Elixir Vitae

Land Elixir Vitae is a lordship situated on the western coasts of Draught in the barony of Amphorae, and is the nearest land in all of the Gateway Empire to the Barrier. Elixir Vitae borders Meritas to the south, and Healer's Hall to the east, with oceanic coasts to the north and west. Elixir Vitae is also host to the Baronial Manor and lands of House Paggion.

Elixir Vitae consists largely of small plains and low, rolling and rocky hills. The southern coast is dotted by a number salt marshes and estuaries, although some more solid shores do exist. Further north, the coast becomes rocky and impassable, especially nearer Healer Hall. Inland, rivers which feed the salt marshes form several small marshes, peat bogs, and low fens. The peat bogs are an important fuel source for Elixir Vitae, harvested in the summer and autumn months to burn in the winter.  In the heart of the lordship, the inland rivers find their source in a region known as Geysir Park. Hot springs bubble up there from beneath the surface of the lordship into large pools, most of which are prized for their therapeutic value.

Some of the hot springs are known to well forth, periodically, into massive displays of unbridled geothermal power known as geysers (named after the town of Geysir Springs), shooting sprays of hot water ten to twenty feet into the air at semi-regular intervals. The springs are very memorable because they have crystal clear water and basins that are naturally of a rich and vivid blue. Bathing is only advisable in still pools, however, as the centers of geyser pools can reach water temperatures of up to 200°F(93°C).

One of Geysir's many hot springs

A marsh along Elixir Vitae's western coast

Climate

Elixir Vitae is located in a temperate clime, and its temperatures are moderate. Its weather, however, is highly changeable. There is a prevailing southern wind that is occasionally – but often sharply – interrupted by colder air from eastern Draught. Winters vary from mild to extremely cold and severe, but temperatures below 15°F(-10°C) are rare. Since there are no mountains in Amphorea, weather and temperatures are prone to change quickly and without warning as weather moves unhindered across the country. Cold fronts from further east can strike in the middle of summer and sudden cold snaps can occur in the middle of an otherwise mild winter.

With the Sea of Veils on its western and northern coasts, marine conditions greatly impact the weather. Conditions at the coast often differ from areas further inland. Coastal areas are generally more temperate: wetter and cooler in the summer and wet but warmer in the winter. It is the south that often experiences the lordship's highest temperatures in the summer and the coldest in winter.

Settlements

Geysir Springs (Large Town, pop. approx. 4,500): Geysir Springs is small city that has grown around the natural hot springs that well up in the heart of the lordship. Many of the town's inhabitants are alchemists and healers who study the properties of the waters that permeate the lordship. These same waters form the bulk of the city's trade as a luxury and medicine rather than an export. Elderly and wealthy vacationers travel frequently to Geysir to enjoy the hot spring baths and fountains. The town is also a common haunt for nobles and merchants seeking to do business with Amphorae as a whole, as the baronial seat of Paggion Manor lies only a half day's ride south and east of the city.

Adenton (Small City, pop. approx. 12,000): The city of Adenton (pronounced AY-din-tun) was named after Lord Aden Paggion, a brother to the seated Baron who reigned during the early part of the third century. Lord Aden Paggion built a large manor there, and it attracted a large number of citizens to build a small town just outside his lands. When House Crowley was elevated, they purchased the old manor and renamed the surrounding area Adenton. They then made the city the capital of Elixir Vitae.

Moreso than its eastern neighbor, Healer's Hall, Elixir Vitae's economy relies upon the export of its medicinal herbs and potions. While the majority of its potions and drugs are sent to Healing College, its herbs tend to be sold to local alchemists and merchants who distribute them among the isles. There is a small tourist contribution, as travelers make their way to soak in the hot spring baths which are reputed to possess some healing properties.

Elixir Vitae is arguably the largest producer of medicinal herbs in the Empire, and its people have perfected their cultivation and harvesting. Throughout the lordship, trees and shrubbery are harvested regularly and with care to ensure a continued product. The Lordship's exports include nearly every herb available in the empire, including a small niche market on wetland herbs that are available nowhere else. The main focus, however, is put upon the raising of herbs used by herbalists, healers, and alchemists. The heavy mineral content in the waters sourced at Geysir enhances the already natural bounty, fortifying it with numerous healing properties that have not yet been fully identified but are highly coveted. Especially popular -- but exceedingly rare -- are the wild berries which grow in the southwestern coastal regions. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and other similar false-fruit growths are prized not as food (as the berries of Green Fields are plumper and tastier), but rather for their juices, which blend well as an additive with a number of drinks and touted as potent defenses against a number of diseases and illnesses.

Holidays
The Day of Oneness. The Day of Oneness is a subdued festival that is celebrated in the third week of December. During the third week of December, the people of Draught come to Elixir Vitae to partake in the benefits of the hotsprings. Inventors and alchemists come to the springs during this time, seeking an epiphany that will allow a breakthrough in their latest project. Astronomers ponder their place in the universe. Even some less conservative Purists come to contemplate their faith and Providence in gender-separated bathing places.

Religion
The people of Elixir Vitae are, unlike their neighbors in Healer's Hall, a little more standoff-ish about religion, particularly as it pertains to Purism. Many citizens will acknowledge Providence, but many references are more vestiges and superstition in the culture than a deep faith. There are, of course, some citizens who readily confess a belief in the intervening power of Providence and pray regularly. No citizen will ever go so far as to state that Providence does not exist, or challenge the Keeper's divinely bestowed right to rule. In fact, there are a number who will state that it is Providence Herself who has blessed the region with the herbs that heal illness and springs that soothe the soul. But just as there are those who embrace Providence as an integral part of their daily lives, there are a great many who -- in an attempt to even further distance themselves philosophically from Purist zealotry -- remove thoughts of the goddess from their daily lives as much as possible without setting themselves at odds against the Keeper and the Empire.

Meanwhile, the on-going strain of relations between citizens of Elixir Vitae and Purists in the southern lordship of Meritas -- and, more fundamentally, between Purism and the recreational drug aspects of alchemy itself -- does not soften hearts to sentiments regarding Purism. As such, Elixir Vitae is not as conducive to settlement by Purists as the south of Healer's Hall to the east, often regarded by Purists to be a downright hostile social environment.

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