Day (/ days in a year ): 198 ( / 302)
Day Length (relative to 24-hour Earth day): x1 (Earthlike)
Seasonal Chart:
Geography: Geographically, Nool is an interesting polity. It is home to a few dozen large settlements (fortress cities, large cities, small cities at important and well-fortified cross-roads) and innumerable smaller ones (hamlets, small villages, castles, estates, etc.) spread over an area of hundreds of square miles. In its more populated areas, large settlements are often only a few dozen miles apart, although most of the region is sparsely populated wilderness.
The climate is temperate and comfortable for most of the year, with a brief mild winter and a brief mild summer, and a year length similar to that of Earth's. Nool's sky has one very large, red sun and three moons. Everything has a reddish hue, just a bit, but people from beyond Portals to lands with different skies usually adjust quickly. Because the climate is so stable for most of the year, people get a lot done. Harsh summers and winters are very rare, but do happen.
The kingdom is bordered to the north by a massive and largely inhospitable desert known as the Desert of Noc, a massive and largely inhospitable forest to the south known as the Great Forest of Gih, and by large tracts of sparsely-peopled savannah to the east and west, where the kingdom's pioneers have been building new settlements every few generations, when times are good.
There are several major rivers which mostly connect and meet up over hundreds of miles, culminating in the Wuur River at the City of Vat, at the western edge of the Kingdom. The City of Nool itself belongs to a separate river system, which further isolates it culturally from the rest of the realm. The Bakix River, which connects the cities of Jeg and Vat, is rarely used for transport as it travels through the utterly wild Great Forest of Gih; instead, people in that part of the realm transport goods overland through fertile valleys. If it weren't for that, then one would be able to ride a boat from one end of the realm to the other. In fact one still can, but the journey is perilous and long, and rarely undertaken, as the Great Forest is extremely dangerous.
The system of navigable rivers, some forests, and a few important mountain ranges define the kingdom's interior, with several distinct sub-regions that are much more connected within than they are to the rest of the kingdom. Notably, the centrally-located and ancient City of Jeg has been the economic and cultural link between the eastern and western halves of Nool for centuries, which are otherwise barely in logistical communication with each other. The capitol City of Nool itself rules distantly, detached from the major networks of the Kingdom and with its own distinct and insular culture that largely considers itself above the affairs of the rest of the Kingdom. Although the eastern and western halves of the kingdom are barely connected, each half contains networks of large cities along rivers and in fertile valleys and grasslands.
Culture, Law, and Customs: Each city has its own distinct culture, laws, and customs. All that really binds this place together is a common language and ancient fuedal customs. Nobody has challenged the supremacy of Nool over the realm in many centuries, and no King of Nool has given anyone a reason to do so in just as long. Wars among the lords and cities of the realm are not uncommon, and the king of Nool traditionally lets things play out in the ancient way rather than interfere, unless the Kingdom itself is threatened. The region around the City of Jeg is famously peaceful, as its rulers value stability, it is extremely defensible, and its economic position is unassailable (some say it was an ancient capitol long ago, but it's now a modest city). Wars between the closely-packed cities in the more habitable parts of the east and west are common but usually short. Wars between the east and west sides of the kingdom are exceptionally rare, but not unheard of. Longer ago than most people are keeping track of, the current rulers at the City of Nool achieved their position in such a war. There are essentially no outside threats to the Kingdom at the moment.
In general, slavery is not practiced in Nool although it's not explicitly illegal. Prisoners of war are sometimes used for forced labor, and bandits are known to enslave people from time to time regardless of legal customs, but there are no slave markets in Nool (outside of uncharted outlaw settlements in the deepest wilderness, if at all). It would arouse trouble if anyone wanted to culturally normalize the practice in any of the major cities of Nool. That said, many lower Status individuals within the kingdom (serfs, peasants, residents of slums, etc.) lack significant rights, social mobility, or legal protections and are at the mercy of custom.
