Shifty
2008-04-20, 09:17 PM
So, working on a campaign world, whose influences are largely Hellenic. The region in question is geographically similar to the Mediterranean, stretching west to around France and southeast to Persia, without much contact to North Africa. All fairly standard, but magic is almost non-existent, and metallurgy is limited to bronze-working, with only the odd forged steel implement available from the dwarves.
A race of humans called Parthaeans get the area centred around the Adriatic. They're a fairly competent, well rounded bunch, ruled over by the Pandialektikon, who are a sort of Roman Senate, and the military, consisting of Hoplites and militia. Their sphere of influence gets a bit ragged at the edges, but they claim most of Eastern Europe. Parthaeans are avaricious and scheming, but not inclined towards profitless violence. They have very little magical talent, preferring instead the mysterious powers of bureaucracy and economics, but there is a large and influential priestly order, some of whom have actual divine powers. Parthaeans get along fairly well with Dwarves and Uruk-Saal.
Dwarves hang out in the Caucasus, but claim most of Asia Minor. They're basically industrialists in Soviet clothing, up to and including Stalin 'staches and the 'People's Industrialist Party' running people's lives, but they know steelworking, which makes everyone nervous. Their only apparent aim is to expand their industry and exploit their monopoly on the working of iron and steel. They don't even try to subjugate the barbarians outside the high mountains, except to occasionally press-gang them into the mines. Dwarves are not terribly social, but every city has a dwarven contingent and there is even an embassy in the Parthaean capital of Kypreos. Their presence and industrial base make them indispensable to the local power structure. While they are not, by their own admission, indigenous to the area, they still won't let any non-dwarves into their walled mountain fortresses, instead conducting their business in secondary cities outside the gates.
Another strain of human called the Al-Malikim own the Arabian Peninsula. They're the troublemakers of the bunch, and only the hostility of the terrain (and indigenous tribes) between them and the Parthaeans prevents all out war. As it is there's a great deal of minor skirmishes over land-based trade routes, and oceanic piracy is commonplace. The Al-Malikim are a nation of nomadic raiders slowly changing into cutthroat merchants, and still are having problems getting used to the metaphorical use of the term "cutthroat." They live in the desert and get around using sand-ships to cross the dunes from one oasis to the next. They have an above-average rate of arcane magic use, which is to say that hedge wizards hide their abilities, and practicing wizards hide themselves. They trade with the dwarves, and have a grudging mutual respect for the Uruk-Saal.
The Uruk lay claim to where the western coast would be, if everything west of France fell into the ocean. This area is geographically similar to the more mountainous areas of Western Canada. They call themselves the Uruk-Saal, or salt men. Tall and strong, with grey skin and eyes, they are the preeminent sailors of the world, each Uruk worth five humans in a gale. They build ships from the enormous trees that grow along the coast, and have an almost spiritual connection to them. They also are able to tap into the power of these spirits, and have a high occurrence of divine magic use compared to the other races. Important ships will have an uruk-vai or wave-man, who tends to the ship and the crew. They are very close to the Parthaeans, even serving in their navy on occasion, and have a strong respect for the Al-Malikim, who live without water and sail without the sea.
The north is owned by elves, halflings, gnomes and worse. They are collectively referred to as the Fey. Most of the inhabitants of the southern lands will never see one of these races, as they rarely leave the cold, dark forests. Occasionally one will be captured by Parthaean hunters or Uruk spirit-questers and displayed in captivity for a few days or weeks, before either dying or escaping. Most stay in the deep wooded wilderness, where the sun does not reach the ground and winter never ends.
Elves are the most 'civilised' of the set. They file their teeth to points, and some have the antlers of a stag or feathers growing amid their hair, but they speak their own tongue and mimic the sounds of others, as well as making and using weapons and tools of exquisite, if gruesome, beauty. They take delight in kidnapping humanoids but rarely seek to actually harm them, instead merely keeping them as pets or unwilling guests, until their fickle and capricious natures lead them to either forget about their guests, or simply turn them out on their ear into the cold, dark forest.
Halflings are half-feral and savage, attacking their victims in a wave of sharp claws, biting teeth and stone bludgeons. They can speak, but rarely do so other than to let out torrents of foul invective and curses. They have little talent for invention or creation except in the making of alcohol and rude weapons, and are mainly concerned with eating, drinking and fighting.
Gnomes are robbers and kidnappers, and cunning miners. There are tales of them undermining whole villages that come too close to their territory, and of terrible nightmares and waking visions for those who stayed. They kidnap children and leave grotesque parodies of humanoids in their place, and make off with flocks of sheep in the night. Such is their skill at infiltration and theft that delvings are often uncovered hundreds of leagues from their traditional lands, where there is little awareness of their existence.
------
So, there's the breakdown. As you can probably tell, most of the Fey are intended to be vaguely Welsh/Cornish in nature, the Uruk are something of a blend of Native American and Dane, and the humans and dwarves are pretty obvious. What I want to know is how you think they can be improved? The dwarves, especially, are aching for some refinement, and I could find room for some new types if there's anything really cool that needs doing.
