Final post for Worldbuild24, I started this last year
as a way of constantly keeping myself writing and engaging with my setting.
I now know a lot of what I was missing, what regions I cared about really and
what sections I can cut without affecting anyone else.
I did fall into the bad habit of just copying texts and particularly copying texts which themselves were just blindly copying real world history. But lacking experiences of the own to draw from, I guess that was the best I could do.
History
Age of Chaos – The time when the Earth is ravaged by
strife, disasters and when the Gods and Primordials bring forth war in the planes.
The Time of the Centipede in Iyamat, Warring States in Jungo, Points of Light
in Adventuria and the Decadence in Zakhara. It is an age of monsters, heralded
by the Jabberwocky. Each time such an age has occurred it has heralded near
destruction and new beginnings for survivors. And yet it is not inevitable.
This is the age of heroes and adventurers. To beat back the darkness and reap
the soils of falling powers for their own futures.
Ancient Mataram – An old, gone kingdom whose people
were consummate travelers, and so they taught their tongue to everyone they
met. Many kingdoms and principalities nowadays claim lineage from it. Their
greatest legacy is the common tongue of Trade Mataram. Which cuts across all
languages in the Sword Islands and can be distorted to match common elsewhere.[i]
Antiquity – The vague period following the Dawn Age.
This is the age that myth becomes legend and legend becomes history. It is
roughly between the rise of copper and agriculture and the third Age of Chaos,
well after the creation of iron. The first true states for Demi-Humans arose
during this time and their cultures solidified into recorded groups. Zannad’s
human successors, their rivals, the Elven Empire, Degringolade and the host of
earthly dynasties in Jungo.
Al-Anwahr
– In the last days of Antiquity or the first years after the Age of Chaos, the
Loregiver visit this yet ruined city in the yet to be Haunted Lands. In the Burning
Lands about a week beyond the Furrowed Mountains, in what is now Jann
territory. Hospitality demanded she answer king Azaltin’s questions about how
to live forever. Whatever was recorded as the Eleven Baneful Gates caused him
to neglect his kingdom, abdicate yet return after years as an undead lich.
Civil war wracked the city and the brother’s line founded In’aash, later Muluk.[ii]
Az-Kiral - The last remnant of Zannadian thought, this
small empire along the upper reaches of the Mountains of the Moon and the World
Pillar Mountains was a mixture of dominate Animal Nomads and precursor oasis
farmers. It is here that the god Zehir’s modern name descends from. Its leaders
grew ever more ambitious and soon, they craved more power than the snake god
was willing to offer. They opened a portal to the star Nihal thinking they
would be able to access this power. Instead, the serpentine Starspawn poured
through and destroyed the empire in a matter of days.[iii]
Arkhosia – From the still watered edge of the Desert
of Desolation, Aesheba, came the Dragons. Though it was the Dragonborn clans
who laboured under their patronage. The Golden One unified Io’vanthor and six
more in glory, honor and the name of their dead God. Spanning the world by
wing, magic and blademaster. The upstart empire of Bael Turath poisoned it’s
lands surreptitiously during the wars, but banning the cult of Tiamat undid
them. Io’s furious daughter did much to weaken them. After Zebukiel and others tore at it, the
ruins remain haunted by kobolds and cannibal Tieflings, remnant garrisons
degenerated.[iv]
Bael Turath – During the time of Arkhosia, a kingdom
arose to conquer. Human at first, the upstarts could never hope to match the
Dragonborn and Dragons. Spreading across the Sea of Ships, they were wracked by
revolt and tyranny. So, they turned to diabolic power. In a month, all
surviving noble houses had signed in blood, warping themselves and their
civilization into an infernal machine of war. The many and greatest of the
Tieflings. Slave armies and devils carved holdings across the Known World.
Though victorious, their empire lay dead and the power of Torog and the
Shadowfell claimed what was left.[v]
Bloodtower – On the north bank of the upper Burl
stands a lowland moor, cut from the Deepwoods by Old Adventia or the Korlathi.
No-one dwells too near it, for the fog that rises from the Tronish Sea makes
travel difficult. In centuries past a society of necromancers built a lone
tower in honor of an Exarch of a death God perished. Cloistered there yet
recognizable with shaven heads, grey robes and white gloves. Though reviled for
their craft and expertise in demonology, this knowledge also made them skilled
at putting down the undead. Several centuries ago, the tower vanished or fell.[vi]
Dawn War – Enraged at the Gods
meddling in their works, the Primordials invaded the Astral Sea and established
positions on the Earth. Each deity fought with legions of angels and cared for
specific aspects to champion, forming their portfolios. At the beginning the
primordials assumed victory for they were individually mightier, and the fewer
gods divided. Artifacts, races, cosmic structures and Continents were created
and churned. It was Archa, either god or mortal, who organized the defenses.
