THE established universe : Geography

title : the guardians

Also known as the 'auspicious beasts' (more details next page), they each guard one kingdom to the north, east, south, west and centre respectively. A sixth is also present, though no one knew in which direction the kingdom it guards lie, nor indeed, had the location of the kingdom been ever discovered, and thus it was omitted from the maps. These auspicious beasts include the dragons, the vermillion bird, the turtle, the qilin and the tiger. Each guards the respective kingdoms of different directions; the Vermillion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, the Black Turtle of the North, the Azure Dragon of the East and the Horned Qilin of the Center. The Yellow Dragon remained lost, preserved merely in the history books, which recorded its first and last appearance over a thousand years ago, in the battle with the Shadow Dragon. 

title : The map

The map of the world consists of five kingdoms, known as the 'Five Lands', and the Outlying Lands.The five kingdoms are arranged in the north, east, south and west respectively, with the capital in the center. The Outlying Lands are where outcasts live, along with prisoners or exiles, and are lands beyond or between the Five Kingdoms. Beyond the official map also lie the Frozen Lands and the Death Lands. The Frozen Lands are to the utmost North, where there consists of barren frozen wastelands devoid of life - except monsters and beasts. The Death Lands were originally part of the Outlying Lands, but was carved out as a Kingdom for the Emperor of Darkness and Shadow Dragon in their conquest to take over the Five Kingdoms. It was called the Death Lands, because there only the spirits of the dead existed; not a living soul was found there.

Moreover, the generally agreed 'international' language to be spoken is Mandarin Chinese.

TITLE : the south

The Guardian of the South is the Vermillion Bird, which also symbolises summer. The Kingdom is named the 'Zhunanxia' Kingdom, literally meaning 'Vermillion summer south'. The people there specialise in many types of trade, especially spice trades. Because the South Kingdom has a huge port, it was also a popular place for business to take place there. Merchants regularly make their way there for sales, and it is constantly full of activity. 

People in the South generally are skilled on water and many had lived their entire lives on water. As a result, they worship deities of the sea besides their guardian, and chosen warriors may be able to obtain dual powers. People of the South are generally persistent and somewhat stubborn, yet could also be calm and soft-spoken. The South possesses a strong navy, and are also skilled in fighting on land. 

Occupations: Fishermen, merchants, businesspeople, navy soldiers 

Element: Fire

Available powers: Fire, water

Languages spoken: Different dialects of Chinese (southern provinces), Malayan languages, Tagalog

TITLE : the west

The Guardian of the West is the White Tiger, which symbolises autumn. The Kingdom is named 'Baiqiuxi', meaning white autumn west. People of the West are resilient warriors and skilled orators, often seeking to resolve matters with peace instead of violence. They seek to form and maintain bonds of friendship, instead of waging war. 

The areas of the West are mainly mountainous and close to nature, thus raw materials are exported from there to other kingdoms. Warriors train there from a young age, and hone their respective skills before their combat-waging nature is subdued at the age of ten, when they start learning skills of negotiating and democracy. As a result, they are both deadly and a force to be reckoned with. People of the West are skilled in fighting on unknown terrains with numerous obstacles, due to the mountains and forests being their training grounds when they are young. Some may also possess the ability to communicate with nature. The West has many skilled people who are both warriors and negotiators.

Occupations: Warriors, negotiators, healers (because of their link with nature), farmers

Element: Wood

Available powers: Nature-related powers, healing powers etc. 

Languages spoken: Turkish, Indian languages, dialects of Chiense (western provinces)

TITLE : the north

The Guardian of the North is the Black Turtle, which also symbolises winter. The Kingdom is named the 'Heidongbei' Kingdom, which means the black winter north. The North Kingdom is up in the Far North, below the Frozen Lands where it is all barren wasteland. Cold winds are often carried to the North Kingdom, and as a result, its people suffer greatly from bitterly cold winters and barely warm summers. 

People from the North are trained to survive the cold winters from a young age, and few could manage this feat. Even fewer could survive through their First Winter. As a result, the principle of 'survival of the fittest' is adopted, and Northen people are known to be tough and rather heartless. The North Kingdom survives on mostly hunting, as there is barely any land for growing crops. Occupations consist of hunters and gatherers of the common folk, but most people are raised as warriors from a young age, who will then go on to be trained as soldiers or assassins. 

Occupations: Hunters, gatherers, soldiers, assassins, spies 

Element: Water

Available powers: Water, controlling of elements related to water (e.g. snow, ice)

Languages spoken: Russian, Mongolian, dialects of Chinese (northern provinces)

TITLE : the East

The Guardian of the East is the Azure Dragon, which symbolises spring. The Kingdom is named 'Qingchundong', meaning azure spring east. The East is known to be the centre of wisdom and knowledge, as well as the development of culture. The East Kingdom possess the largest library and boosts the biggest school of knowledge out of the five kingdoms. Besides knowledge of academics, the East Kingdom also prides itself on their knowledge of magic and teaches their children on its usage. Those skilled and gifted in the magical arts would seek to further pursue it in their teenage years.

