[Fantasy] The Five Hortorums

300 years ago, the gods vanished. Their silence unraveled everything. Blessings failed, divine magic collapsed, and nature itself turned predatory. Aasimar died in agony, elves lost their longevity and fertility, and tieflings became feral abominations. Whole civilizations disappeared in months as even plants hungered for blood.

Now, only five city-states remain — the Hortorums, humanity’s last bastions behind massive, indomitable walls.

Ira, City of Might and Strength — carved into mountains, where all rights and titles can be challenged in honorable combat. Status is survival, earned and guarded through force and will.

Luxuria, City of Love and Pleasure — a tropical paradise near the toxic seas, where love and indulgence are sacred acts. Outsiders call it degenerate; insiders call it the purest expression of life left in the world.

Avarita, City of Games and Deals — a desert jewel of opulence and risk, where anything can be gambled: money, memories, even time. Winners walk away legends; losers may not walk away at all.

Invidia, City of Trees and Trade — suspended high in an ancient taiga canopy, built upon living non-hostile trees older than the Silence. Trade is law, envy is fuel, and every transaction feeds the city’s delicate balance.

Barrenvein, City of Magic and Mysticism — isolated and sterile, home only to mages who collect magically gifted children from other cities to preserve their dwindling kind. Magic here obeys new, cruel laws: every spell demands a sacrifice.

Beyond the walls lies only The Hunger: forests that devour, seas that birth leviathans, and skies that rain madness. Airships are the sole link between cities, taking ten days to a month to cross the corrupted world.

The old gods are gone. The world endures.

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I call this setting The Five Hortorums.

I’d love for people to ask questions about it — the cities, the Silence, the new magic, or the strange life that’s evolved beyond the walls. What would you want to know about this world?