Partway through, the Abyss became a dire issue for all. Consequentially, Asmodeus
killed He Who Was, appointed divine leader, and declared it a collective
victory.[vii]
Divine Compromises, The – It is said when the Dawn War
ended but the Dawn Age not, there was strife between opposing Gods. Pelor and
Zehir contested the sky, for the sun banished darkness. Khala contested Pelor
too, because her ice and snow blocked the sun. Husband and wife gathered
Corellon and Sehanine while Pelor allied Erathis, Moradin and Melora. Grudges
still linger for the arguments were long and only settled by Avandra’s
compromises. Day and night, summer and winter. Yet Zehir tests it with his eclipses
and though Khala is Dead, the Raven Queen tests the pact with early autumn and
late springs.[viii]
Dhuryan and Malachi – Dhuryan Flamebrow was a
Dragonbornvy mercenary from Arkhosia’s fringes, noble yet trying to redeem his
father’s dark deeds. Malachi was a low-ranking officer in Bael Turath’s
infernal legions, rising through the ranks. Each became the most prominent and
skill commanders in their armies, and inevitably clash. Malachi only knew
defeat at Dhuryan’s hand. But stories differ afterwards. Malachi was either put
to death, retired alongside his friend or now marshals the forces of the Nine
Hells. Dhuryan was said to reincarnate until he became immortal to serve the
world. Their treaties are Flamebrow and The Hellpath Tome respectively.[ix]
Dukkharan – A ruined city in the western Zomia. Once
said to be called Solon and built during Antiquity. It held put against Animal
Nomads and the organized armies of caliphs, emperors and rajas by being so
remote not army could besiege it without dying of thirst. It was a lich who destroyed
it, Raja Thirayam came from the east as a ghost, and some whisper he was one of
the Burned Emperors. Slaying the living and reanimating them, he forged the
population into an unliving horde and drove them west to what he would call
Hantumah.[x]
Empire of Deep Darkness – The traditional states of
the Dwarves, which are ruled by high kings from the depths of their greatest
cities in the Underdark. They haven’t been relevant since Antiquity, and now
merely represent bastions of diehard traditionalism in the face of chaos. The
western empire is governed beneath the Vidya Mountains, the eastern empire is
located inside the Mountains of the Moon. The southern empire exists only
theoretically, as members of the Enlightened Faith follow the Grand Caliph as
spiritual master of their clans. The northern empire under Tronskal ceased to
exist in wars with the deeper Duergar.
Empires of the Djinn – During the Dawn War, the
Primordials crafted many elemental races to serve against the legions of
angels. The Genies were one such collection, but as the Dawn War progressed,
they increasingly set up their own empires across the Elemental Chaos. The djinn
were the most prolific, settling the Continent of Zakhara due to its great
desert sky. At the end, the djinn were too numerous to hide from the Gods.
Empires cast down to their Gensai servitors, imprisoned in containers or fled
to Earth. That was their first contact with the Zakharan people.[xi]
Garuda Bird Riders – A people who first flew in the
Dawn Age. When Arodia was but an island drifting north to sire the Mountains of
the Moon with Nangia. A people of great cunning, they not only turned their
skills upon the jungles of Láhág. Building great Degringolade into a work of
plant and stone. And were said to be the first people to work steel. They
clashed with the people after and were sapped by jungle spirits. Their city
ringing with the Continent-shaking earthquakes of the coming of the mountains.
Their secret knowledge is much regarded.
Geomancers of Kadar – From the early days of Antiquity
to the early age of the Land of Fate, the southern Ruined Kingdoms of Kadar
were under the domain of powerful wizard-priests who drew power from the
elemental earth. Causing earthquakes, summoning monoliths and inscribing
geoglyphs of power. Though never to the islands of Sahu and Afyal. This empire
was toppled by a band of holy warriors of the Enlightened Faith called the
Lions of Yesterday, the citadels of Tadabbur and Majlis were razed and their
history erased except from what can be gleamed from the libraries of Ioun.[xii]
Great Enchantment, The - When the Elven Empire was at
its height under the long reign of Rifingolan, a vast magical spell was
conducted to affix the Elven Castes. This spell affected all Elves within the
areas of the casting towers and leylines, and in doing so meant that each caste
would be born with certain imposed features. This has persisted to this day,
with elves still sharing caste phenotypes regardless of occupation.
Hailakundpur – A ruined city
in the grasslands of Pajuli. A low hillock marks the spot where the city once
stood, and nothing was built there again. Famous for its brick-lined fighting
pits, which remain full of vengeful spirits. Hailakundpur always had an
insatiable hunger for blood, constantly importing men, women and animals to
fight and die in the pits. When the Zakharans came, the city fought eagerly for
blood. With the whooping war cries of the Pelorian Animal Nomads. The city was
razed but the pits remained open wounds.[xiii]
Kantakaran
Monks – A religious order from the high plateaus of Nangia, who sought
neutrality in a world of division and strife. This di not ender themselves to
rival schools, who feared their peace spells could ensnare their minds and
destroyed them.[xiv]
Karkoth, History of – Some seven hundred years prior to Nerath’s fall, the
Kars swept from beyond the Forest Wall, the Dragonspine. Laying waste to the
kingdoms of Surth and Dol-Thamar, before being stopped by the Elves of
Tarsembor. Settling, they demanded the surviving Thamari teach them, and a
realm of warlocks and warriors emerged. Nerath stripped them of their conquests
six and a half centuries later. Freeing all the lands between Dawnforge
Mountains, Kindas and Blue Sughd. Humiliated and bitter, the Karkothi domains fought
with each other, jockeying for mastery over their shrunken empire. Again, they
have emerged, madder and cruel.[xv]
Kortaja –
An empire of the Dawn Age that stretched across the Altaran Peninsula. There
was no Primal Ban in those days, so the citadel of glass was raised by fervour,
armies were strengthened by angels and many Deva of the west incarnated to
fight the Giants and elementals across the blasted rocks. For helping free the
Dwarves of the Stonehome Mountains, seven swords for seven generals. Besieged
at the end, all but one sword was lost when a Primordial raised a trumpet and
scoured them. Deific servants seek the sword still.[xvi]
Kosan –
Orcs who apparently inhabited Imaria during the Dawn Age. Though it was claimed
they developed a dark empire of slavery and magic, which held the Continent in
its thrall. The first of the corrupted civilisations to distort divine will.
