Note: I considered creating a bunch of names for this, but you run into the Imagination Budget. If I call this Yssallia, and give such a name for each kingdom and duchy it can become a bewildering cloud for the gamemaster. On the other hand, if I have too plain names, like Diamond Island, that has its own problems. So I guess I need to come up with stuff thats familiar enough and logical enough to be memorable, but odd enough not to be totally obvious.
So...
Diamondia Isles.
The main island is kite-shaped, and runs 250 miles north-south, and at its widest 150 miles east-west. The Great Divide is a mountain range that runs from just above the widest part of the isle down to near the bottom of the 'kite'. It splits the island about two-thirds of the way over from the left. It seems to terminate at the Southerly Volcano, but in actuality there are a dozen smaller islands trailing from the Southern Delta. These islands range in size from a few square miles to an acre and are the tops of the undersea Divide Mountains.
Holstad and Binyar are the two nearest continents. Holstad is the the west seven hundred miles, and Binyar to the south four hundred miles. They do not play a large part in the game as trade is quite limited. But these offer a place for the gamemaster to take the story if it finishes with the first trilogy set on Diamondia.
Magic bias is 14@10. Tech is set at basic steam engine and gunpowder. Psi is set at 3@5 with very few people having any serious psi. Body is at Earth normal.
There are a few orders of mystics back up in a mountain valley, a few entertainers and the odd person with a special talent who have psi, but psi is not part of the thoughts of the power equation in the minds of the rulers of Diamondia.
Arcane magic is powerblocked.
Holy magic is the province usually of the Man and the Lady who are the reigning deities of this world. Despite what most people on Diamondia believe, this is a partnership. Both are Alliance deities. They are called by numerous titles in varying lands: The Warrior and the Queen, the Bearer of Burdens and the Wise Eye, the Strong One and the Mistress of Fire.
Male magic involves increased strength, speed, agility, and resistance to damage along with a skin that heals quickly from fire damage. Female magic is fire-based. It is considered more versatile and powerful.
Female High Magi may cast a worded alarm into the sky 'my name is Serena, I'm at 24 High Lady's Way under attack.' that glows as fire...a kind of batsignal to the town guard. Most girls learn to do this by the time they are ten if they are in a clear area. More accomplished magi can do it from inside a house.
Other female magics include Fire Shield which serves as an armor, Fire Flick for minor damage and starting campfires. Fire Bolt and Fire Sheet for more serious damage. Sense the Fire Within helps to find sentients in the dark. Fire Ward is an alarm spell. Fly by Fire launches the magi skyward on a trail of fire and is only used by the most powerful magi. Incinerate is another very powerful destruction spell. It causes the target to burst into flames from the inside out.
Fire Magic is judged on two qualities. Control and strength. Casting fire magic drains the strength of the user and can kill if used excessively. Control is what a more powerful magi who is not just a magic user on the side as are most women, often seeks.
The greatest magi often have the ability to use Fire Bolt and sear through the protective skin of a man to the muscle beneath to brand him with a word such as 'THIEF'. An ordinary burn will not scar and will quickly heal. An ordinary powerful magi could kill a man with that much flame but could not stop herself from killing. Its kinda like being able to use a grenade to do surgery.
One other way to power magic is to Drink in the Fire. This temporarily with a small chance of permanently sacrifices some Wisdom and IQ and whatnot to the Fire Mistress. The end result is someone getting high and having a lot more fire they are able to throw. It can be real bad--imagine a heroin addict with a flamethrower. There are stories in the distant past, of Fire Ladies so powerful they could burn whole cities down. If this is true, no one knows how they did it although its clear from the stories that they were higher than a kite. Powerdrunk is what they call it.
Drinking the Fire is seriously frowned on by the leadership of the various lands. A little bit in a very dire situation that is well controlled might get you by with a warning. More than that, and you're likely to find some local ruler's RogueKiller stabbing you in the kidney and using a Fire Shield around you to keep you from doing more damage as you die.
The Southerly Volcano used to be a placce where yearly human sacrifices were made. A volunteer was tossed into the fire. Occasionally, they came back with high levels of control over both female and male magic. These Fire Prophets were here to tell the locals that they had offended their gods, and to get right, right now, or else. The or else generally involved some sort of massive destruction wrought by the Fire Prophet.
Seven hundred years ago, the all male leaders of the Diamondias were involved in total war over what was ultimately stupid goals. A female Fire Prophet came back and began to instruct them. They resisted. She destroyed several hundred aristocrats in a clever attack that used a combo of male magic and female magic. They were meeting to consider how to kill her in Highton, the former primus inter pares of the Diamondias owned most of the north of Diamondia.
