Pyromancer: The Shining Domain

The Known World

The Shining Domain isn't the whole world - even the Church of the Holy Flame will concede that much. What it is, however, is the only part of the world that is inhabited by human society, and has any degree of civilisation as we might recognise it.

The Domain itself covers around 4 million square miles - an area of land slightly larger than the modern day USA - and has a human population of some 450 million, with the majority centred for the most part in sixteen major cities, each with ten to twenty million souls.

The North and West borders of the domain are patrolled and fortified, with the blistering cold of the wasteland beyond the Perimeter deemed to be the Frozen Wastes, where human, plant and animal life (or at least natural life) cannot survive.

To the South is The Black - an ocean of unknowably vast dimensions that may as well be infinite, for all the failed attempts of Domain navigators to cross it.

To the East is the mountain range known as the Devil's Teeth, which are sparsely inhabited by men and women who have fled society, and which provides a buffer against the neighbouring land of Skar: a demon-ruled dominion, populated by beastmen and orcs, which has no tolerance for their human neighbours and never communicates with the Domain save through open warfare and periodic raiding parties.

Within these four borders, the Domain itself is a varied land, stretching from jungles and swamplands to open plains, prairies, deserts and cultivated land.

Unlike our own world, the Sun is not the source of life in this world. Indeed, were it left to the sun, the Domain would be a cold and empty place indeed. The sky is constantly blanketed by thick clouds of ash and smoke which blot out the sun's light almost entirely, so it can be seen only as a dull red orb that stains and colours the sky rather than illuminates it.

Instead, the source of life is Pyros, the magical fire which is channelled out of the Flamespace and into physical reality by the Guilds and the Church via their arcane technologies and secret magics. Atop stone pyramids and glass towers across the Domain, everburning fireballs are suspended between vast claws of obsidian, black steel and crystal. While these Pyros-Orbs continually add to the smoke that blots out the sun, they also replace the sun's function, casting an approximation of sunlight that is sufficient to provide light and heat, and to allow sluggish photosynthesis. The best light comes from the pure white Orbs maintained by the Church atop their Cathedrals of the Holy Flame, and near beneath this light one might see as well as one might at noon on a more conventional world. However, the Cathedrals are few and far between, and most Orbs are maintained by the industries of the Guilds, burning cheaper and dirtier pyros, and casting out sickly glows of orange, green or yellow. The quality of light determines the price of real estate, and the poorest have gotten used to living in virtual darkness.

Beyond the Domain, the light of Pyros is absent. It is well established that the North and West are entirely frozen and in perpetual darkness a mere hundred miles out from the Domain. The Black ocean somehow remains unfrozen for several hundred miles out, but this is from the pollutants of industry rather than the warmth of the water. The Skar is a different matter altogether, with the sources of warmth and light being the Demonic rulers themselves, each blazing with inner fire that reveals their supernatural nature and forces their orc and beastman servants to stay close to them.

The Sixteen Cities

The sixteen cities of the Domain are the strongholds of human civilisation, literally points of light in the darkness. They are scattered across the Domain, but the majority of them (ten out of sixteen) are on the Southern Coast, where industry can dispose of its waste into the Black, and where the cities' Guild-run processing plants can reclaim water for survival. Each city has a single Cathedral acting simultaneously as the seat of Holy Government and source of light for the city, and by law limiting the height of the surrounding city to two thirds of its own height. Habitation towers cluster around the Cathedral, stretching towards it as growing plants might stretch towards sunshine, and the highest levels of any given tower will always house only the wealthiest and highest in status. For the majority, of course, these same towers cast their shadow over the lower levels, forcing most to live in relative darkness, paying exorbitant bills for the privelege of "dirty light" from smaller Guild Pyros orbs.

The Guilds themselves are national organisations, each with a presence across the majority of cities, and also maintaining smaller working settlements outside of the cities. There are literally hundreds of Guilds, but a mere dozen of them have a controlling interest over 99% of industry, while the rest scrape by on their leavings. Historically, the Guilds were once associated with certain industries (from which they still retain their names) but for as long as any can remember every major Guild has diversified its portfolio to cover every aspect of industry and commerce - the Weavers Guild, for example, has no more interest in cloth-making than any other Guild, and is as involved in Pyros-channelling, heavy manufacture, retail and commerce as any other Guild.