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houseofstrangeMy thoughts on the world outside the Nightlands are mostly vague, but that doesn't mean I haven't briefly thought about it, more than once.
Now first off I feel it should be noted that Nightfall caused a massive collapse of a lot of societies that existed beforehand in the Daylands, because of the widespread destruction caused by the uplift of the Khazad Mountains when they became the Sunset Mountains.
The Nightlands themselves were able to pick themselves up because they still had magic to do so with, but because the whole point of Nightfall was to protect the Arcane and cut it off from those who wanted to destroy it, no one outside the Nightlands could reach it anymore.
The Sun Empire (a name given by the Quendár, based on the Eastern Empire using a sunburst as their imperial symbol - also the symbol of the sun religion that held sway in the empire and fueled it's hatred of magic) was the greatest effected by the Khazad Uplift, with far-reaching earthquakes that managed to reach right to Sunrise Coast and the heart of the empire, causing destruction the empire would not recover from.
The imperial lands would collapse into numerous small nations, most busted back to near-stone-age state. Wars would distract them for centuries and very few gave much attention to the Sunset Mountains, with those living closer to them viewing them with fear for a very long time.
There are however other lands, beyond the Sunrise Coast, practically the other side of the world to the Nightlands. Before Nightfall, those lands had settlements established by the empire, and had constant contact with it's imperial parent.
The Khazad Uplift did not have a lot of effect on them - they did have some high seas on their west coasts, but nothing really huge. What did effect them started quite some time before Nightfall. The Sun Empire's grudge against magical creatures was already causing them to retreat further eastward, but when the Seelie found out the empire's plans to destroy the Arcane, they started reaching out to the magical races of the Far Lands, helping them retreat into Fae realms and then close them off to the mundane world, to protect themselves when the Westerlands made their move to protect magic.
While the Sun colonies may not have immediately missed the magical residents of the Far Lands, the peoples outside colonial rule did miss them and turned on the colonies in vengeance, thus effectively destroying the empire's influence there as well.
In the following millennia the Daylands had societies rise and fall, wars waged, and periods of less and more attention set on the Nightlands. One long-lasting effect the Nightlands has had on the outside world is the discovery that certain magically charged crystals could be carried to the Daylands and retain the arcane energies imbued in them. These crystals could be used as power sources for various purposes and a form of technology could be based on them.
The Daylands culture who found this and began to develop it was one from the eastern side of the Far Lands who would approach the Nightlands from the western seas, first landing in the Mist Islands. The isles on the Day-side of the Mist were initially populated by Sun Elves - Kessír who had lived too long in the Daylands and had lost their magic permanently. Some Farlanders would end up settling on the islands establishing a human population, and eventually adding to the Nightlands human population as well.
Development of a crystal-based magitech did also happen in the Sunrise Lands, but was a lot further behind the Far Lands, partly hampered by the difficulty of scaling the Sunset Mountains and partly because of how far the Sunrise Lands regressed in the aftermath of Nightfall and the destruction of the Khazad Uplift.
There are islands in the western seas between the Mist Isles and the Far Lands, and a larger land in the south that is not well known. They are known have tribal fishing folk on quite a few of the scattered islands but the Nightlands themselves do not have a lot of direct contact with them, even those in the Mist Islands.
There still remains a trade in magic-charged crystals, with the best quality coming from either Eleniquendár or Khazad arcane crafters. Those two sources could both produce manufactured crystals that could hold arcane energy for long periods of time with little to no bleed-off, and also charge them with more power than other crafters could manage.
The main issue with this is that the majority of Dwarves reside in underground cities in the Sunset Mountains and the majority of the Eleniquendár in mountain vales often closely linked with dwarven cities. All of the crystal trade with Farlander traders go through Hópa Elenna and the Eärelenatollë, meaning the Eleniquendár and their Eäroquenya allies hold domination over this particular trade.
***
I want to imagine the Daylands has various levels of development. The Sunrise lands vary from wild tribal lands closer to the mountains to the coastal lands where the empire once existed being akin to medieval. The Far Lands I kinda see as Renaissance right through to a kind-of magitech-based early industrial stage. The development there however is held back by it's magitech, which is dependent on the crystal trade which in turn is kept at the speed that the crystal crafters can produce crystals at.
This might actually be a factor that could be considered as a point of conflict - the Far Lands are quite advanced and powerful, and their demand for magic is outpacing the supply, which may present reason for them to attempt an invasion. The Nightlands however would fight back, and given that the Nightlands has far more command of free magic, not dependent on what is basically magical batteries, they have the upper hand.
The Northern Alliance - a collective of the various High Elven powers, the Southern Kingdom, the Dwarves, and even the Night Elves of the Hyarmenya Elenimbë (southern Star Vales) - has existed since the great wars fought against the Black Empire, and can still be called together if a threat large enough presents itself. With it being strong enough to hold back the Black Empire and the Unseelie, it is likely to be able to hold off a magically crippled offensive force the Farlanders could bring on them.
Probably the weakest factor in such a defence is that the first place of attack the Farlanders would hit is the also magically weak sun-sea Mist Isles. Arrangements may already exist with the sunny Mist Isles that their people could retreat eastwards to seek refuge with the folk on the night-side of the Mist.
But for the moment most Daylanders who come to them Nightlands are either traders or adventure seekers who likely run the risk of falling afoul of any number of Nightlands hazards, not in the least Seelie mischief or the effects of the Greater Moon.
