Tiefenland is in fact the name of all the land over which the Chamber of Horns holds any authority, but its heart belongs to one place and one place alone: the Terratarium.
Ever since the Great Expulsion, when the Tieflings were turned by the Surface dwellers and banned to the Underground, Tiefenkind have resided in the bowels of the earth and reconstructed its mighty civilization from a rocky scratch. After a few hundred years, they built an architectural work to put to shame any of those they had built before, a wonder colored by a thousand shades of cobalt and illuminated by roaring rivers of lava that spring from the ground. Its name is Terratarium, and one of the greatest places below the Surface.
That was only possible due to the renowned Tiefling bureaucracy and industriousness. Being pragmatic beings at heart, Tieflings organize their lives around very structured systems in everything they do. For that reason, their collection of laws is one of the most extensive among sentient cultures.
That was only possible due to the renowned Tiefling bureaucracy and industriousness. Being pragmatic beings at heart, Tieflings organize their lives around very structured systems in everything they do. For that reason, their collection of laws is one of the most extensive among sentient cultures.
With time and expansion, Terratarium also lends its name to its surroundings and beyond, effectively serving as an umbrella term to most of the Tiefling urbanities that developed around it. The web of roads that link all of these urbanities is one of the most complex transportation systems, both under and over the Continent.
The lands of the Terratarium possess soils so rich, black and humid that Tieflings can cultivate them in constant cycles, regardless of the season (even if the Underground has only two of them). It is for that reason that its vineyards are well regarded for their excellent produce. Tieflings have developed an extensive system for carrying out the crops that uses skilled corps of druids to tend over the land and to propitiate state of the art food production all around Tiefenland.
All these technologies, however, are put to use in the service of one single purpose: expansion.
This was the main reason why the Tieflings were expelled to the Underground during the Great Expulsion, as their imperialistic ambitions have no means to subsist unless all else is conquered, either by militaristic, economic or cultural means. They live to explore, to enlarge and to push the borders of Tiefenland, and in the process they tend to swallow communities and civilizations whole.
The Next Frontier is both a sentiment of the population and a policy of state among Tieflings. It refers to new lands, new peoples and new beginnings to be integrated to the hungry Terratarium machine. There is always a next frontier, no matter how far has the Tiefling banners have been set.
All these technologies, however, are put to use in the service of one single purpose: expansion.
This was the main reason why the Tieflings were expelled to the Underground during the Great Expulsion, as their imperialistic ambitions have no means to subsist unless all else is conquered, either by militaristic, economic or cultural means. They live to explore, to enlarge and to push the borders of Tiefenland, and in the process they tend to swallow communities and civilizations whole.
The Next Frontier is both a sentiment of the population and a policy of state among Tieflings. It refers to new lands, new peoples and new beginnings to be integrated to the hungry Terratarium machine. There is always a next frontier, no matter how far has the Tiefling banners have been set.
Tieflings of the Terratarium are, in general, politicized, pragmatic, bureaucratic and tolerant. As they take over or bring in a diversity of communities through their never-ending expansion, they usually receive well these new populations, regardless of their race or origin. This certainly contributes to the strategic renewal of Terratarium longevity.
Almost all of the Tieflings deny or mock any particular reverence to gods, at least in the terms of organized religions and usual believers. Their pragmatic minds have difficulty in grasping the whole need to worship extremely powerful beings just for the sake of their overinflated egos. In their perspective, if such beings need to be pampered and tended to their every whim, perhaps they are not very worthy of any worship at all.
There are only two mundane things that might stop the Terratarium on its tracks: the rebuke of civilizations more powerful than their own (which led to the Great Expulsion), and the constant dispute among their divided elites. If you cannot conquer them by force, then the best way out would be to conquer them using their own political devices.
At the moment, the Terratarium has been rather occupied with incursions from their ancestral foes, the Black Orc nations, and with the constant arrival of refugees from the Surface, in the aftermath of the climactic apocalypse started by the White Eternal. This influx of immigrants has led to continuing difficulties in the maintenance of their food supplies and overpopulation in some urbanities, as well as to the slowing of Tiefenland expansion in some fronts. A few dissonant senators within the Chamber of Horns have been leading a virulent campaign against the current majority, and everyday they gain more followers in the wake of their public speeches. Among other events, the Terratarium might be heading towards very significant turning points in its near future.
Almost all of the Tieflings deny or mock any particular reverence to gods, at least in the terms of organized religions and usual believers. Their pragmatic minds have difficulty in grasping the whole need to worship extremely powerful beings just for the sake of their overinflated egos. In their perspective, if such beings need to be pampered and tended to their every whim, perhaps they are not very worthy of any worship at all.
There are only two mundane things that might stop the Terratarium on its tracks: the rebuke of civilizations more powerful than their own (which led to the Great Expulsion), and the constant dispute among their divided elites. If you cannot conquer them by force, then the best way out would be to conquer them using their own political devices.
At the moment, the Terratarium has been rather occupied with incursions from their ancestral foes, the Black Orc nations, and with the constant arrival of refugees from the Surface, in the aftermath of the climactic apocalypse started by the White Eternal. This influx of immigrants has led to continuing difficulties in the maintenance of their food supplies and overpopulation in some urbanities, as well as to the slowing of Tiefenland expansion in some fronts. A few dissonant senators within the Chamber of Horns have been leading a virulent campaign against the current majority, and everyday they gain more followers in the wake of their public speeches. Among other events, the Terratarium might be heading towards very significant turning points in its near future.
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