She used strength to build a dam across a pass in the mountains. Then she used speed and strength with a fire shield to race through an encamped army surrounding Highton for the aristos protection. She used Strength and Fire Burst to blow the dam at the other end of the valley and drown the army. Now with Highton Castle on the heights, surrounded by water, she took a day to boil the water with fire and steam the aristos to death. This exertion killed her, but it also cooked the aristos. Now, Highton broken up into three kingdoms, Valeria to the west of the mountains, Montan in the north, and Driland to the east of the mountains.
The gods were very angry with the leaders of Diamondia.
The lesson people took from this was not quite the lesson the gods had in mind. Men shouldn't have power. The gods had more of 'don't be idiots and cruel' in mind, but the new woman rulers were far kinder and more clever than the previous band of idiots and so Diamondia settled into a golden age that lasted for nearly three centuries.
Corruption, vendettas, secret deals, pride, inbreeding and rampant chauvinism have set in. Its not nearly as bad as it was during the Man Wars, the total war that the Fire Prophetess of Highton ended.
The Matriarch of Montan is bordered on the north by the Pensvat Tribes who own the Pensvat Point, the most northerly part of Diamondia. On the east by Greavesland, which according to legend is the site of an ancient battle between a number of powerdrunk magi which resulted in a vast army being destroyed (hence 'graves'). Finding odd bits of armor or bones is not uncommon for farmers in Greavesland. Finding sapphire stones melted into gold bits is definitely uncommon, and such things are illegal to own, and must be turned into the Temple of the Mistress of Fire for a reward.
To the immediate south of Montan is the eastern part of Valeria, but this mountainous region is more known for bandits and for rogue male magi and a single Order of the Clear Mind monastery (psionic workers) than anything else. Its also where Highton Castle stands abandoned.
To the southwest of Montan is Coasla, on the shore, a fishing and trading league of city-states known for their high walls and strict rules on men. Between Coasla and the eastern part of Valeria is Grimwald.
Most of the rain and wind comes from the southwest, and hits the Great Divide and dumps its water. Grimwald has abundant streams and forests. It logs and farms. However, its bound to the east by Coasla's ports who take a hefty chunk of each log as their price for passage, and Montan to the north which has one good river running from near Highton through Grimwald and up to the Pensvat Point.
Grimwald wants and needs a bit a better deal. Coasla can't do it because those walls are expensive. Montan is willing to consider giving a better deal if certain promises are made. Coasla is inciting the Pennsvat Tribes to cause a ruckus up north to discourage Montan.
Inside Montan, the Second Sister, aka the fourth child of the Queen, and the heir after the First Daughter is interested in getting the throne. Mom is ailing. Patricia, the First Daughter is known for treating men with courtesy even if not actually allowing them any additional rights. The Second Sister, Tonya, allies herself with the more chauvinistic elements of her society to press for the Ancient Ways which she interprets to include keeping the traditional deal with Coasla which is messing over the Grimwald. The First Daughter likes the Grimwaldese better, and is also aware that Coasla has no army to speak of. It has ships and walls. The Grimwaldese have a lot more people and a long border with Montan.
She does not want to declare war on Coasla, but between her sister's maneuverings and the Coasla pushing the Pennsvat into causing trouble and the rumbles from the Grimwald, she might have no choice. Of course, Mom could name the Second Sister as Prime Minister which would vastly strengthen Tonya's position for a coup so Patricia needs to mobilize her internal allies as well.
And truth be know, Marcus, the Second Child, is a military genius and a good man. But he's never going to be allowed near the levers of power because he's a man. He would probably be the best leader except everyone would scream mad fits if a King was put in.
The Montan is a hilly land of sheepherders and small farmers with a few trade towns and one good transport river, the Wavr, running down the midst of it with a few mountains to the south before Valerian border is met. It is pleasant in the summer, and cold and wet in the winter as the seasonal winds shift to come down from the north.
The typical man has no training in using his power, but some training in creating inhibitions and restraining his own power. It is taught that male magic must lead to powerdrunkness (it can, but thats a choice of the magi). Males are not supposed to use magic, and they are under the authority of the Lady in their life (all males have a Lady...Mom, wife, older sister...). Most men do develop a little magic over their life, some extra strength, and endurance, but nothing that is a threat. It just makes them better workers, better manual labor.
Coasla was founded by a female who was seriously embittered against men. She started the practise of chaining men to their beds at night, and of not allowing men to testify in court. Criminal men are used as galley slaves in peace and war by the Coasla. If a ship is sinking, the Coaslans will evacuate the female sailors, but leave the chained men to drown. Encouraging the Coaslans in the point of view, a few men snap every year under this treatment, and go rogue and start smashing stuff.
There are a dozen states, small nations, duchies, city-states, and such on Diamondia. Each has needs that someone else can supply. This often leads to stress, assasination, trade disputes and war.
A typical army is composed of Men-At-Arms, infantry with shield and spear, and Lady Knigths with some Lady High Mages.
