Eastback

• Virtue: The Cockatrice Reversed (Recovery) - The Covenant War left Eastback broken, but in its wake the people of Eastback are recovering, perhaps to grow stronger than ever.
• Fault: The Peasant Reversed (Lack of Vision) - The Synod and the people of Eastback have spent so much time rebuilding, it's difficult for them to look to the future; too, many visionaries have turned their eyes westward, and have gone past the Purple Mountains. Now they've been going through the motions.
• Fate: Spring (New Growth vs. Stagnation) - Almost a generation after the Covenant War, Eastback is at a point where it can blossom, or it can choose to stagnate, and fail to achieve greatness.
• Usurper: The Empty Throne (Cooperation vs. Group Mentality) - The Empty Throne is the symbol of the Unity Covenant, sitting at the head of the table each summer when the Synod meets. Upright, it shows the positive benefits of working together; upside-down, it is the mindlessness of the group, the mob as animal.

Geography

Eastback is a tall land - it stretches along most of the coast of the Shimmering Ocean, from the warm, balmy waters that surround the Duchy of Everglade, to the chilly Thousand Islands to the north, off the coast of the Ice Flats. To its west, the Purple Mountains are the last part of the Realm before it leads into Derange - although in the south, the Purple Mountains give way to the impassable marshlands of the Duchy of Yellow Hammer that separate Eastback from Texias.

The eastern and southern coasts of Eastback are plagued by the maelstroms of the Shimmering Ocean, which cause a lot of damage. In addition, these maelstroms occasionally pull in sailors from other Spheres, who land either on Eastback shores, or on any of the numerous Carob Islands.

Politics

See the Unity Covenant page. Eastback is divided into several Duchies (and one autonomous Earldom), as follows:

