u/Luke5353

Here you can find a height chart of all the major and minor human races of the empire

Persequori (basically real world humans) make up the bulk of the human races that serve in the Legions, but the Empire has never been shy of using auxiliries and later of integrating other human kinds into their armies proper, the Dweorg (dwarves) make up the second largest portion of the Legions.

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Current doctrines are based around utilizing the Persequori-Dweorg combination, where the Persequori focus largely on holding the line, enduring attacks and providing their Dweorg comrades opportunites to strike at the enemy in short explosive bursts, then covering their retreats back behind their wall of shields and spears. This is because the Persequori have one of the greatest endurances among all the human races while the Dweorg have some of the greatest strength and toughness, but tire quickly. Their cooperation covers both of their weaknesses while preserving all advantages.

The Persequori (and other human) Legionnaires will also cover other roles, such as archers, spear men, cavalry, etc.

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Other human races don't have roles entrenched doctronally nearly to the extent of the Persequori and the Dweorg, but they do fill 'unwritten' archetypical roles as well.

The large Orqindi (orcs) make up the third largest portion of the Legions. Their strength is even greater than the Dweorg's and their endurance on par with Persequori Legionnaires, but their lower population prevents them from being utilized en masse in large formations. They usually fall into two archetypes:

-Heavily armoured line breakers, sent in to create openings and cause chaos/confusion among the enemy lines

-Artillery, their great size and strength allowing them to utilize great bows the length of sometimes even 2.5 meters. Alternatively, they can also chuck gigantic spears at the foe, or rocks and boulders, if gear is in extremely short supply.

They are also useful for logistics related roles, such as pulling and carrying siege equipment and other heavy gear to the battlefield.

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Of the other major human kinds of the Aelnyyraean Empire, most fill scout-like roles, instead of being frontline combatants. Small statured humans usually fill these roles, such as the Pygmaioi (gnomes), the Kobelini (goblins) and the Dimidimviri (halflings)

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Ielves (elves, shocker) usually fill leadership positions within the Legions (along with mostly Persequori, Dweorgi and Half-Ielves, though members of any human kind can also be found among leadership positions, if a bit rarer)

But the rare, very unfortunate, Ielf who may find themselves among the ranks of the Legions' soldierly will usually be utilized as an archer or sometimes as a frontline fighter. They can slot into Persequori roles relatively seamlessly too.

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Of the minor human kinds within the Empire, none exist in large enough numbers to have exclusive archetypical roles. They can usually slot into one of the established roles.

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That is, with the exception of two.

The first are Harpies who, while rare, serve in disproportionate numbers, mostly in Legions stationed in provinces with large Harpy populations. They can serve multiple roles as aerial scouts, aerial artillery, aerial harrasment units, etc. Harpy auxiliries are extremely sought after, just as Harpy Legionnaires are.

The second are Centaurs, even rarer, which excel in cavalry roles, especially when paired with capable archers, or harpies, their mobility making up for the harpies' inability to fly for long distances without rest. They are also useful in logistics related roles.

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The Legionnaires also often serve side by side with Mages of the Magus Consortium, the Heroes and Adventurers of the Imperial Consortium and other Heroes and Adventurers of the Independent Heroic Consortiums, but their roles are rarely standardized and vary vastly due to their vastly varied abilities.

The Silk River is a major trade route connecting the Aelnyyraean and Saeresan Empires. The trade route and the river it flows through share the same name.

As its name suggests, silk is traded through the route, exported downstream by Saeresan traders to the Aelnyyraean nobility downstream. Upstream, Aelnyyraea exports purple dye.

The river begins in the Taprobanine plateau some of which is controlled by Saeresan tributary states. Most Saeresan silk reaches the Silk River through these tributaries.

Downstream, it flows through the Chryseienan lakes, which are controlled by the Ielven Lake Princes, former rulers of Khemet, who had fled upstream when Khemet was conquered by the Aelnyyraean Empire.

They profit richly serving as intermediaries, but many of the Lake Princes wish for nothing more than to sail downstream and reconquer their former holdings.

Sailing lower from the lakes, the river flows through the Caeretan desert, a largely unpopulated place, even by the shores of the river.

The river then flows into the Ba valley, which is controlled by various Harpy tribes. To pass through safely and unharassed, traders offer a tribute on the top deck of the ship at night.

This has come to take the form of fine silk dresses, whatever's the latest fashion in the Saeresan Court. Through millennia of this practice, the Ba Valley Harpyes have amassed much silk, which has become a status symbol among them. Nearly all harpies have at least one item of silk clothing, though only the most important have the latest Saeresan fashions. The Ba harpies have, accidentaly, Saerenized themselves, at least when it comes to their fashion.

Any sailors who mistakenly wander the top deck at night are also taken by the harpies, considered another tribute.

After the Ba valley, the river cuts a channel through the great Khemetan mountain. The sides of the valley it has created are covered with statues of deities, heroes and other famous figures carved into the faces of the mountain. These carved statues can range from brand new to many milennia old.

