JackRackham
2016-05-08, 09:43 PM
Isonöe is a world consisting of three continents and a huge archipelago which are collectively home to eight distinct cultures, seven of which are intended to be playable. The action is centered on the Eastern Hemishere, where three continent fragments surround an ocean, with a mega-volcano at its center. Meanwhile, change is coming from a Western Hemisphere that is a vast ocean, interrupted only by a long, volcanic archipelago. It is a world that has seen great changes - it has literally been torn to pieces by the force of an angry god - and is on the cusp of another great wave of transformation.
Up until 5,000 years ago, the known world was comprised of a pangaeic super-continent, surrounded by a massive, unexplored ocean and dominated by a single empire, ruling over humans, dwarves, and elves alike.
A cataclysm known as "The Breaking" changed everything. Mountains rose in a day, spewing molten rock and unleashing clouds of ash that burned like hellfire. The land shook and violently fractured into three continents. The ocean rushed in between them, forming new seas. Massive waves crashed along the devastated shores, concentrated by the jagged new coastline. The Empire, the only government anyone could remember, fell. Millions fled into the great ocean in their ships, never to be heard from again.
Half of the population of the world died in the breaking. The survivors huddled into new, broken continents, separated by oceans that boiled, smoked, and gave off noxious vapors for 4,000 years. Man, dwarf and elf alike forgot the secrets of seafaring. New kingdoms arose alongside new languages and customs, as the peoples began to diverge from one another, in their isolation and in an attempt to adjust to their now very different environments.
The fury of the oceans gradually settled and a coastal people from the Eastern continent known as the Al-Bari rediscovered the secret of seafaring, establishing trade along the coasts of the three continents facing the Great Inner Sea, surrounding the massive volcano they came to call "Mother."
Through trade, they became wealthy, until they dominated not only their own continent, but all the known world. They established the second global empire, and their language still forms the foundation of the Common tongue. In time, however, as they strained to penetrate every market, and control every copper, they spread themselves paper thin.
A great many became assimilated into the cultures of their home markets. Others, from the lower classes, formed a new culture around a life lived almost entirely at sea, while yet another group became accustomed to lives of great luxury in the Al-Bari homelands from which they directed the great trade fleets.
These divisions festered and boiled over into a series of civil wars, weakening the Al-Bari and allowing the native kingdoms of each continent to free themselves once again, in turn. New enmities and alliances formed, broke, and reformed for hundreds more years, while a force gathered itself on the other side of the globe, in a chain of islands long rumored, but never confirmed.
Known variously as the Smoke Isles, the Thousand Isles, the Hell Stones, the Green Isles, the Black Isles, and the Paradise Isles, the islands of the Great Fire Sea first gained humanoid habitation in the years after "The Breaking," when the battered remains of refugee ships who'd wandered helplessly, tossed from storm to storm, stalled in calm after calm, finally began to find their way to the shores of these volcanic isles.
The Smoke Islanders, in the millennia to come, became a force of myth for the people of the three continents. While seafaring was thought impossible for thousands of years, disappearances along the coasts facing the Empty Ocean began around 1,000 years after the breaking.
These were attributed to noxious gases and sudden squalls, but stories began to circulate of creatures with the body of a dragon and the arms and heads of men, who would abduct lone travelers near the sea, of dark shapes in the water, like a school of sharks riding the surface of the waves.
In the time of the Al-Bari Empire, expeditions proved that these disappearances were the result of out-rigged slave ships raiding along the coasts and it came to be known amongst the educated that the horrible beasts of legend were a race calling themselves the Tua-Atana or Tua-men, who rode Ash Dragons into battle, equipped with weapons of hard, black glass.
As wars were fought to protect the coasts, these Tua-men came to be commonly known as Ash Lords, Burned Men, and Dragon-Kin, as it was rumored they were mated to dragons and rode their half-breed children into battle, ensorcelled to resist flames, smoke, and fumes.
In truth, the Tua-Atana are indeed kin to the dragons - closer kin, in fact, than their Ash-Dragon mounts. In the time after The Breaking, the desperate refugees made a marriage pact with the last of the failing population of True Dragons in exchange for assistance and possession of the isles. They were taught the secrets for training and controlling Ash Dragons and other lesser dragons, and the great infusion of draconic blood imbued them with resistance to the elements. The true numbers of the Tua-Atana are not known in the mainland continents, as only small slave-raiding parties and pilgrims to the Mother have ever been encountered. The true location of the Smoke Isles is, in fact, not known.
Southern Continent:
*Skagasi - The men and women of Skagenbare known to the outside world as Skirling, for their practices of raiding & piracy after the opening of the oceans was heralded by the Al-Bari traders. The Skagasi culture, however, is more complex than is commonly understood from outside. The culture developed as a population of Humans, Orcs, and Dwarves from the Old Empire were isolated in polar and near-polar conditions following The Breaking. In the immediate aftermath, the greatly reduced population and the desperate conditions caused by the rapid transition from a temperate to a frigid climate led to widespread interbreeding, though distinct human, dwarven, and orcish communities remain (albeit with some otherwise unexpected attributes).
The early Skagasi learned to harness great beasts - dogs, wolves, dire wolves, and snow bears - to pull hide sleds across the vast frozen wastes of the far south, the sea ice at the coasts, and the intervening tundra. They began to raise massive, hairy elk - and the odd mammoth that proved trainable - for milk, cheese, and meat, as these beasts were among the only species of sufficient size that could survive the extreme cold and find sufficient sustenance among the hardy grasses and shrubs that overtook their world.
The dwarves were instrumental in the survival of these early communities and the formation of the present culture, developing techniques for creating ale from the tundra grasses and moss as wheat and barley became impossible to grow and for the subterranean farming of mushrooms.
At present, the dwarves are concentrated in the hills and mountains bordering the Eldewüd. Orcs largely settle in pockets hear the coast, while humans and half-orcs dominate the stark inland tundra and wastes. Communities are mixed, however, and humans, orcs and half-orcs tend to be nomadic, since the opening of the seas, gathering at the coasts to fish in winter, and scattering inland in search of grazing in the summer.
The one portion of Skagen supporting large, above-ground communities year-round is the peninsula known as Dagmar's Dork. The sole metropolis and all of its handful of towns and cities are located along the Dork, founded after the Al-Bari subjugation of the Skirling raiders that began to terrorize the remote corners of the Eastern and Western continents in the time of the great opening. These cities thrive on trade in furs and fish, but are primarily known as havens for Skirling, pirates, and fugitives with nowhere left to hide - it being the last choice of most people to live.
WIP
*Eldewüden (name not finalized) – The people of the Eldewüd are the most divided in Isonöe. In the time of The Opening, the Elves who had dominated the Eldewüd were systematically undermined by the incoming Al Bari traders, allowing the humans, halflings, half-elves, gnomes and dwarves – who embraced the expansion of commerce and welcome the opening of opportunities for social advancement – to take a leading role in the politics of the Eldewüd. They built sparkling cities on the previously spurned coasts of the greater- and lesser Claws of the Harpie, using the best of Dwarven masonry techniques, Elven craftsmanship and magics, human artistry and innovation, and – hidden beneath the seamless, immaculate surfaces of the new cities and known to only a few – gnomish gadgetry and (mechanical-)engineering. Over the centuries, as the unpredictable storms which ravaged Isonöe gave way to more predictable weather – a process that had begun gradually leading up to The Opening – this potent combination of talents allowed for the creation of simple, non-magical flying machines, as well. Though the range and size of these contraptions severely limits their use in trade, the tactical advantage allowed the Eldewüden to become the first to free themselves of Al Bari domination, when the second great empire of Isonöe became too heavy-handed and ineffectual.
Meanwhile, the elves of the Eldewüd proper – though their term for the wood is Kuromori - secluded themselves ever more in their great forest as the other peoples began to take on a more prominent role during and after The Opening. Their religion changed, taking on the veneration of ancestors and beginning to place an emphasis on the worship of Io, goddess of forests and secrets, and Mune, god of swords and swordsmen. They began, as well, to establish and maintain relations with the Unseelie Fey, whom the elves encourage, as a means of deterring the encroachments of outsiders. Their lifestyles changed, as well, as they came to reject the advancements of the new era and the contributions of outsiders like Dwarves and humans. Instead, the focus became an ideal of purity and an attempt to perfect the arts, foods, and ideologies that were seen as unique to the Elves of the Kuromori.
The cuture of the Eldewud at present is, therefore, split between the great polyglot cultures of the metropolises of the coast and the surrounding countryside, who are known as pluralistic, welcoming, and technologically advanced peoples and Elves of Kuromori – Xenophobic, isolated, warlike, swordsmen, artisans and farmers, obsessed with the pursuit of narrow perfectionism.
WIP
Western Continent:
*Heraea - Haraia consists of three bowl shaped plains, surrounded on three sides by mountains, and bordering the ocean to the south. The central plain is connected to the others through a broad valley through the mountains to the East and West. Historically, the proto-Heraea were sufficiently separated to see themselves as distinct, but subject to invasion through the mountain valleys. Constant warfare forged a mercilessly martial culture in the central plain, which conquered and converted it's neighbors in turn, it's culture becoming gradually more rigid over the centuries.