The actual evidence for their extent has been eroded by the ages. Dead scholars
in the library of Hevastar have proposed they were Goblinoids, akin to
the current tribes of the Sea of Ships, Zakhara or the ancestors of the Night
Men.[xvii]
Krylanth – Capital of Az-Kiral, it dominated an island
in the Feywild. Where the joining of Arodia and Nangia was not so strong as it
was on Earth. This meant the water, Laughing Storms, went almost to the isthmus
where Sughd-By-the-Sea would be. On a tropical island, Krylanth was passed from
ancient people to Animal Nomads, who switched from sun to serpent. Seemingly
invulnerable to mortal armies, it met the same fate as that accused land.[xviii]
Harrack Unarth – What was once known as the Bael
Turath city of carnivals, built down waterfalls, is a cursed ruin. Its noble
houses were still Human yet produced two vile scions, Ivania Dreygu and Vorno Kahnebor.
Their romance healed their family’s rifts by subtraction. They made the city
more festive and their entertainments more sickening They eagerly became
Tieflings and their diabolical rewards only made them worse. In time the
tielfing nobility fled, disgusted. Soon after a beauty’s awful death, a wave of
birth deformities swept the city. Many fled into the blizzard as it became a
Domain of Dread.[xix]
Mahajola – The greatest of the empires, who termed
themselves Chakravarti or Samrat. The title of Vikramaditya was still not in
ascendance by this time. Son of an empire and father of another, Mahajola ruled
nearly all Arodia, from Sughd to the Yellow City. Its trade in late Antiquity
is well remembered by the Elvish Trade Fleets who ferried it west and contested
it in the east. However, some priests say the empire took the tigers of
Yoon-Suin into its court and the bedchambers. Such creatures defiled the Pure
People and led to the Samrat to turn against the gods.[xx]
Mira – An empire of Antiquity that claimed descent
from even older Peloria. They stretched from the Long Lakes of Adventia to the
jungled east of Arodia. They overlapped somewhat with Mahajola in the south and
Bael Turath in the north. Ruled by priests of Erathis and Bane, they conducted
rituals to make their armies strong, some said to include their enemy’s blood.
They settled many colonies in the Feywild, Shadowfell and overstretched into
the Elemental Chaos, where some remain. Visatni legend say the fought against
them and while they escaped, Vistan prophecised their doom when they used her
blood.[xxi]
Mount Vaelis – A location somewhere in the Planes.
Either in the Elemental Chaos or Astral Sea. Where the armies of the divine
were defeated by the Primordials during the Dawn War. It is unknown if the
mountain still retains recognizable form from the fighting, divine wrath or
natural reshaping.[xxii]
Namhar – The Burning Lands were always dry, yet they
still had water once. Therefore after Fate struck down the cities of the now
Haunted Lands did the first desert city, ancient Namhar perish. Once the
destination of Elven merchants seeking gems from the rocky waves and the first
Jann treaties. It is said the Queen of Namhar, died of thirst in the Namharid
Desert, as it became the outer edge of the Great Anvil.[xxiii]
Necromancer Kings – While ancient Nog was ruled by
kings. Sahu has been ruled by Necromancers. Akin to Nog was the Old Empire of Thasmudyan, worshipers
of undying rulers and the power of eternity. Students of Zannad as their
counterparts, Stygia. The Elven Merchant Fleets did much to facilitate this
continuing relationship with deliberate ignorance. Worship of entropy eats at
the living and in time, the Kadar-origin New Dynasty Necromancers took the
island. In time, they turned the Interior of Sahu into a landscape of the dead
and passed to eternity, as the Enlightened Faith was spreading.[xxiv]
Nerath – Once there was monumental engineering and
magical architecture. The kingdoms and empires of the world bound by pact and
trade. Six centuries ago, the Age of Chaos ended Antiquity. The farmer-clans of
Nera united under Magroth, who could have been an unholy wizard. Who at fifteen
slew the gold Dragon Ayunken-vanzen, founded Nerathum and lit the still-burning
flame imperishable. He campaigned and conquered, incorporating many races,
legionary traditions and chivalric knights. Including the King of Blooms in the
Feywild. Claiming his Eldrain daughter as his bride, beloved Empresss
Amphaesia. All died with King Elidyr by the Gnolls.[xxv]
Ogres of Koptila – Beneath Shang-Yanf, one of Jungo’s
Five Loyal Cities, is an ancient legend. Long before civilized Humanoids came
to the region, a clan of Ogres dwelled there. Threatened by invasion from the
Far Realms during a prior Age of Chaos, their leader Koptila prayed to the Gods
so his people may be spared. The gods heard but demanded his own sacrifice.
