The Venerable Ilb Valley Federation

Today’s post highlights the region of the world of Ird where the Monks of Ilbtal takes place. Come get a tour of the Ilb River Valley!

While we are working on some revisions from our latest playthrough, we thought you might like to learn more about the world around the Monks of Ilbtal.

The Venerable Ilb Valley Federation is one of the major nations of the world of Ird. In their own language, it is called the Ehrwuerdigste Ilbtal Bund, or EIB for short, abbreviated in English as VIF. At the time of the game, the VIF is a late iron-age culture, that is beginning to see some industrialization.

The capital city, Zentralablage, is fairly organized for a medieval city, and operates like one giant office park. The VIF is a bureaucratic meritocracy, organized into many different departments, and every citizen of the VIF is considered an employee of the state, with a corresponding rank. Employees may advance through the ranks through various tests and certifications, but rural employees usually find a trade and stick to it.

Though Zentralablage has several exurbs, Ilbewiese is the largest. Though foreign trade does not feature heavily in the Monks of Ilbtal, in later eras Ilbewiese will become a bustling center of trade. Situated on a river delta between the Twin Ilb Rivers, the Greater Ilb and the Lesser Ilb, Ilbewiese has long been the major producer of grain for the capital.

The VIF borders two other regions, to the East the Red Desert, a desolate wasteland which has been loosely colonized by the Empire of Kendr to the South, and to the North the Nordholz, a sub-arctic mountainous forest that is said to be home to fearsome beasts. As the Volk who comprise the VIF are more concerned with community and efficiency than they are with exploring, this region has not been much explored at the time the game takes place.

Speaking of the peoples of the VIF, the two largest populations are of the Aesern and the Bàillidhean. These two Volke came together to found the VIF, though since then it has become quite the cosmopolitan nation in comparison to other major nations of Ird. The Aesern are the most populous Volk of Ird, and are the majority of most nations, though they go by different names in different cultures. The Bàillidhean are said to have hailed originally from the highlands of the Nordholz, and have since migrated South into the Ilbtal Valley, as well as further West, into the Elmine River Valley.

The Aesern are often characterized as contrarian by nature, being both skittishly independent, and very community oriented. Family units are very important to them, and they can be distrustful of outsiders. They are largely vegetarian, preferring a leafy diet with a smaller amount of grain. It is very common for them to give birth to twins, and siblings usually stay together for life, often having joint households once married. Though their culture is not religious, like the VIF at large, they have great reverence for efficiency and the common good, and are faithful attendants of their local Chapels of Order, where community leaders will give sermons on community improvement and take up collections for those in need.

The Bàillidhean are definitely pack animals by nature. Less anxious than the Aesern, they often serve as community leaders, and are more focused on the common good of their neighborhood or town than of their own family units per se. They take a more inclusive view of people and community, and are perhaps less concerned with Order than they are with the common good. They often make it to the middling ranks of the bureaucracy, but the increasing amounts of red tape tend to keep them from the highest offices, as they prefer to act as go-betweens liaisons, diplomats, and judges - positions with some degree of individual discretion and community impact. Bàillidh mothers tend to give birth to three to five infants at a time, called a litter, and the bonds between littermates are considered the strongest of their familial ties, though it is much more common for Bàillidh children to leave home and find a family where they feel they can make the greatest impact.