Madego

Madego
Culture Level	Varies
Ecology	Full
Climate & Terrain	All
Year Formed	644 BC
Population
Races (%)	Chi-Folken, Pierrobit, Genfigenus, Ewigkinder
Languages	P'Ti*, Sylvan, all domain languages
Religions	Lupta*, the spirits, the Thousand Gods, the Loa
Government	Monarchy
Ruler(s)	King Azalin
Darklord(s)	Wudr
Nationality	Madegan
Analog	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu
Related Categories
Locations in Madego
Transportation in Madego
Inhabitants of Madego
Former Inhabitants of Madego
Flora of Madego
Fauna of Madego
Native Monsters of Madego

Madego is a domain with a surface area equal to the combined Core and the Clusters. Its geography exactly mirrors the aforementioned lands, but every feature is half as high, half as deep, and all the lands are seamlessly connected into one whole. The domain has seven moons, which are visible both night and day: Golden Rhe; silver Whe; black Mor; green Gai; red Raf; blue Hae; and pink Bub. The domain is first mentioned in the article "Little Horrors".

Location

Madego is apparently located beneath the Core; looking up from any place within Madego, a traveller can see a sky of stone, with local lore claiming this is the 'ground floor' of the Core, seen from beneath. 'Sky-lights', either huge gemstones or else small suns, are set in the stone surface and brighten and dim over a 24-hour cycle, creating night and day.

Geography

Madego mimics the geography of the Lands Above perfectly. What would be separate domains in the Lands Above are provinces in Madego, ruled over by demilords and demiladies, although the locals are not aware of this. If a traveller uses magic, psionics or science to planar travel between Madego and the Lands Above, one always arrives in a location that mirrors the point of departure in the other realm.

History

Until 740 BC, Madego was in the grip of the Shrouded Years; every resident was a tiny copy of a creature in the Lands Above, and exactly, thoughtlessly mimicked that creature's actions unless they were shocked out of their routine by extreme danger. The Grand Conjunction of 740 BC threatened to tear the domain apart, but saw the appearance of Lupta in the depths of G'Henna province. As Lupta danced upon the barren earth, she was ridden by the spirits, and the resulting magic not only soothed the tremors of the Grand Conjunction and undid the damage it had done, but brought G'Henna's soil to life. The local Chi-Folken made music and worshipped the spirits, leading to the restoration of the land.

In the wake of this Night of Music, the Core provinces' false history was rewritten so they had 'always' been united in the Unholy Empire under King Azalin's counterpart in Darkon province. The locals are no longer forced to mindlessly copy the actions of creatures they have never met, and the Church of Lupta and the faith of the Spirits are gaining traction. G'Henna is now a breadbox, its lands fertile and bountiful, where Zhakata the Provider is worshipped and the Devourer is held as apocryphal.

There is no Shadow Rift, no Gwydion - because the place where that horror should have been imprisoned was once the gaol of the domain's Darklord, Wudr, who now walks free.

The Grim Harvest never took place, which means Il Aluk was never transformed into Necropolis, and the counterpart of Lowellyn Dachine was never transformed into Death. Instead, a joint military operation by Darkon, Borca, Dementlieu, Richemulot and Mordent provinces conquered the rogue nation of Falkovnia. The counterpart of Vlad Drakov and his male line were executed, and Falkovnia is now overseen by the counterpart of Gondegal on behalf of the Unholy Empire.

Religion

The Thousand Gods are known and worshipped in Madego, as are the Loa of Souragne. Ever since the Night of Music, belief in the Church of Lupta and the ancestral spirits has been increasing hand over fist, however.

Magic

Due to the manipulations of Wudr, the tradition of the Dwimmerlaerer continued even during the Shrouded Years, with individuals with the proper qualifications training in its discipline - even though they were not fully aware that they were doing so. Among arcane spellcasters, there appears to be a marked tendency for wizards to become specialists, and to pursue the Master Specialist prestige class. This may be due to Chi-Folken psychology; even in a domain all their own, they have an innate fear of their being small and insignificant, causing them to call on the Spirits who love them on the one hand, and to hyperfocus on what they're good at on the other.