Koptila nobly did so, and the clan was whisked away. Such was recorded in the
heavens and prophecies of the court, as is their return. Someday Shang-Yang
will find greatly displeased ogres beneath their floors.[xxvi]
Outer Maarb – A location of distant Antiquity,
presumable somewhere in Zakhara. Only known through conversations with the
timeless demigod Medvd of the Ursine Dune. Records among the Gods themselves
only indicate it was somewhere in the Inner Seas or Crowded Sea. On one of the
innumerable little islands marked only by navigators. Maarb itself was
abandoned, Outer Maarb appears to have sunk.[xxvii]
Peloria – Along the southern
coast of the Midnight Sea is ancient land that predates farming itself.
Properly termed Zerulia in its time. Peloria was a network of sun-orientated
megaliths and long-gone sky worshipers, taming and riding mighty Dinosaurs in
time. Not even the Elves truly remember whether they first tamed the horse or
adopted it in recognition of their own gryphons and bred the hippogriffs.
Before the elves could know them, they rode around the sea to define the
Kolarthi, they rode east to ancient Xinjiang and they rode south to grind
Arodia beneath their wagons. The land was empty.[xxviii]
Primal Ban
– After Khla perished with the Winter War, there had been much suffering for
the ice had covered much. The Gods were interrupted by the unveiling of the
Primal Spirits, who gave no request for the Dawn Age was over. No god, no
Primoridal could come upon the Earth. And even on the sister Planes, the reach
of the spirits was far. Gods, primordials and even loathsome demon princes were
forced to assume the form of aspects. Even now, if you look up with holy eyes,
you can see the bulk of the world serpent enwrapping the earth.[xxix]
Red Crusade, The – The Land of Fate watched with bated
breath as Nerath fell to the monsters. Such was Fate and so was their duty to
spread the Enlightened Faith. The Mamluks’ greatest success was in the Altaran
Peninsula, bringing it under their sway for the reign of the Grand Caliph’s
grandfather’s grandfather. Yet driven away by alliances and the Red Order.
Following, the crusaders went to the Free Cities. Unable to reach Hawa, they fought
skirmishes and sieges without progress. The Hill People took advantage to
undertake a great raid. With the lands devastated, the crusaders returned home
with little to show.
Sokkar – The City of Eternity. Once the Haunted Lands
was grassland and in a fertile valley in what would be the hills south of the
Furrowed Mountains stood a city. Now shrouded by Al-Amzija, a Black Cloud of
Vengeance, a titanic sandstorm that never falters, never dies. The tempest has
raged around the necropolis for centuries, scattering caravans and devouring
those who venture too close. Said to be built by giants, the city apparently is
home to curses, pyramids and crypts befitting the legacy of Zannad. Legends
speak of undying sorcerers and a cursed princess, Ophidia.[xxx]
Vardar – The troll kingdom was founded by Vard, who
compelled allegiance. A violent realm of troll war-clans and the monsters that
served them. It eventually fell to the vengeance of the Demi-Humans. Vard died
at Kadorhak, presumed incinerated. His kingdom remains the Trollhaunt, rising
to the Howling Forest, dank barrows and a few fog-shrouded stone forts. The
trolls and other foul creatures dwelling in there have degenerated into
savagery, preying on each other and any traveler foolish enough to venture into
their lands. Yet once they sent heroes to Argent to preserve the Earth.[xxxi]
War of Winter, The – After the Dawn War, Khala aimed
to establish supremacy among the Gods, a common refrain. She called upon his
consort Zehir, her son Kord and on Gruumsh and Tiamat, who prefer to end the
Divine Compromises. Early victories against Pelor, Erathis, Bahamut, Moradin
and Amoth were reversed by the joining of Bane, Sehanine and even secretly
Lolth. Kord failed to batter Moradin and was shown his chaos. Turning against
his mother. Khala was left alone and sought to destroy the Earth in spite, she
was slain and the Raven Queen expelled her in exchange for her domain of
winter.[xxxii]
Yellow Plant Empire – When the world was hot, and
Dinosaurs roamed. When the Primordials had only just separated the Feywild from
Earth, the Fey of the tropical “yellow” plants coalesced together across the
divide. They were not quite spirits. They crept like a strangler vine and
rafted like seeds, choking the Known World. Those who fought were filled with
spores and poisons and who served were filled with green blood. It was the cold
that killed them, great swathes wiped away by frost and the fire-hungry people.
