Igren is the country where the imaginary friends come from... here is just a sample of the reams of crap i wrote about Igren.
I normally write about Igren, where the imaginary friends come from. Igren is run by a six foot hedgehog, whole rules a council of animals that he can either ignore or follow the advice of. The island itself is similar in shape to one of those teeth at the back of your mouth but with an island between the prongy bits where the tooth anchors into the mouth. This small island between the prongs now serves as the capital city. Igren has the shortest national anthem ever, it goes like this;
'I was walking along when, someone said I should go to Igren, Go to Igren, Igren today. Go to Igren, Igren is where I'll stay.' The tune you make up for yourself.
When I was little I used to write stories about the characters. These stories became the history of the island. As well as history I draw maps, inventions and also mythology. Igren is in a parallel world that is joined to ours by mystic spots and ley-lines. There are groups of imaginary people and animals in countries all over that world but I really only know about the Igreners. The richest inhabitants are mainly people and animals of this world who, over a thousand years ago, wanted something more interesting in life and so ran away to the parallel world. They were led to a meeting point in the next world and then battled through the lands looking for the one that looked like a tooth. The map they were using was written by a duck who had found her way to the other world and back.
A lot of creatures from the distant past, such as dragons, ogres and griffins had escaped to this parallel world and it was a world with plenty of monsters of its own. When the travelling animals got to the island it was peopled by the Globines. These are strong creatures, with strong arms and legs that come straight out of their heads. They are so compact that they can nut a person halfway across the room. Because of the Globines the creatures from this world had to make do with the little island between the prongs, which they named Igren. Over time they fortified this little island and started building a bridge from the island to one of the prongs. As soon as the last bit was put in place the Igreners swarmed out and captured a large section of the island and then walled it off. A couple years later they did the same with the other prong and the island was theirs. Nowadays the Globines are supported by The Indigenous Peoples' Bureau and can be sure to not be discriminated against and to get good jobs.
Something in the soil of Igren means that you cannot die. When they took over from the Globines they put prisoners into a big prison ship and sailed it towards a huge whirlpool. None of the Globines had sailing knowledge and they got sucked under. They're still there and still alive whirling around and probably feeling both dizzy and seasick. This eternal life does mean that war is bit pointless. However some of the people in that world enjoy the supposed spectacle of war, especially without the risk of death. These people usually forget the risk of extreme pain. The Igreners, though not particularly warlike once they had gained their tooth-like island, have an impressive looking army. This consists of the Cochyn, or the knights of first class and the Crychyn, or knights of second class. The words Coch means anyone who owns land and Crych for those without. Calling someone a Crychmon, a landless man, can still get you punched in some communities. In a country where the soil itself gave you eternal life the land is an important commodity and a dividing factor. The Cochyn are usually used as decoration for tourists to gawp at, but when needed can be fierce in battle. They are equipped with a large metal staff that has a hook at one end and a point at the other and a thin sword. The staff is used to keep people at a distance and to unhook a weapon out of the enemies hands and the sword is used for stabbing. I've tried it and it's impossible to co-ordinate your movements in a way that is both dangerous to the enemy and cool to look at. The Crychyn were equipped with socks with rocks in that they bash the enemy with.
Looking cool is important in battles on that parallel world because battles are won by impressing a table of judges who give marks out of ten based on an army's co-ordination, posture, fearsomeness, individual bravery and likelihood of being turned into an epic poem. After a string of very high victories (the best being a 10,10,8 and only because one of the judge's sister was in the other army) the hedgehog decided to invade this world. The council disagreed but his word was law and so the largest army they had ever assembled went to one of the ley-line spots and found themselves in no-man's land 1917. It didn't take them long to decide that our world needed help and set up the Imaginary Friend Program. Anyone who had an imaginary friend before 1917 was lying.
