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DragonBaneDM
2011-01-16, 11:16 PM
Greetings! About to finish up my Dragon Slaying campaign, and planning the sequel at the moment. Hm... Maybe that means I need to get a name change on here?

Anywho, one of the biggest changes I'll be making is to the atlas!

Here are my countries/regions at the moment, it's all in one continent:


The Nentir Vale: Straight from the back of the DMG if you need a reference. Center point of my campaign, I'm a sucker for how well Fallcrest is planned out. Fits well as a center point.
Litoria: A human country to the SouthEast of Nentir. Recently liberated from an army of hobgoblins by the PCs.
The Stonemarch: NorthWest of Nentir, where the Bloodspear Orcs come from, who are actually the "good" orcs in my campaigns.
Arkhosia: SouthWest of the Vale, struggling, cult-ridden remnant of a spoof of the Roman Republic.
Bael Turath: Loosely settled, mostly desert. Formerly very Egypt like, now very given to internal struggle, much like the Middle East. Nestled between Arkhosia and Litoria.
Winter Bole Forest: Tribe of PC-friendly barbarians and lots of monsters.
Dawnforge Mountains: Cause Dwarves need somewhere to live too, right? Lots of entrances to Underdark.
The Eternal Battlefield: Demiplane of my own design, far to the north.
The Trollhaunt Warrens: The Witchlight Fens is interchangeable with this, cause I liked the Adventure Model a lot. Moonstair is present as well.


Anywho, a lot of these are undergoing some major changes in the fifty years between the campaigns, and I'm also adding a few, most notably a second continent:

New Changes/Regions:

Bavoria: Don't know much about it besides what I can get from Open Grave, where can I dig up some knowledge? On new continent.
Hantumah: In Open Grave. Going to be NorthEast of Bavaria, seperated by large islands. Very Japanese-esque from what I can tell of it.
The Imperium of Nerath: The DemiGod Paladin's bringing it back, and loved the Warhammer 40k fluff. Will contain the Nentir Vale, Winterbole Forest, and Litoria.
Arkhosia: Warlord is retiring after Level 30 to bring back it's glory. Should do fairly well, but starts buting head with the Country-That-I-Can't-Remember.
Bael Turath: Nefermandias recently just torched the only major city here, so unless a PC "adopts" BT as a retirement home and gives it some much needed care, I'm just gonna let the place rot, fester, and turn into a scumhole like Mos Eisley.
"Ork Town": Well, if he wants to run the Imperium, he HAD to have seen this coming! Since the Bloodspears are pretty nonconfrontational after the death of their chieftain, I figure some black-bloods might liven things up and provide a much needed conflict. It has no name though...


I feel like more changes are in order given the time-gap, and two countries a continent does not make (With the exceptions of Australia and the kalashtar's continent from Eberron). Anyone have any ideas, or want any information that might help them make suggestions?

Vknight
2011-01-17, 01:04 AM
Well if this is a custom world do you have a map for it?
Also what plans do you have if the players cause a war or civil war or something big politically?

DragonBaneDM
2011-01-17, 03:46 PM
Well, the majority of the wars have already been fought. Unless they have the ambition to assimilate or conquer Country X into their empire, the only major conflict is the three way war between the Dwarves, Drow, and Mind Flayers of my world.

When I kick things up again after fifty years, there will be the Ork tribe to the south antagionizing Bavaria and Nerath.

And it's named Hantumah!!! Just got my laptop back from Staples! Hantumah is going to be launching ships over to Arkhosia, so there will be that going on as well. Editting time!!!

Past wars, going backwards chronologically, have been the Liberation of Litoria, the Order of the Platinum Arm's war with the Icehoof Minotaur Tribe, the Invasion of the Bloodspear Orcs, the Fall of the Nerath Empire, and of course the war between Bael Turath and Arkhosia.

The last three happened well before the beginning of my first campaign.

EDIT: And yup! I have a map drawn in front of me right now. I'll try to scan it!

Vknight
2011-01-17, 04:54 PM
Very interesting story could you set up a diary for it or a link if it was play by post because it seems fun to read.

Cool because if you didn't have that map I would have volunteered making it for you.

I think your good for the most part.

DragonBaneDM
2011-01-17, 07:17 PM
Thanks dude. I'll try to get my scanner working ASAP, but that's very cool of you to offer that.

And nah, it's just a campaign I've kept alive with a bunch of highschool friends for two years, nothing we've ever documented.

