Lux of Arx

Lux of Arx: An Unofficial Guide to the Notable Products of Arx by Type and Region

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When I roleplay, I like to give flavor to the things I use as props--from food to drink, from metal to jewelry, from horses to artwork, I find it more interesting to roleplay something from a specific region rather than as a generic item. Thus, I've created this guide if other people want to do the same. There are a few important caveats before we begin:

1. Saying something is "the best" does not make it so. All judgment is subjective.
2. Saying your region is noted for something (good or bad) doesn't necessarily make it so. You might think Krispy Kremes are the best donuts in the world, but there are lots of regions that have never heard of your kind of donut.
3. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. Add to it, or add your own spin on such things in roleplaying.

By Type

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Food

• Bacon

1. Oathlands: Described by Tristram as "crispy, like American bacon". Produced throughout the Oathlands.
2. Crownlands: Described by Tristram as "chewy, like Canadian bacon".
3. Lyceum: Described by Tristram as "often spiced/spicy".
4. Northlands: Described by Tristram as "tough, makes great jerky"
5. Thraxian: Described by Tristram as "do not eat Thraxian bacon, fishermen can't raise pigs"

• Chocolate

1. Oathlands - Wyrmguard: Blancbier is noted for its dark and milk chocolates, especially hot chocolate beverages.

• Honey

1. Oathlands - Laurent: One of the largest producers of honey and honey products.
2. Crownlands - Ashford: A smaller producer of honey, primarily from the large variety of trees in the forest, especially the lindon trees.

• Lamb and Mutton

1. Oathlands - Blackram: The 'Shephards' breed wonderful, fat lambs and sheep alongside specialty mint products such as jelly.

• Tobacco
• Haze

1. Oathlands - Greenmarch: Produces some really good haze; "Greenmarch Green", other colorful names.
2. Lyceum - Tor: Tor puts roses in everything. And breed roses for everything. There are certain clove-like rose breeds that produce a mild euphoric effect when smoked. These can be cut with Haze.

• Fish

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Freshwater fish from the rivers, coastal delicacies such as crustaceans and mollusks.
2. Crownlands - Ashford: Saltwater fish from the coast southeast of Ark, more specifically near Brighthold
3. Northlands - Crovane: Shark, most often used in soup.

• Steak

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Excellent venison and wild boar. Good hunting, especially around Old Oak.
2. Crownlands - Ashford: The forests around Ashford have a large variety of game animals from venison, boar, elk and moose to smaller creatures including rabbits and squirrels and many game birds including quail, partridges and pheasant. Especially brave hunters can bag a bear, even! To the south there are herds of cattle maintained as well.

• Maple

1. Oathlands - Valardin: There's a lot of maple trees around Sanctum. Just sayin'. Might be why the Oathlands love maple syrup.

• "Blancbier" Toast: equivalent of French toast.

1. Oathlands - Ashford: While maple is much less common in the forests around Ashford, they are there, the syrup from those trees a having a slightly different flavor than what is derived from near Sanctum.

• Produce

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Apples, berries, and traditional garden vegetables thrive here.
2. Crownlands - Mercier: Pears, peaches, and a wide variety of berries.
3. Northlands - Redrain: Cherries, plums, late blooming red and 'honeygold' apples.

• Herbs & Seasonings

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Sea salt from the eastern shore.
2. Crownlands - Ashford: Sea salts from the northeastern shore, a variety of fruit and berries (apples, blackcurrant, damson, grapes, pear and raspberries) as well as farms on the lands south of the forest.

Drink

• Mead

1. Oathlands - Laurent: The Laurent beehives and breweries produce a wide variety of meads, from fruity to plain, often quite strong.

• Scotch
• Whiskey

1. Lyceum - Argento: Stormborn whiskey. Supposed to be hard, fast and a bit dirty going down. Translucent brown-gold in color, basically Nilanzan moonshine. Often used to clean bar counters because of how corrosive it is.
2. Oathlands - Valardin: Maple Whiskey
3. Northlands - Nightgold: Stone Mountain whisky. Unapologetically wild, untamed. Redrain: Farhaven Label. Smooth, aged for extended periods of time.

• Gin

1. Crownlands - Ashford: The juniper trees in the forest have led some to experiment with their liquors, and they have come up with a few varieties of gin -- all of which seem to taste like tree, to some extent. Figures an Ashford drink would taste like a tree. Also -- it's almost never drunk by itself, instead mixed with other things.

• Spirit

1. Lyceum - Pravus: Setarco Fire is a regionally acclaimed high-proof spirit, sweetened and spiced with sweet-hot Setarco peppers for a warm-your-bones-by-the-fireside burn.

