Jump to content

Other lands, a very simple Gazetteer


Mr. R

Recommended Posts

So outside the Basin states are other lands.  I am keeping this simple, as the aim is that these are places to visit, but not set a campaign in.  

 

BUT any suggestions or ideas will be welcome!

 

Quote

Forbek Steppes and the Corridor

On the borders of Danica run a set of grasslands that run from the far western mountains called the Jomeloto, north and west of the city, crossing the Kulana River and continuing north and east until it runs up against the Bola Desert.  A small stretch of this grassland runs north until it reaches the Divided Plains.  This whole area is home to the Nomads of the Forbek Steppes.  

 

The nomads are divided into clans and guard their territory from all outsiders.  Accomplished riders, they tend to their herd of cattle.  If approached respectfully, they will guide outsiders to the large tent city that acts as a capital.  Here all the clans can come to air their grievances and seek compensation, either monetarily or by blood price.

 

Many members of the clans practice Totemic Magic, mostly shamanism, but some do practice beast mastery.  Fewer practice Runecrafting and even fewer practice Metier, but in both cases healing and support powers are favored.

 

Government is run by clan leaders.  Every year, the leadership can be challenged which leads to a three day competition to prove which is more physically and mentally fit to lead.  If there is an issue large enough, then clan leaders elect one as Master of the Clans, to lead them as a whole.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Any conflicts between clans? If so, how are they resolved?

 

What's the Nomads' attitude toward "outsiders," and how are they viewed by their neighbors?

Good points.  Since a trade route to the Jomoloto (Western) mountains and the Western coast exists, I will say they favor trade.  But clans closer to those routes are becoming richer, while others are seemingly being left behind.  

 

I envision some sort of ritual combat, as open warfare will weaken them as a whole.  Whether this is weapon combat/HTH wrestling OR some sort of contest like a horse race or footrace, I am not sure!

 

I am also thinking that as long as the outsiders stay on their paths and don't roam the plains, it is fine.  But roaming around... Well to paraphrase Yosemite Sam "Someone getting footy prints all over my grassland!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A conflict-resolution mechanism could be applied to PCs coming into the grasslands and inadvertently offending the Nomads. But perceived wealth disparity between groups is a classic source of resentment, which your PCs could find themselves in the middle of.

 

A common attitude/prevailing wisdom about the Nomads among those outside the grasslands could be useful to establish, either to prepare your PCs for dealing with them, or to show them it isn't accurate. The reverse might be fun to play with, too, if they run into prejudiced Nomads.

 

BTW I doubt the Nomads call themselves "Nomads." They probably have their own name or definition for themselves. Ignorance of that could be a point of friction in itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

A conflict-resolution mechanism could be applied to PCs coming into the grasslands and inadvertently offending the Nomads. But perceived wealth disparity between groups is a classic source of resentment, which your PCs could find themselves in the middle of.

 

A common attitude/prevailing wisdom about the Nomads among those outside the grasslands could be useful to establish, either to prepare your PCs for dealing with them, or to show them it isn't accurate. The reverse might be fun to play with, too, if they run into prejudiced Nomads.

 

BTW I doubt the Nomads call themselves "Nomads." They probably have their own name or definition for themselves. Ignorance of that could be a point of friction in itself.

Well said!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next up a desert region, very sparsly populated.  But with many an old ruins in it.  Can we say Ancient Desert City?  Knew you can.  

 

I am almost making this up whole cloth, but I do not want to do an Arabian type society.  I was thinking more Apache/Navajo with a little of the Fremen maybe!

 

Quote

Bola Desert

As one heads through the Corridor, on one side can be seen jungle.  On the other is a sandy waste called the Bola Desert.  Burnt out by a long ago war that burned all the vegetation, it is slowly being reclaimed.  And even in this harsh environment life exists.  This is the home of the Bolan Peoples.  

 

The Desert itself runs north to the Divided Plains, south to the Wyrmian Mountains, and East to the Dark Ocean.  Most people wander the desert, from water hole to water hole.  The only permanent settlements are along the mountains, where water is more plentiful, especially at the Wyrmian Pass, which leads to Kerq.  