Something else I'm gonna do is let my players give their input on what they want this new continent to have on/in it. I'm trying to get more behind the group storytelling idea.

Vknight
2011-01-17, 08:17 PM
Cool if you want tips on that story telling aspect I'd love to help.

Danin
2011-01-18, 01:26 AM
Its something of a hobby of mine, designing fantasy countries. The concept of fictional ecology is something I find particularly intriguing. I find the easiest way is to take a single (or some times two) rather simple idea(s) and build from there.

For example, one assumption that could be made is for a country to have been invaded a lot in recent history. A simple enough assumption, but there is a lot implicit in it.

Countries are invaded for a number of reasons, such as resources, fear of their military might, tactical positioning, or the attempted amalgamation of a weaker power by a larger one. Lets assume then that this country possesses some of all of these qualities. To be tactically advantageous they are likely in the middle of a number of powers, and to be easy to invade the terrain has to be conducive to this. The country is likely rather flat then, and flat lands tend to be used for agricultural reasons. If they are in the middle of a number of nations they are likely fairly small, but to be attacked out of fear of their military force they would have to have maintained a rather large military proportionate to their size (which would also reflect being surrounded by larger, more powerful nations).

Now that we have a reasonably small, agrarian based nation with a history of military distinction that has been invaded in recent past we can garner an idea of their culture. Due to constant bloodshed they are likely to have a disproportionately small male to female ratio as men are more likely to take up military occupations and be killed in battle. Accordingly, in order to maintain an effective workforce equal rights would have to be in place, with women taking on many traditional male dominated fields (soldiers, stone masons, etc). Additionally, high birth rates can be expected in the years following a war or military occupation (See WWI or WWII for reference) so a large portion of the population is likely young as well, and would probably be expected to 'grow up' faster than a peaceful nation.

Now, since the state still exists, it must have a government in place lest portions of the country be picked off and assimilated by the larger powers around it. Additionally, assuming the country is not currently occupied, the state is likely resilient enough to survive these invasions. This implies that the state relies on largely entrenched ideals and likely the support of the populous. As threat of invasion or recent invasion tends to promote political conservatism and reliance on military expenditure, you can expect the state to be rather militaristic and individual liberty and civil rights taking a back seat to the preservation of the state. Furthermore, after numerous invasions this mindset would have likely spread to the population, creating a state where the individual is less important than the primacy of the state and where individuals are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater picture.

Finally, as nations recover from invasion the cost of maintaining a standing military can be challenging, suggesting the use of minutemen or citizen militias. However since agrarian economies tend towards widely spread populations supporting major urban centers and militias are only useful if they can be called into action quickly, rural farmers would likely be encouraged to build small, close knit communities that farm common fields and could organize quickly in the event of another attack.

Now, building off that original idea of a nation that has been attacked a lot in recent history you suddenly have a realistic country. A conservative militaristic government with the support of the population but a relatively shaken agrarian economy. Citizens trained to fight with a fairly equal society and a young population organized into close knit communities that rely on each other and are willing to sacrifice themselves for their neighbor or country, are deeply patriotic, and likely suspicious of foreigners. Lacking infrastructure like education means magic is a rarity but citizens are trained as fighters or skirmishers everywhere. Even small agrarian communities have low walls and many buildings use similar simple designs as rebuilding from the devastation was done as cheaply and effectively as possible.

Most concepts are easy enough to build off of. A coastal nation that floods often will look far different from a similar coastal nation that is surrounded by reef, for example. I typically go into much greater depth when I design a country myself though, so if you (or anyone) are intrigued in this method of nation design shoot me a PM.

DragonBaneDM
2011-01-18, 03:40 AM
Countries are invaded for a number of reasons, such as resources, fear of their military might, tactical positioning, or the attempted amalgamation of a weaker power by a larger one. Lets assume then that this country possesses some of all of these qualities. To be tactically advantageous they are likely in the middle of a number of powers, and to be easy to invade the terrain has to be conducive to this. The country is likely rather flat then, and flat lands tend to be used for agricultural reasons. If they are in the middle of a number of nations they are likely fairly small, but to be attacked out of fear of their military force they would have to have maintained a rather large military proportionate to their size (which would also reflect being surrounded by larger, more powerful nations).


Coolio, much like the Nentir Vale is in my campaigns.

I see all your points and such, but...how does this information help me build my new continent? It's not that I think you're wrong or wordy, I'm just having difficulty putting it in context.