Anqerise is a continent that is irregular. Those who study its lay tell a common truth. Anqerise is not vast because of landmass, but because of the contradictions it shelters.
To outsiders, the continent appears divided into four grand sovereignties. To insiders, it is a living organism. Its kingdoms are the organs, its boroughs the fortified hearts and the Entombed Wastelands that frame it are the decayed bones of a world that once thrived.
Anqerise is the central island continent of the four in the world, spanning climates from cryo-arctic to subtropical. Yet the continent's natural biomes are not the subject of fascination among scholars. Instead, all attention circles back to the Wasteland Perimeter, which is a great malformed ring of ruin encasing each kingdom. Inside the perimeter lie fertile valleys, forests, mountains, and World Tree roots that braid the subsoil. Outside it lies death.
To walk Anqerise's safe zone is to travel through a cradle of miraculous preservation. To reach beyond it is to court a kind of annihilation no creature returns from unchanged.
There are four kingdoms in Anqerise, all of them with the civilization of urban fantasy.
Amaniya is the home of Immortal Humans, with its Borough being the Rise Borough.
Amaniya occupies the central-eastern arc of the continent. The Immortal Humans built their civilization here and thanks to millennia of peace, they made an urban fantasy. All of it is anchored by the political and cultural monolith that is Rise Borough.
Rise Borough is the continent's largest metropolis, a city of two to three hundred million beings, fortified by a very strong barrier strata engineered by Dynasty Richinaria. Lower Rise, the underground district, glows with bioluminescent architecture fused with advanced tech. Upper Rise houses has advanced urban fantasy technology and where the higher ranks exist. Rise is the trade nexus of the entire continent. Every economy ultimately flows through its gates.
Mintheris is the largest Kingdom, home of the Elves with the capital being the Viridence Borough.
To the west lies Mintheris, a realm where the borders blur between mortal geography and the influence of the World Tree Mintherenia. The kingdom's forests grow in spirals, creating lush forests infused with Nature Energy currents so dense they alter weather patterns.
Viridence is protected by a barrier as well. Its buildings mimic trees, stitched-together leaves, bark-steel structures and wooden bridges. The borough holds sixty million elves who live in harmony with the World Tree's ancient power. Viridence is the continent's natural powerhouse. Every herbal cure, nature-based refinement or botanical enchantment traces its origins to Mintheris' heart.
Interacia is the home of Hybrids with the home being the Neon Borough.
Interacia stands on the southern edge of Anqerise, a place where the bloodlines of two or more races fuse into new genealogies. Its terrain is as unpredictable as its people. Neon Borough is the most visually extravagant urban structure in the world. Its architecture is modular. Buildings shift shape depending on the active bloodlines of the residents, assisted by Interacian technology. A full sixty million hybrids reside behind its Richinaria-woven barrier.
Neon Borough is the birthplace of experimental tethers, mutation theory, and combat modification sciences.
Hydroborea is the home of the Hydroborn. The Inexpelcae Borough is their capital.
The northernmost kingdom, Hydroborea, is half land, half ocean. The Hydroborn thrive in climates that would kill others: subzero seas, crystalline glaciers, and abyssal ocean trenches.
Its structures resemble sculpted water, frozen not by cold but by Hydroborn power. It houses over sixty million Hydroborn who live in a city that partially submerges at high tide and resurfaces at low. Richinaria barriers protect its inhabitants. Inexpelcae is the continental capital of maritime warfare, abyssal exploration, and aquatic mastery.
Boroughs serve as fortified megastructures. They are massive enough to contain millions and powerful enough to withstand the world's decay. Cities, while numerous and culturally diverse, do not match the scale, prestige, or structural necessity of Boroughs.
Boroughs function as political capitals, cultural juggernauts and sanctuaries from the Entombed Wastelands. Cities—by contrast—are regional hubs. They are important, yes, but ultimately reliant on the Borough networks for survival.
Encircling every kingdom is a vast, malignant zone known as the Entombed Wastelands. This is no natural phenomena. The Wastelands are the scar tissue of a forgotten apocalypse. The land is chemically and spiritually dead and its soil infused with toxins unknown even to ancient beings.
The toxicity is airborne and soil-borne, capable of dissolving lungs or corroding bones. Any Tether used there without possessing a Divine body risks mutation or backfire. Krepsunas roam here as well. Also, the ground rearranges itself unpredictably, as if rejecting stability.
It is widely accepted that without Richinaria's barrier network, Anqerise would already be uninhabitable. The protective hemispherical barriers are not simple mystical constructs but extensions of the Aeterium dominion, powered by Divine Energy Richinaria gets from the people through faith, fear and belief.
They neutralize toxin saturation, absorbs wasteland wind, repels Krepsunas, reinforces atmospheric purity and regulates internal climate.