• Ale

1. Northlands - Redrain: Stouts, usually so dark light won't pass through.

• Cider

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: hard cider, superior to that of the Oathlands (according to Crownlands folk,) includes berry varieties.
2. Lyceum - Gilden: Gildengold cider - crisp, refreshing golden cider made from sweet apples of the bucolic orchards outside Caith.
3. Northlands - Redrain: Honeycrisp apple hard cider, pear ciders

• Red Wine

1. Lyceum - Argento: Nilanzan red, a black-blood-colored red wine with top notes of black currant and dark chocolate. High proof for wine, lamented as the drink of poets and doomed lovers.

• White Wine

1. Crownlands - Mercier: The Mercier family is one of the Crownlands' most prominent white wine producers.
2. Lyceum - Pravus: Setarco Gold is a dessert white wine with a hint of spiced Setarco peppers.

• Sparkling Wine

1. Crownlands - Mercier: House Mercier also dabbles in sparkling wines, though not as extensively as some others.
2. Lyceum - Fidante: Tor produces 'Rose-Gold' Champagne with fragrant flakes of Maiden's Blush Rose Petals.

• Juices

1. Oathlands - Laurent: In addition to honey and mead, the Laurents produce apple juice and cider.
2. Crownlands - Deepwood: Unfermented juice and cider, as well berry varieties.

• Teas

1. Oathlands - Blackram: Make a wonderful mint tea.
2. Oathlands - Valardin: The Valardins make many different kinds of tea.
3. Crownlands - Deepwood: A sizable tea trade, particularly fruit flavored. House Mercier has an almost complete monopoly on trade.
4. Crownlands - Mercier: The Mercier family has begun to dabble in the tea trade in recent years and have been gaining a foothold due to their alliance with House Deepwood.
5. Crownlands - Ashford: As with the honey, the linden trees allow for some specialized tea making, outside of medicinal usage.
6. Crownlands - Leary: Tea in Leaholdt is most commonly made using mint leaves in the process, producing the famous Leaholdt Mint Tea.

Weapons, Metals, and Armor

• Gold

1. Nightgold - Famed as the source of rose gold and champagne silver, this is not the only product of the nigh-legendary metal forges of the Mountain Men.

• Steel

1. Oathlands and the Lyceum - there's a long-standing quarrel between certain regions of the Oathlands and the City state of Tor as to which were the first to produce what is alternately called "Oathlands Steel" or "Torean-Forged Steel", depending on who you ask. A special technique that leaves a wave-like pattern in the metal, and which has spread to the rest of the five nations since then. Dame Ida Ferron, sworn to House Valardin, was the first to apply the technique successfully to Rubicund, which is how she earned her title.

• Rubicund

1. Northlands - Halfshav - While not the only place Rubicund can be found, the Halfshav Territory is well known for the quality of their Rubicund.

• Wood

1. Oathlands - Greenmarch: The Greenwood produces some fine and exotic woods.
2. Crownlands - Deepwood: Noted for its strong, enduring wood; its primary export.
3. Lyceum - Argento: Nilanzan live oak is ideal ship keel lumber; strong but bendy.
4. Crownlands - Ashford: Given that most of the Crownlands is covered in forest, it's unsurprising that Ashford also has a large variety of woods, from strong hardwood of various types for spears and other weapons, but also poplar and linden for shields.
5. Crownlands - Leary: One of the major exports from Leaholdt is the variety of woods, to include the prized walnut wood that is most often found in the area. Other woods like pine, oak and elm are also found in the region.
6. Northlands - Soft woods, pine and cedar.

• Swords
• Other Melee Weapons
• Steel Armor
• Leather Armor
• Bows

1. Oathlands - Greenmarch: Greenmarch produces excellent bows from their extensive forest holdings in the Greenwood.
2. Crownlands - Deepwood: Produces sturdy, long lasting bows and weapon handles.
3. Crownlands - Ashford: The ash and elm trees around Ashford are highly prized for bows.

Art

• Music

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Artistic and performing arts pursuits are a respected and frequent pastime of Deepwood, particularly in Old Oak. Those who show talent in a given artistic pursuit are provided with the means to pursue their passion professionally.

• Painting

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Artistic and performing arts pursuits are a respected and frequent pastime of Deepwood, particularly in Old Oak. Those who show talent in a given artistic pursuit are provided with the means to pursue their passion professionally.

• Dance

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Artistic and performing arts pursuits are a respected and frequent pastime of Deepwood, particularly in Old Oak. Those who show talent in a given artistic pursuit are provided with the means to pursue their passion professionally.

• Plays

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Artistic and performing arts pursuits are a respected and frequent pastime of Deepwood, particularly in Old Oak. Those who show talent in a given artistic pursuit are provided with the means to pursue their passion professionally.