The East Kingdom is located near the sea as well, though not near enough as to have a port like the South. Besides the trade of knowledge and magic, its people are also known crafters and smiths, skilled in their hands and the making of things. The East Kingdom trades with other Kingdoms for raw materials and food, and in return exports secondary products such as weapons and handicrafts. 

Occupations: Magicians, seers, prophets, blacksmiths, crafters, teachers, scholars 

Element: Metal

Available powers: Magical arts, control of metal, 

Languages spken: Japanese, Korean, dialects of Chinese (eastern provinces)

TITLE : the CentEr

Located in the middle of the map, surrounded by the four other Kingdoms and also called the 'Heart', it is the so-called capital of the five Kingdoms and also where the Holy Emperor lives. He is the ruler of the Five Lands and the Territories Beyond, and governs the other Five Kingdoms. The Guardian of the Center Kingdom is the Horned Qilin, which is said to come only when an illustrious ruler arrives. Unlike the other Kingdoms, it has no nickname, and is known as its former name, before the Shadow Dragon destroyed everything and caused the Guardians and their chosen warriors to rebuild the cities; Draconia. It was said that the Yellow Dragon that had disappeared once ruled the Center Kingdom, and thus it was named Draconia.

Draconia is the Kingdom of riches, and all those seeking their fortune would go there. Hence, it is also the center of knowledge, trade, and everything else. Draconia is also rich enough to not need any type of agricultural activity, and relies solely on trading. 

Occupations: Pretty much any kind except for farmers and gatherers 

Element: Earth

Available powers: Any  

Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, other languages of those who moved there from other Kingdoms

TITLE : the outlying lands

Anywhere that does not belong to the lands of the Five Kingdoms is called as such, though because they're constantly expanding, the areas between the Five Kingdoms are constantly being taken. Hence, the Outlying Lands also refer to the lands which are deserts, which are located at the Northeast of the map, or the Southwest. 

The Outlying Lands are where exiles, outcasts and prisoners are. There are faculties there, prisons that are guarded with the utmost security consisting of soldiers from every Kingdom, but mostly Draconia. While there are prisons in each of the Kingdoms, dangerous criminals that are considered an immense threat are sent to the Outlying Lands. 

Besides the prisons, there are also 'villages', consisted of small bands of outcasts or exiles living together, those not dangerous enough to be considered prisoners or criminals. They live together and rely on survival with each other, and make their homes in places like caves or possibly forests, if lucky. This is also where the characters of the story will be living in, as outcasts. 

TITLE : the frozeN lands

Located to the utmost North, the Frozen Lands are an area of barren wasteland with nothing but the cold winds , ice and snow to serve as its climate. Because of the cold, nothing lives there except for rogue beasts and monsters. They occasionally escape from the Frozen Lands to pillage the North Kingdom, but otherwise they live relatively in peace with each other. Or they fight each other. The same, really. 

People from the Northern Kingdom once send their children to the Frozen Lands to train, but after seeing too many of them die, they stopped. Some still continue this tradition though, but only do so during summer, or the warmest time of the year for the Northern Kingdom, to prevent their deaths. 

TITLE : the death lands

Also called the 'Shadow Lands', they are a part of the Outlying Lands where the dead are buried. It was also where the Shadow Dragon was first sealed, and the lands where the Emperor of Darkness and Shadow Dragon started their conquest of the Five Kingdoms. 

Besides the fact that the dead are buried there, the reason that it was named the Death Lands was because there is no life there either. Anything that steps into the borders of the Death Lands will either vanish to some obscene corner of the Outlying Lands or dead. The dead souls were later raised by the Emperor of Darkness and served him as legions of the undead in his conquest. 

Now, the Death Lands are guarded by Yan Luo, a Death Deity as placed there by the Yellow Dragon a thousand years ago. He is the one who guides the dead souls across the Yellow Springs to the Death Lands, and guards the Seal, and to prevent the re-awakening of the Shadow Dragon. Unfortunately,  Yan Luo is not exactly invincible, and could be subject to temptations. 

TITLE : note

The above details are not based on real world details, and could be hazy at times because I'm a terrible person with lack of detail for planning. These are the basic outlines of the worlds, and I based them (mostly the outlining) on China, so the geography may reflect that, but the areas are of course larger on the maps. The reason there are no seas surrounding the Kingdoms on all four directions is because there is still much uncharted territory to be discovered. So yep. (Below would show updates on details, if any)