Animal Kingdom

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Overview

The Animal Kingdom is a phrase used to sum up the area, both by its residents and by outsiders, mostly for lack of a better name, as no one body rules it. It is divided into areas owned by smaller tribes, cities, kingdoms, or in some cases, empires. The reason that small cities can be independent is due to the oddity that pervades the land: all magic here is amplified, and abundantly plentiful. Even an otherwise weak mage can tap into vast quantities of power here, and if a small city is faced by a more numerous enemy, if the small city has even a few skilled mages, no army can conquer them. Of course, even with all this magic abound, the number of residents who have the aptitude to even use magic is still roughly the same as it is anywhere else in the world: Rather low.

Bestial Form

Those born in the Animal Kingdom are born as humanoid animals. Even if they go to the magical middle ground, they will retain their bestial form. If they go to Te'Nahsee, however, they will change to a human form, due to Te'Nahsee's inherent magical dampening. Residents of human parts of the world, however, will change when entering the Animal Kingdom to a humanoid animal form. Subsequent trips (if there are any) will result in the same change to the same animal. It wears off when sufficient distance is put between the human and the Animal Kingdom.

It's all still enough to cause havoc when pants get concerned, though. Lots of animals have tails. Not a lot of humans do.

And before it's asked, some non-humanoid animals do exist here, same as anywhere else, so the fellows with sharp teeth don't have to do disturbing things to the fellows that have flat teeth. This can also lead to awkward moments, since humanoid rabbits can enjoy a bit of roasted hare without going out of their way too far.

Nature of Magic

As stated, magic flows more readily and in greater quantities in and around the Animal Kingdom. In addition to making a mage's life easier, it also has the odd habit of altering the rules of how magic works. Not quite a complete change, as the basics are still followed, but all magical reactions are, by default, going to be MUCH more potent than they would be anywhere else. This results in any technical doodads that use magical energy not working properly unless they're specially constructed to handle this increased potency, basically.

Also, it does not actually change a spell's strength, only how much it can be proliferated. No matter how much magic there is, Spark is just not going to not-suck. Raging Hell Blaze, however, will be a lot easier to cast.

Some Lesser Kingdoms

Sol Kingdom - Krine is from there! One of the last few mono-race citadels. Only rabbits reside there. They're renowned for their leaping, heavily armored warriors known as dragoons, and their lightning-quick foot soldiers that they call the cavalry. They don't actually have horses, so the cavalry are trained to be fast and run far.

The Twin Cities - Two cities, of mice and men wolves sprouted up on opposite sides of a good-sized lake. Due to sheer blind luck, they had a good ten or twenty years to settle before they noticed each other. When the wolves sent a scouting party to see if they could take over, the mice replied by unveiling their invention: rifles.

The weapon kept the wolves hesitant about attacking, since seemingly any mouse was like a little mage with one. Eventually, they signed a non-aggression pact. Non-aggression lead to a trade agreement. A trade agreement lead to an alliance. The alliance lead to the exchange of cultures. The exchange of cultures lead to the impressive expansion of each city.

The two cities have since come to completely encircle the lake, and thanks to the acceptance of the two cultures for each other, it's now impossible to tell where either city once started. Since they insist on being two separate cities, however, they're referred to as the Twin Cities by everyone. Including the inhabitants.

The Hyenids - Not so much a city, but a band of rabid, plundering vagabonds comprising an impressively-sized army. They strike at random, sometimes wiping out entire small cities, and loot the remains and enslave the people for a decade or two at a time. They're not particularly good at managing their ill-gotten resources, though, and eventually find the need to strike out again, having run out of food, slaves, or both.

The Old Empire - Also not so much a city, but definitely not a band of rabid, plundering vagabonds, either. The Old Empire is an impressively large ruin, miles wide in every direction. It's full of old buildings that are falling apart, but is otherwise largely unimpressive: There isn't much in the ways of gold or magical objects to plunder, due in part to the fact that there wasn't huge amounts of it to begin with, and due the rest of the way to the fact that it's been home to scavengers and outcasts for as long as anyone can remember.

What, exactly, destroyed the empire is not known. The center of the ruins, however, has a massive crater, lovingly named "The Emperor's Folly," that certainly implies what destroyed it, though.

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