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Vangorn Guide

Note: This guide may contain minor spoilers

Contents

​Art

 

Glossary

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Worldbuilding

Creature Art

Character Art

Maps

Other Art

Characters

​​Note: Italicized names have an illustration in the character art section above

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  • Ankal - a drykborn with gray-brown scales who’s Falkor’s second in command 

  • Cadmus Greyer - a dark red drykborn who’s married to Harker’s sister and owns a drykon ranch

  • Bloodflight/Glacier - a female white and red tundra drykon who likes Liza

  • Dekote - a male longstrider who’s the Head Enforcer in Darver 

  • Drykon Raiders - an adventuring team containing Harker, Raeve, Mar’kost, and Thyr

  • Elarie Shiel - one of the original nine Ortai who founded Silvervale

  • Eura - Harker’s female midnight blue and white void drykon

  • Falkor - a heavy-set violet drykborn who works as a thief and slaver in Darver. 

  • Gilded Blades - Zephyr’s adventuring team

  • Graciela “Grace” Taroth (G) - Liza’s cousin who’s a Grassland Ortai descendant

  • Harker Swiftfoot - a longstrider who’s a Grassland arkan on the Drykon Raiders team

  • James Keta - a Desert Ortai descendant in Grace’s hiking club who organized the club’s teleportation to Vangorn

  • Kaliska - Harker’s sister and Cadmus’s wife

  • Liza Shiel-Smith (L) - Grace’s cousin who’s part Void Ortai

  • Mar’kost Vek Tivom (M) - a shifter who’s Liza’s knight and the Drykon Raiders’ healer

  • Raeve Naren - a nix scout on the Drykon Raiders team

  • Rowan Gelt - Grace’s friend who’s a Forest Ortai descendant

  • Taroth - a historical Grassland Ortai who was one of the Nine that founded Silvervale

  • Thyr Kelk (T) - a palg who leads the Drykon Raiders

Flora and Fauna

​Note: Italicized creatures have an illustration in the Creature Art section above

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  • Clusterhorn - a crystal-based monster with magic making its crystal body pieces hover in place

  • Desert Drykon - a scaly snake-like drykon with bat wings and no legs that can spit fire

  • Drykon - a group of Arkane animals that resemble dragons

  • Eka Frog - a frog that stores up a lot of arka inside itself to make itself inedible

  • Forest Drykon - four-legged, sleek, cat-like, animal with skin between their forelegs/hindlegs that allows them to glide

  • Grassland Drykon - a quadrapedal drykon with useless wings and a feather mane that can spit the equivalent of magical growth hormone

  • Katsith - a hairless/wrinkly bear the size of a small elephant

  • Leot - a grassland predator

  • Longstrider - an intelligent being with a horned humanoid upper body and the lower body of a quadrapedal hooved animal (most commonly a pronghorn)

  • Mettil - a large Grassland herbivore

  • Mimic - a monster capable of creating illusions and mimicking people/objects

  • Monster - an animal or person who has been mutated by high arka levels

  • Nix - a four-armed, dragonfly-winged, insect-like humanoid

  • Ortai - a deity-like humanoid being that feeds on arka

  • Palg - an intelligent humanoid pangolin

  • Reaver - a monster that looks like an enormous gray praying mantis

  • Scalewing - a scaly, winged, intelligent humanoid with a tail

  • Shifter - a blue-skinned, shape-shifting humanoid

  • Stonehopper - a low-tier newty amphibian monster with acid skin

  • Tundra Drykon - a feathered drykon with large wings and only two legs that can spit frost

  • Void Drykon - a scaly drykon with large hind legs, small forelegs, and wings that can spit sedating venom​

Geography

  • Abar - a country in the Grassland Empire

  • Abyssal Zone (Ocean Depths) - a zone of the ocean depths with no light and high pressure

  • Alpine Tundra - high altitude mountain range

  • Antarctic Tundra - southern cold region without permafrost

  • Aphotic Zone (Ocean Depths) - a zone of the ocean depths with very little sunlight

  • Aquatic Cave - flooded cave 

  • Arctic Tundra - northern permafrost

  • Benthic Realm (Ocean Depths) - the ocean floor

  • Bog (Wetland) - acidic wetland

  • Chaparral Forest - fire-prone mediterranean forest

  • Cold Desert - a desert with extremely cold temperatures

  • Coral Reef (Ocean Shallows) - a warm, shallow region of the ocean populated by reefs

  • Darver - a town in Abar

  • Dry Cave - non-flooded cave

  • Hot Desert - a desert with extremely hot temperatures

  • Kelp Forest (Ocean Shallows) - a warmish, shallowish region of the ocean forested by kelp

  • Lake/Pond (Freshwater) - a still body of freshwater

  • Mangrove Forest (Wetland) - brackish wetland with mangrove trees

  • Marsh/Swamp (Wetland) - slowly flowing water

  • Photic Zone (Ocean Shallows) - a deepish region of the ocean with some sunlight

  • Rainforest - biodiverse equatorial forest with high rainfall

  • River/Stream (Freshwater) - a moving body of freshwater

  • Ruin’s Point - the hotel Liza and the Drykon Raiders stay in

  • Savanna Grassland - tropical grassland with dry and rainy seasons

  • Silvervale - a town on Earth that was founded by Ortai and named after the original Ortai city on Vangorn

  • Taiga Forest - cold coniferous forest 

  • Temperate Forest - deciduous forest with a moderate climate

  • Temperate Grassland - a moderately wet grassland with hot summers and cold winters

  • Vangorn - a planet colonized by several different alien species

Spells

  • Etav - pulse

  • Gira - come

  • Grasel - down

  • Ipe - of

  • Kotal - platform

  • Kotal ipe spigren - platform of grass

  • Mesar pop talak ipe raba’ipan - reveal the fabric of reality

  • Rastala netlos - ceasefire

  • Shu - go

  • Shu mo subol - go to pair

  • Sklod - up

  • Sklon - raise

  • Sklon spigren - raise grass

  • Spigren - grass

  • Bir Ortai rip osal barn kesamet. Osalka bir mo Vangorn. - We Ortai now claim our weapons. Return us to Vangorn.

