Curcalen

Curcalen (pronounced /kɜrˈkeɪlɨn/) is a world on the plane of Zien in the cosmos of Usm. Curcalen has two suns, which traverse the world's surface over paths that are very nearly at right angles to each other, each sharing its orbit with a thame that ensures that the sun isn't visible from too great a distance.

A slim majority of the surface of Curcalen is covered by water. Most of the land is clumped into four large continents that cover most of one hemisphere of the world; there are three more continents on the other hemisphere, one of which bears an odd near-perfect circular shape that strongly suggests an artificial origin, and remains a mystery. Thanks to the influence of the suns, Curcalen has a tropical belt as well as a near-perpendicular temperate line cutting through what would otherwise be its arctic region; generally the center of tropical belt—the path of the nearer sun—is taken as the zero of latitude, and the temperate line—the path of the farther sun—as the zero of longitude.

The people of Curcalen rely heavily on the use of summoned creatures from other planes as providers of various goods and services. Some otherplanar creatures such as the bbarzh perform heavy labor for their human masters; others serve other functions, such as the glowing kae and ulurn that are summoned to serve as light sources. Machines that appear automated are really actuated by summoned creatures imprisoned within. Summoned creatures are the basis of all Curcalen's industry and civilization, and form the backbone that the world's society is built on.

With summoning being this common and this integral to Curcalian life, it has long ceased to be the province only of puissant wizards and expert students of arcana. Shops that sell the services of summoned monsters of various kinds are common in every town and village, and most skilled tradesmen will be familiar with methods for summoning at least a small selection of creatures. Summoning is as much a part of everyday life in Curcalen as is electricity in Information Age Earth.

Though summoned creatures are generally bound to the will of the summoner (or to a third party to whom the summoner reassigns their service), not all of them are content with their lot. Many summoned creatures chafe at their servitude, and do their best to escape it, or, failing that, at least to frustrate the ends of their masters out of petty revenge. Troubleshooters called keepermen are often called in to deal with rebellious summoned creatures, and are good at either mollifying the creatures or binding them closer to limit their ability to rebel.

Politically, Curcalen is divided into a number of different states with various types of government, both democracies and monarchies being fairly widely represented. In practice, however, the rulers of Curcalen's countries are rarely the most powerful individuals; the real powers behind the thrones are a number of competing cabals, to one or the other of whom most of the nominal rulers owe their loyalty. The existence of the cabals, let alone their activities, is unknown to most people of Curcalen, and even those who are aware of their presence don't generally know how to identify members of the various cabals, or what they're really up to. The members of the cabals are typically skilled users of magic, and each cabal has its own magical traditions and powers, as well as its own plots and philosophies.

Another important force active on Curcalen, and one as secretive as the cabals, is that of the demons, extraplanar creatures that seek to gather the élan vital of Curcalen's human inhabitants by tempting them along paths that correspond to the special spheres of influence of the particular demon breed--pride for the othori, physical desire for the xrân, law for the hethemiie and chaos for the ykalynon. One cabal, the Bit and Basket, is knowingly allied with the demons, but for the most part the demons act from the shadows, sometimes possessing or otherwise controlling a particular important individual but rarely making their presence known as they go about their plans.