Jungle ruins and Fey-touched races are their legacy.[xxxiii]
Ysawis – The City of the Dead. In the lands of south-western
Nog which would become the Ruined Kingdoms, stood a magnificent city. Legends
speak of a princess who bargained with gods, defiled a temple, was cursed and
the priests built a mound of the inhabitants’ skulls. Ragarra, God of the
jungle hid the ruins of his faithful. is rumored to still house treasure and
the cursed tomb of its crocodile princess. It is unknown who has braved the
Grey Jungle to find them already. For none have yet returned.[xxxiv]
Zannad – During the Hot Period of the Dawn Age, a
mighty civilization of serpentfolk emerged and soon spread their empire to all
of Earth. This vigorous people founded the empire of Zannad, using impressive
arcane powers at their command. In time, they perfected flesh-contorting magic
to improve themselves. But those magics distorted more than serpent flesh,
their minds too, were warped and corrupted. Their society rotted from within
until it died. The vanished empire of Zannad is mostly forgotten but its influence
stretches across seven Continents, including The Ruined Kingdoms, the
eleven-generations dead kingdom of Deshur and wherever the Yuan-ti lair.[xxxv]
Personalities Past and Present
Acererak – Half-demon cambion, son of a witch and forced to flee when
the mob came in his tenth year. Once of the order of the Scarlet Robes, and one
of the greatest wizards of ancient Bael Turath six hundred years ago. The lich
has grown in power even as his body degenerates into a mere skull. Following
his death, he avoided the fall of his empire by hiding in an elaborate trapped
dungeon, known as the Tomb of Horrors, in the warm southern lands of Alt-Numinor.[xxxvi]
Aelfwine, King – The former ruler of Edon and master of the Burl, most
northern of the Riverlands. He was not a strong ruler, much ravaged by Vikings
and Edon was besieged twice. In desperation he gave Rolf Longstride, a viking
himself, the northern coast on the condition to guard it again his rivals.
Wuffmark was the result. Once the north was secured, he was free to turn his
attention to reinforcing Ambrosia’s Dyke, but many Goblinoids and Ogres had
crossed over. He increasingly turned to the Red Order to rebuild the land with
monasteries. Setting the stage for his grandson’s Civil War.[xxxvii]
First Calph, The – Once there was only one Caliph and before that there
was none. A young nomad man, which is still a source of pride to the nomads. He
received a vision at the house of the Lorebringer, in the village that would
become Huzuz. This led him to survive a sandstorm, discover the scrolls in the
Akara Mountains, decipher them, reveal the underpinnings of the true customs to
all and have his lost tribe return to him at the same village. The union of the
Two People made him Sheik, then Caliph of the Enlightened. His son, Nasir
al-Nasr cemented it.[xxxviii]
Garetius –
Gaetius Grisaccipix was a records clerk in Fallax, in what is now the Monster
Coast. He is actually famous for his extensive treaties on adventuring and
dungeon exploration, gathered from managing the affairs of awarded heroes. His
works remain a primer to this day, with much devoted to the driving off or
destruction of hostile Humanoids, which were frequently a threat along the
Deepwoods and in the distant borderlands of Nerath.[xxxix]
Grand Caliph, The – Khalil al-Assad
al-Zahir, Scourge of the Unbelievers. He follows in the footsteps of his father
and of his father’s father before him, being the eighteenth man in his bloodline
to ascend the Enlightened Throne. He is either a traditionalist who upholds the
values and policies of his father or a disinterested end point of the Age of
Chaos. More concerned with the benefits and rituals of office than authority.
There is currently no heir, and some say he neglects his duties to attempt to
conceive one. Rumors say he wanders the streets at night.[xl]
Guillaume the Unseen – Perhaps the greatest of
illusionists. Guillaume is from a distant corner of the Riverlands, either from
the Hinterlands of Endom or Brakmar. His long and storied career brought him to
the rank of archmage. Retiring to his sanctum in Dolman Country to singularly
focus on spells of invisibility. Sometimes seemingly blank pages have appeared
in circulation and treasure hoards, bearing his crest. Legends say that those
who can decipher them can learn great secrets about invisibility.[xli]
Hungering
Lion, The – The undead of Deshur frequently raided the lands of Meru during the
Long War. Seeking fleeing servitors and villages to serve as food and slaves.
They spared one boy in the village of Dagamar, certain his crippled legs would
see him slain by nature. Kwo did not and came to live among the Agogwe. Seeing
the engargiya of Akota convinced him to ride. And his name was given for his
appetite for it. Age twenty-eight, he was blessed by the spirits and he took
his furred forces and led the Meru to the Silent City and beyond.[xlii]
Imam Suhail
min Zann – A cleric of the Enlightened Faith during its expansion into the
Ruined Kingdoms. He was the patron of a holy band of warriors known as the
Lions of Yesterday, who overthrew the Geomancers of Kadar. They tore down their
fortresses of Tadabbur and Majlis and embarked on expeditions to erase all
knowledge of them. The shrine that is his tomb is in the desert south of the
Furrowed Mountains on the pilgrimage route to Huzuz. It is guarded by Mason
Wasps, Enlighted constructors.[xliii]
Jabberwock
– The Herald of Chaos, the Jabberwock is a hideous Dragon which must be slain
to end an Age of Chaos. It is technically an immortal and reincarnating
creature, but dwells solely on Earth rather than on another Plane. It does not
pay homage to Bahamut or Tiamat as it was spawned from the destruction caused
by the death of their father Io, as an embodiment of the instability of the
Dawn War. It can induce madness in foes and regenerates from all but the
sharpest edges.[xliv]
Jafar
al-Samal, the Wise – The first Sha’ir, who transcended the normal bounds of
pacts by developing his Great Binding in Zakharan Antiquity. That genies must
respond to him and act according to his wishes and in return he would agree to
certain promises. This was beyond a common pact with higher forces, allowing
for commands or bargains beyond mere elementals. Sha’ir nowadays stick to Gen
and Earthly Genies and rarely invoke True Genies. But Jafar set the precedent
for Polygamous customs by marrying a genie of each element.[xlv]
Kaday,
Emperor – The Emperor of Nyala at the end of the war with Deshur, Kaday’s has
been immortalized for the hard choices he made for all the people of the Three
Lands. Realizing that Nyala’s inactions had led the Eternals successes. He
granted the Krisi independence and withdrew the imperial claims to the other
lands. With this and his own charisma, he led an united army to first the
Silent City then to Deshur’s old capital. There he was either slain in battle
with the undead Pharoah or slain by embittered nobles. Nevertheless, a victory
that has enabled two generations of peace.[xlvi]
Kurngarl
the Hunter – As the empire of Bael Turath fell, a family of Humans bore a
Tiefling and left it in an enchanted grove to die. Saved by destiny or Melora’s
fickle mercy, the baby was raised by Yunulf, “the Lady of the Wolves,” as
Horned Man. Learning uncanny skills from many animals, Fargrim the explorer
took the child home to Durigrin. A citizen and a roamer of the wilderness, he
acknowledged no name by the literal translation; Kurngarl or Kurn. With his
wolf-brother Grabor they performed heroic and mighty deeds among many races.
