World Building

The Monastery of Warm Waters

In the heart of an ancient meteor crater, seven churches with gilded onion domes rise above terraced gardens warmed by sacred springs. This sanctuary becomes Diana's home, a place where limestone walls glow honey-gold and steam rises year-round from healing pools.

The impact basin shields the grounds from bitter winds, creating a microclimate where flowering vines climb stone walls even in winter.

St. Petersburg Refugium

A formidable frontier city where the Neva meets the Gulf of Finland. Built around survival and trade, its massive stone kremlin rises above wooden merchant quarters. Here, Anton Volkov maintains his scholarly compound, seeking to control the knowledge that others freely share.

A melting pot where Orthodox bells ring alongside Lutheran hymns, and Finnish fishermen trade with Russian boyars.

The Golden City of Avaxandra

A sleeping jewel from a vanished age—golden walls two hundred feet high, crystal fountains that still flow, and the Radiant Spire glowing with soft light. No one dwells here now. The city watches, waiting for creators who may never return.

"Never ask what Avaxandra guards. Ask instead: what does Avaxandra guard against?"

Doggerland Settlements

Along the shores where grasslands meet the North Sea, Neanderthal communities thrive on maritime resources. Dwellings of mammoth bone and driftwood cluster in sheltered coves, their inhabitants expert at reading the moods of the sea.

A place of fish traps in the shallows and middens of shells—testament to a culture in harmony with coastal rhythms.

The Crystal Caves

Honey-gold crystal passages wind through the mountain like roots of an immense stone tree. At their heart, a grotto with walls of living gold surrounds a warm lake fed by thermal springs—a place where realities converge and Diana was conceived.

The Serpent's Vein

A subterranean river born from glacial melt, flowing crystal-clear and cold through limestone galleries. It emerges briefly into daylight between canyon walls, then plunges back into honeycombed earth—a liquid memory of ice carving its path through stone.

Sorrowful Lake

Freezes solid in deepest winter, passable on foot or horseback. On its shores stands the Hermitage of St. Basil, a waypoint for travelers crossing the steppes.

The Edge of the World

Southern boundaries where maps fail. Here live the Stepnye Volki shamans, and here ghost orchids bloom during the brief spring floods—a frontier between the known and the unknown.