Each borough has twelve Barrier Beacons. Only trained Richinaria custodians and certain allied Divines can interface safely with these constructs. Despite kingdoms being separated by Entombed Wastelands, the Boroughs maintain an interconnected ecological exchange facilitated by ancient roots of Mintherenia.
°°°°°°
Richinaria Palace, Lower Stratum, The Energy Storage Center
The air grew colder the further Vastarael and Phaenora descended down to an area carved into the underside of the floating island. A steady, pulsing resonance thrummed through Vastarael's bones. Even Phaenora, who rarely shut up about how "boring" technical facilities were, went quiet.
This was the heart of Richinaria and under today's circumstances, it felt heavier than usual. At the elevators opened, Sylveira Levenees stood waiting. As Matriarch of one of the Four Richinaria Houses, she bowed deeply.
"Your Esteemed Highness. Lady Phaenora."
Behind her, hundreds of mages worked in organized chaos. Holograms floated in the air. Conduits carried Divine Energy into the enormous crystalline pillars lining the chamber. Phaenora nudged Vastarael.
"She's way too formal around you, Veneri."
"I am formal because he deserves formality, Lady Phaenora, and because my heart can only take so much of the chaos your presence invites."
"Ouch. She praised you and offended me in the same sentence."
"This is normal."
Vastarael stepped beside Sylveira with his gaze sweeping over the busy chamber.
"How is Richinaria handling the Divinity loss?"
Sylveira didn't hesitate.
"Perfectly well, Esteemed Highness. Our training doctrine has always emphasized independence from Divinity. The loss of half our Divinities' power is… inconvenient, but far from crippling. In truth, it feels more like a temporary debuff. We've stabilized all major sectors. Combat divisions are adjusting. Blacksmiths and our soldiers remain unaffected. The only strain we're currently facing is…"
Phaenora interrupted. "Let me guess. Divine Energy?"
Sylveira nodded.
"Yes. The Energy Core is receiving eleven times the usual flow. That is one thousand one hundred percent more per hour, to be exact."
"That's... okay, yeah, that's insane."
"Faith rises in times of fear," Sylveira said. "With Divinities erased from the world, every kingdom clings harder to what remains. Richinaria has become the pillar everyone in Anqerise leans on."
Vastarael folded his arms.
"And the Core can't contain all that."
"No, Esteemed Highness. At its current trajectory, the containment lattice will reach maximum capacity in three days. Four at most."
"What about diverting the overflow to the barriers? Not just the Boroughs but to the Cities too."
Sylveira's eyes lit immediately, like she had been hoping he'd say that.
"That is an excellent solution. I intended to suggest it myself."
Phaenora tilted her head. "Won't the barriers explode from the overload?"
Vastarael shook his head.
"Nope. My father made Eleventh Star Barrier Circles out of them. They can't shatter from too much Divine Energy. They absorb and store excess energy."
"Over-engineered to survive anything," Phaenora added proudly. "That man could probably build a shield around the sun."
Sylveira nodded.
"Each Barrier Pillar already includes a dedicated reservoir. If Richinaria Divines ever run low, those reservoirs act as backup batteries."
"The only danger," Vastarael said, "is letting the Energy Core continue as it is. If we don't redirect the excess, we risk a runaway cascade."
"Which would be catastrophic," Sylveira agreed.
Vastarael exhaled slowly.
"Alright. Then we reinforce all barrier lines in Amaniya today. And once that's stable, we'll expand outward to the rest of Anqerise."
Sylveira gestured for them to follow her.
"Then before we implement any changes, your Highness should inspect the Energy Core."
They walked deeper in the underground facility. The hum of the chamber grew stronger, vibrating through stone and bone alike. Phaenora's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Darling, we haven't seen the Core since we were what, nine? Ten?"
"Eleven. It was taller than the palace back then."
Sylveira chuckled softly.
"It still is."
The final doors opened with a hiss.
A colossal, twenty-story crystal construct rose from the center of the chamber, rotating slowly within a suspended ring of Xinoraci Runes. Rivers of blue-white Divine Energy spiraled through its facets like trapped lightning. Every pulse sent tremors through the chamber, but they were gentle. Phaenora stepped forward with wide eyes.
"Okay, I forgot how pretty that thing is."
Vastarael didn't speak for a moment.
"It responds to your presence, Your Highness. As it did to your father."
Vastarael closed his eyes.
"Yeah… I can tell."
He placed a hand on the transparent railing. Divine Energy thrummed beneath his skin, swirling around him like a living breeze. Phaenora stepped beside him.
"When you are ready, Esteemed Highness, we will begin rerouting the excess."
"Let's get started. The continent doesn't have time to wait."
Phaenora cracked her knuckles.
"And after this, we drag you out to relax. i finally get the first date with you. Lucky me!"