Difference between revisions of "The North"

Latest revision as of 07:46, 29 September 2011

One Square = 500 miles

The lands heavily influenced by the Elemental Pole of Air, the North is a land of bitter cold, pockmarked by Shadowlands. Until recently, the North was considered to be a barbaric wasteland, devoid of anything but a handful of old First Age ruins and pockets of civilization struggling to survive against savages the eternally threatening winter. In recent generations, however, it has seen the formation of nations, from the Haslanti League, a nation of air- and ice-ship captains in trade competition with the Guild, to small city-states that have managed to grow sufficiently powerful to absorb their neighbors.

More relevantly, however, in recent days, the Icewalker Anathema known as the Bull of the North led his barbarian army to victory against the Imperial Legions of House Tepet, and dealt the Empire its first crushing defeat in living memory. Now, as a variety of city-states grow and find their own bases of power apart for the traditional foundations of Empire and Guild, the North stands on the threshold of becoming a true power in Creation.

Kunlun Tundra & Dehennan Coastal Range

The Kunlun Tundra

Kunlun Nomads: The Kunlun nomads are a nomadic, tribal people who follow reindeer herds from place to place. The Kunlun make extensive use of dog sleds to navigate the snow and ice of the tundra, and a tribe's dogs are considered not just pets, but comrades and spiritual protectors. The Kunlun Tundra is scattered with a variety of small Wyld zones, which the nomads regard as holy places. Indeed, their shamans go vision- and power-questing within the deeps of those terrifying places, and the tribesmen always pick the distinctive white and red hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow at the edges of such zones. Over the generations, the nomads have constructed great barrows of sod and stone within these Wyld zones, and the dead are often interred there, where it is believed they become powerful gods who are part of that zone, and continue to lend their power to the tribe.
Naruu: Seafaring Naruu is a nation of sailors and traders. A major point of entry for those few merchants that seek to man the trade-routes through the Kunlun, Naruu is a bustling city-state, with a handful of client towns and villages around it for nearly a hundred miles in each direction. Naruu is ruled by the Ataman (a local term for a leader) Balajan the Bear, a powerful warlord with a modest navy known for hiring mercenaries from far-off places to come die for the views of the Naruu's version of the Shining Path, as dictated by the High Eparch of the High Stone Seat, overlooking the sea.
Kunlun Shan: Mild in their fervor and isolationist in tendency, the peoples of Shan (or Kunlun Shan, as its citizenry refer to it) are a nation of reindeer herders and bear hunters. Many of them are also mountaineers, prospecting into the Dehennen Mountains during the summer months for washes of silver, copper and gold. The Shan look to the Ijanti Nath, their high priest of the Shining Path, who rules the nation from the Citadel of Honored Souls in the center of the city. The Ijanti Nath is considered too holy to tend to the irritations of ruling directly, however, so military power is usually held by the Voivode (Warlord), who is chosen by the Ijanti Nath.
Ikh Bayan: Dwelling in a state of constant warfare, the warrior-state of Ikh Bayan are known as the Reavermen, for they take great delight in raiding the caravan routes and outlying villages of their neighbors. With their men away so often raiding, women tend to rule in Ikh Bayan. They are ruled by a royal house known as House Pyotalin, a military power. The wife of the Pyotalin king always acts as high priestess for the Bayani interpretation of the Shining Path, a role known as the Mother of Heroes. All the women of House Pyotalin are trained as priestesses in the Halls of Memory, the mighty sepulcher-temple of Ikh Bayan.
Tharn: The people of Tharn are sometimes called "Turtle People" by the other Kunlun city-states, because they avoid engaging in open warfare when they can. They are masters of surviving sieges, however, and take great pride in their fortifications and defensive structures. The Holy Church of Ancient Tharn is its religious order, based off the teachings of the Shining Path, and their monks are some of their deadliest fighters. The Tharn are ruled by an Ataman, who holds secular power, with the Voivode holding military power and the Archiereus holding religious authority. Traditionally, these are always three brothers, and when one brother dies, all three must step down to make room for three new brothers (although those left behind remain as advisors and mentors).
The Silent Meadow of Dust: A terrible shadowlands avoided by the people of the Kunlun, those who venture near it tell stories of the tall cathedral sometimes seen in it from time to time, and of the tolling of unseen bells. It is known to be a holy place to those who follow the Shining Path, a major ancestor cult in the area.
Zalvenesh: A small maritime nation dwelling at the edges of the Inland Sea, the Zalvenesh were once and up-and-coming nation. Known for their longboatmen who fished for whales, narwhales and seals, and divers that enter into the deathly cold seas far longer than anyone normally could in search of ancient Artifacts and relics of the First Age, the Zelvanesh brought something up one day that proved too terrible for them to meddle with. They lost their capital city Liriel-Anneth and a good portion of their population, leaving only a handful of small villages and towns to eke out an existence caught between the Kunlun Tundra and the freezing Inland Sea.

The Dehennan Mountains

Sequestered Vale: A bastion for the Cult of the Illuminated, the Sequestered Vale is a small valley with a handful of hamlets, settled in an unseasonably warm vale in the Dehennen Mountains.
The Poison Vale: A valley situated right over a rich Wood Demesne, the Poison Vale is home to the Temple of Unwholesome Blossom, a hidden monastery of priestesses who practice the Ill Lily Style and worship their goddess, Unwholesome Blossom.