Now held as an example by Melora’s followers.[xlvii]
Loregiver, The - Fate is said to have appeared in ancient times as the
shadow of a woman. She had left her teachings in the hands of a beautiful girl,
over whom all the gods and genies had been fighting. Who recorded Fate’s
teachings upon a series of scrolls. The story of this girl survived for
centuries in legends told by the desert bards. Five hundred years ago, the scrolls
were discovered. Though the Loregiver is accompanied by a bevy of regional
legends, it appears she was mostly forgotten until revealed to the desert nomad
who became the First Caliph.[xlviii]
Louis, The Great Wizzard – The greatest magic user who ever lived in
terms of practical casting, The Great Wizzard Louis is a paranoid old man who
lives in a seemingly-rickety tower in the southern Deepwoods. Long years of
adventure and carousing have made him a great deal of enemies and the sort who
can wait till after death. In the course of his lifetime, he has refused
several academic positions, may have fathered several supernatural children,
slain the greatest fiends brought forth on their own planes and is famous for
defeating a small god single-handedly. Of course he does not receive visitors.
Monkey King, The – A pretender to the throne of Jungo. Possibly a
Shanxiao or at least has a strong following among them. Also known as the
“Southern Pretender” as his territory aligns the southern bank of the Red
Dragon River, almost up to Kwantoom. He cultivates loyalties in the Jiang Hu to
assemble an army of tribes, traditional gentry, and adventurers. He patronizes
monasteries and fighting orders while claiming to be an immortal Sage.
Nasir al-Nasr, Caliph – The Great Eagle and the second caliph of the
Land of Fate. Though his son and grandson expanded the borders of the Caliphate
to encompass the Cities of the Pearl and Free Cities, he is the one who laid
the groundworks. When he received the throne, there was much division over who
would rule and the succession. Should he have failed to implement the wisdom of
words, law and might. His empire would have disintegrated into factions and
become as many feared, like the Ruined Kingdom. No, the Age of Chaos came for
his descendants.[xlix]
Osric I – The Founder of the Kingdom of Dungeonland. A
Half Elf from the shores of the Tronish Sea, whose band of merry adventurers
pushed back the Goblinoids of the northern Deepwoods and founded his vertical
kingdom in the old Dwarf-works around and under a stony mound called Fisher’s
Crag. Osric pursued a firm alliance with nearby Elven courts and Tronish
Northmen across the sea, serving as a vital strongpoint in the ongoing
Greentide. His anti-goblinoid policies softened in his later years, allowing
Half-Orcs to live as subjects in the underground rooms and small holds above.
Osric II – The current king of the Kingdom of
Dungonland. Osirc is an overwhelmed man, his father having placed him in a
position where he is obligated to pay fellow adventurers to plunder down the
hidden corridors of Dungeonland so the taxes can pay Tronish mercenaries to
fight for the Elves. It is known that he is frustrated with his kingdom’s size,
it being barely a barony compared the Hundred Kingdoms and with meagre tax
revenue. It is rumored he is willing to pay in land he doesn’t yet own for assistance
permanently dealing with the Orcs of the Lipid Valley.
Perastrulus – A resident of Seaopolis, the city
preceding Gulltown. Perastrulus was a natural philosopher and historian who
over the course of his life wrote several treaties about the conditions of the
world, based on merchant knowledge and his own travels around the Sea of Ships.
His work was the first to outline the origin myths of many monsters and trace
their origins to different regions. He also wrote The History of Civilization
where he traced the rough movement of many cultures of the Dawn Age and Antiquity
to their supposed homelands. Not completely accurate, it remains the mainstay
of classical studies.
Qiuntius Lumenax – A historian based in Sanctaphrax and Undertown, his
Matters of the World provided most of the corpus for the records you are
reading now. Originally intended as a primer for young merchant families, he
returned to the work over the course of his life. Revising and redrafting it as
new information and research occurred. Though he passed before it could be
published, occasional correspondence with him in Hevastar has allowed for
details about the civilised afterlife as well. His works grew noticeably less
focused the further from his city it went, requiring many new additions from
his students.