Words, Phrases, and Objects

  • Aiba - the common language of Ibar

  • Antisuits - anti arka suits (like hazmat suits but for arka)

  • Arka - a natural force similar to radiation that allows people to perform magic

  • Arka meter - a small hand-held device capable of sensing when someone is using magic or emitting pure arka 

  • Arka suppression collar - a solid metal collar that prevents someone from using any magic

  • Arkan - an arka/magic user

  • Arkane - of arka (when capitalized, it specifically refers to a Class of organisms that require arka to live but aren’t monsters)

  • Beyond - what Vangorn people call outer space/the heavens

  • Blink - a measure of time (0.5 seconds)

  • Bontair - the language of magic

  • CC - “crystal chip,” the currency of the Grassland Empire

  • Centiblink - a measure of time (50 seconds)

  • Charm - an object used to channel arka into a spell

  • Childminder - babysitter

  • Crystage - a crystal that stores arka

  • Enforcers - the police in Ibar

  • Felk - an Aiba word for crap (stronger than prip)

  • Guardian - someone who has authority over a ward in Ibar

  • Interface - a device used to access someone’s Stats, Skills, Party, and Equipment

  • Kiloblink - a measure of time (8.33 minutes)

  • Kilostone - a measure of weight (4,000 lbs)

  • Kilotail - a measure of distance (3500 feet)

  • Lifter - an elevator lifted by domesticated grass beasts

  • Message orb - a hollow orb that holds a small written messenger and flies between two tracking chips

  • Microtail - a measure of distance (1.07 mm)

  • Myriblink - a measure of time (1.39 hours)

  • Pasm - a measure of arka speed/charge

  • Polyglot - someone who can speak a lot of languages

  • Pontair - the common language of Pontair

  • Prip/Pripping - crap/freaking (less strong than felk)

  • Sightring - a speakring that also transmits images 

  • Source - a crystal that produces arka

  • Speakring - a wrist-sized ring that transmits sound to its paired ring 

  • Stone - a measure of weight (4 lbs)

  • Tail - a measure of distance (3.5 feet)

  • Tanix - the nix language of Ibar

  • Ward - a woman under someone’s authority in Ibar

  • Valt - a measure of arka quantity

Currency

The Grassland Empire uses crystal chips (CCs) as currency. Each CC is a small circular piece of crystage with a square cut out of the middle that allows it to be hung on a purse cord. Coins come in several colors that indicate the crystal’s worth.​

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These coins are produced by the treasury with a spell marker that causes the chip to glow when exposed to a verifier device. Knowledge of how the spell marker is made is a strictly kept secret. Attempting to scry the spell marker causes it to fail, rendering the coin useless.

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Coin Values

currency 2.png

Measurement

Most empires use the same standard system of measurement. ​

Distance and Force Measurements.png
weight measurements.png

Assorted Measurements

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Stats

Every organism is born (or grown) with a set of stats that can only be viewed using an interface artifact. Different classes of organisms have different sets of stats, but the basic set includes: adeptness, arka, diligence, movement, and strength. 

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Stats upgrade automatically with level upgrades. They upgrade in the categories that the person most uses in their day-to-day life. 

Each sub-stat has a maximum value of 10, which represents 100% of someone’s potential. 

 

Stats

  • Adeptness - dexterity, stealth

  • Arka - resistance, capacity

  • Diligence - charisma, intelligence, knowledge

  • Movement - agility, speed, stamina

  • Strength - attack, defense, fortitude

 

Sub-Stats

  • Agility - Ability to dodge, climb, and parkour 

  • Arka Resistance - Ability to resist pure arka and the magic done with said arka

  • Arka Capacity - Ability to use arka to do magic

  • Attack - Ability to inflict damage 

  • Charisma - Ability to be convincing/personable

  • Defense - Ability to prevent damage

  • Dexterity - Ability to use nuanced tools accurately and efficiently

  • Fortitude - Ability to survive extreme temps and poisons/potions

  • Intelligence - Ability to understand and execute complex skills

  • Speed - Rate of travel

  • Stamina - Energy used to complete physical tasks

  • Stealth - Ability to avoid detection

  • Strength - Ability to hold, carry, lift, and pull heavy objects

Time

Most empires use the same standard time units, clock, and calendar.

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Units of Time

time measurements.png

Clocks

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Clocks are typically analogue and display 20 myriblinks. They're often themed with the sun on the top half and the moons on the bottom half. Myriblink 1 is daybreak on the equinox (when the day and night are both ten myriblinks), and myriblink 11 is nightfall on the equinox. Myriblink 6 is noon on the equinox.

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Calendar

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