Things to keep in mind, if you want to make some suggestions, are the magical and technical levels of the world at large. Iron and steel working is dwarven only, and magic should be mostly kept out of the hands of the layperson. There aren't more than a dozen actual wizards in the entirety of Parthaea, and maybe twice that many spellcasting clergy. Other races' magical inclinations should be extracted from those values.
A race of humans called Parthaeans get the area centred around the Adriatic. They're a fairly competent, well rounded bunch, ruled over by the Pandialektikon, who are a sort of Roman Senate, and the military, consisting of Hoplites and militia. Their sphere of influence gets a bit ragged at the edges, but they claim most of Eastern Europe. Parthaeans are avaricious and scheming, but not inclined towards profitless violence. They have very little magical talent, preferring instead the mysterious powers of bureaucracy and economics, but there is a large and influential priestly order, some of whom have actual divine powers. Parthaeans get along fairly well with Dwarves and Uruk-Saal.
Dwarves hang out in the Caucasus, but claim most of Asia Minor. They're basically industrialists in Soviet clothing, up to and including Stalin 'staches and the 'People's Industrialist Party' running people's lives, but they know steelworking, which makes everyone nervous. Their only apparent aim is to expand their industry and exploit their monopoly on the working of iron and steel. They don't even try to subjugate the barbarians outside the high mountains, except to occasionally press-gang them into the mines. Dwarves are not terribly social, but every city has a dwarven contingent and there is even an embassy in the Parthaean capital of Kypreos. Their presence and industrial base make them indispensable to the local power structure. While they are not, by their own admission, indigenous to the area, they still won't let any non-dwarves into their walled mountain fortresses, instead conducting their business in secondary cities outside the gates.
Another strain of human called the Al-Malikim own the Arabian Peninsula. They're the troublemakers of the bunch, and only the hostility of the terrain (and indigenous tribes) between them and the Parthaeans prevents all out war. As it is there's a great deal of minor skirmishes over land-based trade routes, and oceanic piracy is commonplace. The Al-Malikim are a nation of nomadic raiders slowly changing into cutthroat merchants, and still are having problems getting used to the metaphorical use of the term "cutthroat." They live in the desert and get around using sand-ships to cross the dunes from one oasis to the next. They have an above-average rate of arcane magic use, which is to say that hedge wizards hide their abilities, and practicing wizards hide themselves. They trade with the dwarves, and have a grudging mutual respect for the Uruk-Saal.
The Uruk lay claim to where the western coast would be, if everything west of France fell into the ocean. This area is geographically similar to the more mountainous areas of Western Canada. They call themselves the Uruk-Saal, or salt men. Tall and strong, with grey skin and eyes, they are the preeminent sailors of the world, each Uruk worth five humans in a gale. They build ships from the enormous trees that grow along the coast, and have an almost spiritual connection to them. They also are able to tap into the power of these spirits, and have a high occurrence of divine magic use compared to the other races. Important ships will have an uruk-vai or wave-man, who tends to the ship and the crew. They are very close to the Parthaeans, even serving in their navy on occasion, and have a strong respect for the Al-Malikim, who live without water and sail without the sea.
The north is owned by elves, halflings, gnomes and worse. They are collectively referred to as the Fey. Most of the inhabitants of the southern lands will never see one of these races, as they rarely leave the cold, dark forests. Occasionally one will be captured by Parthaean hunters or Uruk spirit-questers and displayed in captivity for a few days or weeks, before either dying or escaping. Most stay in the deep wooded wilderness, where the sun does not reach the ground and winter never ends.
Elves are the most 'civilised' of the set. They file their teeth to points, and some have the antlers of a stag or feathers growing amid their hair, but they speak their own tongue and mimic the sounds of others, as well as making and using weapons and tools of exquisite, if gruesome, beauty. They take delight in kidnapping humanoids but rarely seek to actually harm them, instead merely keeping them as pets or unwilling guests, until their fickle and capricious natures lead them to either forget about their guests, or simply turn them out on their ear into the cold, dark forest.
Halflings are half-feral and savage, attacking their victims in a wave of sharp claws, biting teeth and stone bludgeons. They can speak, but rarely do so other than to let out torrents of foul invective and curses. They have little talent for invention or creation except in the making of alcohol and rude weapons, and are mainly concerned with eating, drinking and fighting.
Gnomes are robbers and kidnappers, and cunning miners. There are tales of them undermining whole villages that come too close to their territory, and of terrible nightmares and waking visions for those who stayed. They kidnap children and leave grotesque parodies of humanoids in their place, and make off with flocks of sheep in the night. Such is their skill at infiltration and theft that delvings are often uncovered hundreds of leagues from their traditional lands, where there is little awareness of their existence.
------
So, there's the breakdown. As you can probably tell, most of the Fey are intended to be vaguely Welsh/Cornish in nature, the Uruk are something of a blend of Native American and Dane, and the humans and dwarves are pretty obvious. What I want to know is how you think they can be improved? The dwarves, especially, are aching for some refinement, and I could find room for some new types if there's anything really cool that needs doing.
Things to keep in mind, if you want to make some suggestions, are the magical and technical levels of the world at large. Iron and steel working is dwarven only, and magic should be mostly kept out of the hands of the layperson. There aren't more than a dozen actual wizards in the entirety of Parthaea, and maybe twice that many spellcasting clergy. Other races' magical inclinations should be extracted from those values.