 

There is no common government.  Tribes and tribal loyalties are paramount.  But there are many ruins deeper in the desert, including the City Which Storms, that lead many to try and find artifacts, magical and mundane, to sell to outsiders.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It strikes me that you have a good setup for intertribal trade here. The mountain people have access to water and the products of Kerq, while the desert folk have the lost cities and their artifacts.

 

The attitude of the tribes toward those cities intrigues me, because you imply they're a potential source of rich treasure for adventurers. Are they willing to guide PCs to them, and allow they to take what they choose (past traps and other dangers, of course)? Or are they considered sacred sites that they guard against outsider violation?

 

I'm also curious as to the war that devastated this region. Who fought it, and why? Are there survivors from the conflict, e.g. super-weapons, or hidden enclaves of the ancient civilizations?

 

For your cultures, rather than sticking with the later Apache/Navajo, you might look at their predecessors in the regions they occupied, such as the Ancestral Puebloans. The American Southwest produced several similar but distinct cultures, with a variety of architectural styles. For your mountain dwellers, you may find inspiration from another major pre-Columbian cultural region, the Andean civilizations of South America.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although we often assume that "nomadic" peoples moving from water hole to water hole are the natural and immemorial mode of desert life, before there were "water holes" there were "wetlands," (cienfuegas in the American West) which supported relatively immobile populations. "Nomads" with large herds emerged in the Sahara along with the trans-Saharan caravan trade in the late Medieval period. Well, actually, it is a bit more complicated than that, as this mode of life emerged in the Fezzan at the beginning of the Iron Age, linked with Egypt's trade with the Sudan and the Maghreb, and only spread to Algeria and Morocco after the 1200s. Most of the actual trade was infra-Saharan, and was linked to the transformation of the wetlands by focussed, oasis agriculture, a highly capital and labour-intensive practice. 

 

Caravan trade can be seen as an extension of transhumant livestock management. The "tribes" would winter in the central Saharan uplands, then travel in the spring through the oasis country to the Maghrebi pre-Sahara, or alternatively south to the Lake Chad Basin and the Senegal, with a tribally-controlled winter market to exchange northern and southern goods. I think --I'm honestly not an expert, and historians don't pay nearly enough attention to the economic and social side of Saharan history. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

For your cultures, rather than sticking with the later Apache/Navajo, you might look at their predecessors in the regions they occupied, such as the Ancestral Puebloans. The American Southwest produced several similar but distinct cultures, with a variety of architectural styles. For your mountain dwellers, you may find inspiration from another major pre-Columbian cultural region, the Andean civilizations of South America.

 

 

I am actually planning an Andean type for the far West Coast, which is dominated by a continent spanning north south mountain chain which has a jungle environment on the far side (Yes it is too easy to see the parallels)  I plan to have rivers from the mountains to the ocean through plains area.  Each river will have a settlement, which leads to trade.  The original booklet left this whole region empty, but then placed an island of merchants and pirates off the coast... say what?  Who do they plunder/trade with?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

It strikes me that you have a good setup for intertribal trade here. The mountain people have access to water and the products of Kerq, while the desert folk have the lost cities and their artifacts.

 

I was hoping for that.  There are three ways for people to get into the Bola Wastes:

1- The Corridor, a grassland area controlled by nomads, but leads to the Wastes and the Plains area after it.

2- The Wyrmian Pass, fastest way, but threatened by goblyns

3- The Eastern Shore, used to be favoured as it had a river on it, a good city state, led to Feydor, and possibly the Far isles.  Now that area is overrun with goblyns and the trade is totally disrupted.

 

 

18 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

The attitude of the tribes toward those cities intrigues me, because you imply they're a potential source of rich treasure for adventurers. Are they willing to guide PCs to them, and allow they to take what they choose (past traps and other dangers, of course)? Or are they considered sacred sites that they guard against outsider violation?

 

I'm also curious as to the war that devastated this region. Who fought it, and why? Are there survivors from the conflict, e.g. super-weapons, or hidden enclaves of the ancient civilizations?

 

 

I am going with the former, not the latter.

 

As far as the devastation, it was attributed to a mage war, where one mage in particular launched some fire magics, and slowly the grasslands caught fire, and it has been a wasteland ever since (the original booklet had this happening 6000 years ago and no change taking place. 