Ravana the Younger – A rakshasa who claims royal and
divine descendent from the last native king of the island of Afyal who
supposedly married a Deva in honor of the Lost God. He started the cult of the
Elephant Demon with the goal of restoring his claimed rule to Afyal and the
expulsion of the Enlightened Faith elsewhere. His leadership has smoothed over
the inherent uncleanliness of human sacrifices of prisoners of war and the poor
by giving the faithful freedom. He knew an evil god was more willing than a
moral god with many differently valued cults they compare the success of.
Raven Queen, The – Nerull was the cruel God of death.
Who held those who died in his grey and cheerless domain of Pluton. With this
power, he saw fit to be king over the gods and set pestilences. Death brought a
beautiful and powerful sorcerer-queen to him, he called her Nera or the crone of
Pohjola. He made her his consort. She found his secrets and slew him, with
unbinding souls. Yet denied his place and bide to be goddess of death but not
the dead. Even now she strains at her strictures, erasing her name to no avail
and gaining new domains.[l]
Roderick and Anneli – Originally hailing from Wuffmark
in the northern Riverlands, the twin fire elves Riwal and Anaelle witnessed the
assimilation of the Northmen while undergoing religious instruction to be
inducted into the Red Order. Following this, they sought permission to
proselytize in Tronskal. With their beauty, skills at arms and diplomacy to the
jarls, the twins quickly began to win converts from the Pagan variants to the
Systematic Gods, setting up the first Bishoprics which became hubs of authority.
Both married three times and all their children survived to marry again. It is
prestigious now to claim vague kinship to them.
Storm, Princess – Following the death of the Lion
Prince in the Delve of Saint Ulther. The crown passed from King Richard to his surviving
brother Leo, whose forested demesne had withered from conflict with the
mercenary, Cedric the Bull. With no sons, his daughter secretly sought
knighthood and was livid at the barons’ refusal upon her inheritance. Declaring
herself a king to march on Endon. At Bilgebridge, she was persuaded to marry
her kinsman, the Duke of Wuffmark. Now they are ending the Endon Civil War by
persecuting the last independent cousin, a self-declared queen in of wooded
roguery and magic.[li]
Ssra-Tauroch – The first mummy. The last emperor of
old Zannad. Pious to Zehir and renowned in victory, he dominated Dawn Age
Imaira, having brought low the Yellow Plant Empire across Continents. Yet
reviled by his people for his strictness and zealous adoption of ritualistic
sacrifices. As he aged, he requested the boon of immortality, and a dark angel
of his lord rewarded him with the secret knowledge of mummification. Hidden
from view, his people feared his death or possession and revolted, he escaped
to the Auburn Desert in the Shadowfell.[lii]
Urrok the
Brave – The Stonemarches are placed between sea, forest and mountain, and so
are much troubled by Dragons. For the Orcs there, they have taken heart in the
legend of Urrok of the now dissolved Empty Eye tribe. Who slew four separate
dragons with his spear. Though the fifth felled him, his spear was recovered
and enchanted. The spear has since become a wandering artefact for the killing
dragons, a sacred relic of Grumumsh.[liii]
Vecna,
Servants of – Before Vecna became a God, he had two undead servants of unholy
power. Kas the vampire was first an evil paladin, then a vampire powerful
enough to defeat weak deities and Primordials. With his sword and mask, he
nearly succeeded in betraying his lord upon his apotheosis, merely mutilating
him. He dwells in a vampire-ruled kingdom in the Shadowfell, a realm in the
Astral Sea of fire and obsidian and a Domain of Dread, Monadhan. His mightiest
remaining servant is Supreme Seed of Darkness, Osterneth the bronze lich who
houses Vecna’s heart and whispers to Earthly powers.[liv]
Vyn-kazi –
During the Dawn War, the Primordials were doomed once the Gods could overcome
their individual natures, but the fractious and grasping loners could not. With
the fall of Nekal of the Glowing Deep, his Genasi general swore fealty to Pelor
and changed from water to fire to honour him. She led the genasi against the
primordials, in turn developing harmonious blended style when one dominated
before. For this, the gods spare the genasi their wrath, allowing them to
escape the fate of the Genies.[lv]
Yin Liu - The immortal Sage-Astronomer Yin Liu, sits
in her mountaintop astronomy, almost totally oblivious to the chaos in Jungo.
She has devoted her life to predicting the future from the movement of stars
and Gods in the heavens. She is the single greatest magic-user currently alive,
having an encyclopedic knowledge of all spells derived from distant stars,
court records and forgotten secrets of the Mountains of the Moon. She cemented
this reputation at the great conclave of wizards in Hevastar, where she
presented her essay on the enigmatic and capricious Young Gods.
King Elidyr
– The last king of Nerath and first definite victim of the Age of Chaos. Against
Gnoll invaders who marched beneath the banner of the Ruler of Ruin he quelled
them, but at the cost of his life, his heirs, and most of his trusted barons,
dukes, and champions upon the field of war and at the gates of Nera. With his
passing there were no more honest men. It is common for the more reputable sort
of warlock to contact and woo his spirit, for he is bitter and seeks worthy
champions.[lvi]
Zebukiel –
Let the Gray Worm live cursed, suffer cursed and die cursed. A gray Dragon,
Zebukiel was of aristocratic lineage in Io’vanthor, lost capital of Arkhosia.
It was he who righteously ignited the smouldering kindling against Bael Turath.
