A brief view of the world
Field- a mountainous country with sturdy hearty people, mostly this country provides coal and other mined material, along with hearty meads and other strong brews needed to carry the Halo through the winter
Mondore, the capital of Field, is the literal party city, one goes into town just to party. Fresh mead flows easier than water in the harsh winters when nothing can be done, so the inhabitants hide in the inns and taverns and drink and sing and dance and fornicate the winter away.
Guan is an expansive land, full of roaming tribes of hunter gatherers with small towns few and far between. Typically Guan is confused for a barbaric society as travelers are often raided by bandits, but they are one of the least war minded people collectively, aside from those in Jiommaa.
Despite the threat of bandits, many come to see and experience the miracle tree of Leizhou and the monstrous druid woman who lives within the branches. A story proven true by hundreds of people, but no one truly believes the story.
Homelia is the hottest country, in direct contrast with Field. The second largest port country is filled with sailors and fishermen and merchants and brothels, much like Jiommaa, but on a much more spread out scale. the cities are smaller but more numerous over a larger landmass. People here tend to travel more than stay at home, most were on the road or on the nebulous sea by the time they became an adult unless they foolishly stayed in the same place for work, something in a bit of a joke, akin to flies trapped in Amber. Light hearted jokes, but hear the same one enough times and one will get grumpy
*mesh is the most important port city, the infrastructural linchpin. Any goods outside of Guan or Field have to go to Mesh before they can reach any other country. All boats sail to or from Mesh, and a boat from Mesh will take you anywhere in the empire but Field, which is a landlocked country on the southern outliers.
Ruizhou isthe "easy street" life. Retirees, trust fund babies, noblemen, council members, well met companions. The gutter trash is solid gold here, money is being stolen and laundered and lost at exponential rates and none of the rich seem to notice and the poor can afford to care for themselves realistically. They aren't posh or fancy, but they can eat live and die in peace and relative comfort, there are very few without a place to stay here, there is always a generous soul willing to lend a hand
*Yinan is the informational hub of the entire empire. Communication, education, enlightened entertainment such as plays and musicals and epic poetry performed live. If there's something someone needs to know, ask enough people in Yinan and one will find out.
Snovia is the most war minded and territorial people. The entire country essentially has a superiority complex because for thousands of generations they have hyped themselves up as the best warriors and tactitions and at one point, they were in control of the empire until the rest of the empire turned against them and made Homelia and Derinia out of the seceded land. Anyone from Snovia is quick to tell you they're Snovian, and refuse to recognize Homelia and Derina as separate entities, other than South and North Snovia, and they will physically fight you if you try to convince them otherwise. It is a matter of national pride. There are still wars over this, but recently they've been made glad that Derinia is no longer technically classified as Snovia...
*Renroshe is the military and martial capital of the Empire. Training depends on a person's role as a fighter, soldiers in military installations are faster to train than mercenaries or monks or paladins or rangers because they are disposable, you just need to teach them to hit this until it dies or they do, and try to make their bodies lootable so their comrades can use something to kill the thing they couldn't, practicality and logic being heavily ingrained in each fighter from a young age
Derinia- formerly part of Snovia, and very proud of the fact. If someone says they are from Derinia, they are lying. A real Derinian will call themselves North Snovian. Derinians are very loyal to money and whoever provides the most of it. If one wants something less than legal done, one finds a Derinian.
*Yaroly is a hotbed of fleas and thieves. Most of the bandits in Guan are from Yaroly, to deter people from the miracle tree. It is the major city for crime and punishment. The internal Legal system is corrupt and ineffective, but it does hold the most high security prisons and jails as a part of the reparations they pay to the empire.
Jiommaa- the empire's capital. "There is no rebellion in Jiommaa" is to be sung to the same tune as "there is no war in ba sing se" with all the vehement fervor. Jiommaaz are quick to deny any form of malcontent in the Empire, believing in political lies.
*Yvin is the legal center of Jiommaa and the empire. They have a juggernaut of a court system. One is detained in whatever country they are found in and tried in Jiommaa if the crime is above a certain threshold, shoplifting gets a slap on the wrist and someone in Ruizhou helps the offender get back to their feet, either teaching them new skills or employing them as a servant and helping take care of them. Murder and other unsavory crimes land one straight in Jiommaa, if they are innocent, they are free to go and often go to Guan because of how quiet the cities are. If guilty, they are sent to Derinia and have to watch as Derinian mercenaries go after their family, who are then brought to Jiommaa to be shipped out of the Halo of Prevarication. Prisoners are assured that they are being sent to an allied empire, but those imprisoned will never see nor hear from them again, even if they serve their time. This task requires Derinian mercenaries because other people for the most part have a moral backbone. Jiommaaz justify this by claiming it only happens to bad people, failing to grasp that anyone who disagrees with the Jiommaaz government is a bad person.
There used to be a system of racial interference and territorial wars, but as time and wars progressed, things got out of hand, war crimes on almost every side, trading, raping, pillaging, pilfering, buying, selling. Territory of the racial clans and their identifiable and individual languages were lost and widely ignored, still taught, but not as fervently as the new language that the mergers of the clans gave rise to: common.
The Nebulous Sea, the large body of water in the center of the Halo is 367 leagues wide in any direction from the center, as such, treacherous fishing and travel takes a skilled sailor days to accomplish . The strange thing is that its always night over the nebulous sea, always. The three suns may be directly overhead, but the sky is pitch black, and the sea itself is a haunted swirl of color and lights, giving rise to strange life without access to any vegetation, and must find other sources of sustenance.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
areannc
areannc this chapter is serving in place of a map of the circular empire with brief descriptions of each country and capital for future reference. the body of the novel itself will flesh out more of the geography and political weight attached to these names and places
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