The basic geography of the Unformed Lands is a mostly flat grey plain with mirs and mage domains randomly spread out over it. The plain is apparently endless, as stories from travellers always tell of of other cities beyond where they have travelled, and even beyond where the far travellers they met had travelled.
The Unformed Lands technically only refers to the the plain, and not to the mirs and mage domains that are scattered about the plain. The Unformed Lands is also the common name though for the overall world. In the Unformed Lands, the landscape, other people, creatures and reality in general responds to the will of mages who can manipulate the energy found there. The stronger the mage, the more of the landscape, other people and creatures can be manipulated.
There are limits to what can be created in the Unformed Lands though. Food can not be created from nothing, but must be grown in a mir or in a mage domain. Food can be created from raw biological materials such as garbage, sewage or basic food materials such as yeast though. Creatures such as monsters can be created, but such creatures dissolve as soon as they enter a mir. Nor can they enter a mage domain without permission of the ruling mage. Objects can be created from the nothingness, but such objects will dissolve upon entering a mir. Real objects, including real raw materials can be worked into finished goods though that will hold up in mirs and other mage domains. This also applies to changed creatures and changed humanoids.
Travel in the Unformed Lands is considered very dangerous. Bandits and such have to raid travellers to survive since they can't grown food in The Unformed Lands.
Mage domains are created by powerful mages from the raw material of the Unformed Lands. Individual mages, or a group of mages, can create a pocket of apparent normallacy in the Unformed Lands. The more powerful the mage, the larger the domain can be. The mage domain responds directly to the will of the ruling mage(s). While others, including non-mages can live in the domain, they do so at the will and pleasure of the ruler. The ruler determines the climate, landscape and other details of the domain. They can be changed at any time though.
Mage domains can only be captured by another, more powerful mage. Killing the mage except by magic is unlikely. If the ruling mage is killed or dies, another mage must take over to maintain the domain. If the new ruler is not of sufficient power, the domain will shrink to fit the ruler's power. If there is no ruler, the domain will revert back to the formless plain in few days to months depending upon the size of the domain and the magic needed to maintain it. A peaceful transfer of power is possible.
Mage domains can almost abut each other, or mirs. There is always a clear dividing line though between each mage domain and mirs. The use of mage domains as extensions of mirs is fairly common among some feudal empires. Some empires have connected all their mirs, such that it looks effectively like one giant landmass. This also permits the empire to use magic to manufacture goods and provide more farm land.
Mirs are lands which do not respond to the will of mages. Mirs are areas where magic does not work. While the lack of magic can be frustrating, it is also a source of safety. Mirs are permanent, unlike mage domains. Mirs are not run at the whim of a mage, but instead follow the normal rules of physics and chemistry.
The geography of the mirs in apparently random. Some mirs are flat grasslands, while the next one a few days march away is a giant mountain. Inside any given mir though the geography is rational. A mir that is tundra on one end will not be a tropical jungle a days walk away. Mirs are generally at least a weeks travel by foot away from each other.
Despite the apparent randomness of the geography inside of the mirs and the unchanging sameness of the Unformed Lands, the world has recognized regions. The regions have as much to do with cultural history and current political boundries as with permanent terrain features.
The Small Mirs are a series of geographically small mirs that are fairly close to each other. The mirs range in size from 50 square miles to 500 square miles. The mirs are very small compared to the rest of the known Unformed Lands. They are also very close to each other, generally only 15 to 20 miles between mir boundries. The region covers some XXX square miles and encompasses about XXX mirs.
The Open Lands are pretty much the opposite of the Small Mirs. Instead of hundreds of small mirs that are very close together, the open lands are a small number huge mirs, and they are far apart. Sizes range from 90,000 square miles to 150,000 square miles.
The Sparse Lands is a region of small to moderate sized mirs that are very isolated from both other parts of The Unformed Lands, but also from each other. Each mir has quite a distance between it and it's neighbors.
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