But he could not stomach the toll and sought a peace that never came. Bael
Turath’s offer was the Arkhosia leadership must die for starting the war. So,
he killed silently and systematically, slipping into madness as fighting
continued. When discovered he fled, the empires gone. He cannot die except by a
Tiefling. He is hunted to the farthest corners for his betrayals.[lvii]
Zutwa – An
ancient being of the Dawn Age. Possibly an early Primal Spirit as it was manifest
life force. Towering as large as a mountain, composed of bark, boughs, grass,
leaves, and petals. Liquid green and limpid, it’s gaze could spawn life in
barren soil or dead tissue or deprive earth and flesh of vitality. Zutwa gave
up its existence to defeat a primordial of manifest dissolution. Yet those who
truck and form pacts with vestiges and shadows on the walls may yet commune
with it. Speaking of seemingly inexhaustible energy.[lviii]
[i] Gubat
Banwa, scattered references
[ii] See A Dozen and One Adventures,
pp.18-20
[iii] D&D 4E
Monster Manual 2 pp.186
[iv] See Martial
Power 2 p.97 Dragon Magazine #369 pp.31-39, Player’s Handbook Races –
Dragonborn
[v] See
Player’s Handbook Races – Tieflings pp.4-32, Martial Power p.35
[vi] See Open
Grave pp.80-87
[vii] See many 4E
articles and texts
[viii] See Divine
Power p.92
[ix] See Martial
Power pp.124-125
[x] Paraphrasing the story of
Forgotten Realms Solon and Ambuchar Devayam/Tan Chin for background to Hantumah
[xi] See D&D
4E Monster Manual p.73
[xii] See Ruined Kingdoms: Campaign Book
pp.7-9
[xiii] See
Yoon-Suin 2E p.326
[xiv] See spell Walk of the Kantakaran
from Aracne Power p.85
[xv] See Dragon Magazine #399 pp.90-91
[xvi] See Open Grave pp.43-44
[xvii] See Nyambe
African Adventure pp.17-19
[xviii] See Dragon
#428, p.29
[xix] See Dragon Magazine #368 pp.70-83
[xx] Mentioned a
couple of times in Gumbat Banwa
[xxi] See Manual
of the Planes pp.76-77, Dragon Magazine #380, p.76
[xxii] See Spell
Vestige of Mount Vaelis, Arcane Power p.75
[xxiii] Inspired by
the spell Vestige of the Queen of Namhar, Arcane Power p.86
[xxiv] See The Complete Book of
Necromancer pp.110
[xxv] See 4E
Players Handbook p.4, Dragon Magazine #393 pp.11-18, Dragon Magazine #396
pp.1-7, Martial Power p.30, p.34, Martial Power 2 p. 119, p.124, Monster Vault
Threats to the Nentir Vale, p.86 The Mark of Nerath novel prologue, Dragon #412
p.6, Oath of Vigilance novel Chapter 3
[xxvi] See Dungeon
Delve pp.48-53
[xxvii] Inspired by
Slumbering Ursine Dunes p.7
[xxviii] Peloria is
from Glorantha, Zerulia is derived from Zaus from D&D 3.5E Races of Might,
which is occasionally linked to Oerth/Dawn War sun god Pelor in speculation.
[xxix] See Primal
Power p.116
[xxx] See Cities
of Bones pp.8-11
[xxxi] See P1 King
of the Trollhaunt Warrens, pp.2, 8, 24
[xxxii] See Divine
Power p.67
[xxxiii] Yellow to
refer to jungle plants comes from Greg Stafford’s Glorantha setting
[xxxiv] See Cities
of Bones pp.12-25
[xxxv] Inspired by
the background element to Points of Light campaign setting, Wizard Presents
Worlds & Monsters
[xxxvi] See 4E Tomb
of Horrors Hardback p.4, Revenge of the Giants pp.70-76, Open Grave p.201
[xxxvii] Partly
based on Charles III “the Simple” of France
[xxxviii] See Al-Qadim Land of Fate
p.68
[xxxix] Garry Gygax, who
wrote a fair bit about player domains in the AD&D DMG.
[xl] See City of
Delight: Golden Huzuz pp.35-37
[xli] See textbox
in Arcane Power p.120
[xlii] Adapted loosely from Nyambe
African Adventures p.21
[xliii] See Ruined Kingdoms: Adventure
Book pp.8-9
[xliv] Inspired by
Pathfinder 1E’s use of the Jabberwocky as a monster, Warhammer Fantasy’s use of
it as a chaos monster
[xlv] See Secrets of
the Lamp: Genie Lore, pp.42
[xlvi] See Spears of the Dawn p.67
[xlvii] See Martial Power p.65
[xlviii] See Arabian Adventures p.18
[xlix] See City of Delights: Gem
of Zakhara p.14
[l] See Divine
Power p.43
[li] Inspired by
Magical Industrial Revolution p.19, Princess Storm from LEGO Knights’ Kingdom
2000 theme and Kingdoms 2010-2012 theme
[lii] See Open
Grave p.88
[liii]
See Draconomicon: Chromatics pp.80-81
[liv] See Open Grave pp.204-205,
208-209, Dragon Magazine #402 pp.1-6
[lv] See Martial Power p.121
[lvi] See Arcane Power p.73, Dragon
Magazine #393 pp.11-18
[lvii] See Draconomicon: Chromatic
Dragons pp.248-249
[lviii] See Arcane Power p.73
