Changing Seasons

The world is a beautiful place.

Spring, summer, autumn, fall.
And, sometimes, they just don't change.

The World is a wondrous place, and it is high time that people experienced it.
Too long have the people been living in their little villages, content with their sad little lives, content with just the one season.
Yet, they refuse to move and try new seasons.
Thus, it stands to reason, that if they won't go to the world, the world must come to them.
My name is Stragos, and I am the one who will bring about this change.
My name is Stragos, and I am lord of the Bleak Keep.
I am a knight, a lord, a commander of an army one thousand strong.
And, the world shall soon know change.

The seasons shall, to the surprise of many, soon be changing.
This I shall show them. This they shall know.

-From the journal of Stragos Dex, Lord-Commander of the Bleak Keep.

The world is divided into 4, each land being locked in one season, each matching one of the Four Elemental Poles.

The pole of Water is linked to summer, and the many islands of the eternal heat (many of which are, ironically, deserts).

The pole of Fire is linked to winter, yet was long ago caged by the dwarves for their furnaces, leading to the blistering cold.

The pole of Air is linked to spring, and the beautiful palaces in the sky that are found above the spring lands.

The pole of Earth is linked to autumn, and the nature and growth that are so abundant there.

The land of autumn is linked with the elemental pole of earth, and is a simpler land. Most people are farmers, with small towns being the norm for gathering places. Long tracts of wheat-covered land stretch as far as the eye can see, broken only by pumpkin patches and groves of beautifully coloured trees.

The main places of interest are Edgetown, the town at the edge of the disc of the world, and the main city of Vesper Sanctifi Gate. Edgetown, situated at the edge of the world, used to be a thriving place, but is now old, dried up. People go there for their last chance, before dying, throwing themselves on the mercies of a place without any, or off the edge, into oblivion.

The other main place of interest, and the only real city (Edgetown was once a city, but is now more of a ghost town) is Vesper Sanctifi Gate. Vesper Sanctifi is a city of constant celebration, constant jubilee

Legend has it that the night that there are no festivals, no carved gourds, no lights, laughter, and whimsy, the great demon bound beneath the city shall be freed once more to wreak havoc on the land, and revenge on the city for its imprisonment.

Farther afield than the lands of autumn, the other three seasons are all equally unique.

Winter's domain is mostly ruled by the dwarves from their underground cities, where they have massive forges making use of the caged elemental pole of fire. Above the ground, cruel mountain ranges shelter brutal wandering barbarians who battle for survival with the elements, the monsters, and each other.

The land of spring is governed by the elemental pole of wind, and as such, the winds are in constant motion there, tearing the blossoms from the orange and cherry trees that are so common in this faery-tale land. These blossoms are spun into staircases that reach to the castles in the sky, held up by the constant winds. Yet, this is also a land of danger, for those unlucky enough to be on a petal path when the winds die fall to an unhappy fate.

Finally, summer is a massive archipelago. It is divided roughly in thirds; the unexplored islands, the islands that are harsh deserts in their center, ruled over by nomadic tribes, and the islands that are castles and kingdoms, where chivalric knights are the rule, not the exception.

Finally, in the center of the land is the great central city, Pinnacle, built around its namesake, Pinnacle, the mysterious milk white spire that stretches beyond the cloud layer, higher than anyone has ever been able to discern.