 

I need to come up with a slightly different explanation for the original war, and why after 1000 years it is still a desert.

 

Ideas welcome!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now we head to the frigid south (The continent is south of the equator)

 

Quote

Trammel Highlands

Located south of the Elfhost Forest, the Highlands are the most southerly inhabitants of the continent.  The highlands go south all the way to the southern coast.  East to west, they go from Moreg’s Brow, the mountain chain that runs along the south coast to The Jomoloto Mountains that run north-south along the whole western part of the continent.  Their only link is a pass that leads, eventually, to Rasul.

 

There are many physical similarities between the Highlanders and the Forbek Nomads, as well as a similar language, but distance and differences in terrain have developed differences.  Highlanders still herd, but mostly sheep and goats.  As well, there are places where farming can occour, and it is around these five cities at the center of the highland that the government occours.  It is also here that learning takes place, including all the types of Magic.  

 

Government is feudal in nature.  The High Lords are caretakers of the land and bequeath it to Earls and Dukes, who then bequeath it to farming families.  In each case obligations from both sides need to be observed, and if one is broken, then any agreement is nullified.  Appeals can be made, all the way to the High Lords.  But their decisions are final in any deliberation.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Mr. R said:

 

As far as the devastation, it was attributed to a mage war, where one mage in particular launched some fire magics, and slowly the grasslands caught fire, and it has been a wasteland ever since (the original booklet had this happening 6000 years ago and no change taking place. 

 

I need to come up with a slightly different explanation for the original war, and why after 1000 years it is still a desert.

 

Ideas welcome!

 

 

 

If the war involved widespread magical fire that devastated the grassland, that could be sufficient explanation. Grassland topsoil is thin, requiring the grass roots (literally) to anchor it and allow it to retain rain water. If the grass is stripped away, any extended dry period will turn the soil to dust and it will literally blow away. (E.g. the infamous "Dust Bowl" phenomenon during the 1930s in the United States and Canada.) If the tactics of the war included magically-provoked drought, the groundwork would be well-laid. Topsoil can take millennia to regenerate, without deliberate extensive soil management programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/13/2022 at 6:54 PM, Lord Liaden said:

 

 

If the war involved widespread magical fire that devastated the grassland, that could be sufficient explanation. Grassland topsoil is thin, requiring the grass roots (literally) to anchor it and allow it to retain rain water. If the grass is stripped away, any extended dry period will turn the soil to dust and it will literally blow away. (E.g. the infamous "Dust Bowl" phenomenon during the 1930s in the United States and Canada.) If the tactics of the war included magically-provoked drought, the groundwork would be well-laid. Topsoil can take millennia to regenerate, without deliberate extensive soil management programs.

If you're going for a Fremen vibe, the desert folk might be working, slowly, to restore the land. Create pockets of soil that can support drought-resistant vegetation, gradually expand them. A bowl or basket of soil is an important ceremonial gift to establish one's goodwill. Especially if an important ingredient for turning sand and dust into soil is the bodies of the dead. "Know that I come in peace, for I offer you the bones of my ancestors." Which also means that soil theft is the most deadly insult imaginable, grounds (so to speak) for a vendetta that lasts generations.

 

The ruined cities are the cities of the ancestors. "When the land is restored, we shall live here again." Perhaps they have ancient tablets or scrolls copied and re-copied that describe and depict the cities as guides for the rebuilding. Or perhaps the elders keep the details in lore-songs and memory-cathedrals. If you visit a city with an elder guide, he or she can tell you the name of each street, who dwelled in the palace of which only sand-drifted stumps of walls remain, describe the long-vanished golden statue in what was once the main temple...

 

It's doubtful the cities would still have any artifacts worth looting and trading, even if they were not sacred homelands to be reclaimed in some future age. But deserts do have commodities of value, such as the frankincense trees of Yemen.

 

Dean Shomshak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

North of Bola is a plains/ grasslands area and home to an interesting land!

 

Quote

The Divided Plains

North of the Bola Desert and east of the K’Srondi Jungles are the Divided Plains.  These plains go right to the Dark Ocean and the Far Islands. The reason for the division is very simple: a river runs down the middle.  Starting at the edge of the Bola Desert, this river heads north to a large bay on the coast.  Society is split into three parts, the nomads who range their herds on one side or other of the Divider River, the farmers who work plots along the river and finally the priests who administer the river plots and settle disputes between the nomads.  