• Thousand Island - The northernmost Duchy in Eastback, Thousand Island is an icy archipelago that stretches from the Long Island in the south, to the largest island, Prince's Island, in the north. It borders the Duchy of Providence to the south, the Ice Flats and the Duchy of Ten Seas to the west, and the Shimmering Ocean to the east and north. Thousand Island supported Hither in the Unity War, expecting that it would one day be able to annex part of the Ice Flats. The seat of the Duchy is Portland, on the southern tip of Prince's Island.
• Providence - Providence lays south of Thousand Island, to the east of Keystone, and north of Vineyard, on the shores of the Shimmering Ocean. The seat of the Duchy, a city called Concord, sits in the back of a small bay called Newport. Already a small duchy, Providence supported Yon in the Unity War.
• Vineyard - Vineyard, unsurprisingly, is famous for its wines. It lays south of Providence, to the east of Keystone, and to the north of Haven on the shores of the Shimmering Ocean. Always close to Providence, Vineyard supported Yon in the Unity War. The seat of the Duchy is called Beantown, which sits on the Canary Island off the coast of Vineyard.
• Haven - Haven lays south of Vineyard, southeast of Keystone, northeast of North Virgin and directly north of South Virgin; it's also on the coast of the Shimmering Ocean. Haven supported Yon in the Unity War. The seat of this Duchy is Chess Peak, nestled on the eastern face of the Purple Mountains.
• Keystone - Keystone lays west of Providence, Vineyard and Haven, south of the Ice Flats, northwest of North Virgin and north of Bluegrass. To the west of Keystone is the Duchy of Highland, in Derange. Keystone supported Hither in the Unity War. The seat of Keystone is the City of Bridges, situated right on the Moon River.
• North Virgin - North Virgin is north and west of South Virgin. It is southwest of Haven, southeast of Keystone, east of Highland, and northeast of Bluegrass, and is mostly mountainous. It does not touch the Shimmering Ocean directly, but does share the bay the Goose River empties into with South Virgin and Haven. North Virgin is the portion of Virgin Yon ceded to Hither after the Unity War, along the Goose River. Hither has established the capital of North Virgin in the old family stead of Chemical Valley.
• Alabaster - Alabaster is a city on the Goose River, between North Virgin and South Virgin. It was the home of the tyrant Marak, and the Navigators, and is still respected for being the place where the Covenant was signed. The White Citadel, Marak's old palace, houses the Parliament. All the families have shared communal estates in the city, and this is the closest the Covenant has to a capital. It is autonomous, ruled by a single Earl. It was too small to take a side in the Covenant War, but was occupied by Hither during the war.
• South Virgin - South Virgin is directly south of Haven, and southeast of North Virgin, bordering along the Goose River. Directly west is Bluegrass, and to the south is Rally. It has a long stretch of beach along the Shimmering Ocean, and shares the Virgin Bay with North Virgin and Haven. Virgin used to be the largest Duchy before the Unity War split it in two. Yon rules South Virgin from his father's home in Crab City, sitting right on the Virgin Bay.
• Bluegrass - South of Keystone, southeast of Highland, and east of North and South Virgin, Bluegrass is directly to the east of the Duchy of Misery in Derange and does not reach the Shimmering Ocean. Directly south of Bluegrass is Yellow Hammer, and to its southeast border is both Rally and Hazard. Bluegrass supported Hither in the Unity War. The seat of the Duchy of Bluegrass is Music City.
• Rally - Rally sits on the coast of the Shimmering Ocean south of South Virgin, north and west of Hazard, and west of Bluegrass. It supported Yon in the Unity War. The seat of Rally is Palmetto.
• Hazard - Hazard sits on the Shimmering Ocean immediately south of Rally, and west of Yellow Hammer. Northeast of Hazard is Bluegrass, and directly south is Everglade. Hazard supported Hither in the Unity War. The Duke of Hazard has his seat of power in Dogwood City.
• Everglade - Everglade is directly south of both Hazard and Yellow Hammer, which also borders it to the west. It has the longest coastline of the Duchies, not only along the Shimmering Ocean to the east, but also along the Carob Gulf to the south and west. Everglade supported Yon in the Unity War. The seat of Everglade is in the city of Sunshine.
• Yellow Hammer- The only Duchy to be created during the Unity War, Yellow Hammer lays directly west of Hazard, north of Everglade and the Carob Gulf. It is south of Bluegrass, southeast of Misery, and east of Texias. The northern part of Yellow Hammer is mountainous, and the southern part is the Great Marshlands. Many of the inhabitants call it West Hazard, or South Bluegrass, considering themselves to be truly citizens of those Duchies. The seat of Yellow Hammer is the city of Huntsville, formerly Yon's base of operations during much of the Unity War.

*Note that the city of Alabaster, on the Goose River between North and South Virgin, is an autonomous entity, not ruled over by any Duke.

History

Sixteen generations ago, the Red People of Eastback experienced a plague. They all died off, or fled over the Purple Mountains, taking the plague with them. They considered Eastback to be a cursed area, and avoided the area.

The Pale Folk of Eastback have kept their histories for nine generations, when the Master Navigator Marak brought the first of them through the maelstroms of the Shimmering Ocean. They had fled their homes due to persecution, and had sailed for so long, all home seemed lost. When Marak found them and led them through the maelstroms, they had just run out of potable water. Soon after, they'd spotted land.

In Eastback, Marak built his new kingdom. He trained others as Navigators, sending them through the maelstroms of the Shimmering Ocean to many Spheres, leading persecuted peoples to a new home in Eastback. Soon, ship after ship came, carrying refugees. Many of the refugees learned the ways of Marak; those who didn't waned, or crossed westard over the Purple Mountains to Derange in search of their own destinies.

Though the Witch-King Marak grew older, and withered, he did not die. And as he aged, he grew corrupt, and waxed powerful in his magic. And his power corrupted the Navigators that served him, until each generation, more people fled westard to escape Marak's oppressie rule.

Four generations ago, the first gun - a Summerplain, was smithed in the lands of Derange, in what would later be called the Duchy of Highland. A Red Man named Wesson had apprenticed himself to a former Navigator named Smith, who had become a blacksmith. Together, they combined their two kinds of magic to create the first gun.