Control Rating: The Kingdom of Nool is, in general, CR4. Many cities are more like CR3, and some cities and locales (in particular wilderness and frontier areas) are CR0 - CR2.
Known Portals: Nool is a part of the portal network which connects the infinite mass of humanity together. Unlike many realms, however, there is only one known portal in the entire Kingdom, at the peak of a mountain in the middle of the Sebiz Forest, at the base of which is the ancient and culturally important City of Sig. It is almost never used by anyone, and considered a dangerous link to a mythical past by most. However, it is operational and the authorities of Sig occasionally recieve visitors and catalogue information about the other side (beyond which is another realm not unlike Nool -- but to some part of that realm so difficult to access that traffic is rare). Nobody is prevented from coming or going, but the authorities are always watching the portal and there are ancient protocols in place in case "something bad" should come through it. Every now and then, religions will make the portal at Sig a subject of awe or ire, but the city always manages to keep its ancient and neutral position as watchers of the portal.
Population: At least 200,000 souls, give or take. But nobody is keeping track of that kind of thing beyond a city-wide basis, or occasionally a collection of cities and some of the farmlands and hamlets between them. Lords often keep track of how many people they think they rule, but they don't usually know exactly, and nobody from Nool is trying to straighten out all the statistics on a "national" level at all. Perhaps a more thorough census will be conducted at some point.
Technology: Nool is a thoroughly medieval kingdom. Plate armor is exceedingly rare, and chainmail is what most heavy-hitters wear. It is TL3, and a long ways from TL4. There are rumors of lands far beyond the kingdom's natural borders, and it's possible they may be slightly more advanced. The few visitors from beyond the portal at Sig are no more advanced than the residents of Nool. Nevertheless, sometimes odd gadgets, trinkets, manuscripts, and other evidence of travelers from a very long ways off appear from time to time. The authorities at Sig are known to keep a collection of oddities claimed to have come from beyond their portal in the ancient past.
Magic, Psionics, and the Supernatural: The people of Nool believe very strongly in the supernatural. It permeates their everyday life and way of thinking, even if hardly anyone has had more personal evidence of these things than a typical citizen of present-day Earth. A big "supernatural incident" hasn't happened in years in any major city. Although there are learned court wizards in most of the cities of Nool, none are known to wield actual magic (although there are rumors, and some surely do so discreetly). Instead, they tend to focus on the study of ancient artifacts, a few known magical items, the available magic energies of the land (in the form of Alchemy, for example), and magical lore in general. This doesn't mean that no mages or psis exist in Nool though -- far from it! They just tend to stay under the radar and to themselves. The wilderness areas are host to cults of evil mages and reclusive magic-wielding sages alike, while any number of the citizens of Nool keep their abilities secret (either alone or in small groups). The consequences of the supernatural are an oft-enough occurance, even if people are rarely able to assign blame. So these are people with good reasons to believe in the supernatural, who ascribe most of life's problems and successes to it, even if most never directly encounter someone who is openly using it.
Religion and Philosophy: The people of Nool believe in a vast panoply of religions which range from ancestor worship to polytheism to monotheism to rational skepticism. Most cities are host to innumerable varieties of the regional religions, and they tend to form a very dynamic picture. A person can believe in almost anything here, but it's not so much a case of religious tolerance as it is religious anarchy. Sometimes people get along with their beliefs, and sometimes they don't. Although some cities and regions of Nool are influenced politically very strongly by their dominant religions, most are not, and rulers (and most citizens) take a very pragmatic view of religions. Most people believe in the supernatural, believe that other people might know more about it than they do, and are also skeptical because people frequently make a habit of starting new religions and cults, and proclaiming knowledge of how it all works. A citizen of Nool could be anywhere on the spectrum from a jaded skeptic to a zealot of some kind, and probably find a place. This tends to be the case not only in Nool, but throughout most of the portal network which connects humanity. Direct evidence of the supernatural and an infinite wilderness in which to expand have led to people believing in all kinds of strange stuff, in all kinds of strange places.