors, with entry ways at water level where boats can unload their cargo unobserved. The rumour is that the floor of Lough Corcra is suffused with some magical mineral, which gives the lake its distinctive purplish-black colour, and which is prized by the Vartach underground, or that artefacts of a drowned people are on the lake floor. Either way, there is more to Rathlinn than meets the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n
A collection of small villages in the caverns of Dra\u00edod, almost entirely populated by Fathach. The Stone Cloister, a Termonn known for odd beliefs about the the Shaper, the Fathach, and the stone of Tirneach itself, is at its heart. Having grown in the last fifty or so years on the outskirts of Bronnglic, subsequent Riders have paid it little attention due to its size and unobtrusiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n
Valsaman is one of the many towns in subterranean Dra\u00edod along the Way of Wisdom that acts a stopping point for weary pilgrims. It also hosts some relics of the First R\u00e9ig, claimed to have been set aside as the R\u00e9ig realised they needed only their faith in the Shaper to sustain them during their journey. In caverns nearby Valsaman there is a refuge for fathach that have fallen on hard times.<\/p>\n\n\n
Reputed to be in a slightly different place every time a traveller visits there, the Glen of the Mists is a valley within the northern rim of the Ring Mountains. The source of the mists, which persist all year round, is rumoured to be the source of an ancient curse. No Rider holds sway there, so it is a haven for bandits and other ne’er-do-wells.<\/p>\n\n\n
The centre of the Valley of Dra\u00edod is dominated by a great lake, Loch Corcra. The rumour is that the floor of Loch Corcra is suffused with some magical mineral, which gives the lake its distinctive purplish-black colour, and which is prized by the Vartach underground, or that artefacts of a drowned people are on the lake floor. The town of Rathlinn lies on its eastern shore.<\/p>\n\n\n
The Ring Mountains surround the plateau of upland Dra\u00edod. It is said by the Dra\u00edodaigh that the mountains were raised in ancient times as a defence against the Gwyllt, and certainly there are very few ways except via the Green Marches in the west and Vercontin’s Pass in the northeast by which one can enter Dra\u00edod. Below ground of course, legend has it that the Saoi constructed innumerable tunnels by which they can travel all through Tirneach and emerge unexpected. The Saoi do not entertain such nonsense of course.<\/p>\n\n\n
A section of the tunnels underneath the ground in Dra\u00edod where the tunnels criss-cross each other in a honeycomb pattern, leaving large empty spaces in between. Many theories abound as to why the rock was shaped in this way, from a magical duel between sorcerors to the influence of the leylines flowing through the rock. Local Riders contest their right to the Crosshatch fiercely, as open space is a valuable commodity in the Learned Realm.<\/p>\n\n\n
The Green Marches, the shared borderlands between Baol, Bruid and Dra\u00edod are a hotpoint for raiding and small-scale warfare. Most of the merchants travelling in this area hire mercenaries or even gall\u00f3glaigh bands to protect themselves when passing through.<\/p>\n\n\n
The route of the Way of Wisdom is well-known, but the mysteries that each person finds along the Way are theirs alone. Aside from rebellions and assassination, one of the chief perils faced by any R\u00e9ig is when, once every five years, they recreate the initial journey undertaken by the First R\u00e9ig and walk the Way of Wisdom alone with nothing but their wits and strength to face the many dangers. Pilgrims who walk the Way of Wisdom at other times generally do so under armed guard, as the Gwyllt and other monsters that populate Dra\u00edod’s underground caverns seem to be drawn to the winding route the Way takes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before unification, it is said that the first R\u00e9ig had to prove both their might in magic and knowledge of the world to the Saoi, the rulers of Dra\u00edod who hoarded all magical power to themselves (and who many insist are still the real rulers of Dra\u00edod). Only by trusting in the Shaper, and then demonstrating they could find the leylines and follow them to the nexus at Crag Oscionn could the R\u00e9ig secure the help of the Saoi in the war of unification. Nowadays devotees pray for guidance and set off into the tunnels, trusting that the Shaper will lead them to the next stop in the Way. Not all of them have enough faith to make the whole journey, and those who have lost their way re-emerge later, half-starved and terrified, speaking of terrible things they have seen in the depths…if they re-emerge at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OOC: Players can take this pilgrimage by submitting the Take Opportunity downtime action to “Walk the Way of Wisdom”. This action can be taken anywhere, but all four actions must be used to Walk the Way of Wisdom.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Vercontin’s Pass is the largest valley through the impenetrable wall of the Ring Mountains and leads down into Uasa. When the R\u00e9ig embarks on their pilgrimage to Dra\u00edod to undertake the Way of Wisdom as did their predecessors, Vercontin’s Pass becomes thronged with pilgrims and caravans. These travellers can become easy prey for the Gwyllt and wild beasts that live in the mountains nearby. The Pass is trafficked all year round, although it can become more treacherous at certain times, particularly at high summer when the Gwyllt are most numerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ridings Ardbealach The Riding of Ardbealach comprises several small villages and farmlands across the surface of Dra\u00edod, and is a major trade hub, being situated on a main crossing from the surface to several below ground towns and Ridings. During the Season of Uncertainty it was the site of the Siege of the Blazing Host,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":246,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324\/revisions\/1325"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiveoaths.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Vercontin\u2019s Pass<\/h3>\n\n\n