The Mirk

What holds the Imperio together? In part it is the slow pressure and occasional threat of the Mirk. The Mirk is a natural magical threat that most often takes the form of a green yellow mist, most often collecting in old caves, swamps, dark forests, narrow mountain valleys etc. Sometimes it moves or appears, hence the Mirkwinds or a Mirkstorm. The danger is the Mirk seems to magically create monsters, sometimes from twisted versions of things it has encountered like a toad with fang, poison , and the coloring of a toadstool mushroom, sometimes just creatures of nightmare that seem to have little relation to normal creatures and little long term place in the natural environment, but they are most often violent and hungry. This is why the Imperio is very urbanized into walled cities and walled tulou towns.If the Mirk spawns large monsters or a herd of devil bison, the walls keep them away from most citizens and an army detachment eliminates the threat. Lesser threats are identified or located by either the Lampioneers who patrols the imperial roads and light lamp posts in the cties and man watch towers to warn walled enclaves of dangers or by Constables, mercenaries, or hired adventurers dispatched by the local Magistrate or Provincial Prefect. Thus, the IMperio is by a fair margin safer for an average citizen than alot of places in the world.

Other regions have other responses to the problem. Grazil to the west has fortified steadings and walled towns and villages protected by nobles and warrior bands.The Applaki Verge simpler seems a bit tougher than most peoples, relying on wandering heroes, stalwart farmers able to pick up a weapon at a moments notice, and less agreeably to their neighbors, by taking a live and let live approach to any Mirk creature that isn't an immediate threat - up to and including bribes or even hiring a Mirk monster to keep others of it's kind at bay. The Applaki also rely more on magic and religion to ward of the Mirk, Grazil and the IMperio distrust this because the Mirk seems attracted to wizards and may even corrupt wizards in subtle ways. The Empire of the Horse Clans stays mobile and has roving bands of warriors who see the Mirk as a challenge ensuring their mettle is always tested. Thorsz' Empire consisting of island settlements is somewhat less at peril because Sea Mirks see to trouble undersea life rather more that the surface or areas near the sea. This is suggested as one reason why the Octopi Men have not conquered a land empire and why they are rather paranoid and cowardly by the standards of land dwellers.

It is a matter of some debate whether "normal" monstrous creatures like Orcs or Dragons began as creations of the Mirk or like humans and elves and dwarves they came from someplace else via portals. While definitive evidence is elusive, the general consensus is that a Mirkwind will not mutate an existing creature, but may create a twisted or violent copy of one. The Mirk is attracted to magic and wizards, and may corrupt them in subtle ways, but does not actually mutate them - rather the wizards are tempted into dangerous magics and infernal pacts that mutate and alter them. Thus, most peoples would rather rely on a hero to drive off the Mirk than a wizard.

Seeing or encountering a relatively mild Mirk incident falls into the vague category of neither common nor uncommon. Most cities or Tolou in the Imperio encounter a minor monster or see a wind plaguing someplace nearby a couple times a year. Travelers and rural settlements are much more likely to encounter dangerous monsters several times a year. Wild areas, caverns, mountains etc. are said to face dangers nearly on a weekly basis if not daily. The worst spots are Mirks that seem fixed to an area, the Imperio has had some success locating, putting under observation, sending professionals to cull the monster population until the seemingly fixed Mirk fades or moves. Places like the Applaki Verge and Grazil just ignore and avoid these places, or on rare circumstances send a wizard to 'blast' the are by soem means and remove the problem. One of the dangers of sea travel is never knowing if you happen to be travelling over an underwater Mirk. This is also why lakes and rivers are sometimes suspected of being the source of dangers from the Mirk, since in deep waters a Mirk may lurk unseen.

Most civilizations and even barbarians manage to survive and even to a degree thrive despite the Mirk by various means, but the pressure and threat are always there.