08-08-2023, 05:07 AM
"Zog see many thing. Terrible thing in Zog home. Great city empty, only dead live. Where corpse in charge, and eat meat of Zog people."
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- Zog, the Wandering Warrior of Tosk
![[Image: tosk3.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/845863975748501514/1138335353854496768/tosk3.png)
The Land of Tosk
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Lost to Time and Mankind Alike
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Some say it lies beyond the great oceans of the world, others would spin tales that the lost Land of Tosk sits on the other side of a vast and harsh desert. Few have ventured so far, and fewer still have returned from the archaic lands at the reaches of the world. Possessing almost a mystical quality, as it seems to perpetually lie just beyond the maps of Eternia... perpetually pushed further from the civilized lands which grace navigational charts. There are those scholars who're so foolish as to study the existence of Tosk, who propose that it sits on the junction of two planes. The material and... well, no one could quite say where else Tosk resides within the world at large.
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Its quality of mystery is also what makes it such an attractive target for would-be explorers and those with a hunger for adventure. To discover more about the fringes of the map, and chart what appears as unknown to much of the world. For those who have gone so far and returned, they speak of a bleak land, ringed by mountains and pocked with arid deserts, occasionally interrupted by salted lakes which serve as home to migratory birds which sup from the saline waters. It is to say the least... inhospitable, which only makes it more of a marvel for those who have never been.
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What grand treasures lie beneath the sands of Tosk? Surely some spectacular prize lies in wait for those brave enough to delve into the unmapped country, or so the circle of adventurers with the gall to attempt, would say of the place.
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In truth? No great riches, wealth, nor artefacts have returned from the Lost Country. It remains a barren relic at the edge of the world, a stamp in time when the lands of Eternia were more ancient. As if Tosk had been frozen there... its monumental sandstone cities, now lay empty where many thousands might have once tread. Though that is not to say that the Land of Tosk is entirely without life, for there is some small population there... cursed with an existence to migrate from plain to plain. Eking out their livelihood from the thin vegetation which manages to grow amidst rocky outcroppings.
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The Nogratii
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The primary population which makes their home in the Land of Tosk, are the Nogratii. They are a materially poor and frugal people, who live out a nomadic lifestyle which carries them across the sparsely vegetated lands, skirting along the great dunes in search of what might sustain them. Primarily subsisting off of scrawny birds, meagre scraps of whatever root vegetables can be torn from the earth... and on occasion, each other. The Nogratii have adapted to this simplistic and harsh way of life, with drastically low metabolism and the capacity to live on as little as possible for as long as possible.
i
Though the drastic downsides of being forced into such brutal nomadic living are unavoidable, with the average lifespan of such a people often capping out in their thirties. Little else is known about the Nogratii, save what can be garnered from the few explorers who survived long enough to spend time in their camps. In truth, only the fringe elements of Tosk's people have been properly studied and observed, with tales told of ferocious warriors which make their home in the empty cities of the interior deserts. Though no name is given to them by the Nogratii people save for Urrac Bharr, or roughly translated to 'Fool Lords' in their plain, unwritten tongue.
i
The vast battlefields which serve as the playground for Tosk's malignant 'Corpse Kings'.
i
- Zog, the Wandering Warrior of Tosk
The Land of Tosk
i
Lost to Time and Mankind Alike
i
Some say it lies beyond the great oceans of the world, others would spin tales that the lost Land of Tosk sits on the other side of a vast and harsh desert. Few have ventured so far, and fewer still have returned from the archaic lands at the reaches of the world. Possessing almost a mystical quality, as it seems to perpetually lie just beyond the maps of Eternia... perpetually pushed further from the civilized lands which grace navigational charts. There are those scholars who're so foolish as to study the existence of Tosk, who propose that it sits on the junction of two planes. The material and... well, no one could quite say where else Tosk resides within the world at large.
i
Its quality of mystery is also what makes it such an attractive target for would-be explorers and those with a hunger for adventure. To discover more about the fringes of the map, and chart what appears as unknown to much of the world. For those who have gone so far and returned, they speak of a bleak land, ringed by mountains and pocked with arid deserts, occasionally interrupted by salted lakes which serve as home to migratory birds which sup from the saline waters. It is to say the least... inhospitable, which only makes it more of a marvel for those who have never been.
i
What grand treasures lie beneath the sands of Tosk? Surely some spectacular prize lies in wait for those brave enough to delve into the unmapped country, or so the circle of adventurers with the gall to attempt, would say of the place.
i
In truth? No great riches, wealth, nor artefacts have returned from the Lost Country. It remains a barren relic at the edge of the world, a stamp in time when the lands of Eternia were more ancient. As if Tosk had been frozen there... its monumental sandstone cities, now lay empty where many thousands might have once tread. Though that is not to say that the Land of Tosk is entirely without life, for there is some small population there... cursed with an existence to migrate from plain to plain. Eking out their livelihood from the thin vegetation which manages to grow amidst rocky outcroppings.