 

The nomads on either side have their differences.  Those on the east side are close to the Bola Desert people, and will trade with them and even take some in to help teach and improve their lot.  Those on the west side are close to the K’srondi Jungle people and will get woods and exotic items from there.  The River is neutral ground, and the river people are never bothered by either group as a result.  

 

At the mouth of the river is the only major city, the port of Chioko.  This is where any major trades will happen.  Any trade caravan from the south must come here to sell and buy.  They refuse to do it anywhere else.  Naturally this is a great expense for the traders, but the convenience of a central market is worth it.  As well, some of the people from the Far Islands will come here as it is the one of the few safe harbors along the coast and the only one with a settlement, food and water. 



 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was an early Meso-American civilization living on the northwest coast of Peru. It was mostly desert, and it didn't rain a whole lot. The farmers worked tight river valleys into the Andes.

 

This has a deliciously different take on a desert civilization without any Arab connotations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The nomads don't bother the rivrside farmers? That's something that needs explaining, IMO, as Real History includes so many instances of hostility between pastoral nomads and settled farmers. (OK, hostility between everyone and any neighbors, but still.) Farmers take the best land that nomads would like to use for grazing animals; but being immpobile, it is sooo easy for the highly mobile nomads to rob them and retreat. And settled folk tend to have stuff worth stealing, too.

 

Call me cynical, but I think any case of enduring peace between peoples requires more explanation than cases of enduring, or at least episodic, war.

 

Dean Shomshak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The nomads and the river people are kin. They have a division of labour, with the nomads being the shepherds and cattle herders, and the river people being the farmers.

Depending on the climate, the nomads might graze their flocks along the river at certain times of year (coincidentally manuring the fields).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DShomshak said:

The nomads don't bother the rivrside farmers? That's something that needs explaining, IMO, as Real History includes so many instances of hostility between pastoral nomads and settled farmers. (OK, hostility between everyone and any neighbors, but still.) Farmers take the best land that nomads would like to use for grazing animals; but being immpobile, it is sooo easy for the highly mobile nomads to rob them and retreat. And settled folk tend to have stuff worth stealing, too.

 

Call me cynical, but I think any case of enduring peace between peoples requires more explanation than cases of enduring, or at least episodic, war.

 

Dean Shomshak

That is why I post these.  To either re-enforce an idea, or discard it for something better.

 

I am taking a page from the Valdorian Age book, a nomad culture that considers the river totally sacred.  As long as you are within about 1 km of the river you are safe.

 

Same idea.  River is neutral territory.  

 

Also I like 

16 minutes ago, assault said:

The nomads and the river people are kin. They have a division of labour, with the nomads being the shepherds and cattle herders, and the river people being the farmers.

Depending on the climate, the nomads might graze their flocks along the river at certain times of year (coincidentally manuring the fields).

 

 

It sort of reminds me of Mercedes Lackey and the Hawkbrothers / Plains riders divide!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

There was an early Meso-American civilization living on the northwest coast of Peru. It was mostly desert, and it didn't rain a whole lot. The farmers worked tight river valleys into the Andes.

This has a deliciously different take on a desert civilization without any Arab connotations.

 

Point of pedantry 👨‍🏫 : the term "Meso-American" refers to the pre-Columbian cultural region in Mexico and Central America. Caral is a progenitor of the other major historical area of urban civilization in the Americas, the "Andean" cultural region among and around the Andes Mountain chain of South America. Aside from both predating European intrusion, they're as distinct from each other as Egypt and China, with no known contact before the Spanish conquest.

 

(My mother was from Peru, whose people are very conscious and celebratory of that heritage; so I learned the difference fairly early.) 😉

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next up a slave free city... Yes I am ste..err borrowing from Turakian Age.

 

 

Quote

Kulaki-Ummar

This is the newest city located where the Kulana River empties into Hogen Bay, which leads later into Fragmor Bay and Elgin Bay, then the open ocean.  The name means Refuge of the Free.  It is the result of numerous escaped slaves from Imperial slaver raids who banded together and began a long term effort to disrupt the slavers from the south.  Eventually they had enough people that they took over the largest camp/settlement of slavers and established a new, slave free, city.  At first it was tough, but the slavers were used to dealing with small tribes, not a well organized city with soldiers, mages and an entire population that hates them.