Western Dragon Coast

Dehenna: One of the Dragon Coast city-states, Dehenna is dominated by a junior Ledaal Household. Like the rest of the Dragon Coast, all the people of Dehenna are a drug-addled slave populace ostensibly owned by the Dragon-Blooded Dynasts of the Realm.
Inahjal: Ruled by a triumvirate of satraps from Imperial Patrician families, Inahjal is an agricultural nation that focuses on raising wealth from its many plantations, all on the backs of its drugged slave populace.

The Central North

Whitewall

An ancient city of the First Age, known for having the tallest and thickest walls in all of the North. Protected from the terrors of both the dead and Fair Folk by ancient enchantments laid on the city, Whitewall is prosperous and secure, a rarity in the North. Whitewall has only a single exit from it, along the famous Traveler's Road leading south.

Wallport: A small port city at the other end of the Traveler's Road, Wallport is a tall cliff-side settlement that acts as a means of ingress for much of the rest of Creation seeking to benefit from the riches of Whitewall. Something of a cesspit of criminals, sailors and the ilk who cater to them, Wallport shares in some of Whitewall's prosperity, but none of its cleanliness or safety.

Marama's Fell

A terrible and massive shadowlands hundreds of miles long, no one in their right mind enters Marama's Fell. It is said that mad, dead beasts haunt its murky, twisted terrain, and savage men who are part ghost dwell in its hills.

Gethamane & the Black Crag Mountains

X

Fella: X

Shanarinara

X

The Central Dragon Coast

X

The Icewalker Wastes

X

The Eastern Dragon Coast & Cherak

X

Sirinnin & Ildomus

X

The Icewalker Tribes

X

Mother's Hearth: X

The Haslanti League

X

Gradafes

X

The Tears River Valley

Karn

X

Saltspire League

X

The Western Coast

Ratjali Sailors

X

The Varajtul

X

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 * '''Kunlun Nomads:''' The Kunlun nomads are a nomadic, tribal people who follow reindeer herds from place to place. The Kunlun make extensive use of dog sleds to navigate the snow and ice of the tundra, and a tribe's dogs are considered not just pets, but comrades and spiritual protectors. The Kunlun Tundra is scattered with a variety of small Wyld zones, which the nomads regard as holy places. Indeed, their shamans go vision- and power-questing within the deeps of those terrifying places, and the tribesmen always pick the distinctive white and red hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow at the edges of such zones. Over the generations, the nomads have constructed great barrows of sod and stone within these Wyld zones, and the dead are often interred there, where it is believed they become powerful gods who are part of that zone, and continue to lend their power to the tribe.
 * '''Naruu:''' Seafaring Naruu is a nation of sailors and traders. A major point of entry for those few merchants that seek to man the trade-routes through the Kunlun, Naruu is a bustling city-state, with a handful of client towns and villages around it for nearly a hundred miles in each direction. Naruu is ruled by the Ataman (a local term for a leader) Balajan the Bear, a powerful warlord with a modest navy known for hiring mercenaries from far-off places to come die for the views of the Naruu's version of the Shining Path, as dictated by the High Eparch of the High Stone Seat, overlooking the sea.
-* '''Shan:''' Mild in their fervor and isolationist in tendency, the peoples of Shan (or Kunlun Shan, as its citizenry refer to it) are a nation of reindeer herders and bear hunters. Many of them are also mountaineers, prospecting into the Dehennen Mountains during the summer months for washes of silver, copper and gold. The Shan look to the Ijanti Nath, their high priest of the Shining Path, who rules the nation from the Citadel of Honored Souls in the center of the city. The Ijanti Nath is considered too holy to tend to the irritations of ruling directly, however, so military power is usually held by the Voivode (Warlord), who is chosen by the Ijanti Nath.
+* '''Kunlun Shan:''' Mild in their fervor and isolationist in tendency, the peoples of Shan (or Kunlun Shan, as its citizenry refer to it) are a nation of reindeer herders and bear hunters. Many of them are also mountaineers, prospecting into the Dehennen Mountains during the summer months for washes of silver, copper and gold. The Shan look to the Ijanti Nath, their high priest of the Shining Path, who rules the nation from the Citadel of Honored Souls in the center of the city. The Ijanti Nath is considered too holy to tend to the irritations of ruling directly, however, so military power is usually held by the Voivode (Warlord), who is chosen by the Ijanti Nath.
 * '''Ikh Bayan:''' Dwelling in a state of constant warfare, the warrior-state of Ikh Bayan are known as the Reavermen, for they take great delight in raiding the caravan routes and outlying villages of their neighbors. With their men away so often raiding, women tend to rule in Ikh Bayan. They are ruled by a royal house known as House Pyotalin, a military power. The wife of the Pyotalin king always acts as high priestess for the Bayani interpretation of the Shining Path, a role known as the Mother of Heroes. All the women of House Pyotalin are trained as priestesses in the Halls of Memory, the mighty sepulcher-temple of Ikh Bayan.
 * '''Tharn:''' The people of Tharn are sometimes called "Turtle People" by the other Kunlun city-states, because they avoid engaging in open warfare when they can. They are masters of surviving sieges, however, and take great pride in their fortifications and defensive structures. The Holy Church of Ancient Tharn is its religious order, based off the teachings of the Shining Path, and their monks are some of their deadliest fighters. The Tharn are ruled by an Ataman, who holds secular power, with the Voivode holding military power and the Archiereus holding religious authority. Traditionally, these are always three brothers, and when one brother dies, all three must step down to make room for three new brothers (although those left behind remain as advisors and mentors).