At present, Heraea society is stratified and strictly gendered. A matriarchal society, all men are given to the military at age 5, forbidden to hold office, own property, or accept money. Elite warriors are required to serve at temple as concubines for fertile women who wish to reproduce. While women have dynastic names, Heraied men refer to all elders as "mother" or "father," the former demanding more deference. Inheritance is entirely matrilineal.
Civilian society is made up entirely of women and is brutally stratified. At the top, an elite class made up of elves, half-elves, humans own large plantations worked by teams of goblin and kobold slaves. This class provides all the political leadership of Heraia, as well as the generals that command it's armies. Merchant families - in the centuries since contact with the Al-Bari - form the second tier of Heraea society and are primarily made up of half-elves and humans. Many of these families are of al-Bari origin, though they have been settled for centuries, and these still dominate the highest level of trade. The base of the population are small farmers, mostly humans, and kobolds and goblins comprise a hereditary slave class. Finally, in the port cities, the Lower Al-Bari form an important foreign element, mostly despised, but formally outside Heraea society (and, thus, the only population of civilian men).
Notably, the Heraea also receive martial training, focused on defense, close-quarters fighting, and archery. They primarily train in armored with daggers and bow (The best of the Heraea are often the most formidable fighters in single combat, since the men are more often trained for fighting in groups, in military units). Otherwise, their education is comprised of politics, philosophy, strategy, magic and mathematics.
Heraia consists of three cities which dominate their respective valleys and harbors. Aster, Iskus, and Dolos are ancient. As the early Heraea rebuilt after the breaking, they built inland, well away from the poisonous seas. As trade exploded after the opening, the elite Heraea forced the enslaved kobolds and goblins to dig canals deep enough for sailing ships, from each of their three cities, all the way to the best harbors at the coast. Under the watchful eye of the Haraied army, the Heraied heartland was opened to the wealth of the seas, while huge guard towers and catapults rose alongside the canals.
Heraïa officially gained its independence from the Al Bari in midsummer 250 years ago, when the city managed to destroy the Al-Bari main fleet by luring it into a canal and surrounding it with the help of an Al-Bari mercenary fleet, after a years-long struggle in which the Al-Bari blockaded Heraïed ports and attempted to force the canals leading to her cities.
Aster - Aster is the Jewel of Heraia, beatiful, a source of great pride, and ultimately impractical. Built of richly veined local marble, the palaces and temples of Aster reach for the sky, glowing in the light of day and shimmeringly beautifully, eerily at night. The great artists of Heraia - sculptors, painters, gardeners, and playwrights - gather here, along with great philosophers. In the millennia since the ascendancy of Iskus, defensibility has been deemed unnecessary. The military camps well outside the city center, watching the canal and holding the mountain passes.
Iskus - Iskus is the military and administrative center of Heraia. The beautiful marble used in neighboring Aster is scorned. The city walls and defenses are built of granite. The artistry of the Heraiedsbis turned here to function, defense. Even painters and engravers are employed to shape and paint subtle facets into buildings that present visibility issues for attacking armies. The waters of the canal are extended into a moat and series of labyrinthine canals surrounded by identical cubic buildings clustered around defensive towers, such that a few defenders can bleed an attacking army for days before they reach the city proper. The army barracks are spread throughout the city in buildings identical to common homes from outside. Squares large enough for drilling dot the city. Only the walled central city, with its gleaming white spires housing the true elite Heraied citizens (women) stands out as an apparent exception - but even this feature allows the elite an unbroken view of the entire city under siege, from a distance unapproachable without weeks of crushing casualties.
Dolos - Dolos surrounds a castle on a hill in the center of a broad plain. The castle is huge, imposing, and is said to include a catacombs underground much larger than the exostructure, as the entire hill is honeycombed with stone tunnels and cells for soldiers, surrounding a deep, vertical well. The granite stones of the castle are truly monstrous, cubes 10 ft to a side, and the stones fit seamlessly, without need for mortar and are said to nestle snugly into the granite bedrock of the hill. The castle was finished after 200 years of construction following the breaking, in the first example in Heraied history of slavery. The surrounding town, however, was burnt and rebuilt many times over the years in conflicts with Iskus and is haphazard in character, with clusters of crudely built slums periodically wiped clean in the occasional fires interspersed with beautiful, permanent structures of carved sandstone, limestone, granite and marble, of fired brick and clay, and even inexplicable towers of imported black-glass harder than any stone, that seems to drink fire and gleams appallingly in all conditions.
*Karolais –
(Disclaimer: This area exists in its present form to acclimate new players who may be less experienced with D&D, but who are likely familiar with the standard Tolkienesque fantasy mythos. It is *intended* to be mostly vanilla d&d, with some historical elements mixed in. It is probably where many campaigns will start, before branching out into the more novel areas of the world.)
“A thin veneer of sophistication over an underlying brutish tribalism; rank slavery, enforced at sword point, belying a weak rhetoric of mutual obligation; A scarred, stone wall smelling of ancient blood and death, perfumed and adorned with fine velvet draperies; A moat lined with beautiful willows and lotus trees, sharpened stakes bristling just below the shining water; a carefully-mannered courtier one day strips to the waist, paints himself for war, and weilds a great sword, killing dozens in his battle frenzy the next. This is the essence of so-called Karolais culture.” – Al Bari historian Al Ghuz
The humans and elves of Karolis dominate the land. They are a feudal people. Peasants grow wheat and barley on land owned by hereditary nobility tracing their descent to Karol I Hardhand. In the hilly south and along the coasts, estates are dedicated to grapes and olives. Cities in Karolis are controlled by the King. The religion in Karolis is unusual in that they envision the realm of the gods as hierarchical. They worship only Solis, who they call the “King of the Gods,” venerating other gods only on occasion, when specific favors are needed. Karolis is known in other lands for its great artistry in food, clothing, song, painting and sculpture. Competition amongst the nobility for prestige has long fueled patronage of great artists.
Competition, however, extends beyond mere patronage for the arts. The nobility of Karolis are frequently at war. Ruling dynasties rarely last beyond 3 generations. Rare is a capable peasant who lives a full, peaceful life as a farmer. The strongest of the peasantry will be conscripted for war, at least once per generation. Many of the survivors will never return to farming, but will become hedge knights, little more than wandering mercenaries, fighting for their daily bread.
In the mountains of the far South, the Dwarves are a smaller, but far more stable society, having seen only three dynasties since The Breaking. Dwarven society is communal and hierarchical. Adolescent dwarves pledge themselves to guilds, which become the center of their lives. Guilds have their own internal courts, control their own territory within cities and in the countryside, provide housing and capital for their members, and set prices for (and, in some cases, even market) their goods. Their leaders form the council that guides the hand of the Dwarven Kings and Queens. Dwarves also belong to Clans, which are the basis for military membership, (aside from the elite belonging to the prestigious Guardians’ Guild) and whose members may belong to many guilds, and which handle matters within the family independently – everything from criminal law, to inheritance (of non-guild property), to the assignment of rank within the Dwarven military.
Cuers - The original capital of Karolis, Cuers is a castle city of primarily military importance at game time. The castle itself is situated on a high plateau at the precipice of a sheer cliff dropping 250 feet. The castle walls rise another 150 feet above the surface of the plateau. At the cliff-side corners of the castle are mounted permanent catapults and a series of lifts overhanging the precipice. In peace time these lifts are used to supply the castle and to ferry people from the lower city to the upper. In the event of an attempted assault, the lifts are raised, and rigged to destruct, in case an enemy ascends the cliff face.
The lower city, unplanned and constructed primarily of mud brick and wood is arrayed haphazardly at the foot of the cliff and stretches into the surrounding plain. It is the point of concentration for the farms of the rolling Northern plains.
The upper city, richer, carefully planned, and constructed largely of granite quarried from the old mountain at Rëkig, is the primary contact point between the human and elven kingdoms of Karolis.
Cheveaux - At the center of the post-Fall capital of Karolis is a massive palace complex, surrounded by carefully tended gardens, museums, amphitheatres, and monuments known as Palaz du Cachot.
The central residence rises from a natural, chalk-white limestone Mesa 70 feet tall at the center of the compound, visible from many miles away. The walls are 20 feet thick, constructed of veined, pastel marble imported from Heraia, beautifully carved into the shape of a ring of beautiful maidens dancing in a circle, holding hands, their gowns cascading from their limbs and curves to the Mesa below. Four wisp-thin (and easily destructible) bridges connect the palace to the shore of the stream below.
Surrounding the Mesa, this stream is wide, comes right to the wall of the Mesa, and is reputed to hide row upon row of deadly sharpened stakes, treacherous currents, and traps beneath its surface. It is lined with willows, flowering trees and fruits. Around this central garden is a fashionable labyrinth of impenetrable (enchanted) hedgerows, decorated with beautiful, naturalistic marble statues, painted gaily and wielding fanciful weapons. Noble women and men often picnic here, and certain well known and well-hidden corners are used for secret trysts.
Around the labyrinth are a series of gardens dotted with minor monuments and graves of lesser historical figures, the national museums of art, history, and magic, the great amphitheatre, the monument-tombs of past kings, and the Great Cathedral of Solis, overlooking the beautiful arch that is the only entrance to the walled complex.