• Architecture

1. Nightgold: When it comes to using metals in architecture, Nightgold has no rival. Their forges can produce nearly anything imaginable in metal, and will work with the best stone cutters or carpenters as the situation requires.

Clothing and Jewelry

• Clothing

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Deepwood has a thriving fur trade, particularly close to Twainfort.
2. Lyceum - Pravus: Setarco, the Pravus seat, is famed for its stranglehold on the silk industry.
3. Northlands - Redrain: Exotic furs and leathers, leather clothing of all types.

• Jewelry

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: The eastern shore produce pearls as a primary industry for the area.
2. Lyceum - Rubino-Zaffria: Gemecitta mines a wide variety of quartz.
3. Lyceum - Fidante: Tor is one of the leading exporters of gorgeous, raw emeralds.

• Dyes

1. Lyceum - Argento: Nilanzan blue-kelp produces a wonderfully rich azure dye used to tint everything from boats to textiles.
2. Crownlands - Ashford: Similar to much of the Crownlands, Ashford produces a variety of yellow dyes from the hackberry trees there, as well as darker colors from walnut husks, lavender to purple from the inner bark of maples, reds from the sycamores, as well as other shades of yellow from the willows.

Animals

• Horses

1. Oathlands - Blanchard: Noted for "producing some of the finest cavalry in Arvum".

• Dogs

1. Northlands - Redrain: Huskies, Large hunting hounds

• Birds of Prey

1. Lyceum - Saik - noted for training amazing horses and birds of prey, often with commoner vassal families handling different animals and aspects.

• Parrots

1. Thrax/Lyceum: The Saffron Chains host some wonderfully colorful parrots with brilliant plumage, who can also mimic human voice.

Raw Materials

• Marble

1. Lyceum - Rubino-Zaffria: Gemecitta is known for quarries of high-quality marble.

• Sand

1. Crownlands - Deepwood: Sand from the eastern coast is used to produce glass and mirrors.

By Region

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Oathlands

• Valardin: Produces maple syrup and maplewood, as well as a great deal of bacon and a variety of teas.
• Telmar
• Greenmarch: Haze of many varied types; varieties of exotic woods and well-crafted bows.
• Wyrmguard: Crafters of some really fine scotches, as well as fine dark and milk chocolates.
• Blanchard: Noted for producing "some of the finest cavalry in Arvum".
• Blackram: Goats, kids and kid leather, common metals, specialty mint products, mint tea.
• Laurent: Honey, a wide variety of excellent meads, apple juice and cider, timber.
• Lyonnesse

Northlands

• Redrain
• Nightgold
• Halfshav - Whiskey (of course) and Rubicund

Crownlands

• Grayson
• Deepwood - Lumber and lumber byproducts, apples, berries, garden vegetables, cider (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), venison, boar, fur, freshwater fish, coastal delicacies, seaweed, salt, pearls, sand and its byproducts. It is worth noting that Old Oak is a major trading hub.
• Bisland
• Ashford - Lumber and lumber byproducts. This can include basic hardwoods for furniture and building construction to specific trees for ship-building (oak and elm for masts and hulls, larch for smaller ships), barrels for aging alcohol, instrument making and many fruits, nuts and seeds. There is also many trees which have medicinal uses. Game is plentiful and supplies both food and leather. To the south, farm and grazing lands supplies crops and cattle. To the northeast, fish is available as well as salt and other coastal byproducts.
• Leary - Much like House Ashford, House Leary specializes in the export of lumber and lumber related products. One of the largest paper presses in the Compact can be found in Leaholdt, benefiting greatly from the steady supply of saw dust and other products used for paper milling. Farms in the region are renowned for their various beans, vegetables and herbs.

Lyceum

• Velenosa
• Argento: Nilanza is an island march to the south, with high, north-facing cliffs that shelter vineyards from the summer storms. They produce a variety of alcoholic beverages, like the famous Nilanzan red, as well as triple-digit proof Stormborn whiskey. They're also known for the strong ship-building lumber logged from the hill-top live oaks that have weathered the southern storm season year in and out. Last, but not least, the coastal ecology lends to local herbal and medicinal products; the most distinctive is Nilanzan blue-kelp, which renders a brilliant azure dye when dried and pressed.
• Fidante: Tor is home to one of the finest Apothecary Colleges in Arvum, rivaled only by Blancbier (in the arts of healing). They produce cosmetics and perfumes and they make roses. And they cross-breed roses with other flora to transplant desirable traits. The Tor Apothecary College has a yearly contest for innovation in rose-breeding.
• Gilden
• Hawkmour
• Igniseri
• Malvici
• Pravus
• Rubino-Zaffria: Gemecitta is build on a variety of mines and quarries. They export finest quality marble and a huge variety of quartz.

Mourning Isles

• Thrax
• Darkwater
• Grimhall
• Navegant
• Tyde