Varushka
“Bar your door, and do not open it before sunrise.”
Varushka is a land of dark magics and dark tales. Monsters lurk in the sunless spaces of the forests that spread from one horizon to the next. The roads are warded to keep travellers safe, best you take that to heart, keep to your business and keep to the path.
Boyars rule their dominions with more power than any ancient king ever had. Wise ones nurture their people, teach them right from wrong and help them fend off the terrors of the night. Itinerant wizards, the Volhov, make everyone’s business their own. Authority comes in many forms in Varushka, sometimes brutal and uncompromising, sometimes subtle and unnoticed.
We are the iron in the Empire’s laws, unyielding, uncompromising, we do what must be done to keep our land strong. We are the Empire’s bones, we endure all and still we prosper.
Five things about Varushka
- Do not let your eyes fool you. Appearences are deceptive, take nothing for granted.
- Respect your elders. The old possess wisdom that you will need to survive here.
- Do not leave the road. Only the human habitants of this land wish you well.
- Prepare for difficult choices. Often the only choice is the lesser of two evils.
- Do not idle between dawn and dusk. We work hard and do not tolerate wastrels.
What the Varushkans are not
- Stereotypical vodka-drinkers. While the inspiration draws from Eastern Europe and Russia, they are not comedy cossacks.
- A divided nation. While there might have been two people here once upon a time, the Vard and the Ushka are gone and only the Varushkans remain.