The remainder of the city is aligned along a single, wide, boulevard, lined with great trees and un-embellished marble statues spiraling out from the center of the city to a forked highway running to Plenes and Cuers. Placed along the spiral are of course great markets - world-renowned perfumiers, vintners, cheesemongers, and tailors ply their wares here - galleries, foreign embassies and the great palace-forts of the nobility of the entirety of Karolis, who depend on their proximity to the Palaz and the defensibility of their estates to maintain their influence and lands. Also dotting the boulevard are inns and taverns of decreasing quality as one moves away from the palace, where one can listen to the world famous and infamous bards of Chevaux, trained in the Bardic College on the second loop from the Palaz and reputed to be among the most beautiful singers and story tellers in the world - and her most devious spies.
Further out along the boulevard are the homes and studios of artists, craftsmen and architects, intermingled with the homes of other burgers, foreigners and simpler markets. In a line running west to east across this spiral is a canal (the road becomes a looping bridge at its junctures with the canal) which connects the stream winding through the Palaz to the ocean on the East coast of Karolis.
Plenes - Centered in a vast, low, inland plain of wheat fields stretching horizon to horizon, Plene is the gathering point for the agricultural heartland of Karolis. Famous for its beer, wine, and olive oil refined and fermented from the produce of surrounding farms, Plenes is also the point of contact for trade with the Dwarven lands to the South.
Plenes is hot, white and starkly religious. Buildings are kept low and made of limestone, sandstone, or mud brick and white-washed to keep off the sun that beams down 12 months a year, interspersed only with brief rainy periods every 2 months. By decree and custom, the only building higher than 1 story is the Cathedral to Sol, whose gilded central dome reaches 250 feet into the sunlit sky, watching over scores of miles of wheat fields. Private residences, inns and other buildings otherwise build down into the clay soil, often as many as three levels deep.
Due to the climate, landscape, and easy access to grain, moreover, Plenes is also known for its horses, which are the fastest and most enduring in the Western continent, rivaled only by the horses of the great Keshi plain for the fastest in Isonöe, and for its cattle.
In contrast to its otherwise sleepy and zealously religious character, however, Plenes is also known for its fine swordsmen, the volatile, swashbuckling Bravos - mostly off-cast, trouble-making children or runaways from nearby farms who roam the streets, controlling the underbelly of life in Plenes and study tirelessly the art of single combat with the rapier - and the mysterious Chevalier (cowboys, as they are called in the common tongue), famous horsemen and archers who sell and trade their cattle in the markets by day, and often drink, gamble, and **** it away by night in the underground taverns, gambling houses and brothels governed by the less venerated gods in Karolis - Layla and her brood.
Rekig - The dwarven city of Rëkig is a masterpiece of architecture. Named after the mountain which once stood on the site of the city, the primary buildings of Rëkig have stood since its completion 300 years after The Breaking. To say the city was constructed is a misnomer, rather it was sculpted, carved from the living mountain, which was quarried down to the level of the plateau around the sculpted edifices which now rise like sky-scrapers in the central portion of the city tapering away from the center of the once-mountain (for clarity, the mountain was chiseled down to hollowed-out sculptures in the shape of buildings). The quarried stone was used in the construction of buildings and roads across Karolais.
The central city is divided into districts housing the highest ranking members of the guilds and clans of the Dwarven kingdom. These districts are arranged in concentric rings around the palace district. Each contains a number of buildings built around a central edifice carve from the mountain.The central district is a single, massive edifice, the palace of the Dwarven Kings. The central ring around the palace district is formed by the home districts of the 12 noble elector clans. Next are the 16 most important guilds, and their associated marketplaces. Further out are smaller or less important clans and guilds. Finally, surrounding the whole in chaotic fashion is a vast, unplanned city-market constructed of stone, baked brick, and wood.
Eastern Continent:
*Al-Bari – Until around 3,000 years ago, the al-Bari were divided, with five cities states a few miles from the coast dominating the surrounding country side, each ruled by its own prince. The al-Bari cultures was forged into a coherent whole over the millennia by traveling bards, through migrations, defections and exiles from one city to another, and by merchant families known as Patriarchies (Qabila), who established a presence in all five city states, growing wealthy through the trade from one city-state to the other, and growing in influence over the centuries until, by the century preceding The Opening, the heads of the five most powerful families became a legislative and advisory council, sharing power with and advising the local princes. With their primary role in The Opening 1,000, their immediate monopolization of the resulting overseas trade, and the dominant role this gave them in the al-Bari economy, these Patriarchies were able to formally unify the city-states into a confederation under their rule, stripping the princes of all but their titles – though they remained ceremonially visible, celebrities, without political power.
As they became an imperial center, the al-Bari became yet more urban, and far more corrupt.
After more than 700 years of rule, al-Bari Empire fell as the overseas representatives of the Patriarchies became increasingly integrated into their new homes and as the low classes of the al-Bari became disillusioned with the Imperial project and the leadership of the Patriarchies, breaking away to form their own groups, whose services the Patriarchies must compete over to maintain power.
Presently, and since the fall of the al-Bari Empire, the al-Bari are socially divided into the High al-Bari and Low al-Bari. The Low al-Bari live almost entirely on the sea. Their ships are their homes. They work as fishermen, transport-for-hire, mercenaries, pirates, and small-scale itinerant merchants. They are organized into collectives known as Taifa, which vary from the crew of a single ship, to fleets of thousands.
The high al-Bari, meanwhile, continue to dominate global trade at the highest levels, govern al-Balad, and skim profits from moneylending and financing the smaller-scale activities if the Low al-Bari. There are five leading patriarchies, or Qabilas, and seven lesser families. Since the time of The Collapse around 400 years ago, the Patriarchies have increasingly behaved like crime bosses. Assassinations, bribes, blackmail and forgery are routine political tools. Smuggling, piracy and the slave trade are increasingly used to gain an edge in economic competition. As their monopoly over trade weakens, and competitor kingdoms rise all over Isonöe, patience and tolerance for the corruption and ineffectiveness of the leading Patriarchies is wearing thin, with growing support for the reinstatement of principates.
Tartas - Words about the city
Alippa - Words about the city
Demesk - Words about the city
Tyar - Words about the city
Byblos - Words about the city
Sidin - Words about the city
*Keshis - The Kesh culture is enigmatic. At its heights, the Imperial Family and priestly caste claim the mantle of preservation of and direct succession to the Old Empire and its gods.
The Imperial Family claim descent from a cadet branch of the old imperial family (direct descent from the 1st emperor) and claim to have preserved the manners, dress, speech, writing, architecture, and the divine mandate of the Old Empire.
The priests claim to worship the Gods of Old in all their original, terrible, awesome glory. These gods are terrible in their wrath. Their names are known only to a few and they are terrible to behold. They are above, beyond, and entirely outside morality and their dictates are unquestionable. Their behavior is erratic, unpredictable, startlingly illogical. And yet they demand rigid adherence to the smallest details of their rituals and dictates.
From the outside, moreover, the priestly claim to worship the original gods of the Old Empire is difficult to fathom, as the gods worshipped elsewhere are mutually familiar, with similar attributes and stories, despite their differences in details and names, and despite their worshippers having been separated for millennia.
Perhaps most intriguing from the outside, however, is the contrast between Keshi high society and the culture of the common Keshi.
Kesh is the largest surviving kingdom, varying greatly in terrain and containing the largest cities, farms, rivers, and wild forests and plains. Its people, as in other kingdoms, are farmers, herdsman, craftsmen, seamen, merchants, soldiers, slaves and prostitutes.
From the outside, however, the Keshi people appear to be remarkable in their similarities - known for their simplicity, irreverence, and down-to-earth wisdom. They display an eye-rolling tolerance of the upper classes. They are bawdy, lewd, ribald, intensely practical, and independent. They could hardly contrast more sharply with their "betters," and are generally well-liked outside their own borders.
Gadi - Words about city
Gonder - Words about city
Meroa- Words about city
Kiloo - Words about city
Sifla - Words about city
Lindi - Words about city
Mugdisha - Words about city
Marna - Words about city
Harar - Words about city
Gude - Words about city
Zinj - Words about city
*Böglund – The Böggan are halflings inhabiting the highland bogs of Böglund and the surrounding highlands. They are a small people, growers of seasonal black rice and raisers of Gray Buffalo. The Böggan are known as a peaceful people, but their history suggests “defensive” as a more appropriate adjective. Faced with invasions from Kesh and incursions from giants in the surrounding mountains, the Böggan have employed hit-and-run tactics to lure invading armies into hidden sink lands to disappear into the peat, or the stomach of a bog troll. They have snuck diseased corpses and carcasses into enemy camps, and fouled the water. They have led pursuit parties on winding paths through the bogs, until their pursuers – tired and half-starved – become prey to the bog lizards or trolls. Likewise, the hill Böggan use the highground and ranged weapons, retreating to lead the enemy into traps, often circling back in the night to surround the enemy. They send scouts to cause calamities in the enemy camps and sabotage transportation and supplies.
The occasional Böggan adventurer is often cast-off, too fond of trickery even for the Böggan, though the rare Böggan may tire of slabs of buffalo lard melting over bog rice and seek out the variety of other lands.
