Cosmology & Geography
World Structure
Tanapocia is an ever-expanding island-continent surrounded by the Endless Sea. Civilization grows outward from its center — the oldest cities and settlements lie at the heart of the continent, while the frontiers are territories continuously being pioneered. The terrain transitions from fertile plains at the center to forests and mountains at the edges, growing wilder and more dangerous the further one travels. The world appears to have no end — or perhaps it does, but no one has ever returned from the edges to confirm.
Venus City
Venus City is the capital of Tanapocia and the heart of all known civilization. Its skyline is dominated by the ten-story Bishop's Tower — the tallest structure in the known world — which serves as both the seat of religious power and the supreme court. The city is divided into concentric rings: the innermost Sacred Ring houses the Church administration, and only those with Church authorization may enter; beyond it lie the Noble Ring, the Merchant Ring, and the Outer Ring where commoners reside. The hierarchy of society is made visible in the city's very layout — the closer you live to the center, the higher your status.
The Forbidden Mountains
The Forbidden Mountains are a massive mountain range running north to south, dividing the known world from what the Church calls the Dark Realm. The Taboo Directory explicitly forbids anyone from crossing the mountains, with violators facing execution. The Church maintains a series of watchtowers along the range, claiming they exist to monitor threats from the east and protect civilization from the Black Sorcerers. But the truth is far darker than the official narrative — the mountains were never a natural barrier. The Church built the watchtowers not to keep darkness out, but to keep people in, preventing them from discovering what truly lies beyond.
The Dark Realm
Everything east of the Forbidden Mountains is collectively known as the Dark Realm. The Church's official doctrine paints it as a wasteland corrupted by dark magic, claiming it is the birthplace of the Black Sorcerers — malevolent beings who emerge from the east every ten years to threaten civilization's survival. All citizens are forbidden from entering the Dark Realm; only the Holy Knight Order has authority to cross the Forbidden Mountains on extermination missions. In reality, however, the so-called 'Dark Realm' is the ancestral homeland of the Eastern Children — a lush, living land teeming with life. The Church's systematic demonization of this land serves to conceal an unspeakable truth: the genocide and ongoing persecution of the Eastern Children.
The Great Fracture & Three Worlds
Approximately 273 years before the current era, a devastating earthquake — known as the 'Great Fracture' — tore Tanapocia into three isolated regions. This catastrophe fundamentally reshaped the world's geography and political landscape:
The Western World — A vast region of grasslands, deserts, and jungles, independent of the Holy Church's direct rule. This is home to the Narukh Nomads — a horse-riding, migratory people who value freedom above all else, forming a stark contrast to the Church's sedentary civilization. The Western World nominally acknowledges Venus's divinity but has never accepted the Church's absolute authority.
The Central World — The core territory under the Holy Church's absolute rule. Venus City sits at the heart of this region, with the Church's power network radiating outward from the Bishop's Tower. Uva Village is located at the easternmost edge of the Central World — the Church's last outpost. Here, the Taboo Directory is the law, the Church's word is truth, and questioning is heresy.
The Eastern World — A region sealed off as absolutely forbidden. After the Great Fracture, the Forbidden Mountains completely separated the Eastern World from the Central World. The Church claims this is a wasteland corrupted by dark forces — the staging ground from which Black Sorcerers and demihuman armies emerge every decade. The truth: this was once the homeland of the Eastern Children, and survivors and their descendants may still live there to this day. The Church devotes all its efforts to preventing anyone from discovering this fact.
The Endless Sea
The Endless Sea surrounds the island-continent of Tanapocia on all sides. Throughout history, explorers have attempted to cross the ocean in search of new lands, but they either never returned or came back bearing terrifying tales of endless water, massive storms, and sea creatures of unimaginable size. Whether the world has edges remains an unsolved mystery. The Church discourages maritime exploration, teaching that the sea is a barrier placed by the goddess Venus to protect humanity from the unknown — a doctrine that both reinforces the Church's absolute control over the known world and extinguishes any curiosity about what might lie beyond.