The Land of Faces · 2:55am Aug 28th, 2018
In the west of the Web, past Central and the Connecting Sea, there lies a vast land of plains and steppes. It is the single largest continent in the Known Internet, an ocean of grass and rolling hills that appear unending. The great grasslands go on for eternity, halting only at the enormous mountain range to the far west, that marks an end to the world.
It is a continent of ruins. Once, this vast land was the home of various sites and nations, some who foundered early in the dawning days of the First Age, and others that thrived . . . until their day of annihilation. The largest of these were the men of the Great Space, the latest of these forgotten races, and the most prosperous.
Yet even they were not spared, when the Facers came.
These Facers were—and still are—nomadic clans, moving from place to place on the backs of their trusted horses, whom they bred and trained and rode from birth to grave. Once, they were regarded as mere nuisances, petty raiders and savages. However, in the early days of the Web, they were united under a single leader, reforged into an unstoppable army of riders that destroyed all in their path. It happened with alarming speed: within only the span of years, every opposing site had been wiped out, their leaders cast down and their cities left as haunted monuments to the Conquest. Most were eradicated completely. Of the Spacers, only a remnant of a remnant remains, locked in the arid hills behind the Sunwalls, small bands on the Singing River that dream of the power they lost. All others are gone—only the horselords remain.
The Facers in the modern age are conquerors no more—the advent of a more civilized age under the Moderator Authority guaranteed that. They remain, however, a loud and quarrelsome people, still divided into their clans of old. These are more, however, than mere family units. The Facers believe strongly in the idea of connection, and that it can arise outside of mere blood. While a certain lineage might be the core of a clan, they are built around oaths of mutual fealty and fellowship, guaranteed by the exchange of treasures and vows between often unrelated members. Even the most minor of associations can lead to an exchange of friendship, ushering that person into a large, interconnected circle of families, traders, and members that rely upon—and often compete with—one another.
Most Facers remain nomads to this day, with clans walking the traditional tagpaths of their forebears. Others have chosen to settle down, such as the clans that till the rich soil of the Farm Vale, but they still have little love for cities. Only a handful of true, permanent settlements exist in the Land of Faces. To the north is Centralplus City, actually an “diplomatic colony” of the Moderators of Central, often frequented by northern traders. To the south, the city of Newfeed shares a link to foreign lands by the Engines of the Violet Line. And further south, on the tip of land known as the Bill, the city of Statusee sits on the banks of the Following River, a port to the riches of the south. Other Facers have taken up the role of traders themselves, sailing beyond their lands to the larger Web. The isle of Insagann is one fruit of these labors: settled by Facer colonists, it owns one of the largest content trading companies in the Known Internet.
The Land of Faces is comprised of several large regions, home to clans and tribes of differing dispositions. In the north are the Blue Steppes, so named for the blue and white flowering plants that grow upon the plains. Located close to Am-Azon and the other famous trade cities, it is the stomping ground of the AD Caravans, who run north-to-south to trade their wares and promote their content companies. Many clans along these northern tagpaths have grown rich off of trade, particularly those in the Shill Hills, famed for its mines of gold and silver.
In the South, there are the Prattling Plains. Here, the native grass can grow as tall as a man, a veritable jungle choked with content traders, gifslingers, fandom-followers, and violent factions. Once you have passed from the territory of the placid Grey-Manes of the Farm Vale, one can encounter some of the most ornery clans of the continent; some merely rambunctious, like the Bravado of the Redcup Vale, to the outright bloodthirsty, such as the Maga Clans of the west. Following the same cult as the Red Hats of Reddit, the Maga are thralls to a demon from Beyond, enslaved to the Dark Memetica, and tied with the No-Truth Contraries that gather beneath the odd mountain of False Face. Consumed by the same shadow war as the larger Web, they war endlessly with the Just Nation Clans of the east, comprised of Oathbound and other avengers of the Blue Flag Alliance. Skirmishes and raids consume this land, and the conflict is not expected to abate anytime soon.
