Welcome to the first part of a brief gazetteer of the Empire of Venom and Silk.
Before we get too deep into our tour, I wanted to take a moment to discuss naming conventions. The word “shun” in the native language basically means “land.” When it’s used as a suffix, (such as in “Zira-Shun”) it means that the land is associated with the named city (in this case, the city of Zira). When it’s used as a prefix, the word is “shuna” and what comes after is a description of the territory, rather than a proper name. For example, “Shuna-Darshado” means “land of the of pale people.”
I’m fascinated by language. You can tell a lot about a culture by what words its people use. I’m no more a linguist than I am a cartographer, but I like to add little touches like this where I can when world-building.
With that out of the way, let’s kick off our tour by visiting…
The Webbed Lands (Zira-Shun)
Zira-Shun is the heart of the occupation. The spiders rule from the top of a feudal system that they did not create, but merely took over. Amongst the citizenry and lower nobility, life is harder than it once was, but they still live to serve those of the upper classes as they did before the invasion. Some citizens prove themselves loyal spider-thralls and earn perks by informing on “traitors” and serving as the invaders’ eyes and ears on the street.
Zira: The capital of Zira-Shun is home to the Ziran royalty, who have (mostly) sworn loyalty to their occupiers. Spider soldiers patrol the streets to ensure the city remains under control.
Ahbiz: Once a small, rich city known for its alchemists and practitioners of ancient, forbidden arcane arts, Ahbiz is now the spiders’ citadel. The only humans who enter the city are captives. The only ones who leave are spider-riding thralls adorned in silk robes and weird armor.
Croplands: Zira’s lands are the breadbasket of the region. Human slaves work the fields and orchards beneath the watchful eyes of both guard spiders and their human taskmasters.
The Fallen Realm (Namzi-Shun)
When the spiders erupted from Ahbiz, they headed west to Namzi and its lands. The Namzi army did its best to stop the invaders, but was able only to slow them long enough for the other citizens to flee the area. The spiders devastated the Namzi lands and slew or captured everyone they found. It was because of this brutality that, when the spiders turned their attention to Zira, the Ziran nobility surrendered rather than endanger their province.
Namzi: The city has been given over to the monstrous creatures that live nearby and the animalistic giant spiders known as “stalkers.” It’s been abandoned by all but a few die-hard survivalists, a strange cult of spider-worshipers, and the occasional band of treasure-hunting scavengers.
The Mines: The hills south of Namzi are rich in ore, which the spiders’ slaves dig out until they die. Ore from this large mine complex is hauled on the backs of enormous spiders to Zira, where it’s forged into tools and weapons of spidery design.
Charnel Fields: During the invasion, the plains and hills between Namzi and Ahbiz were soaked in the blood of the fallen. Today, the battlefield is known to be haunted by ghosts, ghouls, and other undead creatures.
The Pale Forest (Shuna-Darshado)
While a handful of people have always lived in the vast, wooded wilderness south of the mountains, the region was only truly settled about a century ago. A large colony of pale-skinned people from across the sea came ashore on the western coast, then quickly moved inland. The natives aren’t sure what to make of these newcomers with their strange appearance, strange gods, and even stranger customs.
The pale ones are known to be expert hunters and trappers. For the most part, they keep to themselves, though small groups of them occasionally travel northward and join civilization.
When the spiders first invaded, they ignored the forest, and streams of refugees fled southward. Even now, it seems the region is too far away (as the route is either over mountains or around them) with too little reward to justify a full invasion. There are occasional spider raids, but nothing the pale people can’t avoid or withstand.
