A Compendium of the Known World

Collected from the writings of scholars, explorers, and historians across the continents.

The world of Entlegen

World Map.png

The known world, as charted by the Royal Cartographers of Lazorya in the year 413 of the New Horizon.

Welcome to Entlegen

The world is vast, ancient, and only partially understood.
Empires rise along fertile coasts, desert kingdoms worship the sun in the endless sky, and distant islands glimmer, with wealth and opportunity.

Much of history is shaped by the triumphs of rulers, the achievements of explorers, and the ideas of innovators. The influence of such figures reshaped entire regions, guiding humanity's growth like a light in the dark. Across the centuries, individuals whose charisma, strength or insight exceeded that of ordinary mortals appeared and left their mark across the world. Chroniclers often point to the likes of Saerina Kazehara, the Empress who united the Shinsei-Koku; Zahir the Unbound, whose sudden wealth reshaped the eastern seas; or the long-vanished warlord Aldric Eisenfaust, whose campaigns forged the foundations of Eisenwacht.

History is rarely the story of nations. More often, it is the shadow cast by a few extraordinary lives.
— Historian Marev Ilyasin, On the Blue Thrones

On the Passage of Time

Throughout history, most civilizations have shown an admirable obsession with measuring the passage of time. Farmers require it for determining the planting and harvesting of crops, sailors depend upon it to chart safe journeys, and priests often seek meaning and guidance in the movements of the heavens above. From these practical needs emerged the many calendars by which the peoples of this world attempt to impose order upon the sky.

The system most widely used across the central continents today traces its origin to the scholars of the ancient Thalaeryn Empire, whose efforts to standardize trade and administration produced the first broadly adopted civil calendar. Later refinements, most famously the correction produced by the solar astronomers in Valashar, capital of the Samsharan Empire, have ensured that the reckoning remains remarkably close to the true solar year.

Alongside the civil system, many cultures still maintain secondary forms of timekeeping based upon the cycles of the two moons, Valen and Mirae, whose movements have offered guidance to sailors, priests, and storytellers alike for centuries.

The subject is explored in greater detail in the entry "Calendars and Timekeeping."

The heavens have never seemed especially concerned with whether their motions are convenient for those attempting to record them.
— Compiler's Note

Something about Me

The present work gathers excerpts from the writings of Marev Ilyasin and other scholars, supplemented where possible by travel accounts, merchant records, and oral traditions collected across the known world.

The compiler of this volume has chosen to remain unnamed, believing that the value of knowledge lies not in its author but in its preservation. The observations contained herein were gathered over many journeys; across deserts, courts, and distant shores, often in the company of some who never realized their stories would be one day recorded.

Some passages may contain remarks coming from the compiler's own experiences. The author of this compendium would like to extend an apology to its readers, for the ways in which such journeys were accomplished will not be divulged in this tome.

Regions of Entlegen

This list is bound to be expanded as the amount of information available increases.
— Compiler's Note

The world changes endlessly. No record can ever be complete.