 

Eventually, it was realized that this city would have to be dealt with if they wanted to access the riches of the jungle.  As people explore the jungle, they are finding ruins of older settlements and cities.  

 

Kulaki-Ummar is a monarchy with an advisory counsel.  It has a well trained army and is in the process of building up its navy, both military and trade branches.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might make for some interesting scenarios if Kulaki-Ummar was pro-active in its anti-slavery stance. The Kulaki (I'm going to use that name for convenience) may send their operatives to neighbouring lands to smuggle slaves out of the country and to their city; raid slaver caravans and ships; perhaps even agitate slaves to revolt. They'll take anyone to help grow their population, but particularly emphasize freeing and recruiting slaves with useful skills, e.g. farmers, craftsmen, scholars, and trained fighters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

It might make for some interesting scenarios if Kulaki-Ummar was pro-active in its anti-slavery stance. The Kulaki (I'm going to use that name for convenience) may send their operatives to neighbouring lands to smuggle slaves out of the country and to their city; raid slaver caravans and ships; perhaps even agitate slaves to revolt. They'll take anyone to help grow their population, but particularly emphasize freeing and recruiting slaves with useful skills, e.g. farmers, craftsmen, scholars, and trained fighters.

 

I have thought of that.  But the difficulties of establishing itself along one of the most useful trade routes going north south right now will take all their time.

 

But a few well placed PCs can always be useful (IMF Fantasy Hero Style!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before I post my next area, I want to comment on how a supplement certainly needs an overview editor to make sure that certain ideas that SOUND good, really DON'T work.

 

Case in point the west coast of the continent.  As I have mentioned, it is south of the equator, so south is colder, north is jungle.  Also unlike NA which has a lush west coast, it is more like SA with a dry coastal plains.  Please remember this.

 

No 1

We'll create an island off the west coast.  It will be the home of merchants/privateers, who sail up and down the coast maybe into the Three Bays area.  OK.  Are there any cities along the way?  Nope!  So they are merchants, right!  Who do they trade with?  Well the cities of the Gefting Sea, you know that Basin area with all the cities.  Which also happens to be 1500 km inland from where they are!  Oh, add the fact that there is no major city on the west coast to load and unload goods.  Oh and even if they bought good to the west coast, where would they sell them?

 

No 2

There is a city state on the west coast, BUT it is not a port.  You people are going to love this.  It was founded by a mercenary commander to be his base far away from the Basin Area.  The focus exclusively on selling their services as Mercenaries.  They do have a side gig as glass makers, but otherwise everyone dedicates themselves to training and practice.  Sounds cool, sort of like the Swiss Mercenaries that dominated warfare in Europe.  Hold on, what's this?  There are NO non soldier professions at all!  No farmers.  No Herders.  No fishermen.  Only professions that help equip a soldier.  They get all their food imported, from that Basin area, over 1500 km away.  As one poster stated above even 300 km was a serious overland journey.  You're telling me they are going to ship perishable food items overland, across those plains controlled by the nomads, across one of the few passes of THE tallest mountains (think Andes here) then down the other side.  And this will serve to feed a city state of close to 50000 people?  I know this is fantasy, but really!

 

So basically my next two areas are going to be almost total reworks.

 

For this area I am taking some inspiration from Al-Qadim with the Cities of the North and the Corsair Isles.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/13/2022 at 12:17 PM, Mr. R said:

 

I am actually planning an Andean type for the far West Coast, which is dominated by a continent spanning north south mountain chain which has a jungle environment on the far side (Yes it is too easy to see the parallels)  I plan to have rivers from the mountains to the ocean through plains area.  Each river will have a settlement, which leads to trade.  The original booklet left this whole region empty, but then placed an island of merchants and pirates off the coast... say what?  Who do they plunder/trade with?

 

Late response, but I note that pirates rarely confine their operations to a tight patch of ocean.  Those in the Golden Age of Piracy were active throughout the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and pretty much the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S.  They base themselves in a city state that tolerates them and go where the plunder is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...