Vyper

Vyper is a desert country located on the southwest portion of Solaurum, sharing much of its landmass with Ha’zaar to the east. It is known as the land of outlaws.

Geography

Topography

While Vyper is truly one massive sea of sand there is some variation in its geography. The landscape consists heavily of dry earth and sand shaped by wind, creating enormous sand dunes and wildly shaped sandstone rocky plateaus. Vegetation is very scarce throughout the majority of the country, instead appearing mostly on steppes or plains with very short grass. The sandy desert dunes give way to more rocky terrain on the regions nearest to the volcano, gravel plains turn into desert massifs composed of a mix of sandstone and volcaniclastics from thousand years old eruptions. Dry lakes also appear but only around the area that divides Vyper and Ha'zaar, since those are the only places where rain could possibly happen frequently enough for them to form.

The climate is, predictably, incredibly hot, dry and stable, with a permanent absence of clouds which allows the sun to beat down onto the earth unhindered; in some extreme cases during Glimmer the weather has become so unbearable and dangerous the population of Vyper was heavily advised to stay fully indoors else they risk burning themselves alive. Nights are the polar opposite, with absolutely freezing temperatures that could possibly freeze someone to death if they do not have sufficient shelter. Though the inhabitants of the country; be they people, creatures or plants; have adapted accordingly to the unforgiving conditions of the desert, they do have to rarely face a unique problem — specifically the plants. There have been very few and very rare cases where the unpredictable weather of Ha'zaar has spilled over to Vyper territory, bringing sudden rains and consequently killing a vast amount of flora since those had fully adapted to the ever dry land; essentially, the plants drowned.

There are a number of small cities dotted across the harsh landscape. Additionally, a number of burrowing kindred and tempered have a vast underground network of tunnels and burrows in which many people live. These are occasionally taken advantage of for criminal activities.

Fire and earth are the most prominent types of aether in the region, followed by wind. Fire aspected aether is denser the closer you get to the volcano. In addition, the air in Vyper has a .01% density of law aether, and a large hole in the desert exists which is constantly leaking a small amount of Law aether into the region. While it is not enough to infect or corrupt anything, this is still enough to concern no small number of Arcane Sciences and Outerworld Division employees, who cannot do anything to investigate due to laws in the region.

The area has two bubbles in the southern corners of the region. Both are law aspected and require constant supervision from OWD as well as local municipalities who regularly attempt to arrest the bubbles. So far, their efforts have proven unsuccessful.

Notable Locations

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People and Culture

Vyper is a country heavily influenced by a code of conduct. Driven both by survival and one's own grit, the residents of Vyper are as tough as nails.

Mounts are common among the people of the region, including fire-aspected avistuses and horses, as the region is so vast and arid that attempting to cross it on foot is not recommended. In fact, Vyper lays claim to the earliest records of avistus domestication in Castrella.

Sandboarding is a common activity.

Prevalent Races

Errants originate from these harsh desert lands and are by far the biggest part of its population, followed right after by the tempered who also favor the extreme environment by nature. Other races such as kindred and pestlings can also be found in the country, though most of them seem to fall into fossorial and xerocole subspecies. Submatarius are the rarest race to be found in Vyper due to the country's extremely hot and dry weather coupled with the lack of water, making any extended stay within the country an incredibly uncomfortable experience in the best cases and in the worst cases a death sentence.

Government

Vyper’s system of lawkeeping is so complex that the Guild maintains a constant Civil Affairs and Outerworld Division Embassy presence in the region to aid with it, appointing sheriffs across the many municipalities to do so. The Guild also maintains a Grand Sheriff in Eversun City to keep peace between the regions. The current grand sheriff is a sovereign, much to the Director’s dismay.

Vyper’s capital city has the biggest saloon you ever did see. The saloon contains the local sheriff’s office, an office for the Grand Sheriff, and an inn. While it technically qualifies as a Guild outpost, it is not officially Guild affiliated. It has one of the largest quest boards in all of Solaurum, with bounties, hunt bills, and all kinds of quests spanning the entire board. This doesn’t say much, however, as a number of fliers on the board have long since expired, and the saloon never bothers to take any of them down, leading to quests with dead ends and wild goose chases across the region which only land Wayfarers and bounty hunters alike in further trouble. Some of the bills themselves have even been outlawed. The Archivist Division considers the board a valid historical record of Vyper’s history, and have used it in their own historical records and research on the region countless times.

Laws

Vyper is known for its ridiculous rules that seem to be ever changing. If you break a certain amount of rules, you’ll be considered an outlaw and be chased around looney-tunes-style out of town. Seriously, they will run your ass out on a rail. Then they’ll forget your face a day later and you can return to break even more taboos if you really want.

The biggest rule of Vyper is to never write down any of the rules. Because of this, even some of the most knowledgeable CAD workers and Embassy diplomats accidentally break laws constantly and require guild interference to get them out. The only people who know all of the rules are the Grand Sheriff and Haladen.

For the convenience of lorekeeping, some of Vyper’s various rules are listed below. This list is non-exhaustive, but includes:

• No drinking juice out of a tall glass on Pyreday afternoons
• The creation, distribution, and consumption of the alcoholic beverage known as “Sunsparkle” is strictly prohibited.
  • One resident is quoted as having said, “Aint no 'ting gonn outshine our sun, son."
• OWD Bubbles cannot be taller than certain establishments. OWD naturally has no control over how tall a bubble is.
• Bubbles must be fenced in.
• You cannot walk into town with your left toe extended.
• In certain towns, swords are outlawed entirely. In others, they are allowed, but cannot be any longer than four inches. Any sword that is longer than this must be protected by a foam tube.
  • Due to a legal dispute, Ruairi’s odachi is considered a special case in the eyes of the law, and must be tubed despite having no blade.
• On Ariaday mornings, left is right, but only if you care.
• An outlaw can be tossed into the Hole on a weekday when it is cloudy, but only at exactly high noon.
• No deals are to be made at a crossroads anywhere in Vyper.
• No grinding sports equipment on rails. This law does not stop the youths who do it anyway because it’s awesome.
• It is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back left pocket. The ice cream by itself is fine though.