At first, the gun was simply used for hunting, but soon Smith and the malcontents seeing to overthrow Marak crossed paths, and Summerplains were hammered out as quickly as the blacksmiths could make them.

The revolution was long, and costly - but the Navigators wer finally broken and pushed into the Ice Flats. Marak himself was banished, never to return. Very few Navigators joined the revolution, and as they dwindled in number, the refugees from the maelstroms of the Shimmering Ocean stopped coming, at least not in such great numbers. By the time of the Covenant War, there were no more Navigators - their knowledge had been lost from Eastback.

In the city of Alabaster (from where Marak once ruled), on the banks of the Goose River, the revolutionaries had the ten Dukes of the Realm sign a Covenant of Unity. This Covenant guaranteed certain rights to all the citizens, and set up a Parliament to represent the people. The Dukes were all to be equals in a Synod, which would decide policy and make rulings in the place of a King - advised by the Parliament, and limited by the Covenant.

In the wake of Marak and the Navigators, the Synod and Parliament together decided that magic was a tool perhaps better left untouched. Although magic use was never exactly banned, it was spoken out against, and those who used magic were watched closely. Many Eastbackers abandoned it, and some mages even crossed past the Purple Mountains, so they could practice their magic outside the scrutiny of the Dukes.

As the years passed, the Dukes grew more interested in the lands to the west, and several sent expeditions into Derange. Unified by the Tongue, they decided that the gibberish-speaking Red People would benefit from their ways. Although the Red People and the earlier settlers of Derange didn't much care for it, the westward expansion couldn't be stopped. It was a cluttered affair - each village and hamlet swearing fealty to a different Duke with little to no rhyme or reason. This drove many of the earlier wave of settlers farther away, heading into Texias and the Rockmounts.

The westward expansion caused problems at home, however. Some Dukes, mostly those with large western borders, wanted their borders expanded past the Purple Mountains into Derange. Others believed it would upset the balance between the Duchies, and in turn the entire Covenant. These Dukes suggested an alternative plan - allow new areas to become Duchies, presided over by a Duke selected and approved by the Synod. Neither side was able to get enough of a vote to approve their plan, and the resentments began to fester.

A generation ago, it all exploded. Duke Jasper Longstreet of Virgin died without naming either of his twin sons as heirs. Both Hither and Yon believed they were the rightful successor, but were as different as night and day - the raven-haired Yon supported the faction that wanted new Duchies, while the redheaded Hither wanted to expand the current borders, perhaps even disband the Covenant altogether.

Hither and Yon were both popular with the people of Virgin, and both had been courted by Dukes for years, hoping to swing the Synod's vote. So, soon after Duke Longstreet died, the twins went to war. Hither struck the first blow, ousting Yon from Virgin... but Yon had supporters in the other Duchies, who rallied to help him... and in turn, other Duchies rallied behind Hither, until finally all of Eastback was at war.

For close to five years, the war waged on - longer even than the War of Revolution. About halfway through the war, the supporters of Yon captured lands west of Hazard and south of Bluegrass, in the marshes below the Purple Mountains, and declared them the Duchy of Yellow Hammer, and stayed. Yellow Hammer was the only new Duchy created during the war, and it became Yon's temporary headquarters until he managed to take Virgin back from Hither.

Finally, the Dukes who supported Hither surrendered. Yon ceded Hither half of Virgin as he sued for peace. The losing Duchies were forced to pay reparations to the successors. Yon's trusted general, Jack Stonewall, was given Yellow Hammer. Several more Duchies were added to the Covenant in the ensuing years, all of them in Derange.

Since the Covenant War, the Universities in Eastback have begun experimenting with magic, again. They've picked it up from their book-learning, and say it is different from what the Navigators were doing, and what Marak abused. Some of it is similar to the "mojo" of the Injuns. They say magic wasn't what corrupted Marak and the Navigators, but his own self - his spirit was week. The idea isn't very popular yet, except in certain circles of dilettantes. But it's growing.