AFFER
Affer is the planet on which the story of Conquest takes place. It’s inhabited by six different species: humans, elves, hybrids, dammed, demons, and angels. The stunning fantasy planet is home to the Yoxtoll Forest, where the trees tower above you by hundreds of feet. A brutal tundra lies to the north-west, where the demons live. An endless sea of mountains lay to the east of them. Crossing the grasslands of the once mighty human kingdom, the Arrgon Desert sits, where the bloodthirsty hybrids dwell. To the west are the elves in the midst of the forest. Lastly, the angel’s capital city, Plitin, is the sole city on Plitin Island. The grand, imposing city takes up a large part of the island and rivals the human capital, Admont, in its prime.
MAP OF AFFER
Zenton Sea
Zenton Sea is the most dangerous place in Affer. Luckily for travelers, many of the creatures that lurk inside don’t come near the top. The deeper you go into the sea, the more deadly the creatures become, with the vex and quadrilass both living at the very depths. Some parts of the sea are only eight thousand feet deep, but the deepest part, which makes up 270,000 square miles, is 14,000 feet deep.
On one side of Zenton Sea is the grasslands, and on the other is Plitin Island, where the angel’s capital, Plitin, is. Exiting the sea into the ocean are the Sea Pillars. These are six colossal rocks that rise far above the water for hundreds of feet, some even reaching past the clouds. Due to being hundreds, and even thousands, of miles apart, it’s impossible to see more than one at a time.
Arrgon Desert
The dry, humid, sweltering Arrgon Desert is a place many would rather not visit, especially in the scorching hot summers. The temperatures reach one hundred thirty degrees, average slightly over one hundred ten during the day, and drop to eighty-five at night.
Food is scarce, and the creatures that call the desert home are vicious. Cacti are uncommon, and the only ones that grow in the Arrgon Desert are the dune cactus, which has a green exterior but black thorns. The dune cactus is the best, sometimes only, food source in the desert. They grow fruit similar in size to an apple, called jave fruit. Jave fruit is sweet with a white exterior and a light purple inside.
The three deadliest creatures in Arrgon Desert are the solfiend, gladero, and xuga, in that order. While xuga are at the bottom of that list, they shouldn’t be underestimated and always travel in packs. Gladero, nicknamed the cursed bird, wanders the red sands, staying away from the hybrid’s cities and packs of xugas. The menacing octopus-like solfiend dwells underground, but will come up for food, and if it hears a great deal of noise above them, such as a large convoy passing by.
Yoxtoll Forest
Yoxtoll Forest, also known as the Forest of the Dammed, is called the most beautiful place in Affer. The white sunhem trees tower upward for up to two hundred eighty feet, but across the river to the north, the trees are shorter, averaging slightly over two hundred feet. The large height difference is due to the lack of underground bodies of water. Although the northern part of the forest is worthy of being the most beautiful place in Affer, the central forest is still a step above. More creatures inhabit the central part; the sunhem trees are thicker and taller, and there are countless ponds, some leading to underground bodies of water, and others are hot springs.
The sunhem trees are a pale white color, have no bark, and many of them glisten, as if they are wet. On top of that, the bottoms of these trees are very unique. Instead of a normal stump that goes into the ground, sunhem have hundreds to thousands of small and large roots holding them up. The roots range in size, from only four feet tall to over a dozen feet. Light blue vines hang from the trees’ branches, and every one is covered in dozens of small bulbs that glow a dim yellow. Completing the trees, soft, fuzzy green leaves form a canopy overhead and blanket the forest floor.
Fiuden Forest
The dense forest in front of Lilthral is known as Fiuden Forest by the elves and their slaves. The name doesn’t appear on any maps of Affer, as only one kingdom refers to it as Fiuden Forest. Its trees are densely packed together, and in some spots, you can’t even see the ground, while in others, you have enough room to fight. Long ago, there were very few trees in the elven kingdom, but one of the kings thought the landscape was too desolate and ordered tens of thousands of trees to be planted. In most parts, the trees were spaced out, but in front of the capital, it was a different story. Numerous elves wanted to impress the king by planting as many trees as they could. But with so many elves having this idea, it quickly got out of hand. By the time they realized, it was too late, and the forest had grown out of control.
The king refused to cut down any of the trees, so the forest stayed as it was, and over the years, it became a staple of Lilthral. Eventually, the elves started calling it Fiuden Forest.
Lungen
Lungen, referred to as the Graveyard of the Dammed by most of Affer, is a special place for the dammed. This is where all of them Awake and where their lives as a dammed will be determined. Unlike the other species, most positions aren’t earned. The king or queen Awakes with a crown, overseers with a set of armor, soldiers with a sword, guards with a shield, and commanders with armor and a weapon. There is only ever a king or queen alive at a time, and once one of them dies, another will Awaken shortly after.
Some positions, like right-hands, palace guards, and scouts, don’t Awaken with anything and instead are appointed by the king, queen, overseers, or commanders. The cohort is another example of an appointed position. These are soldiers hand-picked by the king or queen, and only the best warriors are given the job.
As for the graveyard itself, there isn’t much to it. The place hasn’t been touched since it was created by the divine council, and is worn and overgrown with plants. Weeds cover the ground and wrap around the stone coffins that the dammed Awake from. The iron fence surrounding Lungen has missing sections, rusted bars, and bent gates.