The river flows into the lakes of Upper Khemet, which then flow through Middle Khemet and finally, after flowing through Lower Khemet, drain into the Sea of Floating Islands.

From here, the trade route continues by sea, reaching various corners of the Aelnyyraean Empire.

(technically not mountains but ancient mountain sized terraforming machines, shhh though)

(also three are not visible in this shot, they're out of the frame to the left)

Yes, technically speaking two and a half headed, three-headed just sounds cooler

According to lore were-spiders (what she is) can also assume an in-between hybrid form of their human and war forms, which is what I tried to design here :3

The Araneid Form is the in-between of their human and war forms

>Early Life
Corina was born on the 23rd of Bloomsend in 1420 and was raised by her mother in the forest of Canreced on the border of Eswall. It is believed that her mother, a theorized priestess of Agrados, isolated herself and Corina due to fears of prejudice from the local Regent Court temple. In 1424, the orc invasion known as the Greentide devastated Eswall and the surrounding settlements, leaving Corina orphaned. She was taken in by the wandering knight Frederic síl Bennon, who adopted her and took her on as a squire. To ensure that she could serve as his squire and receive a martial education despite Esmaria's traditional gender roles, Frederic renamed the child Corin so she could pass as a boy.

>Lilac Wars
In order to fulfill her role as a squire and receive a martial education, Corin presented as male throughout her childhood. Under the guidance of Frederic síl Bennon, Corin excelled in the art of combat and warfare. Though not formally a member of House síl Bennon, she was introduced to the Síl Bennons as Frederic's bastard son. She was afforded the privileges of a noble upbringing and received a proper education, including lessons in chivalrous conduct. She gained a reputation for her martial skill and sense of duty, though many described her as timid outside of battle. As a squire, Corin participated in numerous battles, culminating in the Invasion of the Damesear and the subsequent battle of Anbenncóst in 1443. With a peace treaty in favor of the Rose faction being signed, Frederic and Corin returned to the Bennon estate.

>Enjoy the dawn hours of your reign, the moon will soon rise upon it.

-Aucanna "Ironside" Silistra

Truly, the average Istralore game

some unimportant nobody, who will never amount to anything, don't worry about her, and the smart, beautiful, dutiful, Liliana Crownsguard, the Avatar of Ara too!

>Nathalyne was born to an elven mother and human father in 1107, but was orphaned when her parents died of a plague ravaging Dameria in 1117. She survived as an urchin and pickpocket for three years in Anbenncóst until she was caught attempting to pickpocket a man who happened to be a professor at the Silmuna School of the Arts. The mage, the rotund Kylian Exwestes, noticed her latent magical potential and took her under his wing, enrolling her in the school. She learned much there for several years, particularly excelling in Illusion Magic, until her powerful enemies in the Crownsguard mercantile family forced the headstrong teenager to flee Anbenncóst. Stealing the Eye of Shadowsight, an artifact said to grant the bearer incredible gifts of foresight, she fled Anbenncóst after a confrontation with her longtime school rival Liliana Crownsguard, whose skill with abjuration almost succeeded in preventing Nathalyne’s escape.

More or less finished the closeup map of Nathalaire, couldn't come up with more buildings to add

Wanted to draw a map of Nathalaire, went with the interpretation that the island isn't inflated on the in game map, like Venice is in base game

The scale is still probably very wonky, so ignore that

made up a bunch of stuff to fill in the gaps, here's some (but not all) of those:

-There being an Old Nathalaire, consumed by Daravan's Folly

--Nathalyne's Hidden Temple being built over the city's sunken ruins

-The Quarterquarters segment of Nathalaire, which I made up due to Nathalaire starting with a halfling minority, iirc

-The Forgotten Castanorian Lighthouse in the center (look, I love ruins, I had to add some more)

-The name of the Shrinking Sea and (I think?) also the idea that it's swamp-ish/getting slowly consumed by the Folly

-Placement of Nathalaire on the island, in CK3 it's placed where Old Nathalaire is, but that spot looked boring to me, so I decided it got sunk + it's a lot more vulnerable to gnollish attacks, so it was simpy rebuilt in the south of the island

in lore they basically had a whole anime ahh rivals to lovers back to rivals story, stretching over decades, ranging from an academia setting where Liliana kinda bullies Nathalyne, to later travelling all the way to Haless, meeting the Illuminati, misadventures in the Phoenix Empire, travelling together through the Deepwoods, stealing from Dwarves, starting a trading company together, etc etc

Liliana is basically responsible for Nathalyne's later deification, she's the one who wrote down all their supposed misadventures, included in there Nathalyne's theft of Dolumir's Divinity, among a hundred other feats, which were basically enough to convince people that Nathalyne was the lost Avatar of the Dame (which was a bit contentious due to her being a half elf) and later to also deify her as a goddess in her own right, during the Eighth Pantheonic Council

Wanted to make a design for Nathalyne when she was a mortal