Bode Batura

Description

Sages have discovered Bode Batura to mean "Omen of Prosperity" in the pre-colonization tongue. It is unknown who gave the region this name.

The coastal village now known as Rakaarox (having been renamed by the victorious Outer Tilogian forces shortly after their first takeover) is the seat of the current government and the largest surviving settlement of those past battles. In addition to the nobles' sprawling estates and the small stone cottages of their vassals, Rakaarox is centered around a large building which once housed a brewery but has since been converted into a distillery, and a fishery that rests near the village waterfront and produces the majority of the food the village eats. The bitter smell of the distillery, combined with the overwhelming one from the fishery, hangs in the air like a pall all day until the night, when the cool land breezes carry it out to the ocean.

The fields around Rakaarox are used to grow Crescentwood, a hardy shrub transplanted there from the mountainous region of Hilly Holes that is able to thrive in even the salt sown ground. Crescentwood sprouts large pale, slightly poisonous berries and curving tubular flowers of amber hue. These flowers (along with the anise and fennel which still grows in the region) are distilled into a highly alcoholic Absinthe customarily referred to as "Blind Eye Brew", due to tradition dictating that the brewers place a Crescentwood berry in each bottle. While not as famous as "Bode Bitter" ale, it has seen an increase in production due to the inability to grow the grain needed for the ale and a boom in popularity as a result. It has particularly gained popularity among nobles despite (or perhaps because) of its portrayal as a dangerously mysterious, addictive, and mind-altering drink.

Other areas practice large scale fishing or raising goats and sheep supplied by Lukon, while still others (especially in the northern reaches of Bode) have taken to the old Outer Tilogian standby of cannibalism and actively trade in slaves with their debauched neighbors across the border.

A nearby area earned the name of "The Wailing Cliff" and a bit of infamy as it was used by the first Outer Tilogian Viscount of Bode Batura shortly after their successful takeover as a cheap and easy way to dispose of the many remaining rebel insurgents. Observant visitors to the site have stated that the echoing cries of the hundreds of doomed men, women, and children who were flung from the cliff to the sharp stones below can still be heard.

History

Bode Batura was once the proverbial breadbasket of the fallen Alebadian Theocracy. As the region can produce much more than it needs, it could stand on its own feet. Its people became proud and independent. But the richness made neighbouring regions look at Bode Batura with an envious eye. Raids and other barbarisms from Hilly Holes and Volkanita made the nation grow bitter, and eventually the region lost its pride and could hardly take care of itself.

The coming of the armies of both Oritolon and Lukon have breathed another life into its fields, and its windmills are once again spinning, jutting from the wind-swept landscape. Its people became loyal peasants, cotters, and serfs.

Bode Batura was put in the newly created realm of Minas Thalion, with the hope of fulfilling its name once more.

April 3, 2010 by Aneel

Statues and Monuments

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