The Sea Pillars
These massive rocks surround Plitin Island and have an average radius of ten miles. The shortest rock is twenty-five hundred feet tall, while the largest has a radius of fourteen miles and is seven thousand feet tall. They are made purely out of lyfume, the densest rock in Affer.
Radwell Pit
Radwell Pit is the largest open mine on Affer. It lies to the northwest of Grifol, has a diameter of four thousand feet, and is eighteen hundred feet deep. The mine was started seven hundred years ago, and has been growing ever since. It provides a great deal of materials, but its main resource is knightnium. The pit produces almost a quarter of what the demon kingdom mines as a whole.
CITIES
HUMANS
- Admont (Add-mont)
- Vero (Ver-o)
- Dysicingore (De-sick-in-gor)
- Contilice (Con-ti-lice)
- Forgeflint (Forge-flint)
- Endarcite (End-dar-cite)
- Tylic (Til-ic)
- Armormyth (Armor-myth)
- Octtail (Oct-tail)
ANGELS
- Plitin (Pli-tin)
- Xero (Zero)
- Swun (Swun)
- Kren (Kren)
DEMONS
- Alzuledon (Al-zule-don)
- Gonttermire (Gon-tter-mire)
- Titanan (Titan-on)
- Zenfirme (Zen-fur-me)
- Ikkyondfor (Ick-yon-for)
- Jarmyth (Jar-myth)
- Vorcrumb (Vore-crumb)
- Wradmsoul (Rad-mh-soul)
- Artin (Art-tin)
DAMMED
- Wingo (Win-go)
- Ugondt (U-gondt)
- Flinden (Flin-den)
- Narain (Na-rain)
- Huslond (Hush-lond)
HYBRIDS
- Arkanon (Ark-anon)
- Grifol (Griff-fol)
- Telfin (Tell-fin)
- Rinner (Riner)
- Yuton (You-ton)
- Jumin (Jum-in)
- Muwn (Mewn)
ELVES
- Lilthral (Lilth-ral)
- Ronann (Roe-non)
- Qrtta (Keer-ta)
- Sullin (Sull-in)
- Yuun (Yune)
- IItu (I-two)
MATERIALS
Ilbar is the strongest metal on Affer. There’s only one mine in Affer where ilbar can be found, and the angels control it. This natural mine lies to the very north of Plitin Island and reaches a depth of thirty-two hundred feet. When Kane Velminhide was king of the angels, he would sell ilbar to other kingdoms. But when Xancore became king, he stopped all sales of the precious metal and began using it extensively for his kingdom. Instead of only giving high-ranking angels ilbar armor and weapons, every soldier and guard in the angel kingdom receives a full set of ilbar armor and weapon.
With such a large army, the ilbar mine has run dry, and the bars locked away in Plitin castle are all that remain untouched.
In appearance and characteristics, ilbar is matte white and does not rust. It is also extremely hard to forge into weapons and armor, and only the very best angel blacksmiths, with very few exceptions, can work with the dense metal.
Knightnium isn’t as strong as ilbar, but it is much more abundant. Three massive mines dedicated to the metal and two enormous open mines lie in the demon kingdom, while the largest open mine, producing mostly knightnium, resides in the Arrgon Desert. Due to having such a large amount of the strong metal, demons tend to overuse it. Unlike the angels, not every demon has the best armor, and knightnium is reserved for higher ranks as a show of strength, respect, and accomplishment. However, demons use knightnium for far more than armor and weapons. Every building and wall in each demon city is made of this matte-black metal. The only exception is the inside of the building, where more particular materials are used.
Similar to ilbar, knightnium doesn’t rust and is very hard to work with. However, this metal is workable by human blacksmiths, albeit only very good ones.
Zuliclipse is the same strength as stainless steel. It is a candy twilight blue, and unlike ilbar and knightnium, zuliclipse rusts, though much more slowly than other metals.
This metal is predominantly found in Yoxtoll Forest and is used almost exclusively by the dammed. They don’t gatekeep the metal, as Xancore does with ilbar, but since zuliclipse is inferior to Knightnium and ilbar, it’s often overlooked. The dammed only use it for certain buildings, like the palace, city hall, and a few others. For armor, it’s worn by many guards and soldiers, but since the dammed don’t have proper ranks, Zuliclipse armor is given out at random.
Sunhem is the name of the trees in Yoxtoll Forest. The wood is a pale white color, very strong, and is highly resistant to both fire and water.
Because of their massive size, these trees are very difficult and dangerous to cut down, which is why they rarely are. However, one tree can provide enough wood to last a kingdom for years, depending on how often it is used. Most kingdoms only use the wood for furniture and occasionally doors. The only ones who build their homes from this wood are the dammed.
Lyfume resembles beige limestone in color, but has veins of dark gray running through it and specks of shimmering royal green. The rock is extremely dense and is very hard to mine. It can be found all over Affer, but is most abundant in the southwest, in the elven kingdom. Because of that, the elves built the walls of Lilthral from this rock. However, due to the cost, effort, and time, they only built the capital’s walls of lyfume.
The Sea Pillars are also made from this rock, and it’s estimated that they are over half the planet’s lyfume.