Smoke Isles:
*Tua Atana – The Tua-Atana, known to the outside world as Tua-men, Smoke Islanders, Ash Men, etc are descended from a group of refugees who fled shortly before The Breaking. Worshippers in the Cult of Volcanus (though they recognize and worship the pantheon as a whole), they are known mostly for coastal slave raiding, out-rigger canoes, and their Ash Dragon mounts. Their society is organized around a loose clan structure. Small clans often join to colonize a large island and large clans often break up into smaller ones before a large Island detonates to spread out and colonize whatever small islands are unoccupied.
Heads of clans gather every 10 years on Rangiroa, the largest island in the archipelago – and one of only a handful which are permanently inhabitable – to choose an Alaka’I Mo’o or “Dragon King” through a series of competitions of strength, skill, wits, and fighting ability. The Dragon King is recognized by all Tua-Atana and rules from a palace on Rangiroa, surrounded by a two-mile radius forest, in the center of what has become a huge city. Aside from their Draconic heritage, the Tua-Atana remain devoted cultists of Volcanus and the learned among them maintain knowledge which allows them to accurately predict earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land slides and tsunamis months in advance.
The Tua-Atana are often tattooed. These tattoos are coded chronicles of their accomplishments as clansmen, warriors, fishermen, scholars, etc – but some are more than that, as the most accomplished Tua-Atana are able to weave protective magic into their art. The Smoke Isles themselves are mostly devoid of megafauna. Though some few exotic animals are raised as delicacies on the handful of large islands, most islands are home only to birds, Ash dragons and lizards which are capable of fleeing to a neighboring island during an eruption. As a result, Smoke Islanders eat mostly seafood and tubers. The main islands are inhabited, however, by large, flightless birds.
Wo
Hao - Talk about the island
Makemo - Talk about the island
Arutua - Talk about the island
Manihi - Talk about the island
Savai'i - Talk about the island
Futuna - Talk about the island
Rangiroa - Talk about the island
*This cosmology is heavily influenced by, and in some places adapted from, N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. I’m making this entirely for my own campaigns, not profit, but credit where credit is due.
**The Gods have no alignments and no genders. Genders are a reflection of the interpretation of the Gods’ legendary interactions by mortals and the forms the Gods take in the presence of mortals and for mortals’ benefit, to allow them to make sense of relationships and what they’re seeing. Alignments are mortal judgments of the Gods’ actions and contributions to existence. The Gods have Natures which exist independently of alignment and drive and motivate them. Thus, a God generally understood to be Good will take actions mortals would deem Evil, if it is demanded by its nature. Mortals all over Isonöe are very confused by this.
In the beginning, there was Nothingness, non-existence, stagnation. One eternity, however, Somethingness appeared in the heart of all the nothing. It took the nothing into itself like a bellows, became one with it. It became Paradox. Paradox was the first something to be aware of its somethingness. Paradox is the beginning and end of all consciousness.
Eternities later, Paradox let out the first of its children, its oldest daughter Layla. For an eternity, she wandered shrieking darkness in the remaining nothing, going quite mad. A moment/eternity later, Solis emerged from the bellows of Paradox. Outraged by the chaos, darkness and madness of Layla, her baby brother immediately sought to control and correct her and to bring light. For many eternities they fought, made love, and fought some more, in the process creating the basic structure of Existence known to Man as the material planes. While there was Structure, however, their difference was too stark. There efforts were fruitless and they could create no Life of their own.
Finally, in its last gasp before sinking into exhaustion, Paradox breathed out its final child, Heiko, the Twilight, the balancer, the Life-Bringer. In Heiko, both Solis and Layla found a more compatible companion. Though occasional spats and brief flings continued between all Three, Heiko became the balancing force between the light and darkness, Law and Chaos, Change and Stagnation, Freedom and Control (and so forth). He/She (I will alternate from here on, as does Heiko) came to understand, employ, and combine elements of both her siblings’ natures. Only with this careful – and practiced – balance of chaos and order, and with the help of one of her siblings, was life possible.
From his frenzied mating with her sister Layla, he brought forth Anansi, the first-born of the second-generation Gods, along with his mad brother Majnoon and the unpredictable Lotan. From her unions with his brother Solis, she produced the steady Ki, loving Astarte, predictable Aether, and fierce Harb and birthed them like a man.
Inspired by their sister, the Gods Solis and Layla began to experiment, using the techniques they’d learned to produce their own offspring. What came forth, however, cannot truly be said to live. Rather, they produced the Abominations. Layla’s failures include SggArth (CE; Plague), X’en-Rozuul (CE; Disaster), and SvAndezz’ol (CE; Terror/Fear). Solis produced M’Randithmal (LE; greed), Zarrandst (LE; hate), and Shbanibul (LE; megalomania/powerlust).
Eventually, they realized that the spark of life lie with their respective children, as well as their brother. Layla and Astarte produced wantonness himself, Zib. Solis and Majnoon produced wise Otani. His union with Aether produced dependable Polaris. From an eon spent with Lotan, Ki, and Astarte, Layla produced the moon sisters, the triplets Luna, Io and Elara and from a tumultuous fling with Harb, she produced the many-sided Shalim.
These children, as well, found that they could produce their own offspring. Zib and Ki produced explosive Volcanus. Shalim and Ki produced mysterious Nix. Lotan and Aether begot inflexible Lex. Harb and Io produced the wandering Siyad. Harb and Otani produced the masterful Mune. Harb and Ki sired the industrious Hadid. Many other couplings took place, some unproductive. Many Gods were born and slain. Many others are unknown to man. Only mischievous Anansi never produced offspring.
The Gods Layla and Solis were busy for eternities multiplying, pursuing their agendas through their couplings. Layla sought to inject chaos and change into the ordered realms of the offspring of Solis. Solis sought to contain and order the chaos wrought by Layla’s couplings with Heiko.
Meanwhile, however, Heiko was busy perfecting a new, beautiful, fragile form of life – Mortals. Though these early mortals were seeded throughout the very material plane they were contesting, the other gods ignored them for many eons – all save Anansi, the favored son, eternal child and mischief maker. Through Anansi’s many deadly pranks, the flaws in Heiko’s new children were exposed. Over time, they were exploited, weeded out, accidentally exterminated (such fragile things), remade, and perfected. Other gods became involved, of course, and Anansi continued to entertain himself.
The humanoid mortals diversified – some naturally, some through the interference of the Gods, and some through “hilarious” “pranks” – like when Anansi tricked a great hero into mating with an unsuspecting (non-sapient) swamp dragon, creating the race of Kobolds, or that time a great hero made a made him promise his people would always have land enough to stretch their legs, so he shrunk them to half the normal size, creating the ancestor race of halflings, dwarves and gnomes.
In time, the beauty of the humans came to be appreciated by a portion of the Gods, and couplings between children of Heiko (the term for all Gods but The Three) and man produced great heroes – fertile offspring through whom the propensity for magic was given to mortalkind. Eventually, the rivalry between Layla and Solis was extended to this mortal realm, as both sought to gain the upper hand through the creation of more powerful heroes through direct coupling with mortals. This, however, was a doomed endeavor.
The great power of direct descent from one of the creators of the universe was too much for a mortal mind. These offspring became destructive forces of chaos and law, worse even than the abominations for their ability to reason and act deliberately. They bred amongst themselves, seeking and obtaining immortality in the 5th generation. Thus were the demons and devils brought into this world. After a generation of slaughter, the outer planes were created to contain them and a race of immortal protectors was created for the mortals, who fought the demons and devils, rounding up the survivors and banishing them to these newly created planes of existence. The strongest of this 5th generation of fiends came to dominate their new abodes, becoming the archdevils and demon lords.
Solis (LN): Light, day, law. A god who demands unquestioning obedience.
Heiko (NG): Twilight, balance, good, creation.
Layla (CN): Darkness, night, change. A destructive and unpredictable goddess.
Ki (TN): Earth, agriculture, death, rebirth.
Astarte (NG): Love, fertility, motherhood.
Aether (LN): Sky, seasons.
Harb (LN): War, strategy, proper conduct in war.
Anansi (CG): Trickery, theft, childhood. A charming, childish trickster god, he is innocent, loving, mischievous, cruel, petty, vengeful, and brilliant.
Majnoon (CN): Madness, intoxication, weather, storms.
Lotan (TN): The sea, winds, trade
Polaris (LN): (The North Star) guidance, fatherhood
Luna (CN): Illusions, beauty, art, luck, gambling
Io (TN): Secrets, forests
Elara (CG): Travel, hospitality
Shalim (CN): Shadow, murder, sanctuary, forgiveness
Otani (TN): Wisdom, knowledge, divination
Zib (CN): Sex, lust. A crude, brash, honest god. “Aren’t you the god of love?” he was once asked. “Love?” he responded, “That is my lovely sister. Me? I’m the god of ****ing.”
Hadid (LG): Smithing, craftsmen
Sahir (TN): Magic
Nix (CN): Underground, caves, dungeons
Siyad (CG): Hunting, archery
Mune (LG): Swords, swordsmen
Volcanus (CN): Earthquakes, volcanoes, change in Isonöe. Runs the inner dynamo of the planet and takes it very seriously.
