Chevalie (concept)
Biozone: Chevalie
Chevalie is most commonly associated with the Anti-Magic Field that blankets the region and shields it from the harrowed Lichdoms further north. The lowland fields are considered relatively safe for travelers, but the dense forests and mountain ranges are far more treacherous, and rich with fauna, including Griffons. The mountains are home to the only griffons on Aeras, making them prized trophies for any hunter.
Chevalie is a large realm sitting between former Aversarian Kalathipsomi to the east (the western edge of the Black Mountains delineating the modern border) and the Lichdoms to the north.
Home of the Marchers (or Chevaliens), it is renowned for its wide reach across the world in the form of a vast diaspora of merchants, mercenaries, and adventurers. Home of the Anti-Magic arts as well as numerous political and mercantile innovations, it is said that in every port in the world, Chevalien can be spoken, a deal can be made, and a fortune can be stolen.
Chevalien history is normally broken down into five periods, beginning with the Migratory Era which followed the arrival of the modern Marchers into the area, their wars with the Gallicaders and the Ocyzecyn, and conventionally taken to end with the codification of the modern Lifepaths and Chevalien culture and the rise of the first Arch Lich, Vilas Venslau. Following this is the Imperial Era, during which the High Kingdom would expand to control most of modern Kalathipsomi, all the way up to the Grey Gates in the east, and ending with the collapse of the Chevalien empire in the east and its conquest by Aversaria. The Theocratic Era followed, as the Conclave of Raocourt and the Anti-Magic Orders began exerting massive political influence and control, regularly meddling in the domestic affairs of local warlords, ending with the Red River War; and finally the Secular Era (or the Heretical Era), which saw the splintering and reformation of the Lifepath and the rise of the modern feudal system as secular lords took control of numerous political systems formerly in control of the clergy.
Chevalie has spent most of its history disunited, peace a more uncommon state of affairs than war - in large part thanks to the unique culture of the Marcher people.
Aliases: The Marches