Now first off I feel it should be noted that Nightfall caused a massive collapse of a lot of societies that existed beforehand in the Daylands, because of the widespread destruction caused by the uplift of the Khazad Mountains when they became the Sunset Mountains.
The Nightlands themselves were able to pick themselves up because they still had magic to do so with, but because the whole point of Nightfall was to protect the Arcane and cut it off from those who wanted to destroy it, no one outside the Nightlands could reach it anymore.
The Sun Empire (a name given by the Quendár, based on the Eastern Empire using a sunburst as their imperial symbol - also the symbol of the sun religion that held sway in the empire and fueled it's hatred of magic) was the greatest effected by the Khazad Uplift, with far-reaching earthquakes that managed to reach right to Sunrise Coast and the heart of the empire, causing destruction the empire would not recover from.
The imperial lands would collapse into numerous small nations, most busted back to near-stone-age state. Wars would distract them for centuries and very few gave much attention to the Sunset Mountains, with those living closer to them viewing them with fear for a very long time.
There are however other lands, beyond the Sunrise Coast, practically the other side of the world to the Nightlands. Before Nightfall, those lands had settlements established by the empire, and had constant contact with it's imperial parent.
The Khazad Uplift did not have a lot of effect on them - they did have some high seas on their west coasts, but nothing really huge. What did effect them started quite some time before Nightfall. The Sun Empire's grudge against magical creatures was already causing them to retreat further eastward, but when the Seelie found out the empire's plans to destroy the Arcane, they started reaching out to the magical races of the Far Lands, helping them retreat into Fae realms and then close them off to the mundane world, to protect themselves when the Westerlands made their move to protect magic.
While the Sun colonies may not have immediately missed the magical residents of the Far Lands, the peoples outside colonial rule did miss them and turned on the colonies in vengeance, thus effectively destroying the empire's influence there as well.
In the following millennia the Daylands had societies rise and fall, wars waged, and periods of less and more attention set on the Nightlands. One long-lasting effect the Nightlands has had on the outside world is the discovery that certain magically charged crystals could be carried to the Daylands and retain the arcane energies imbued in them. These crystals could be used as power sources for various purposes and a form of technology could be based on them.
The Daylands culture who found this and began to develop it was one from the eastern side of the Far Lands who would approach the Nightlands from the western seas, first landing in the Mist Islands. The isles on the Day-side of the Mist were initially populated by Sun Elves - Kessír who had lived too long in the Daylands and had lost their magic permanently. Some Farlanders would end up settling on the islands establishing a human population, and eventually adding to the Nightlands human population as well.
Development of a crystal-based magitech did also happen in the Sunrise Lands, but was a lot further behind the Far Lands, partly hampered by the difficulty of scaling the Sunset Mountains and partly because of how far the Sunrise Lands regressed in the aftermath of Nightfall and the destruction of the Khazad Uplift.
There are islands in the western seas between the Mist Isles and the Far Lands, and a larger land in the south that is not well known. They are known have tribal fishing folk on quite a few of the scattered islands but the Nightlands themselves do not have a lot of direct contact with them, even those in the Mist Islands.
There still remains a trade in magic-charged crystals, with the best quality coming from either Eleniquendár or Khazad arcane crafters. Those two sources could both produce manufactured crystals that could hold arcane energy for long periods of time with little to no bleed-off, and also charge them with more power than other crafters could manage.
The main issue with this is that the majority of Dwarves reside in underground cities in the Sunset Mountains and the majority of the Eleniquendár in mountain vales often closely linked with dwarven cities. All of the crystal trade with Farlander traders go through Hópa Elenna and the Eärelenatollë, meaning the Eleniquendár and their Eäroquenya allies hold domination over this particular trade.
***
I want to imagine the Daylands has various levels of development. The Sunrise lands vary from wild tribal lands closer to the mountains to the coastal lands where the empire once existed being akin to medieval. The Far Lands I kinda see as Renaissance right through to a kind-of magitech-based early industrial stage. The development there however is held back by it's magitech, which is dependent on the crystal trade which in turn is kept at the speed that the crystal crafters can produce crystals at.
This might actually be a factor that could be considered as a point of conflict - the Far Lands are quite advanced and powerful, and their demand for magic is outpacing the supply, which may present reason for them to attempt an invasion. The Nightlands however would fight back, and given that the Nightlands has far more command of free magic, not dependent on what is basically magical batteries, they have the upper hand.
The Northern Alliance - a collective of the various High Elven powers, the Southern Kingdom, the Dwarves, and even the Night Elves of the Hyarmenya Elenimbë (southern Star Vales) - has existed since the great wars fought against the Black Empire, and can still be called together if a threat large enough presents itself. With it being strong enough to hold back the Black Empire and the Unseelie, it is likely to be able to hold off a magically crippled offensive force the Farlanders could bring on them.
Probably the weakest factor in such a defence is that the first place of attack the Farlanders would hit is the also magically weak sun-sea Mist Isles. Arrangements may already exist with the sunny Mist Isles that their people could retreat eastwards to seek refuge with the folk on the night-side of the Mist.
But for the moment most Daylanders who come to them Nightlands are either traders or adventure seekers who likely run the risk of falling afoul of any number of Nightlands hazards, not in the least Seelie mischief or the effects of the Greater Moon.