Lex (LN): Obligation, contacts, commerce
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I am nearing completion of the broad project. I still need to name at least a few damnable Taifas and Patriarchies and figure out sort of an organization character for them. What else needs fleshed out that you all can see? Thoughts on the project? Suggestions? Is there anything you think would fit and be cool in this world? Characters (I have a couple sketched that I haven't added)?
Up until 5,000 years ago, the known world was comprised of a pangaeic super-continent, surrounded by a massive, unexplored ocean and dominated by a single empire, ruling over humans, dwarves, and elves alike.
A cataclysm known as "The Breaking" changed everything. Mountains rose in a day, spewing molten rock and unleashing clouds of ash that burned like hellfire. The land shook and violently fractured into three continents. The ocean rushed in between them, forming new seas. Massive waves crashed along the devastated shores, concentrated by the jagged new coastline. The Empire, the only government anyone could remember, fell. Millions fled into the great ocean in their ships, never to be heard from again.
Half of the population of the world died in the breaking. The survivors huddled into new, broken continents, separated by oceans that boiled, smoked, and gave off noxious vapors for 4,000 years. Man, dwarf and elf alike forgot the secrets of seafaring. New kingdoms arose alongside new languages and customs, as the peoples began to diverge from one another, in their isolation and in an attempt to adjust to their now very different environments.
The fury of the oceans gradually settled and a coastal people from the Eastern continent known as the Al-Bari rediscovered the secret of seafaring, establishing trade along the coasts of the three continents facing the Great Inner Sea, surrounding the massive volcano they came to call "Mother."
Through trade, they became wealthy, until they dominated not only their own continent, but all the known world. They established the second global empire, and their language still forms the foundation of the Common tongue. In time, however, as they strained to penetrate every market, and control every copper, they spread themselves paper thin.
A great many became assimilated into the cultures of their home markets. Others, from the lower classes, formed a new culture around a life lived almost entirely at sea, while yet another group became accustomed to lives of great luxury in the Al-Bari homelands from which they directed the great trade fleets.
These divisions festered and boiled over into a series of civil wars, weakening the Al-Bari and allowing the native kingdoms of each continent to free themselves once again, in turn. New enmities and alliances formed, broke, and reformed for hundreds more years, while a force gathered itself on the other side of the globe, in a chain of islands long rumored, but never confirmed.
Known variously as the Smoke Isles, the Thousand Isles, the Hell Stones, the Green Isles, the Black Isles, and the Paradise Isles, the islands of the Great Fire Sea first gained humanoid habitation in the years after "The Breaking," when the battered remains of refugee ships who'd wandered helplessly, tossed from storm to storm, stalled in calm after calm, finally began to find their way to the shores of these volcanic isles.
The Smoke Islanders, in the millennia to come, became a force of myth for the people of the three continents. While seafaring was thought impossible for thousands of years, disappearances along the coasts facing the Empty Ocean began around 1,000 years after the breaking.
These were attributed to noxious gases and sudden squalls, but stories began to circulate of creatures with the body of a dragon and the arms and heads of men, who would abduct lone travelers near the sea, of dark shapes in the water, like a school of sharks riding the surface of the waves.
In the time of the Al-Bari Empire, expeditions proved that these disappearances were the result of out-rigged slave ships raiding along the coasts and it came to be known amongst the educated that the horrible beasts of legend were a race calling themselves the Tua-Atana or Tua-men, who rode Ash Dragons into battle, equipped with weapons of hard, black glass.
As wars were fought to protect the coasts, these Tua-men came to be commonly known as Ash Lords, Burned Men, and Dragon-Kin, as it was rumored they were mated to dragons and rode their half-breed children into battle, ensorcelled to resist flames, smoke, and fumes.
In truth, the Tua-Atana are indeed kin to the dragons - closer kin, in fact, than their Ash-Dragon mounts. In the time after The Breaking, the desperate refugees made a marriage pact with the last of the failing population of True Dragons in exchange for assistance and possession of the isles. They were taught the secrets for training and controlling Ash Dragons and other lesser dragons, and the great infusion of draconic blood imbued them with resistance to the elements. The true numbers of the Tua-Atana are not known in the mainland continents, as only small slave-raiding parties and pilgrims to the Mother have ever been encountered. The true location of the Smoke Isles is, in fact, not known.
Southern Continent:
*Skagasi - The men and women of Skagenbare known to the outside world as Skirling, for their practices of raiding & piracy after the opening of the oceans was heralded by the Al-Bari traders. The Skagasi culture, however, is more complex than is commonly understood from outside. The culture developed as a population of Humans, Orcs, and Dwarves from the Old Empire were isolated in polar and near-polar conditions following The Breaking. In the immediate aftermath, the greatly reduced population and the desperate conditions caused by the rapid transition from a temperate to a frigid climate led to widespread interbreeding, though distinct human, dwarven, and orcish communities remain (albeit with some otherwise unexpected attributes).
The early Skagasi learned to harness great beasts - dogs, wolves, dire wolves, and snow bears - to pull hide sleds across the vast frozen wastes of the far south, the sea ice at the coasts, and the intervening tundra. They began to raise massive, hairy elk - and the odd mammoth that proved trainable - for milk, cheese, and meat, as these beasts were among the only species of sufficient size that could survive the extreme cold and find sufficient sustenance among the hardy grasses and shrubs that overtook their world.
The dwarves were instrumental in the survival of these early communities and the formation of the present culture, developing techniques for creating ale from the tundra grasses and moss as wheat and barley became impossible to grow and for the subterranean farming of mushrooms.
At present, the dwarves are concentrated in the hills and mountains bordering the Eldewüd. Orcs largely settle in pockets hear the coast, while humans and half-orcs dominate the stark inland tundra and wastes. Communities are mixed, however, and humans, orcs and half-orcs tend to be nomadic, since the opening of the seas, gathering at the coasts to fish in winter, and scattering inland in search of grazing in the summer.
The one portion of Skagen supporting large, above-ground communities year-round is the peninsula known as Dagmar's Dork. The sole metropolis and all of its handful of towns and cities are located along the Dork, founded after the Al-Bari subjugation of the Skirling raiders that began to terrorize the remote corners of the Eastern and Western continents in the time of the great opening. These cities thrive on trade in furs and fish, but are primarily known as havens for Skirling, pirates, and fugitives with nowhere left to hide - it being the last choice of most people to live.
WIP
*Eldewüden (name not finalized) – The people of the Eldewüd are the most divided in Isonöe. In the time of The Opening, the Elves who had dominated the Eldewüd were systematically undermined by the incoming Al Bari traders, allowing the humans, halflings, half-elves, gnomes and dwarves – who embraced the expansion of commerce and welcome the opening of opportunities for social advancement – to take a leading role in the politics of the Eldewüd. They built sparkling cities on the previously spurned coasts of the greater- and lesser Claws of the Harpie, using the best of Dwarven masonry techniques, Elven craftsmanship and magics, human artistry and innovation, and – hidden beneath the seamless, immaculate surfaces of the new cities and known to only a few – gnomish gadgetry and (mechanical-)engineering. Over the centuries, as the unpredictable storms which ravaged Isonöe gave way to more predictable weather – a process that had begun gradually leading up to The Opening – this potent combination of talents allowed for the creation of simple, non-magical flying machines, as well. Though the range and size of these contraptions severely limits their use in trade, the tactical advantage allowed the Eldewüden to become the first to free themselves of Al Bari domination, when the second great empire of Isonöe became too heavy-handed and ineffectual.
Meanwhile, the elves of the Eldewüd proper – though their term for the wood is Kuromori - secluded themselves ever more in their great forest as the other peoples began to take on a more prominent role during and after The Opening. Their religion changed, taking on the veneration of ancestors and beginning to place an emphasis on the worship of Io, goddess of forests and secrets, and Mune, god of swords and swordsmen. They began, as well, to establish and maintain relations with the Unseelie Fey, whom the elves encourage, as a means of deterring the encroachments of outsiders. Their lifestyles changed, as well, as they came to reject the advancements of the new era and the contributions of outsiders like Dwarves and humans. Instead, the focus became an ideal of purity and an attempt to perfect the arts, foods, and ideologies that were seen as unique to the Elves of the Kuromori.
The cuture of the Eldewud at present is, therefore, split between the great polyglot cultures of the metropolises of the coast and the surrounding countryside, who are known as pluralistic, welcoming, and technologically advanced peoples and Elves of Kuromori – Xenophobic, isolated, warlike, swordsmen, artisans and farmers, obsessed with the pursuit of narrow perfectionism.
WIP
Western Continent:
*Heraea - Haraia consists of three bowl shaped plains, surrounded on three sides by mountains, and bordering the ocean to the south. The central plain is connected to the others through a broad valley through the mountains to the East and West. Historically, the proto-Heraea were sufficiently separated to see themselves as distinct, but subject to invasion through the mountain valleys. Constant warfare forged a mercilessly martial culture in the central plain, which conquered and converted it's neighbors in turn, it's culture becoming gradually more rigid over the centuries.
At present, Heraea society is stratified and strictly gendered. A matriarchal society, all men are given to the military at age 5, forbidden to hold office, own property, or accept money. Elite warriors are required to serve at temple as concubines for fertile women who wish to reproduce. While women have dynastic names, Heraied men refer to all elders as "mother" or "father," the former demanding more deference. Inheritance is entirely matrilineal.
