YUME
Yume was ruled over by a powerful Lich King, Akume, for longer than any history books can recall. Akumu ruled his lands as a nearly omniscient being. To the constant surprise and relief of all neighboring countries, Akumu never expressed interest in expanding his borders and maintained strong trade. Yume was, for all intents and purposes a prosperous nation with bountiful crops and industrious people. However, life as a citizen of Yume was ever dampened by the taxes Akumu levied against his people. Though he only took reasonably of their crops and coins in order to maintain the kingdom, he also taxed their lives, for as a Lich, he fed not on bread and meat but on the living souls he flayed from their bodies. Every year, the twelve provinces of Yume had to provide thirty of their people as offerings to Akumu. There were no stipulations on age, health, or gender for these sacrifices, only that they were alive when their turn came to be consumed by their King. Each province was allowed to determine how they would select their thirty people. Some used lotteries, others selected the eldest or sickest, and some even went so far as to rely on volunteers. Some felt that this was a small price to pay for the security and prosperity Akumu gave them. Yume didn't have a formal army. The few times other nations had sought war with Yume, Akumu had personally dealt with the invading armies with hordes of undead and his own baleful necrotic powers. With Akumu now destroyed and his capitol city Yomichi in ruin, the power vaccuum left behind has yet to be filled, and so far the individual provinces of Yume have sought to govern themselves. Only time will tell if they will unite, if they will solidify into new kingdoms, or if they will be absorbed by the neighboring kingdoms.. Blasted corpses littered the streets and filled the buildings of the once prosperous city. It's impossible to discern which bodies were citizens of Yomichi and which ones had been Akumu's undead. Only the paladins, in their garb of the Tower of Light, could be distinguished from the masses of dead.
YOMICHI
Yomichi, the once proud capitol of Yume, is now a place of plunder and exploration. The city was built in a series of concentric rings, called Wa's. From furthest out towards the center, they were called Autay Wa, Ichiba Wa, and Chikira no Wa. In the very center of the city was the stronghold of Akumu, Nemuri no Shiro. A single gate led into each Wa, and each gate was positioned at opposing ends of the city so that in order to pass from one Wa to another, one would have to travel halfway around the Wa they'd entered to get to the gate of the next Wa. The Bokyaku River nearly bisects the city and is the means for most large scale shipping in and out of the city. No one ever swims in the Bokyaku River, as there are legends regarding terrible effects on the minds of any who were ever submerged beneath its waters. Lake Shibo, in Ichiba Wa, is even more infamous as it is known that Akumu cursed those waters and any who passed into them would become another of his undead servants, guarding the watery entrances and exits to his capitol city. Akumu created 5 great libraries within Yomichi, though only one of them was open to the public. To gain access to the other four, one had to petition Akumu himself, explaining their need and reason for seeking his knowledge. If Akumu consented, he would tell the person to which library they were to seek for their information. He was generally accommodating but still kept access restricted to those whom he had deemed worthy. Three of the libraries were built in Autay Wa. They were Kokyo Toshokan, which was open to all and primarily focused on the local region though still had general information on most other topics, Shinko no Toshokan, which focused upon matters of religion and faith, and Chishiki no Toshokan, which held much lore, music, and manuals on warfare and combat. The fourth library, Chikira no Toshokan, was built in Chikira no Wa and was a repository of much of Akumu's vast arcane learning, as well as several volumes on the monastic traditions of Shinrai. The final library, Shinjitsu no Toshokan, was actually the first of the libraries built, but extremely few have ever entered it, and those who have, would never speak of what they had learned within. Autay Wa is the largest of the Wa's and was dominated by agriculture. Small pockets of houses dotted Autay Wa, almost like smaller towns within the vastness of Yomichi. A small temple of the Tower of Light sat across from Shinko no Toshokan but had relatively few adherents from the general population of Autay Wa, possibly due to the distance required for most of them to travel in order to attend their services. Much of the time, the temple was used to house visiting clerics and paladins who had come to study at Shinko no Toshokan. Ichiba Wa was where most commerce occurred and held the various Guild Halls, as well as the merchant housing. Lake Shibo resides on the southern edge of Ichiba Wa and it is here that the docks are stationed. Four distinct markets were established, each with its own specialization: Manufactured, Magical and Holy, Food Stuffs, and Foreign Trade Goods. In order to reach the market for Magical and Holy wares, one had to take the ferry across Lake Shibo. Another temple of the Tower of Light sits not far from that market. Chikira no Wa held the courthouses and other buildings of the government and bureaucracy that managed the day to day affairs of the city as well as the nation. The only large temple of the Tower of Light in the city was built in this Wa some one hundred years ago. The Sages of the Mercurial Robe also have their Tower here and it is the second tallest structure in Yomichi, only Nemuri no Shiro stands taller. Their presence in the city has been well established for centuries now, even if their numbers were relatively few when compared to the other factions. During his reign of years uncounted, Akumu built up his capitol city like no other. And now that he is no longer guarding his secrets, interested parties from all over are seeking to plumb it's hidden wealth. Those depths, however, are not without their dangers. Not all those who go exploring return, and more and more reports are coming in that monsters, not all of them undead, are being spotted within the ruins. However, even with the threat of the unknown monsters, the riches and wonders of Yomichi and Akumu are luring people from all across the continent. Among the wonders to be found, are the tomes of knowledge within the various libraries Akumu had filled. The city also traded heavily in many arcane and wondrous items before its fall and many adventuring parties have struck out in search of Akumu's rumored treasure hoards. Many believe that Akumu himself crafted many of the most powerful and unique artifacts said to be lost within Yomichi, only waiting to be found.
AKUMU
Akumu ruled Yume for as far back as any history records. The tale of his ascension has been lost to time. Beyond being an immortal Lich bathed in necrotic energies, he also wielded other arcane powers and filled vast libraries with his accumulated knowledge. Of those libraries, only one was made open to the public; The Kokyo Toshokan. Within The Kokyo Toshokan was a smattering of basic arcane learning but there were also many tomes on agriculture, alchemy, government, philosophy, and so forth. All of the books, tomes, and scrolls within The Kokyo Toshokan were written by Akumu's own hand. The other libraries were more specialized in their collections but access was limited. Requests for access had to be made directly to Akumu, and such requests were heard regularly as part of his daily hearings. He wasn't selfish with his collected knowledge, but he certainly wanted to make sure that those seeking knowledge were seeking it for the right reasons. Knowledge for knowledge's sake was never enough of an excuse for him. Akumu filled his capitol city, Yomichi, with great beauty as well. He supported countless artists and performers and Yomichi was famous for being a city of culture and art. Akumu also hosted and counseled delegates from various other countries, even acting as mediator between warring nations from time to time. However, all things decay and crumble with time and hardly 5 months ago Akumu was overthrown. He had never cared one way or the other regarding the religions of his people and over the past few decades the adherents of the Tower of Light had grown vast in their numbers. Though the details regarding the assault on Yomichi, are sparse, it is known that thousands of Paladins from the Tower of Light assaulted the city and battled Akumu and his dread hoards for nine days. The arcane and divine forces unleashed in that battle resounded across the countryside and shook the earth with such terrible force that massive fissures were broken open, radiating outward from the city, reaching even to the furthest boundaries of Yume. When at last the cacophony of battle ended and the earth stood still once more, the people of Yume crawled out from their hiding places and made their way to see what had come of the paladins of the Tower of Light and their King, Akumu.
