Government: Monarchy

Leader: High King Muurdel Koret

Capital: Jurgun

Population: 1,033,901

 

Summary:

The Poruken homeland was once one large island, but due to the volcanic activity, the island exploded down the center. A mixture of flatlands and large mountains, Utal’s population mostly is built into it. With the Poruk living in the mountains and under the flatlands where they grow some of their crops or tend livestock. Much of the plant life in Utal is underground though, with mushrooms, mosses, and more the Poruk have all cultivated into their diet. For livestock, the land has goats and giant lizards. Typically these creatures are used as mounts or labor rather than eaten. There are other creatures that live on the island that are not domesticated. Rabid, large, flightless crow-like creatures haunt the lower depths of the Island’s caves, called Corbyn. Giant vultures control the skies outside the caves.

 

The entities of Ulguk and Kulna reside within the island and are worshipped. While Ulguk is the favorite, Kulna is well respected by many craftsmen and women. They usually offer her gifts for her favor. It is stated she, while being emotional to a fault, will gift a metal worker great blessings if she is honored. She resides under the main capital city. Ulguk, who resides in the larger half of the island is said to be the island itself. There is typically no one place people go, but many honor him through architecture.

 

Some parts of Utal still bears remnants of when the Seyarans lived there. Their homeland now exists as a series of broken islands where the island tore itself in half. Since then, the island flips itself due to no longer maintaining a balance. While the Poruk are seeking a fix, much of their cities and culture has been designed around the principle that, for several months of the year, they may be living upside down. If you are not careful, you can and will fall off the island and die.

 

History:

Early history of the island displays art and early forms of communication show that the Seyarans and Poruk once both coexisted on the island. Remnants of structures along Ulguk’s Grove seem to match early styles of Seyaran buildings as well. Much of the records kept there have been lost, but some lucky finds of old texts of ancient Seyaran language have been uncovered as well as pottery. It is assumed that the Seyarans fled as their part of the island crumbled away and shattered.

 

At this same time, the Poruk people had begun carving out hollows into the island for massive forges. Built into volcanoes. Towns built into them as the need for metal arms and weapons prospered. When the first sign of the shattering of the island came, many Poruk just figured Kulna had become upset. When Lava washed up into the pathways and sealed people within their homes or devoured them, panic set in. However, they didn’t have long after that before the island bagan to lean then flip upside down. Much of the farmland they had cultivated was ruined and any who had been out there was expected to be dead.

 

This event became known as the Shattering and is the deadliest natural disaster in the known history. Though the Chill is considered to have taken more lives, that is over a course of hundreds of years. Because of this destruction, much of the early history of Utal is lost. But in an attempt to expand they have dug into a kind of ruin. Monsters paraded through the remnants of buildings; mindless protectors of a bygone people unable to veer from that course. These ruins have been sealed.

 

Since then, the cities in Utal have been renovated with steam based machinery, forges, and are massive in size, fitting cities near the size of the city Seyaria within. This is due to the majority of their island population living within the caverns they dug out.

 

Major Features:

Chamber of Kulna
Resting in the center of Jurgun, this giant lava bubble is the believed home of Kulna. This bubble or chamber sits in the main cavern, overlooking much of the city. Many forges surround the chamber and span outwards from there. The inside of the chamber is reserved for Kulna alone and those she invites inside. Everyone else seems to melt away if they try to invade even under the most protective of spells. This lava chamber is thusly known to be an essential place to worship. Beyond that, this suspended bubble of Lava holds its form with no support or drips from the ceiling of the cavern (at least until the island inevitably flips).

 

Ulguk’s Grove
The shattered center of the Utal Island where thousands of small islands scatter about as if in some form of dance, going up, down, left, right, diagonal, and more in direction in seemingly independent path. Several research posts span the edges, recording each of the movements and developing hypotheses on what causes the movement. It is also a location with a high population of Ulguk worshippers.

 

Mount Tumal
The largest volcanic mountain on Utal, centered above the city of Jurgun. While it has remained relatively dormant since the shattering of the island with no major eruptions, but the activity is always tied (whether true or not is up to debate) to Kulna’s bouts of emotion.

 

Obsidian Walkway
The main pathway of the capital city leading from the main gate to the keep of the High King. A thin bed of obsidian glass frozen over a lake of lava, scattering purple light from below. If attacked, the entire path could be shattered and bathe invaders in molten lava. This walkway seems to be able to sustain massive amounts of weight though, seeing as it is a main roadway.

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The Great Device

While most cities in Utal use double layered buildings and walkways for when the city flips, Jurgun has squandered away a vast amount of the wealth to design the city upon a large spinning disk within a ball. This spinning disk allows the city to maintain an upright position no matter the state of the surrounding island. To keep this disk spinning, power from Geothermal vents has been directed to it. Should it ever fail, the city would likely be horrifically killed.