Civilian society is made up entirely of women and is brutally stratified. At the top, an elite class made up of elves, half-elves, humans own large plantations worked by teams of goblin and kobold slaves. This class provides all the political leadership of Heraia, as well as the generals that command it's armies. Merchant families - in the centuries since contact with the Al-Bari - form the second tier of Heraea society and are primarily made up of half-elves and humans. Many of these families are of al-Bari origin, though they have been settled for centuries, and these still dominate the highest level of trade. The base of the population are small farmers, mostly humans, and kobolds and goblins comprise a hereditary slave class. Finally, in the port cities, the Lower Al-Bari form an important foreign element, mostly despised, but formally outside Heraea society (and, thus, the only population of civilian men).
Notably, the Heraea also receive martial training, focused on defense, close-quarters fighting, and archery. They primarily train in armored with daggers and bow (The best of the Heraea are often the most formidable fighters in single combat, since the men are more often trained for fighting in groups, in military units). Otherwise, their education is comprised of politics, philosophy, strategy, magic and mathematics.
Heraia consists of three cities which dominate their respective valleys and harbors. Aster, Iskus, and Dolos are ancient. As the early Heraea rebuilt after the breaking, they built inland, well away from the poisonous seas. As trade exploded after the opening, the elite Heraea forced the enslaved kobolds and goblins to dig canals deep enough for sailing ships, from each of their three cities, all the way to the best harbors at the coast. Under the watchful eye of the Haraied army, the Heraied heartland was opened to the wealth of the seas, while huge guard towers and catapults rose alongside the canals.
Heraïa officially gained its independence from the Al Bari in midsummer 250 years ago, when the city managed to destroy the Al-Bari main fleet by luring it into a canal and surrounding it with the help of an Al-Bari mercenary fleet, after a years-long struggle in which the Al-Bari blockaded Heraïed ports and attempted to force the canals leading to her cities.
Aster - Aster is the Jewel of Heraia, beatiful, a source of great pride, and ultimately impractical. Built of richly veined local marble, the palaces and temples of Aster reach for the sky, glowing in the light of day and shimmeringly beautifully, eerily at night. The great artists of Heraia - sculptors, painters, gardeners, and playwrights - gather here, along with great philosophers. In the millennia since the ascendancy of Iskus, defensibility has been deemed unnecessary. The military camps well outside the city center, watching the canal and holding the mountain passes.
Iskus - Iskus is the military and administrative center of Heraia. The beautiful marble used in neighboring Aster is scorned. The city walls and defenses are built of granite. The artistry of the Heraiedsbis turned here to function, defense. Even painters and engravers are employed to shape and paint subtle facets into buildings that present visibility issues for attacking armies. The waters of the canal are extended into a moat and series of labyrinthine canals surrounded by identical cubic buildings clustered around defensive towers, such that a few defenders can bleed an attacking army for days before they reach the city proper. The army barracks are spread throughout the city in buildings identical to common homes from outside. Squares large enough for drilling dot the city. Only the walled central city, with its gleaming white spires housing the true elite Heraied citizens (women) stands out as an apparent exception - but even this feature allows the elite an unbroken view of the entire city under siege, from a distance unapproachable without weeks of crushing casualties.
Dolos - Dolos surrounds a castle on a hill in the center of a broad plain. The castle is huge, imposing, and is said to include a catacombs underground much larger than the exostructure, as the entire hill is honeycombed with stone tunnels and cells for soldiers, surrounding a deep, vertical well. The granite stones of the castle are truly monstrous, cubes 10 ft to a side, and the stones fit seamlessly, without need for mortar and are said to nestle snugly into the granite bedrock of the hill. The castle was finished after 200 years of construction following the breaking, in the first example in Heraied history of slavery. The surrounding town, however, was burnt and rebuilt many times over the years in conflicts with Iskus and is haphazard in character, with clusters of crudely built slums periodically wiped clean in the occasional fires interspersed with beautiful, permanent structures of carved sandstone, limestone, granite and marble, of fired brick and clay, and even inexplicable towers of imported black-glass harder than any stone, that seems to drink fire and gleams appallingly in all conditions.
*Karolais –
(Disclaimer: This area exists in its present form to acclimate new players who may be less experienced with D&D, but who are likely familiar with the standard Tolkienesque fantasy mythos. It is *intended* to be mostly vanilla d&d, with some historical elements mixed in. It is probably where many campaigns will start, before branching out into the more novel areas of the world.)
“A thin veneer of sophistication over an underlying brutish tribalism; rank slavery, enforced at sword point, belying a weak rhetoric of mutual obligation; A scarred, stone wall smelling of ancient blood and death, perfumed and adorned with fine velvet draperies; A moat lined with beautiful willows and lotus trees, sharpened stakes bristling just below the shining water; a carefully-mannered courtier one day strips to the waist, paints himself for war, and weilds a great sword, killing dozens in his battle frenzy the next. This is the essence of so-called Karolais culture.” – Al Bari historian Al Ghuz
The humans and elves of Karolis dominate the land. They are a feudal people. Peasants grow wheat and barley on land owned by hereditary nobility tracing their descent to Karol I Hardhand. In the hilly south and along the coasts, estates are dedicated to grapes and olives. Cities in Karolis are controlled by the King. The religion in Karolis is unusual in that they envision the realm of the gods as hierarchical. They worship only Solis, who they call the “King of the Gods,” venerating other gods only on occasion, when specific favors are needed. Karolis is known in other lands for its great artistry in food, clothing, song, painting and sculpture. Competition amongst the nobility for prestige has long fueled patronage of great artists.
Competition, however, extends beyond mere patronage for the arts. The nobility of Karolis are frequently at war. Ruling dynasties rarely last beyond 3 generations. Rare is a capable peasant who lives a full, peaceful life as a farmer. The strongest of the peasantry will be conscripted for war, at least once per generation. Many of the survivors will never return to farming, but will become hedge knights, little more than wandering mercenaries, fighting for their daily bread.
In the mountains of the far South, the Dwarves are a smaller, but far more stable society, having seen only three dynasties since The Breaking. Dwarven society is communal and hierarchical. Adolescent dwarves pledge themselves to guilds, which become the center of their lives. Guilds have their own internal courts, control their own territory within cities and in the countryside, provide housing and capital for their members, and set prices for (and, in some cases, even market) their goods. Their leaders form the council that guides the hand of the Dwarven Kings and Queens. Dwarves also belong to Clans, which are the basis for military membership, (aside from the elite belonging to the prestigious Guardians’ Guild) and whose members may belong to many guilds, and which handle matters within the family independently – everything from criminal law, to inheritance (of non-guild property), to the assignment of rank within the Dwarven military.
Cuers - The original capital of Karolis, Cuers is a castle city of primarily military importance at game time. The castle itself is situated on a high plateau at the precipice of a sheer cliff dropping 250 feet. The castle walls rise another 150 feet above the surface of the plateau. At the cliff-side corners of the castle are mounted permanent catapults and a series of lifts overhanging the precipice. In peace time these lifts are used to supply the castle and to ferry people from the lower city to the upper. In the event of an attempted assault, the lifts are raised, and rigged to destruct, in case an enemy ascends the cliff face.
The lower city, unplanned and constructed primarily of mud brick and wood is arrayed haphazardly at the foot of the cliff and stretches into the surrounding plain. It is the point of concentration for the farms of the rolling Northern plains.
The upper city, richer, carefully planned, and constructed largely of granite quarried from the old mountain at Rëkig, is the primary contact point between the human and elven kingdoms of Karolis.
Cheveaux - At the center of the post-Fall capital of Karolis is a massive palace complex, surrounded by carefully tended gardens, museums, amphitheatres, and monuments known as Palaz du Cachot.
The central residence rises from a natural, chalk-white limestone Mesa 70 feet tall at the center of the compound, visible from many miles away. The walls are 20 feet thick, constructed of veined, pastel marble imported from Heraia, beautifully carved into the shape of a ring of beautiful maidens dancing in a circle, holding hands, their gowns cascading from their limbs and curves to the Mesa below. Four wisp-thin (and easily destructible) bridges connect the palace to the shore of the stream below.
Surrounding the Mesa, this stream is wide, comes right to the wall of the Mesa, and is reputed to hide row upon row of deadly sharpened stakes, treacherous currents, and traps beneath its surface. It is lined with willows, flowering trees and fruits. Around this central garden is a fashionable labyrinth of impenetrable (enchanted) hedgerows, decorated with beautiful, naturalistic marble statues, painted gaily and wielding fanciful weapons. Noble women and men often picnic here, and certain well known and well-hidden corners are used for secret trysts.
Around the labyrinth are a series of gardens dotted with minor monuments and graves of lesser historical figures, the national museums of art, history, and magic, the great amphitheatre, the monument-tombs of past kings, and the Great Cathedral of Solis, overlooking the beautiful arch that is the only entrance to the walled complex.
