THE CITIES OF BARA MAGNA

KRUTIERA MAGNA

Krutiera Magna, the City of Earth, home of the Earth Tribe, and ruled by the Element Lord of Earth. It is perhaps one of the grandest cities to have ever existed, even compared to those before the Shattering, and it is still expanding to this day, taking advantage of its resource-rich environment. Its safety and security is unmatched almost anywhere else, a fact so many others could only beg for, enforced by Krutiera Magna's highly trained guards. In turn, this makes moving to Krutiera Magna a highly appealing prospect, especially with its high advanced technology compared to the rest of Bota (and especially Bara) Magna - it contains the highest number of repaired pre-shattering technologies, as well as entirely new forms of technology based upon those. This, combined with the leadership of the wise Lord of Earth, is the reason for Krutiera Magna's success, safety, and security.

In the centre of Krutiera Magna, led to by many paved roads, lies the Palace of Earth, the personal domain of the Element Lord of Earth, and guarded by the Palace Guard, a highly prestigious position and few in number. The Palace of Earth itself dominates the skyline of Krutiera Magna, visible from even far outside its walls and dwarfing any other building within the city in height. 

Krutiera Magna's population is mostly made up of Earth Agori, owing to it being the home of the Earth Agori, though there is a notable amount of Jungle Agori too. Agori of other elements do exist, though they are dwarfed by the Earth and Jungle Agori in population. it is the most populous city on all of Bota Magna.

Its military forces are not as much as one might think, however, they are backed up with some of the most advanced technology on all of Bota Magna. This includes but is not necessarily limited to handheld force blasters (smaller versions of the weapons often found on the Spherus Magna vehicles known as Thornatuses), fully working Cendoxes, giant manned robots known as mechs (based on vehicles such as the Thornatus, which are otherwise too big for proper use in the jungles of Bota Magna), and automatic drills.

BOTA MINOR

Bota Minor, the City in the Treetops, is the oldest city on Bota Magna, and the home of the Jungle Tribe, led by its Chieftain. It is a natural marvel - everything in the city is either made of plants, or done using plants. This stems from the city's reaction to the Shattering, where it decided technology was to blame and rejected any and all technology entirely. Where other cities would build bridges, they grow them by cultivating trees and other plants in the way they want them to grow, most of the city's inhabitants living inside trees cultivated for the purpose of having people living within them. Their rejection of technology has gone so far that they have embraced nature so much that their armour is fused with it entirely.

Beneath the branches that most of Bota Minor is founded upon lies a swampy forest floor, where most of its farming for both food and material purposes done. Assisting in this farming are large domesticated insects, such as beetles resembling much larger Scarabax, colloquially called "Scarabigs", as well as bright bio-luminescent plants to make up for the light that cannot make it to the forest floor. Conversely, above the canopy of Bota Minor are a few much taller trees, grown to be outposts for watch the jungles below, as well as perches for large domesticated Pterahks, large winged and feathered creatures that are very rare but provide some of the quickest transportation across Bota Magna.

Bota Minor's population is mostly made up of Jungle Agori, and there are very few Agori belonging to other tribes, but not many; due to Bota Minor's apprehension toward technology. Those who would bring technology are either driven off, or persuaded to throw it away or destroy it forever. 

Its military forces are quite sizable, and quite formidable despite or perhaps due to their aversion to technology: those who dare to battle have to be exceedingly tough to get by in battle without any technology whatsoever, and they have a cavalry of creatures resembling smaller versions of Bara Magna's Rock Steeds - Jungle Steeds, smaller and better for navigating the jungle floor. More vicious, some would say, as well. In addition, they wield weapons very similar to Bara Magna's Thornax Launchers - and on Bota Magna, there is a subspecies of thornax that grows much larger...

ANTRAUTA

Antrauta, the Village in the Caverns. Carved into the Grey Spike Mountains, it is centralised into one large open cavern with many caves branching off to many homes and many merchants, with the southern area of Antrauta giving way into a large cove joining the River Cadellum. This is the primary method of entering Antrauta, and the easiest - taking a small boat through the river and turning into the cove will lead you to the docks of Antrauta, and the cold, damp reality that it is: a village of outcasts, the exiled the spurned. Those who have nowhere else to go, those who would be welcome nowhere else; whether or not such reasons are justified. The Iron Tribe, cast out for the still lingering suspicions of the Dreaming Plague. The Vorox, cast out for the fear they could turn into beasts. The Skrall, who with no leaders on Bota Magna, desire structure and yet are cast out from Krutiera Magna or Bota Minor for being too different to their Agori populations.

Due to its nature as a cavern village of outcasts, it does not have a concrete leadership, but rather a vaguely defined council, whose members are elected, and then the 'Chancellor' is elected from that, as well as the 'Speaker'' - the former acts as the leader, and the latter represents Antrauta when it comes to diplomacy, such as with Krutiera Magna or Bota Minor. These individuals can be defied, however, though doing so is taboo - in Antrauta, you can do what you like as long as you can deal with the consequences, and dealing with the consequences is often too much for some.

Antrauta's population doesn't have a clear elemental makeup as a community of outcasts, though it does have higher than average numbers of Iron Agori, Vorox, and Skrall compared to its fellow settlements. Due to this, it is also the most 'connected' with those who live in the wilderness, and the most in the know with where to find those who live in it. It is also the original home of the Iron Tribe, before they succumbed to the Dreaming Plague. 

Some would think that attacking such a settlement would be easy. However, it is defended by a self-titled 'Order of Outcasts', a militia dedicated to defending Antrauta from any would-be attackers. Due to their nature, many Skrall join this order, desiring the life they once had before the Shattering, where they still had leader-class Skrall to defer to, and when it comes to weapons and technology, Antrauta has a mix, traded from Krutiera Magna, Bota Minor, and other individuals.

OTHER SETTLEMENTS AND LOCATIONS

While few would choose to do so, there do exist those who would live in the wilderness of Bota Magna, away from the cities, such as exiles, hermits, even small villages of intelligent Vorox and Zesk are not unheard of, however they are few and far between given the wildlife of Bota Magna can be incredibly dangerous. Once, for example, there was settlement of intelligent Vorox and Zesk in the area now known as Bara Minor, and despite what one might initially think, this was before it became the desert it was today - the Vorox lived underneath the trees, creating a heavily interconnected tunnel system. Unfortunately, the local volcano, Mount Igfumis erupted, and turned much of the area around it into a mostly uninhabitable desert. Few things have dared to live there since the eruption.

There is also a small 'community' - if it can be called that, rather a group of hermits - of Ice Agori in the Northern Frost, the northernmost area on all of Bota Magna, beyond the Grey Spike Mountains and Bara Minor. Due to their position, they often need to trade for food and other goods, as the icy wastes of the Northern Frost make for poor farmland. 

Conversely, at the absolute southernmost point of Bota Magna, lies the Great Crater. As the name suggests, this is a gigantic crater filled with water, fed by almost all of the rivers on Bota Magna. Within this crater lives a surprising amount of wildlife, both aquatic and amphibious, though such wildlife rarely leaves the water in this crater. 

Perhaps most interestingly all is the large red fortress in the west of Bota Magna, lying halfway beneath the distance of Krutiera Magna and Antrauta - an ancient fortress, red and gold, that has been the focus of many a doomed adventurer. Those who have entered it have never come out, and thus any secrets it contains have never been discovered... yet.