|
||
| Updated: 01/01/10 |
Main
CV
Freelance Commissions
Timeline
Creative Index
Theatre Work
BeerMonster
Writing
Have Sword & Sorcery: Will Travel™
Books
Characters
The World
GURPS
Discworld
Conventions
LiveJournal
Photos
Contact Me
Links
| This is part of The Website as defined in the SOAUL, and falls under that Licence. |
 Click on a country's name to find out about it Wider Geography Major Religions History |
|
|
The map shows most of the northern half of the only continent so far visited in the series. It does extend another few hundred miles westwards, before curving back in. By the time the coastline reaches the middle of Ras Natara, that's the continent's narrowest point, then it balloons out again. Ras Natara is a largely desert country, and the desert continues south beyond its' borders. Not much is known about the southern countries, except that there are dense jungles and lost temples. To the north, mainly around the western arc of the continent, there are some fairly large islands, ranging from coolly-temperate and reasonably civilised at the southern end, to nearly-arctic and perhaps slightly more civilised but you wouldn't know it because they There is another major continent a considerable distance to the west, about which very little is known, but it is rumoured it's either all one big country, or it's where Elves go to when they get bored with life here. The latter is, according to the Elves, not true. A far more sensibly-traveled distance to the east is another continent. It's smaller, and generally warmer, than this continent. Most of it is controlled by oriental-type cultures, some of whom are isolationist, some of whom aren't. Those that aren't, generally trade with the city-states of Doronatha. About the only thing they haven't been able to sell to each other is their religions - carpets, alcohol, literature (what little there is of it), silk, metals (precious and common), dyes, cuisine - even styles of combat and weaponry have been bought and sold. Whilst Humans are the predominant species across the world, there are other species living in what passes for harmony with them. Elves can be found anywhere, but they tend to prefer to stay away from cities. Dwarfs have only spread to the nearby islands from this continent - as they don't sail well, some people think they may have tunnelled there. Orcs are the only race to match Humanity for reproduction, but as they're barely civilised bloodthirsty maniacs, they don't often have a positive population growth rate. They can be run across anywhere on this continent, usually underground or far from civilisation. Kobolds are small in stature and numbers, and tend to stick to forests, where their attempts to be a proud warrior race are considered a nuisance. On the eastern continent, there are no Dwarfs, Orcs or Kobolds, but Hobgoblins and Goblins take the place of the latter two. |
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
|
|
|
Thousands of years ago, the land was plagued by demons, Gods manifesting, spirits, magical creatures and the Fey. The other races were very much put-upon minorities (in a best-case scenario), until one day, nearly 1500 years ago, an enterprising young scholar hit upon a form of incantation that could put a stop to it all. Over the next 200 or so years, scholars, mages, priests and heroes travelled the land invoking the incantation. Sometimes an area that had been cleansed would be taken over by a neighbouring area that hadn't yet been, and that meant it had to be done all over again. Eventually, it was complete, the lands were free of their supernatural menaces, and the common people of all races breathed a huge sigh of relief. If they lived in the North, they were then promptly conquered by an enthusiastic and militaristic country known as Sylliku, looking to build an empire. Starting from somewhere to the southwest of what is now Hadin, the Syllikun Empire soon spanned the continent. The people fought back, and prayed, and eventually, after about 50 years, one of them Summoned a demon (quite unintentionally) of enormous power and brutality. It almost single-handedly cleared most of the North of the occupying imperial forces (and quite a few of the natives). In this free space, the natives formed an army, and under the generalship of someone brilliant, cleared the rest of the continent, leaving a bloody swathe all the way to the empire's capital, which they laid siege to, assaulted, conquered, and razed to the ground. No one knows what happened to the army or the general, as they were too busy worrying about the demon, which was Ravishing a few thousand square miles of countryside. Someone got lucky and managed to Banish it more-or-less permanently, and founded a city and country in the area. That country tried to emulate the now-defeated southern empire, but without creating so many enemies. Or, at least, enemies who lived to talk about it. The country, now known as Morat, expanded somewhat, but found itself constrained by geographic features to the northwest, east and southeast, a militaristic culture to the west, and a country rich enough to hold the line of their natural border without worrying too much to the south. And that, apart from a few nation-building wars in the south, the emergence of a couple of new religions, and a lot of unknown activity in the further south, is really it. |
 | ||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |