Spanning six-sevenths of Lifefire, the Endless Desert includes all terrain types: mountains, sandy wastes, and dry mudflats hundreds of miles across. Some areas have not known rains for decades, and even the deepest aquifers are frequently empty. Water is more scarce and precious than gold. Hot winds carry ripping sands at speeds over a hundred miles an hour, and mile-high black storms lash the landscape.
Yet in spite of the inhospitable surroundings, there are creatures surviving within the desert. Some of these are so mutated that they are hardly recognizable. Many are predators battling for water and food. Others draw nourishment directly from the sun, or from purer fire-energies. Whether these beasts can properly be called "living" is a philosophical debate for sages.
Within the desert lay remnants of the most ancient civilizations of Lifefire - half buried stepped pyramids of white limestone, obsidian plinths over a hundred feet tall, and toppled rune-carved statutes. Occasionally an explorer returns with a piece of wealth or magic from the ancient times. Very little is known about these ancient cultures among the Firelord Cult, as the Cult's records have been so heavily altered by the lines of priest-kings and their propagandists that their written histories cannot be trusted. Similarly, the knowledge held by the Snowball Alliance is fragmented and steeped in legend.
Sages theorize that there stood three great kingdoms, one by each of three great seas - the Sea of Ice, the Sea of Birds, and the Sea of Sacrificial Blood (Chalchiuatl). The Empire by the Sea of Ice is believed to have been an elven kingdom, while humans dominated the other two lands (with small populations of dwarves and gnomes dwelling peacefully with the human majority). Histories fail to describe which deities the demi-humans of that age worshipped.
One of the human kingdoms government became dominated by the priests of Warfire, who led that human kingdom in a crusade against the other. Over the following centuries, their magics visited ruin and devastation across the planet, and only a handful of refugees from either empire survived. When a truce was finally called, the surviving humans all fled to the elven realm upon the shores of the Sea of Ice. The elves, lacking the strength and will to resist them, either merged with these human societies or fled further inland. The most reclusive fled to the Isle of Enoreth.
The surviving humans gathered on the shores of the last sea, the Sea of Ice, to rebuild. Their peace was short-lived, as within the century, old enemies began to fight over land and water as the gods withheld the gift of rain and the seas shrunk. Many priests blame the shortage of rain not on the gods, but on the magical cataclysms which destroyed the human lands, and hence upon mankind.
During the second great war, the much weakened humans fought to a stalemate, while the remaining elves stood aside. It was during this time that the Firelord Cult assumed its modern form and dominated one of the two primary human power groups. The other group, a loose gathering of individualists, became the forebears of what would be the Snowball Alliance.
The Firelords failed to crush the Snowball Alliance before the Alliance organized itself due to the Cult's wasteful expenditure of energies on internal power struggles. Different factions within the Cult each struggled to rebuild the Kingdom of Chalchiuatl and take the throne for itself. This internal strife caused the Cult to create vast amounts of bloodshed, while failing to unify humanity under any peace, even a tyrannical one.
Over the course of the past millenium, the priests of the Firelord Cult have been the only unifying force outside of the Snowball Alliance. However, their chaotic credo has not held back the Endless Desert. Only near the end of the Fourth Age did the Firelord Cult bring a semblance of unity back to the imaginary "Empire of Chalchiuatl," and only then by focusing the city-states' energies against an outside foe. They achieved this by bringing spelljamming technologies to Lifefire. Realizing that eventually the planet would become uninhabitable under their rule, and that eventually the war on Lifefire would end, the priests of the Firelord Cult intended to take their creed of death and violence to the stars, and conquer new lands in other spheres. It is this unifying intent that led to the short, indecisive war with Greatspace at the very end of the Fourth Age, and it is this unifying intent which drew the Firelord Cult into massing its forces to crush the faithful of Quetzalcoatl at the Battle of the Great Crater, where many on both sides were slain by divine and mortal magic alike. Even after the dawn of the Fifth Age, the remaining priests of Huitzilopochtli and the Cult of the True Flame continue preaching war and annihilation. Their plan to enter the spacelanes with fire and sword is far from abandoned. Indeed, defeat on Lifefire has only made conquest among the stars more attractive. Rumors persist that even though Huitzilopochtli's cult on Lifefire does not seem to have the unity of action and resources necessary to become a significant spelljamming power, their influence, or the influence of a group of very similar cultists, has begun to be felt in wildspace since the beginning of the Fifth Age.
The Firelord Cult consists of 27 city-states. At the end of the Fourth Age, virtually all of these were ruled by priests of the Firelord (usually in his warlike aspect). Despite Warfire's destruction and the return of Quetzalcoatl at the dawn of the Fifth Age, the Firelord Cult and the priesthood of Warfire continue to hold onto their political influence. However, their weakened power and prestige has led several cities into seeing factions loyal to the Firelord in Ometeotl's Hearthfire aspect rise in opposition to the Warfire-dominated cults. The planet Hearthfire's sacrifice against the Dark Mirror reminded the populace of Ometeotl's position as the embodiment of all existence and therefore their protector against the mythical terror known as the Unraveler, while the planet Warfire's demise occurred in an apparent attempt to destroy Lifefire, an act which won few converts.
Weaker cities that have long paid heavy tribute the greater city- states have used the defeat of the Firelord Cult army to throw off the shackles of old treaties. A few even boast secular governments supported by merchant factions and wizards, though rarely are such governments legitimized by popular support. In the past century, the Firelord Cult cities have been growing more cosmopolitan as the Cult's experiments with spelljamming technology brought the people of Lifefire into contact with beliefs, ideas, and religions alien to the Firelord Cult's six thousand years (two thousand atchaks) of worship. The people of Lifefire are eager for and fearful of change. Some, such as the powerful Flame Wizards of Itatel, are taking advantage of this situation. Others hide from it and try to cling to a past that no longer exists.
The five largest and most powerful city-states of the former Firelord Cult Cities are presented below. Most of the city-states that were dominated by the Firelord Cult in the Fourth Age were similar to one of the five cities presented below. They were either ruled by a Tecuhtlin, a priest-bureaucrat (though the priest is occasionally a lay-priest mage or warrior), or by a council of Revered Ministers (who are also priests or lay priests). The Tecuhtlins all vied for the position of Tlatoani, the Emperor and Chosen of the Firelord, and ruler of the Empire of Chalchiuatl. The three Tecuhtlins of the cities below all currently claim that title, even after the Cult's defeat at the Great Crater. In the decade leading up to the end of the Fourth age, they unexpectedly achieved remarkable success in putting aside their rivalry, though the fractures between various factions did impose some limits on their degree of cooperation. After the disaster at the Great Crater and the destruction of the planet Warfire, their alliance fractured almost instantaneously. All the surviving major leaders of the former Firelord Cult immediately blamed their rivals for the defeat in order to maintain their own power. A number of politically powerful priests died in the battle, and although most were resurrected, a few were unexpectedly given a short and swift burial which was followed by a quiet struggle for power in the Firelord Cult's pyramids.
While the priesthood of Huitzilopochtli lost much of its power in the five largest Firelord Cult cities, in the other 22 cities, the priesthood of the war god fared somewhat better. Although Huitzilopochtli suffered setbacks everywhere on Lifefire, and the destruction of the planet Warfire caused his divine status in Flamespace to drop from that of a greater power to that of an intermediate power (as he is in most other spheres where he is worshipped), Huitzilopochtli's priesthood continues to be the dominant political and religious force in just under half of the smaller Firelord Cult cities. His priesthood still has some formal power in most of the remaining Cult cities. Even in those few Cult cities where the priests of Huitzilopochtli are disgraced and in retreat, rulers who ignore the still-significant power of the Cult's fanatics do so at their own peril.
The Firelord Cult cities demonstrate a level of technology somewhat behind that of the Snowball Alliance, though in the military arts and crafts they more closely approach the skills of Snowball Alliance artisans. Over the last few centuries, however, the Cult cities' level of technology had been steadily declining as more and more knowledge from the past is forgotten, and the most talented individuals devote their time and energy to war. Many of the city-states have avoided attacking Snowball Alliance cities precisely because they are dependent on them for the more sophisticated and valuable products which they do not produce themselves. However, the advent of spelljamming technology is changing this delicate balance, and providing the Firelord Cult with sources of goods other than the Alliance cities. To the minds of many fanatical Cultists, the Alliance cities have become extraneous, and thus disposable.
Fortunately for the Snowball Alliance, the recent defeats of the Firelord Cult at the hands of the Greatspace Defense Force and then later Quetzalcoatl have slowed the introduction of spelljamming technology into the Cult cities. The cities' treasuries have been nearly exhausted by the Firelords' expansion into arcane space, and rumors abound that vast wealth was spent to purchase weapons from a race of fire-dwelling humanoids that the Firelord Cult was wooing as an ally. The Snowball Alliance is not yet as extraneous as the Firelord Cult hopes to make them, thus giving the Alliance breathing room for the foreseeable near future.
With the importance of trade, and with the seemingly-bottomless vaults of the Cult temples suddenly strained, Firelord Cult cities are reluctant to place their few remaining spelljamming vessels at risk in warfare, when lucrative merchant opportunities offer a much higher return on the cities' investments. This too provides the Snowball Alliance breathing room.
In spite of the blow struck to the Cult and the cities dominated by the Firelord Cult, a significant aspect of the Cult's might remains largely intact. The Cult's mastery of incredibly potent magics, and the fanatically warlike mien of the Cultists themselves continue to challenge the Cult's enemies. Although many of the most warlike and fanatical were slain at the Great Crater or in the failed raid on Greatspace, enough survived to hold onto the fragile reigns of power. And although many of the most powerful priests have discovered their fire magic somewhat weakened with the planet Warfire's destruction, the Cult's fire magic still far exceeds the power of flame-priests and fire mages in most other locations of the Known Spheres.
The greatest blow struck may well have been to the Cult's confidence, for the Cult had always survived by destroying, capturing, pillaging, and taking. They used, but never created. Lacking the strength, unity and resources to vanquish the still-unified Snowball Alliance, they are now left to their own devices, lacking in marketable skills, and for the first time in thousands of years, lacking in its trademark focus and direction.
The advent of spelljamming technology led the Cult cities to increase their power by trading their accumulated wealth to outsiders for the supplies and products they could not pillage from the Snowball Alliance. This alternate source of supplies briefly encouraged the Firelord cities to raid the Alliance cities not simply for goods and skilled slaves, but for everything. Priests began preaching a crusade to raze the Alliance to the ground to acquire enough treasure to launch the Cult cities into Wildspace as a force to be reckoned with. This crusade never materialized, and the unity to mount it no longer exists. Faced with a lack of funds to import goods, however, the people of Flamespace are discovering that they do have one tradable commodity - skill in war. Thus many former and present worshippers of the Firelord Cult have fulfilled the Cult's prophecies after all, as they take to the spacelanes to sell their skills as mercenaries and pirates in far- away crystal spheres. To many observers, this result is not significantly different from the original expansionist desires of the most far-sighted leaders of the Firelord Cult (and, some sages secretly speculate, the true and secret leaders of the Firelord Cult themselves).
Narizec Though not the largest city-state, Narizec boasted the highest concentration of priests of any Firelord Cult city. At the end of the Fourth age, it stood as the nominal capital of the Firelord Cult. After a third of its priests died in the Battle of the Great Crater, the fracturing of the Firelord Cult that followed over the next several weeks incited much bloodshed and rioting in Narizec. For days, the city burned as high priests seeking power led small factions against one another in a push for political control. In the end, it was the priests of Wildfire, who had long stayed away from political conflict, who emerged triumphant, and installed one of their number as Tecuhtlin. Although priests of Ometeotl and Huitzilopochtli are permitted, the priests of Wildfire declared the Path of the True Flame a heresy.
Narizec is famous for an array of priestly spells which allow enchantment of obsidian with many baneful effects. Many of its soldiers wield the jagged mechatli blade, an obsidian sword crafted in the image of the Firelord's weapon and imbued with wounding magics. So common were these weapons that the battlefield of the Great Crater was said to be littered with fragments of enchanted obsidian weapons smashed during the final conflict. Prior to the return of Quetzalcoatl, the Tecuhtlin of Narizec was believed to be the mightiest living priest of the Firelord, and was said to receive direct visitations from the god. Despite the aftermath of that battle, with the planet Warfire destroyed and Huitzilopochtli's power weakened, the old Tecuhtlin was not cast down until his greatest rival, a powerful priest of Wildfire who is more fire elemental than man, engaged him in a spell battle upon the city's great pyramid and personally delivered his heart in sacrifice to Wildfire. Since then, no one has challenged the new Tecuhtlin's power.
Kurashti Kurashti is ruled by the vicious warlord Anu-Kush, who drills his armies of killers and warrior-priests endlessly, and revels in personally leading them into battle. Anu-Kush is a tall man of noble bearing, who was never himself a priest, yet was very much in the favor of Huitzilopochtli. He offered many sacrifices up to the bloodthirsty god prior to the Battle of the Great Crater. However Anu-Kush lost two of his three sons at the Battle, and discovered afterwards that they could not be resurrected. Grief- stricken and enraged, Anu-Kush blamed Warfire for the loss of his kin, and this aspect of the Firelord Cult has fallen into disfavor within the walls of Kurashti. Even after the defeat of the Firelord Cult, however, the Anu-Kush's power was not challenged within his city. Anu- Kush's might never rested directly on the magical might of the Firelord Cult, but rather on his own personal charisma and the strength of his armies. Of all the cities of the Firelord Cult, Kurashti was most in favor of wiping out the Snowball Alliance once and for all at the end of the Fourth Age. That sentiment has away died somewhat, for Anu-Kush is unwilling to risk his third and only remaining son in battle.
Aside from war, Kurashti is also famed for its many gladiatorial and tlachtli games, whose surviving losers are given up for sacrifice.
Ixtu A city of priest-bureaucrats ruled by a council of Revered Ministers, Ixtu remains one of the most tolerant of the Firelord Cult cities, and was the first to embrace spelljamming technology. Ixtu also stood at the forefront of the negotiations with the efreeti, and played a critical role in organizing the alliance against Greatspace. Prior to the beginning of the Fifth Age, Ixtu was the only leading Firelord Cult city where the priests of the Firelord in his Hearthfire aspect wielded almost as much power as the priests of the Firelord in his Warfire aspect. After the fragmentation of the Firelord Cult, and the casualties suffered at the Battle of the Great Crater, the Firelord Cult fell from power in Ixtu and was replaced by the priesthood of Ometeotl independent from the deity's Hearthfire aspect. The Ometeotl priests emerged as a dominant faction after a relatively bloodless internal struggle for power, and continue a significant level of deference to Ixtu's Firelord Cult, itself dominated by priests of Hearthfire. For the commoner, however, little has changed. Some would say that the merchant clans of Ixtu, the true powers behind the city, hardly noted the end of the Fourth Age and the beginning of the Fifth.
Itatel Though nominally a theocracy, the archmages of the Five Towers of Flame effectively rule Itatel, wielding their powers with reckless abandon. The mages, though far from unified, stand together against the priestly bureaucracy of the city, which is a shabbier mirror of that which rules Ixtu. The mages haven't the will or unity to eliminate the priests, though they frequently plot and dream of doing so. Their dreams may yet become reality, however, for the weakened Cult no longer poses the threat that it once did. The archmages of the Five Towers largely avoided the Battle of the Great Crater, sending only token forces to be annihilated. Although they risked retribution in the event that the Firelord emerged victorious, their gambit paid off. They are now in an enviable position. Only time will tell if the five archmages can put aside their own petty squabbles long enough to take advantage of their newfound independence.
Chazachet Also a theocracy, Chazachet is primarily known for the excessive influence of the Cult of Smoke within its walls. It is said, quietly, that the Tecuhtlin of the city actually serves the Black Jaguar Lord instead of the Firelord, but none dare challenge him. The Tecuhtlin himself did not go to war against the followers of the Feathered Dragon during the coming of the Fifth Age. Rather, he sent a very formidable force of lesser priests, wizards, and warriors. Although this force appeared to be a generous contribution to the Firelord Cult army, suppressed rumors suggest that the Tecuhtlin used this opportunity to rid himself of the true followers of the Firelord, and consolidate his control over his city's priesthood. The subsequent fragmentation of the Firelord Cult strengthened his hand even more, as he persecuted many of the priests of Ometeotl and Hearthfire and forced them to flee to other Firelord Cult cities or to the cities of the Snowball Alliance.
The rituals of sacrifice in Chazachet are among the most brutal and painful of all those used in the Firelord cities. Although the people of Chazachet fear these rites, the public sacrifices also draw large crowds. Wealthy citizens can avoid any danger of sacrifice by substituting slaves in their place. Indeed, the ownership of slaves is the pre-eminent mark of status in Chazachet. Although Chazachet appears to have a higher level of technology than the other Firelord cities, the vast majority of its artisans are actually Snowball Alliance slaves who are motivated by the threat of torture and sacrifice. Other Firelord Cult cities would prefer to have little to do with Chazachet, but they are in dire need of the trade goods that Chazachet's slaves provide. The Snowball Alliance cities are dire enemies of this city, and adventuring bands make a habit of trying to rescue slaves that Chazachet captures through kidnapping and on the battlefield.
The Snowball Alliance consists of eight city-states along the Archipelago of Atruatzin and the nearby shoreline of the Sea of Ice. They claim to be the last surviving ancestors of the near-mythical city states of the peaceful people who dwelt near the Sea of Birds. In truth, they include refugees from everywhere, and (unlike the city states of the Firelord Cult) the Alliance's population has so interbred that no clear bloodlines remain distinguishable. The cities of the Snowball Alliance are known to harbor a large population of high elves, half elves, dwarves, and even a few gnomes. Halflings are notably absent, though spacefaring desert adapted lizard men have lately made an appearance, often serving as mercenaries comfortable in the scorching heat and dryness of the desert.
The Snowball Alliance receives a fair amount of aid from the white ships of the Isle of Enoreth (described below), but would likely not survive a decade if the Firelord Cult brought its full might to bear against it. Following the defeat of the Firelord Cult at the end of the Fourth Age and the ascension of Quetzalcoatl to the throne of Lifefire, there is little risk of this occurring. Still, the Snowball Alliance cities remain wary, fearing that wars of retribution may be launched by individual, or small groups of, Cult cities. Thus, the peaceful Alliance cities are more than happy to avoid the Firelord Cult's thoughts. Nonetheless, the cities of the Snowball Alliance are neither cowardly nor weak.
The Snowball Alliance strives to achieve a semblance of peace, and struggles to preserve the ancient arts of their ancestors. Thus, the eight cities harbor many skilled artisans who keep alive the lost arts of the fallen kingdoms from before the birth of the Endless Desert. The skill of the Alliance's artisans is one of the Alliance's chief defenses, arming the peaceful cities with fine weaponscraft while creating a reason for the Firelord Cult to be loath to exterminate the Alliance.
The eight cities of the Snowball Alliance are described briefly below. Note that each retains its own uniqueness, and the eight cities sport widely divergent forms of government.
Carukas
Although all of the Snowball Alliance has taken to constructing their cities partly underground and partly beneath mirrored shields, Carukas has made more extensive use of mirrors than any other city. They learned this craft when the Firelord Cult annihilated the ancient city-state of Tepan to the north (across the bay of Thuaxtli) and that city's surviving glass-makers fled to Carukas.
Such is the skill of Carukas' glass makers that they can affix thin strips of glass together into bands as strong as steel, but only weighing half as much. From this glass they weave armor, weapons, and other tools. Their weapons of pure glass keep a finer edge than steel. Sadly, the artistic aspects of glass-making have been in steady decline over the past decades, and so few craftsmen can replicate the delicate stained and glazed glass sculptures which the city preserves as treasures. Carukas' master glassmakers hope that the introduction of spelljamming trade may create more demand for these ancient skills, and revitalize their craft.
Carukas is ruled by a tri-partite council of elders, the War Leader, the Chief Architect, and the High Academician, each of which rules one of the major colleges. Political power is achieved by climbing through the ranks of these colleges, and with political power comes temporal privilege. Little accord is given to wealth or heritage in Carukas, and most youngsters strive to enter and succeed in one of the three great colleges. Others find their calling in one of the lesser colleges, such as the almost desolate College of Song or the more practical (but still highly respected) College of Farmers.
Carukas is the most technologically advanced of all the Alliance cities, though it falls somewhat behind Nidrethien and Tchapullec in the magical arts. While not terribly religious, it still awards much esteem to its priests for their role in protecting the city and summoning rain. Until recently, the priests of Chalchihuitlicue, common in Carukas, were the only ones who could successfully cast Control Weather spells without blood sacrifices to Tlaloc (this was true everywhere, though the Firelord Cult has no priests of Chalchihuitlicue, and thus resorted to blood sacrifices with increasing frequency). Despite the end of Tlaloc's reign, and Quetzalcoatl's permitting the use of Control Weather spells to all non-Firelord and non-Huitzilopochtli priests, the priests of Chalchihuitlicue still remain important and are highly respected. Their power also seems to have increased of late, since the number of clouds over the Sea of Ice has multiplied considerably. Largely due to the efforts of the half- elf Anu and his dwarven friend Xander, Carukas also has closer contact with the Isle of Enoreth than any city save the mostly elven city of Nidrethien.
Nidrethien This city of high elves, ruled by queen Nidrethien, is a place of beautiful, mirrored glass spires, said to be some of the last work done by the glass-makers of Tepan before that city's destruction. The great, old magic of the elven city was used to enchant the glass spires with a permanent form of glassteel magic which cannot be removed. The mirrored towers of Nidrethien also reflect several types of magics, particularly divination magics. Some of the most ancient buildings are said to even reflect flame magic, though few know the truth of this claim.
Nidrethien strives to be as open-minded and friendly as the Isle of Enoreth is closed. Largely because of the efforts of the queen and her entourage, elves are not despised by all humans along the coast. Nonetheless, the city does maintain a tradition of nobility, which makes it difficult to gain the ear of its rulers. The nobility must uphold the strictest standards of honor, and only those of purest heart and noblest speech are awarded the title of Knight of Thunder, the city's highest honor. Largely because of this code of honor, heroes frequently gain entry into the ranks of the nobility, and are generally welcomed. As surviving heroes age, they refine their skill in poetry, oratory, sculpture, and the other peaceful arts. Of these, the wisest become counselors to the queen.
Aside from its florid traditions and over-anxious nobility, Nidrethien is also known for its masterful illusionists, and has the largest population of gnomes in the Snowball Alliance. Finally, the city is home to the Masked Blades, an organization of approximately two score highly skilled grey elf warrior-mages who have rejected the utter isolation of Enoreth, and have chosen to carry the fight against the Firelord Cult. During the end of the Fourth Age, when thousands of pilgrims made the dangerous journey to the Great Crater, the Masked Blades defied the public orders of the Queen of Nidrethien and secretly helped protect these pilgrims. The group did not openly participate in the battle against the Firelord Cult, however, fearing to overtly endanger their city.
Alaxtun A theocracy ruled by renegade priests of Ometeotl, this city is warlike but fiercely independent. Dwarven and human priests worship the great deity quite publicly, though the two races worship this god under different names. Both races also venerate the Aztec and Dwarven pantheons, and abide by a complex (some would say confused) cosmic vision in which the two pantheons are in fact one and the same.
Known for its dwarven and human smiths, who still preserve many of the lost arts of their craft, Alaxtun jealously guards the secrets of its work. Though it manufactures traditional mining equipment, weaponry, and other tools, the city is most famous for a method of forging a mysterious steel alloy into very thin fibers, and then weaving them under intense heat into cloth. The precise secret of this technique remains unknown, and the process is conducted deep in the lava tubes of Alaxtun's mountain fortress, where it is said the blood of Ometeotl himself flows.
Depending on the thickness of this cloth, it may be used in sails, clothing, and (when layered) in armor. (All standard varieties of armor exist, but are half weight and suffer a +2 penalty to AC vs. bludgeoning weapons.) Longer strands are forged into cable that is one third the weight of an equivalent strength of chain.
Alaxtun's worship of Ometeotl has long been declared a heresy by the Firelord Cult, for the city's priests refused to recognize the Three-Faced Firelord as one entity. The sundering of the Firelord at the end of the Fourth Age has strengthened their case, and it has caused a strange pilgrimage of newly faithful from Firelord cities. Since the spectacular defeat of the Firelord Cult, the priesthood of Ometeotl in Alaxtun has grown considerably in influence. Once considered dangerously heretical, the priesthood has drawn hundreds of priests of Ometeotl who are fleeing oppression and internecine conflict in the Firelord Cult cities. Though suspicious, Alaxtun is tacitly accepting them into the city. This newfound influence has attracted the ire of Cult priests. Alaxtun's mountain fortress may soon be tested against Firelord troops. Although many citizens of Alaxtun fear such an attack, some welcome the prospect of war against the Cult cities, for they have long waited for the change to seek vengeance for the many crimes perpetrated on their people.
Finally, Alaxtun has before it the possibility of becoming a peaceful bridge between the Snowball Alliance and at least one major Fireball Cult city. The priesthood of Ometeotl dominant in the Firelord Cult city of Ixtu has made quiet overtures to its sister priesthood in Alaxtun. Whether these overtures will lead to significant developments remains uncertain.
Cacallicheq A city once ruled by aristocratic hereditary landowners, and where status and wealth are still inextricably intertwined, Cacallicheq nonetheless has become the most cosmopolitan city on Lifefire. Over the last century, it alone of the Snowball Alliance cities sent explorers into space who returned with knowledge of other races. The wealth gained through spelljamming, gave the merchant class power enough to insist on political rights equal to (or even exceeding) those of the landed elite. Fearful of a schism which might weaken the city in the face of its enemies, the landowners relented in exchange for a portion of the newfound wealth. Since then, the two classes have thoroughly intermarried, save for a few poor nobles who cling to the purity of their bloodlines.
Cacallicheq is known for its smugglers and sailors, weavers of ironbark cloth, sandskimmers and skiers. Much of its original trade began with ironbark products from the nearby forest (one of the last "great" forests of Lifefire). The trees provided fiber for cloth and exceptionally strong rope, and wood for buildings, ships, skimmers and skis. Unlike most other materials, ironbark holds up remarkably well against the abrasive silt of the desert regions, though it must be coated with special resins on a regular basis. (The skimmers and skis in fact more closely resemble shallow, thin canoes than flat planes of wood.)
Cacallicheq has branched out. It is now the primary port of entry for the dowhar traders who deal with the Snowball Alliance, and maintains a reasonably large shipping fleet of its own. Its position remains as precarious as any Alliance city, but the city confidently believes that its gold, and the corruption of many Firelord priests, will enable it to survive. The merchants seemed to have been proved correct, for in spite of the logistic aid they gave to the pilgrims crossing the Endless Desert at the end of the Fourth Age, they avoided retribution by the Firelord Cult cities. After the fragmentation of the Cult alliance, the danger of a concerted attack has faded to near insignificance.
Mitzlan Ruled by priests of Metzli and Quetzalcoatl, this city is hidden in the hills by fog banks, and is difficult to find. The population of Mitzlan attempts to live in harmony with nature, and includes the highest concentration of half- elves in the Snowball Alliance. However, dark rumors haunt Mitzlan, where it is said that those who walk the streets at night are often never seen again. Winged serpents are said to fly through the fog, but whether they are feathered or scaled is unknown. Finally, many believe the underground temple of the Hidden Cult of Metzli, the largest organized priesthood of Metzli on Lifefire, is located somewhere near Mitzlan. Huge cave complexes near the city are said to hide vast temples to this goddess of ghosts and night. In the months leading up to the Battle of the Great Crater, rumors of undead things roaming these caves proliferated. When the Four Ghosts of Metzli came together during the final battle, it was said that the mists of Mitzlan moaned with the chanting of ancient spirits. Since the beginning of the Fifth Age, however, a few half-elves of Mitzlan have emerged from the hills and begun guiding small trading parties through the mists. Whether this is a sign that Mitzlan will open itself more to the other Snowball Alliance cities is unclear, but for now the Snowball Alliance is glad for the added wealth that trade with Mitzlan brings. Even more, they are glad for another mystery: after the return of the Feathered Serpent, Mitzlan became the center of powerful weather- control magics that began to influence weather patterns for hundreds of miles around.
Young priests of the Feathered Serpent have taken to making pilgrimages to this hidden city, though they do not speak of why.
Thuchotzli Ruled by a warrior caste, this mostly dwarven city is located entirely underground. Unlike Alaxtun and other cities, whose populations mostly dwell within a thousand feet of the surface, Thuchotzli is deeply underground. Over the years, it has adopted a survivalist mentality. Though its people still welcome outsiders (save for Firelord Cult citizens), they remain deeply suspicious. The peoples of Thuchotzli harbor a grumbling distaste for citizens of Cacallicheq, believing them to be one step removed from traitors who make a generous profit while enriching the Firelord Cult and producing little of value themselves. Likewise, its priests resent the dwarves of Alaxtun for worshipping Ometeotl, by whatever name, but still count them among their allies. Ultimately, all visitors in Thuchotzli are measured by one criteria: 'with us, or against us'.
Known for its skilled mercenaries and engineers, Thuchotzli is the most warlike of the Snowball Alliance cities and has the second largest population of gnomes. Its people wrongly believe themselves invulnerable from Firelord attacks, though its leaders know otherwise. Even its famed traps and underground ambushes, which have turned back many an individual Firelord city army, could not halt the combined might of the Cult for long. Fortunately, the specter of a combined attack by the entire Cult has faded with the destruction of the planet Warfire and the splintering of the Firelord Cult itself.
Thuchotzli boasts several orders of warriors in addition to its clan allegiances, but it is in fact the least fragmented of all the Snowball Alliance cities. Mercenaries from Thuchotzli are highly sought after and well compensated throughout the Snowball Alliance, for they are well respected and spoken of. They retain a doomed sense of honor and loyalty even in the most desperate situations. Likewise, they are honored in Thuchotzli itself, for they bring in the majority of Thuchotzli's trade wealth and allow it to buy much needed supplies from other cities. As much as it strives to be independent, Thuchotzli requires the trade and moral support of its allies. Even if the city could hold off the Firelord Cult militarily for a decade, it would die out in half that time from sheer deprivation. Anticipating a reduced demand for mercenaries among the Snowball Alliance cities now that the Firelord Cult has splintered, the elders of Thuchotzli have begun considering selling mercenary services in Wildspace. The city is always slow to change, and this practice is unlikely to catch on quickly, but it may provide an alternate source of revenue and trade if matters on Lifefire become too peaceful.
Tchapullec This city is a rare magocracy on Lifefire, and is even more extraordinary for the trust which its people place in the mages which serve twelve year terms on its ruling council. As most of its mages specialize in elemental and physical magics (air, water, light, shadow, sound, movement, etc...), it is these schools rather than the standard eight which send their chosen representative to the ruling council, which is called the Amatuatlin. While Tchapullec boasts a skilled School of Flame, it is held in less esteem than other schools, and carefully monitored. Thus, the flame mages of Tchapullec could not stand against the Five Towers of Flame, but do compare favorably with the fire wizards found in an average Firelord Cult city.
Tchapullec is also well known for its university and its alchemists, housed in grand buildings of enchanted stone (that would hold up less than well during a dedicated attack) and in deep caverns that most of the citizens of the city never see (which house the more precious tomes and equipment, and would stand much better against a siege). Though the sages of this city dedicate themselves to peaceful pursuits, more and more have been dragged into research that has dual applications in peace and war. Fortunately, as it is one of the last great repositories of knowledge outside of Enoreth Isle, the Firelord Cult cities have been loathe to attach Tchapullec. However, the most fanatical priests of the Cult rank the city as their first or second target, for fear that the knowledge contained within its books might undermine their lies and propaganda by revealing the true history of the Cult.
During the end of the Fourth Age, it was the sages of Tchapullec who discovered the most ancient copies of the prophecies of the Feathered Dragon. It was also they who spread knowledge of these prophecies. At the beginning of the Fifth Age, so many aged scholars developed a sudden affinity for Quetzalcoatl that commoners began to suspect that the wizard schools (and particularly the school of Wind) had long served as hidden enclaves of faithful to the Wind Lord.
Xochihuetzal Another underground city, Xochihuetzal is ruled as a pure democracy, and is a city known for its heroes, philosophers, and poets. These individuals frequently embark on dangerous quests, but unlike the heroes of Nidrethien, they do not observe a decorous modesty about their actions. Rather, they proclaim their victories to the world, and often hire poets and dancers to perform in their own honor. The true leaders of this city are thus the famous heroes and demagogues who can sway the populace's emotions. Many of these heroes joined the pilgrims in their march across the Endless Desert to the Great Crater. Of these, many died in the final battle against the Firelord Cult army. The survivors returned triumphant, wielding greater prestige than ever. They easily swayed the populace to fund a tremendous monument to those who died in the battle, and to begin construction of a great temple to Quetzalcoatl which will ultimately stretch from the underground confines of the city to the surface above.
As a counterpoint to its egoistic atmosphere, Xochihuetzal also has a reputation as a city of mystics. In particular, it is renowned for individuals who wander into the desert and claim to return with visions. Among these, a handful have actually demonstrated non-magical mental abilities that may reflect psionic talent. Although normally reclusive, a group of these mystics who call themselves the Remembrancers of Xochihuetzal came to prominence during the end of the Fourth Age. Using their positions as accountants and scribes throughout the Firelord Cult and Snowball Alliance cities, the Remembrancers secretly helped observe the activities of the Cult and spread rumors about the prophecy of the Feathered Serpent's return. Aside from this isolated instance, however, the Remembrancers are a powerful force for neutrality.
As a democracy whose leadership depends on its common folk, Xochihuetzal requires all of its citizens to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. Thus, its scribes, accountants, paper makers, bookbinders, and other educated citizens are in high demand throughout the Snowball Alliance and in much of the less well educated Firelord Cities, where they work as a well paid but poorly treated underclass. Xochihuetzal endures this largely because it gives their citizens an opportunity to spy on the Firelord Cities, and its spies have often warned Xoxhihuetzal or its allies of impending danger.
The last great community of sea elves on Lifefire. The elves dwell within and beneath these maze-like reefs of coral which stretch along much of the Archipelago of Atruatzin and half way around the Isle of Enoreth. The sea elves of these two reefs are known to be ruled by a prince who is counseled by the ancient elf, Machu- Nidra, who is over seven centuries old.
The only other moderately large concentration of sea elves on Lifefire is found in the underwater limestone city of Nelune, in the Bay of Thuaxtli. Though the sea elves have suffered less at the hands of the Firelord Cult than most, the uncomfortable warmth of the waters of the Sea of Ice has severely depressed birth rates. Thus, the sea elves are considered a dying breed. Even so, they retain their optimistic outlook on life, and have never once seriously thought of leaving their ancestral home.
The sea elf cities are very strange places, often carved or grown out of multicolored limestone or living coral of green and purple hues. The sea elves harvest many varieties of seaweed, as well as some fish, and thus have a food reserve which is not vulnerable to Firelord Cult attacks. Much of this food is traded to the surface cities for crafts the elves cannot themselves produce. In spite of the ever-impending threat of war, the sea elf culture does not revolve around a warrior mentality. Rather, the elves are very family oriented, though many adults are nonetheless skilled warriors. A fair number also have some magical talent in water and air magics, but the elves do not advertise their skills to outsiders. As a final note, the sea elves of Lifefire preserve a series of very ancient and strange tales about the history of the sphere that differ in many respects from all other versions of this history. These tales are primarily kept in a set of three volumes called the Elleriad. The oldest copies of the Elleriad are kept hidden and are said to contain much wisdom and hidden knowledge.
A large island at the center of the Sea of Ice, measuring nearly two hundred miles across, this magical place is warded by the power of Labelas Enoreth. It seems to exist outside of time, and has very little contact with the external world. It deliberately removes itself from the events elsewhere on Lifefire, and is assisted in this by a powerful ward over the island which fends off even the attacks of the Firelord Cult's giant orbital focoids. The ward appears to preserve the island, and has done so for thousands of years, and thus the Isle is perhaps the only truly lush, verdant place remaining in the entirety of Lifefire.
The grey elves are the undisputed masters of the island. Like most of their kin, they are an iconoclastic group, but the grey elves of the Isle take their isolationist tendencies to an extreme that would even shock most elven communities. They positively fear and/or abhor the influence of outsiders.
The Enoreth elves wear robes of white (or other pale light colors), gloves and cloth masks. Each mask is decorated with a design that identifies its wearer. This is the only identification the grey elves allow. Names and, most especially physical contact, are viewed as intimate affairs which are never shared with outsiders and rarely shared with other Enoreth elves. In fact, outsiders are rarely allowed on the island, and when they are, they must be clothed in grey robes, gloves and masks, which are later burned. Areas outsiders are permitted to visit are few, and are often purified after the outsiders have departed.
The elves of Enoreth refer to themselves as Lords, with the Council of Ages (the ruling body) calling themselves the High Lords of the Isle of Enoreth. Among the High Lords, the Speakers of Enoreth (and particularly the First Speaker) are among the few who deal with outsiders.
The Lords of Enoreth Isle are known to wield powerful priestly and wizardly magics, but share this magic rarely and cautiously. While they have aided the Snowball Alliance in recent centuries, their aid is received with a strange mix of gratitude and resentment. The people of the Snowball Alliance do not react well to the disgust which the elves demonstrate at physical contact with them, nor does the Alliance appreciate the haughty and superior attitude the elves make no attempt to disguise.
The elves of Enoreth provide a spaceport for the Elven Imperial Fleet at a location on the Isle called the Cave of Butterflies. However, even the elves of the Fleet are considered outsiders, and the elves of Enoreth do not appreciate frequent visits.
The coming of the Fifth Age, as the coming of Ages before, has not touched nor concerned the eternally unchanging Isle.
Far from the Sea of Ice, hidden in the Endless Desert, is the huge Great Crater. Legends say it was made when Quetzalcoatl fell to earth during his battle with Tezcatlipoca. At the center of this lifeless dust bowl is a huge tunnel blasted into the crust of Lifefire and leading straight down into darkness. Once this tunnel was hidden; capped and sealed by a stepped pyramid formed by the magic of the Firelord. But no longer. For this tunnel was the entrance and exit used by the Last Star in its emergence from its Underworld realm to free Metzli from Starfire at the end of the Fourth Age. The tunnel travels miles down, directly into the center of Lifefire, and the new stepped pyramid which caps and seals it answers to the Last Star's power.
At the center of the planet is a spherical pocket called the Underworld, which legends say is the birthplace of mankind on Lifefire. This place cannot be reached or seen into by any power of man or god, though magic can easily be used to depart the Underworld. Hidden in the Underworld is a dark reflection of the surface. Most of the pocket is barren rock. The tunnel emerges into such an area. Hovering at the very place where the tunnel emerges (and sealing the tunnel so that none may pass) is the Last Star, who is to the Underworld what Tlaloc was to the surface of Lifefire during the Third and Fourth Ages, and what Quetzalcoatl is the Lifefire in the Fifth Age.
Opposite the Star, and basking in its light, is a sea with exactly the appearance of the Sea of Ice above it. On the shores of this underground sea are the cities of orcs, corresponding to the Firelord Cult, above, and rockseer elves, corresponding to the Snowball Alliance. These two groups are smaller in number than their surface reflections. However, like their surface cousins, they frequently war with each other over the limited resources of the Underworld. At the center of the Undersea, lies an island fortress inhabited by deep dwarves who generally ignore the doings of both other races and keep themselves fiercely isolated.
The orcs and elves of the Underworld both believe themselves to have been abandoned by their old gods. The orcs often curse those gods (whose names and rituals they have forgotten) for their treachery. The elves, on the other hand, feel that their old gods turned away from them because they were unworthy, and mourn their outcast state. Both groups worship the Last Star and consider themselves its true children. In fact, they are both correct, for while the Last Star guided the orcs to safety in the Underworld, and found the elves just arriving there on their own, it considers both groups its children. The Last Star also considers the dwarves its children and is in fact life-linked to them as it is to the orcs and elves. The religious practices of the dwarves are, however, a closely guarded secret.
The Last Star tolerates its children's wars, but prevents the genocidal conflagrations of the surface world from occurring. The Star has learned neutrality and tolerance from years of exile, and passes said lesson through the life-link of the Underworld's throne into its subjects.
The Underworld was briefly accessible to the outside world at the end of the Fourth Age through a strange gate device that later was used by an Elder Evil Power to attack the Underworld and Lifefire. Before the gate's destruction it was used by the scro and dowhar races to visit the Underworld. The scro brought weapons and supplies, as well as military advisors, to the orcs. In return the orcs built warships for the scro. The dowhar, who had installed the gate (unknown to them, a creation of the neogi), sold equipment to the elves that the elves needed to balance the advantage the scro were providing the orcs. The scro and dowhar did not interfere with each other. However, the scro and dowhar fled the Underworld through the Last Star's passage during the cataclysm which ended the Fourth Age and destroyed their gate, and the Last Star has not since allowed them to return.
The passage to the Underworld was opened briefly during the coming of the Fifth Age, when the Last Star joined with Quetzalcoatl's other allies. In return, Quetzalcoatl assisted the Last Star in ascending to demi-power status and assuming the mantle of dead Camaxtli, as Tlanatin, the Knower of Things, god of fate and secrets.
Since then the passage has once again been sealed. The pyramid
at its top, however, has become a very holy shrine to both the
Feathered Serpent, and to Tlanatin, to where the most faithful of both
religions make pilgrimages at least once in their lifetimes.