i
The Nogratii
i
The primary population which makes their home in the Land of Tosk, are the Nogratii. They are a materially poor and frugal people, who live out a nomadic lifestyle which carries them across the sparsely vegetated lands, skirting along the great dunes in search of what might sustain them. Primarily subsisting off of scrawny birds, meagre scraps of whatever root vegetables can be torn from the earth... and on occasion, each other. The Nogratii have adapted to this simplistic and harsh way of life, with drastically low metabolism and the capacity to live on as little as possible for as long as possible.
i
Though the drastic downsides of being forced into such brutal nomadic living are unavoidable, with the average lifespan of such a people often capping out in their thirties. Little else is known about the Nogratii, save what can be garnered from the few explorers who survived long enough to spend time in their camps. In truth, only the fringe elements of Tosk's people have been properly studied and observed, with tales told of ferocious warriors which make their home in the empty cities of the interior deserts. Though no name is given to them by the Nogratii people save for Urrac Bharr, or roughly translated to 'Fool Lords' in their plain, unwritten tongue.
i
The vast battlefields which serve as the playground for Tosk's malignant 'Corpse Kings'.
i
The Necromancer Warlords of Tosk
![[Image: tosk2.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/845863975748501514/1138336600884007042/tosk2.png)
Word of mouth carries quickly and often exaggerates the truth, especially of those lands which are as fantastical and distant as Tosk. Yet time and again, the sparse survivors of those grand adventurers speak of cruel Undeath which rules over swathes of the inland deserts, doing battle with the base warrior tribes which make their home in the vast ruins of bygone civilizations. Those monolithic structures from which great Emperors and God-Kings might've surveyed the land, many towering stories in the sky.
i
Yet now, the plinths and spires crumble, and walls begin to sag beneath weight of time and corrosive desert sand. Lifeless save for the slouching march of corpses, in their perpetual battle for supremacy with savage warrior tribes of the sand seas. Those undressed and filthy primitives which pit themselves against the undead armies of Necromancer Overlords which scrape their domain from the ruins of the old order, raising their armies from the ancient corpses of Tosk's long-dead history. Shambling skeletons which do battle with barbaric skirmishers, ultimately reinforcing their hated foe upon death. Inevitably? The brave savages of the ruined civilization will no longer be, and only death will rule the land thereafter.
i
Little can be said of the egomaniacal rulers of these pockets of undead dominion. Some so weak that they disappear in a blink of an eye, others... so powerful that the sky itself seems to humble itself against them. Towers of bone and flesh which reach into the clouds above, beacons of fetid decay... what they beckon? No one can really say, only that they seem to grow higher in each passing year...
i
A Land in Ruin, A Land of Rebirth
i
As bleak and wretched as the lives of those who call Tosk home is, the savage and nomadic people there would have it no other way. Rare is it for the sturdy folk of Tosk to travel abroad, and perhaps rarer for them to survive a trip beyond the mountainous boundary of their homeland. An almost otherworldly anchor which keeps the inhabitants of that thrice cursed land, there forever.
i
Perhaps the tales are true however... and some great relic can be found within the deep vaults of decaying metropoli. Whether they might serve for good or evil, is a fact best left unexplored for now.
i
Who knows what lies in sleep beneath the sand?
The Necromancer Warlords of Tosk
Word of mouth carries quickly and often exaggerates the truth, especially of those lands which are as fantastical and distant as Tosk. Yet time and again, the sparse survivors of those grand adventurers speak of cruel Undeath which rules over swathes of the inland deserts, doing battle with the base warrior tribes which make their home in the vast ruins of bygone civilizations. Those monolithic structures from which great Emperors and God-Kings might've surveyed the land, many towering stories in the sky.
i
Yet now, the plinths and spires crumble, and walls begin to sag beneath weight of time and corrosive desert sand. Lifeless save for the slouching march of corpses, in their perpetual battle for supremacy with savage warrior tribes of the sand seas. Those undressed and filthy primitives which pit themselves against the undead armies of Necromancer Overlords which scrape their domain from the ruins of the old order, raising their armies from the ancient corpses of Tosk's long-dead history. Shambling skeletons which do battle with barbaric skirmishers, ultimately reinforcing their hated foe upon death. Inevitably? The brave savages of the ruined civilization will no longer be, and only death will rule the land thereafter.
i
Little can be said of the egomaniacal rulers of these pockets of undead dominion. Some so weak that they disappear in a blink of an eye, others... so powerful that the sky itself seems to humble itself against them. Towers of bone and flesh which reach into the clouds above, beacons of fetid decay... what they beckon? No one can really say, only that they seem to grow higher in each passing year...
i
A Land in Ruin, A Land of Rebirth
i
As bleak and wretched as the lives of those who call Tosk home is, the savage and nomadic people there would have it no other way. Rare is it for the sturdy folk of Tosk to travel abroad, and perhaps rarer for them to survive a trip beyond the mountainous boundary of their homeland. An almost otherworldly anchor which keeps the inhabitants of that thrice cursed land, there forever.
i
Perhaps the tales are true however... and some great relic can be found within the deep vaults of decaying metropoli. Whether they might serve for good or evil, is a fact best left unexplored for now.
i
Who knows what lies in sleep beneath the sand?