The remainder of the city is aligned along a single, wide, boulevard, lined with great trees and un-embellished marble statues spiraling out from the center of the city to a forked highway running to Plenes and Cuers. Placed along the spiral are of course great markets - world-renowned perfumiers, vintners, cheesemongers, and tailors ply their wares here - galleries, foreign embassies and the great palace-forts of the nobility of the entirety of Karolis, who depend on their proximity to the Palaz and the defensibility of their estates to maintain their influence and lands. Also dotting the boulevard are inns and taverns of decreasing quality as one moves away from the palace, where one can listen to the world famous and infamous bards of Chevaux, trained in the Bardic College on the second loop from the Palaz and reputed to be among the most beautiful singers and story tellers in the world - and her most devious spies.
Further out along the boulevard are the homes and studios of artists, craftsmen and architects, intermingled with the homes of other burgers, foreigners and simpler markets. In a line running west to east across this spiral is a canal (the road becomes a looping bridge at its junctures with the canal) which connects the stream winding through the Palaz to the ocean on the East coast of Karolis.
Plenes - Centered in a vast, low, inland plain of wheat fields stretching horizon to horizon, Plene is the gathering point for the agricultural heartland of Karolis. Famous for its beer, wine, and olive oil refined and fermented from the produce of surrounding farms, Plenes is also the point of contact for trade with the Dwarven lands to the South.
Plenes is hot, white and starkly religious. Buildings are kept low and made of limestone, sandstone, or mud brick and white-washed to keep off the sun that beams down 12 months a year, interspersed only with brief rainy periods every 2 months. By decree and custom, the only building higher than 1 story is the Cathedral to Sol, whose gilded central dome reaches 250 feet into the sunlit sky, watching over scores of miles of wheat fields. Private residences, inns and other buildings otherwise build down into the clay soil, often as many as three levels deep.
Due to the climate, landscape, and easy access to grain, moreover, Plenes is also known for its horses, which are the fastest and most enduring in the Western continent, rivaled only by the horses of the great Keshi plain for the fastest in Isonöe, and for its cattle.
In contrast to its otherwise sleepy and zealously religious character, however, Plenes is also known for its fine swordsmen, the volatile, swashbuckling Bravos - mostly off-cast, trouble-making children or runaways from nearby farms who roam the streets, controlling the underbelly of life in Plenes and study tirelessly the art of single combat with the rapier - and the mysterious Chevalier (cowboys, as they are called in the common tongue), famous horsemen and archers who sell and trade their cattle in the markets by day, and often drink, gamble, and **** it away by night in the underground taverns, gambling houses and brothels governed by the less venerated gods in Karolis - Layla and her brood.
Rekig - The dwarven city of Rëkig is a masterpiece of architecture. Named after the mountain which once stood on the site of the city, the primary buildings of Rëkig have stood since its completion 300 years after The Breaking. To say the city was constructed is a misnomer, rather it was sculpted, carved from the living mountain, which was quarried down to the level of the plateau around the sculpted edifices which now rise like sky-scrapers in the central portion of the city tapering away from the center of the once-mountain (for clarity, the mountain was chiseled down to hollowed-out sculptures in the shape of buildings). The quarried stone was used in the construction of buildings and roads across Karolais.
The central city is divided into districts housing the highest ranking members of the guilds and clans of the Dwarven kingdom. These districts are arranged in concentric rings around the palace district. Each contains a number of buildings built around a central edifice carve from the mountain.The central district is a single, massive edifice, the palace of the Dwarven Kings. The central ring around the palace district is formed by the home districts of the 12 noble elector clans. Next are the 16 most important guilds, and their associated marketplaces. Further out are smaller or less important clans and guilds. Finally, surrounding the whole in chaotic fashion is a vast, unplanned city-market constructed of stone, baked brick, and wood.
Eastern Continent:
*Al-Bari – Until around 3,000 years ago, the al-Bari were divided, with five cities states a few miles from the coast dominating the surrounding country side, each ruled by its own prince. The al-Bari cultures was forged into a coherent whole over the millennia by traveling bards, through migrations, defections and exiles from one city to another, and by merchant families known as Patriarchies (Qabila), who established a presence in all five city states, growing wealthy through the trade from one city-state to the other, and growing in influence over the centuries until, by the century preceding The Opening, the heads of the five most powerful families became a legislative and advisory council, sharing power with and advising the local princes. With their primary role in The Opening 1,000, their immediate monopolization of the resulting overseas trade, and the dominant role this gave them in the al-Bari economy, these Patriarchies were able to formally unify the city-states into a confederation under their rule, stripping the princes of all but their titles – though they remained ceremonially visible, celebrities, without political power.
As they became an imperial center, the al-Bari became yet more urban, and far more corrupt.
After more than 700 years of rule, al-Bari Empire fell as the overseas representatives of the Patriarchies became increasingly integrated into their new homes and as the low classes of the al-Bari became disillusioned with the Imperial project and the leadership of the Patriarchies, breaking away to form their own groups, whose services the Patriarchies must compete over to maintain power.
Presently, and since the fall of the al-Bari Empire, the al-Bari are socially divided into the High al-Bari and Low al-Bari. The Low al-Bari live almost entirely on the sea. Their ships are their homes. They work as fishermen, transport-for-hire, mercenaries, pirates, and small-scale itinerant merchants. They are organized into collectives known as Taifa, which vary from the crew of a single ship, to fleets of thousands.
The high al-Bari, meanwhile, continue to dominate global trade at the highest levels, govern al-Balad, and skim profits from moneylending and financing the smaller-scale activities if the Low al-Bari. There are five leading patriarchies, or Qabilas, and seven lesser families. Since the time of The Collapse around 400 years ago, the Patriarchies have increasingly behaved like crime bosses. Assassinations, bribes, blackmail and forgery are routine political tools. Smuggling, piracy and the slave trade are increasingly used to gain an edge in economic competition. As their monopoly over trade weakens, and competitor kingdoms rise all over Isonöe, patience and tolerance for the corruption and ineffectiveness of the leading Patriarchies is wearing thin, with growing support for the reinstatement of principates.
Tartas - Words about the city
Alippa - Words about the city
Demesk - Words about the city
Tyar - Words about the city
Byblos - Words about the city
Sidin - Words about the city
*Keshis - The Kesh culture is enigmatic. At its heights, the Imperial Family and priestly caste claim the mantle of preservation of and direct succession to the Old Empire and its gods.
The Imperial Family claim descent from a cadet branch of the old imperial family (direct descent from the 1st emperor) and claim to have preserved the manners, dress, speech, writing, architecture, and the divine mandate of the Old Empire.
The priests claim to worship the Gods of Old in all their original, terrible, awesome glory. These gods are terrible in their wrath. Their names are known only to a few and they are terrible to behold. They are above, beyond, and entirely outside morality and their dictates are unquestionable. Their behavior is erratic, unpredictable, startlingly illogical. And yet they demand rigid adherence to the smallest details of their rituals and dictates.
From the outside, moreover, the priestly claim to worship the original gods of the Old Empire is difficult to fathom, as the gods worshipped elsewhere are mutually familiar, with similar attributes and stories, despite their differences in details and names, and despite their worshippers having been separated for millennia.
Perhaps most intriguing from the outside, however, is the contrast between Keshi high society and the culture of the common Keshi.
Kesh is the largest surviving kingdom, varying greatly in terrain and containing the largest cities, farms, rivers, and wild forests and plains. Its people, as in other kingdoms, are farmers, herdsman, craftsmen, seamen, merchants, soldiers, slaves and prostitutes.
From the outside, however, the Keshi people appear to be remarkable in their similarities - known for their simplicity, irreverence, and down-to-earth wisdom. They display an eye-rolling tolerance of the upper classes. They are bawdy, lewd, ribald, intensely practical, and independent. They could hardly contrast more sharply with their "betters," and are generally well-liked outside their own borders.
Gadi - Words about city
Gonder - Words about city
Meroa- Words about city
Kiloo - Words about city
Sifla - Words about city
Lindi - Words about city
Mugdisha - Words about city
Marna - Words about city
Harar - Words about city
Gude - Words about city
Zinj - Words about city
*Böglund – The Böggan are halflings inhabiting the highland bogs of Böglund and the surrounding highlands. They are a small people, growers of seasonal black rice and raisers of Gray Buffalo. The Böggan are known as a peaceful people, but their history suggests “defensive” as a more appropriate adjective. Faced with invasions from Kesh and incursions from giants in the surrounding mountains, the Böggan have employed hit-and-run tactics to lure invading armies into hidden sink lands to disappear into the peat, or the stomach of a bog troll. They have snuck diseased corpses and carcasses into enemy camps, and fouled the water. They have led pursuit parties on winding paths through the bogs, until their pursuers – tired and half-starved – become prey to the bog lizards or trolls. Likewise, the hill Böggan use the highground and ranged weapons, retreating to lead the enemy into traps, often circling back in the night to surround the enemy. They send scouts to cause calamities in the enemy camps and sabotage transportation and supplies.
The occasional Böggan adventurer is often cast-off, too fond of trickery even for the Böggan, though the rare Böggan may tire of slabs of buffalo lard melting over bog rice and seek out the variety of other lands.
Smoke Isles:
*Tua Atana – The Tua-Atana, known to the outside world as Tua-men, Smoke Islanders, Ash Men, etc are descended from a group of refugees who fled shortly before The Breaking. Worshippers in the Cult of Volcanus (though they recognize and worship the pantheon as a whole), they are known mostly for coastal slave raiding, out-rigger canoes, and their Ash Dragon mounts. Their society is organized around a loose clan structure. Small clans often join to colonize a large island and large clans often break up into smaller ones before a large Island detonates to spread out and colonize whatever small islands are unoccupied.
