Before the area called Muir'Beinn was ever established; the north west was a part of the Zar’Margulas Empire. Smaller kingdoms a part of the empire was sprinkled throughout the entire western side of the continent, all the way to the north west. These kingdoms although small, still made up a significant portion of the Empire's population, the castles hosted few people but the surroundings villages and small towns housed tens of thousands of humans. Many of the smaller kingdoms fought with one another over territory disputes, permitted by the emperor for his own bizarre reasoning, which left a lot of villages and towns in dissaray or worse from the fighting or heavy taxes to fuel the wars. Although the citizens of these villages and towns grew weary, they could do little about their circumstances. Their lives were poor and miserable, things could hardly get worse...

That is until the dragon Rakant found his lair in the mountain range separating the two sides of the continent's northern half. Rakant was and still is to a lesser degree, a blood-thirsty monster. Rakant began to make nighttime visits to each town, village, and castle of the north west kingdoms over the years, devouring, burning, rending, and outright obliterating every sign of life he could find until no signs of the Zar'Margulas Empire was left in the north west; except for two. A small town, closer to a village by definition called Vahina, and the coastal fort of Wailingin.

Vahina was spared from destruction for selfish reasons, Rakant wanted somewhere to indulge in the few mortal vices he enjoyed such as alcohol or cooked foods. The town was almost prisoner to the dragon, although he made no demands or requests of tribute, the sheer pressure of the dragon's proximity constantly left the town at unease in fear of a time Rakant's whim brought his destruction down upon them.

However, that time never came, years went by and Rakant established Rahfar, a sanctuary and safe passage from the east to the western hemispheres. Although not terribly significant, this did increase traffic coming to Vahina. Next came official acceptance of Wailingain into the dragon's territory, making it safe for the port fort to travel within the area, further increasing traffic and trade. This was more significant due to Wailingin's position on the coast, ships arriving from the lands across the sea had a place to dock in the north west of Ravillia again.

For a long time, the territory would be left to itself, gradually growing as word spread about the safety within the region being bizarrely good. One might suspect two dragons taking care of all the bandits may take part! Eventually Vahina grew to the point that it was attracting people all on it's own, commerce was healthy, the region itself was lush and great farmland. It's ideal for starting a family, or simply existing without a need for political interaction with other kingdoms... no wars, low crime, and fair tax rates.

Time went on further, and the three settlements Rahfar, Wailingain, and Vahina would be official part of the new nation called "Muir'Beinn". To commemorate the founding of the new nation, Rakant ventured to Vahina and constructed for them a large central piece depicting a flaming dragon that would never go out, even through rain and snow. A couple of generations have passed since Rakant's destruction of the empire's old kingdoms, any fears of the dragon's wrath has long waned. Now both Rakant and Takaani are a welcome sight, when they visit... it's likely a lot of coin is also going to be spent!

Two other settlements were to be built to Vahina's west, and south east, which meant even more trade to come, as well as an increase to population of people moving from neighboring nations with prospects of Muir'Beinn being even more enticing. After months of construction and travel, Giuthas and Braelach would be established with a healthy population, and Vahina would support them with trade to assist with the new settlements' growth. With these new settlements came the return of old races that use to live in the region before humans pushed them out, and although Vahina did not house any humans who took part in the segregation hundreds of years ago, they was still held to strict orders to avoid any racial profiling or hate crimes. The town went on to prove that old hates; died with the kingdoms that Rakant visited in the night. Vahina gained much from Muir'Beinn's growth, it was the heart of the nation both geologically, and figuratively by this point. The town grew significantly to the point that it is now almost a small city, and it continues to grow as Muir'Beinn does.

Vahina, the heart of Muir'Beinn isn't the first stop in Muir'Beinn, but once you're there, it's hard to leave.

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I didn't quite expect this when I commissioned it from Blackwing (https://twitter.com/WildBlackWing) but waking up one morning to see a bunch of 3D houses rendered out for me was just amazing. Thank you Wing for yet another fantastic piece.

This town, Vahina is rather special in Eialm. At least, it is for me! This town is where a lot of growth occurred for the story and character growth of Rakant, it also served as the central hub of gauging the progress within Muir'Beinn. When I first introduced the town through RP and stories nearly eight years ago, it was incredibly small and had few characters in it that I gave names. Now days it's big enough that entire plots can occur within it! There's so many characters that I've needed to write them all down on a notepad! There are a lot of details I didn't mention in the description above, such as the festivals or specific town leaders, and the multitude of shops! To see this town brought to life, to have Wing pluck this imaginary place from my brain and bring it into reality in a tangible way... it's incredible.

Thank you for reading, if you did! This is the third piece in a series of environmental arts, look forward to three more with  Takaani taking the helm on the remaining half.

Art by https://twitter.com/WildBlackWing

Eialm and Vahina belong to me, do not redistribute.