The concordance of the clans is found at the continent’s center, at the navel of an inland sea known as the Likelake. In the shadow of the Conqueror’s Mark, the blood-descendants of that ancient despoiler rule in the Isle of Clan, in the shadowy House of the Zucc. Also called the “Menlomanse,” this palace is home to the heirs of the Conqueror, who to this day still claim the homage of all who dwell within the lands their ancestor once overrode. They are an ancient line, and feared: despite the placid waters of the Likelake, its waters are rarely traveled by those who have not been summoned.
The Zucc themselves are held in strange regard, equal parts awe, contempt, and fear by the Facers at large. Strange rumors circulate about them: that they are sorcerers, that they commune with Deep Web fleshtrappers and cult conspiracies, that they fund and promote the secret work of the Dark Analytica, and worse. Some claim that they are not truly men at all, being the half-human spawn of the enormous water-lizards that infest the lake around them, masquerading in mortal skin. Whatever the truth, their sway over the clans—and the recent rumors regarding their ties to the Putinites of V’Kay—gives ample cause for caution around them.
Even apart from such mysteries, there are oddities—and dangers—beyond counting. One of them, the Conqueror’s Mark, rises from the Sunwalls. It is one of the largest mountains in the Web, but its height is not what makes it a marvel. Racing along every side are carvings, great etchings and pictures cleaved out of the living stone by ancient hands. Many of the pictures are the shapes of animals known to the Facers: thunderbirds, killer whales, water-lizards, and—of course—horses.
Beneath Mark’s banks is the Awkwood—thought to be cursed—and the Friendless Fields, both deserted save for the Outcasts. These are ostracized and banished members of clans, too ill-fitting to live among their own, now turned to furtive forest-dwellers that shun contact with others. In the south, the Sunwalls hold darker secrets. One group of Facers, the Nightstalkers, are despised above all, lurking within the depths of the Caves of Crenge that honeycomb the mountains. Black legends surround them, such as their penchant to follow and watch their fellow men from afar, waiting until night to carry them back to their cavernous homes for unspeakable rites.
While the Facers are now more willing to chance the sea, they sail almost entirely on the eastern coast. To the west lies only the Deep Web, and a lifeless coastline that borders the Lonely Sea. None travel in these dark waters, save for renegades from the Deep, smugglers or worse. Those same smugglers have ample trade in the seas to the north, in the icy stretch known as the Great Expanse. No lands or islands lie within these waters, nor any landmarks save for the titanic leviathans that swim in the far north. But lying past this sea is another land, foreign to all: Kyo-Kio, where stars are strange, a nation cloaked in sorcery.
A great wall of eldritch, conjured fire blocks all passage to this secretive country—it is approachable solely through the Deep, by the smugglers brave enough to try such a dangerous voyage. Of those who try, few succeed, and fewer still manage to return, for the rulers of Kio-Kyo are jealous of their authority and immediately hostile to outsiders that might contest it. Those that have come back speak of unknown constellations and movements in the stars, of tropics and jungles that exist despite being seated what we know as the far north, of enormous river crabs that men ride like horses. Yet all of this was merely the foremost coast of this land: all else exists beyond a veil of mist-shrouded peaks, seemingly impassable, known as the Mountains of Mao. And beyond that?
None can say. There lies the end of our knowledge, and where the great unknown begins.
....... just.... damn. Glad to see this going and the lore and story not stopping. This is just..... so damn epic.
All that's missing is some circle of always active volcanoes that are near impassible, surrounding a lake of purest acid, over which a hurricane force storm always blows, where rumor claims in the very center is an island which contains a monument which gives any brave, foolish person that might find it the ability to change their privacy settings.
What is Kio-Kyo a pun of?
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Kio-Kyo is a play on the site QQ, which is currently the most popular web destination in China and one of the most popular in the world. I might make a lore post focused on the lands behind the Great Firewall at some point in the future, but it basically serves as a composite of various popular sites used in China, complete with the strict censorship and control that comes with it.
4927383
Ok, got it.