Heads of clans gather every 10 years on Rangiroa, the largest island in the archipelago – and one of only a handful which are permanently inhabitable – to choose an Alaka’I Mo’o or “Dragon King” through a series of competitions of strength, skill, wits, and fighting ability. The Dragon King is recognized by all Tua-Atana and rules from a palace on Rangiroa, surrounded by a two-mile radius forest, in the center of what has become a huge city. Aside from their Draconic heritage, the Tua-Atana remain devoted cultists of Volcanus and the learned among them maintain knowledge which allows them to accurately predict earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land slides and tsunamis months in advance.
The Tua-Atana are often tattooed. These tattoos are coded chronicles of their accomplishments as clansmen, warriors, fishermen, scholars, etc – but some are more than that, as the most accomplished Tua-Atana are able to weave protective magic into their art. The Smoke Isles themselves are mostly devoid of megafauna. Though some few exotic animals are raised as delicacies on the handful of large islands, most islands are home only to birds, Ash dragons and lizards which are capable of fleeing to a neighboring island during an eruption. As a result, Smoke Islanders eat mostly seafood and tubers. The main islands are inhabited, however, by large, flightless birds.
Wo
Hao - Talk about the island
Makemo - Talk about the island
Arutua - Talk about the island
Manihi - Talk about the island
Savai'i - Talk about the island
Futuna - Talk about the island
Rangiroa - Talk about the island
*This cosmology is heavily influenced by, and in some places adapted from, N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. I’m making this entirely for my own campaigns, not profit, but credit where credit is due.
**The Gods have no alignments and no genders. Genders are a reflection of the interpretation of the Gods’ legendary interactions by mortals and the forms the Gods take in the presence of mortals and for mortals’ benefit, to allow them to make sense of relationships and what they’re seeing. Alignments are mortal judgments of the Gods’ actions and contributions to existence. The Gods have Natures which exist independently of alignment and drive and motivate them. Thus, a God generally understood to be Good will take actions mortals would deem Evil, if it is demanded by its nature. Mortals all over Isonöe are very confused by this.
In the beginning, there was Nothingness, non-existence, stagnation. One eternity, however, Somethingness appeared in the heart of all the nothing. It took the nothing into itself like a bellows, became one with it. It became Paradox. Paradox was the first something to be aware of its somethingness. Paradox is the beginning and end of all consciousness.
Eternities later, Paradox let out the first of its children, its oldest daughter Layla. For an eternity, she wandered shrieking darkness in the remaining nothing, going quite mad. A moment/eternity later, Solis emerged from the bellows of Paradox. Outraged by the chaos, darkness and madness of Layla, her baby brother immediately sought to control and correct her and to bring light. For many eternities they fought, made love, and fought some more, in the process creating the basic structure of Existence known to Man as the material planes. While there was Structure, however, their difference was too stark. There efforts were fruitless and they could create no Life of their own.
Finally, in its last gasp before sinking into exhaustion, Paradox breathed out its final child, Heiko, the Twilight, the balancer, the Life-Bringer. In Heiko, both Solis and Layla found a more compatible companion. Though occasional spats and brief flings continued between all Three, Heiko became the balancing force between the light and darkness, Law and Chaos, Change and Stagnation, Freedom and Control (and so forth). He/She (I will alternate from here on, as does Heiko) came to understand, employ, and combine elements of both her siblings’ natures. Only with this careful – and practiced – balance of chaos and order, and with the help of one of her siblings, was life possible.
From his frenzied mating with her sister Layla, he brought forth Anansi, the first-born of the second-generation Gods, along with his mad brother Majnoon and the unpredictable Lotan. From her unions with his brother Solis, she produced the steady Ki, loving Astarte, predictable Aether, and fierce Harb and birthed them like a man.
Inspired by their sister, the Gods Solis and Layla began to experiment, using the techniques they’d learned to produce their own offspring. What came forth, however, cannot truly be said to live. Rather, they produced the Abominations. Layla’s failures include SggArth (CE; Plague), X’en-Rozuul (CE; Disaster), and SvAndezz’ol (CE; Terror/Fear). Solis produced M’Randithmal (LE; greed), Zarrandst (LE; hate), and Shbanibul (LE; megalomania/powerlust).
Eventually, they realized that the spark of life lie with their respective children, as well as their brother. Layla and Astarte produced wantonness himself, Zib. Solis and Majnoon produced wise Otani. His union with Aether produced dependable Polaris. From an eon spent with Lotan, Ki, and Astarte, Layla produced the moon sisters, the triplets Luna, Io and Elara and from a tumultuous fling with Harb, she produced the many-sided Shalim.
These children, as well, found that they could produce their own offspring. Zib and Ki produced explosive Volcanus. Shalim and Ki produced mysterious Nix. Lotan and Aether begot inflexible Lex. Harb and Io produced the wandering Siyad. Harb and Otani produced the masterful Mune. Harb and Ki sired the industrious Hadid. Many other couplings took place, some unproductive. Many Gods were born and slain. Many others are unknown to man. Only mischievous Anansi never produced offspring.
The Gods Layla and Solis were busy for eternities multiplying, pursuing their agendas through their couplings. Layla sought to inject chaos and change into the ordered realms of the offspring of Solis. Solis sought to contain and order the chaos wrought by Layla’s couplings with Heiko.
Meanwhile, however, Heiko was busy perfecting a new, beautiful, fragile form of life – Mortals. Though these early mortals were seeded throughout the very material plane they were contesting, the other gods ignored them for many eons – all save Anansi, the favored son, eternal child and mischief maker. Through Anansi’s many deadly pranks, the flaws in Heiko’s new children were exposed. Over time, they were exploited, weeded out, accidentally exterminated (such fragile things), remade, and perfected. Other gods became involved, of course, and Anansi continued to entertain himself.
The humanoid mortals diversified – some naturally, some through the interference of the Gods, and some through “hilarious” “pranks” – like when Anansi tricked a great hero into mating with an unsuspecting (non-sapient) swamp dragon, creating the race of Kobolds, or that time a great hero made a made him promise his people would always have land enough to stretch their legs, so he shrunk them to half the normal size, creating the ancestor race of halflings, dwarves and gnomes.
In time, the beauty of the humans came to be appreciated by a portion of the Gods, and couplings between children of Heiko (the term for all Gods but The Three) and man produced great heroes – fertile offspring through whom the propensity for magic was given to mortalkind. Eventually, the rivalry between Layla and Solis was extended to this mortal realm, as both sought to gain the upper hand through the creation of more powerful heroes through direct coupling with mortals. This, however, was a doomed endeavor.
The great power of direct descent from one of the creators of the universe was too much for a mortal mind. These offspring became destructive forces of chaos and law, worse even than the abominations for their ability to reason and act deliberately. They bred amongst themselves, seeking and obtaining immortality in the 5th generation. Thus were the demons and devils brought into this world. After a generation of slaughter, the outer planes were created to contain them and a race of immortal protectors was created for the mortals, who fought the demons and devils, rounding up the survivors and banishing them to these newly created planes of existence. The strongest of this 5th generation of fiends came to dominate their new abodes, becoming the archdevils and demon lords.
Solis (LN): Light, day, law. A god who demands unquestioning obedience.
Heiko (NG): Twilight, balance, good, creation.
Layla (CN): Darkness, night, change. A destructive and unpredictable goddess.
Ki (TN): Earth, agriculture, death, rebirth.
Astarte (NG): Love, fertility, motherhood.
Aether (LN): Sky, seasons.
Harb (LN): War, strategy, proper conduct in war.
Anansi (CG): Trickery, theft, childhood. A charming, childish trickster god, he is innocent, loving, mischievous, cruel, petty, vengeful, and brilliant.
Majnoon (CN): Madness, intoxication, weather, storms.
Lotan (TN): The sea, winds, trade
Polaris (LN): (The North Star) guidance, fatherhood
Luna (CN): Illusions, beauty, art, luck, gambling
Io (TN): Secrets, forests
Elara (CG): Travel, hospitality
Shalim (CN): Shadow, murder, sanctuary, forgiveness
Otani (TN): Wisdom, knowledge, divination
Zib (CN): Sex, lust. A crude, brash, honest god. “Aren’t you the god of love?” he was once asked. “Love?” he responded, “That is my lovely sister. Me? I’m the god of ****ing.”
Hadid (LG): Smithing, craftsmen
Sahir (TN): Magic
Nix (CN): Underground, caves, dungeons
Siyad (CG): Hunting, archery
Mune (LG): Swords, swordsmen
Volcanus (CN): Earthquakes, volcanoes, change in Isonöe. Runs the inner dynamo of the planet and takes it very seriously.
Lex (LN): Obligation, contacts, commerce
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I am nearing completion of the broad project. I still need to name at least a few damnable Taifas and Patriarchies and figure out sort of an organization character for them. What else needs fleshed out that you all can see? Thoughts on the project? Suggestions? Is there anything you think would fit and be cool in this world? Characters (I have a couple sketched that I haven't added)?