Desert city. Ishpar

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The area in the middle, Hamastra, is a fertile tectonic rift valley that divides the continent and is a sort of shortcut from one side to the other. Other than that I have no idea.

Also feel free to replace existing names, I'm not wed to anything

>>94186738
OK. Unfortunately, Ishpar is being harried by the Gryphon-Kings of Caldecar, who dwell in the Jagged Peaks. These were common bandits who fled into the mountains to escape justice, where they uncovered a clutch of gryphon eggs and became fearsome airborne caravan raiders. They're bleeding Ishpar to death by looting any caravan bound for its gates, including those carrying necessary supplies for the isolated city -- and rival city-states are all too happy to buy the stolen goods at a discount.

>>94186729
pay up first

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>>94186991
OK here are 5 glasscoins, trading beads for each finger, several silver moon-coins in different phases, brass griffons from Ishpar, triangular gold coins from Jinradesh and a compass to measure their angles, plain iron trading marks from the west, a writ you can redeem at the Bank of the Dead, petrified eyes used as currency by savages (including rare bright red ones from what must have been fire eaters), key-coins for the traders' vaults in Saralan (you can't predict exactly what will be inside), puzzle coins that have no value unless you can find the other pieces they fit with, breath-money that you’ll have to hold in your mouth until find someone to pay it to, powder of ground ivory from ancient beasts, a stoppered ounce of living mercury, assorted strange lost coins and currency-figurines recovered from the sunken ruins of the south, and a black adamant four-star from Iirizon that will prick the hand used in a false transaction.

diverse family of plants with psychoactive saps/syrups/pollens that become strongest when bees use them to make a dark red honey. no doubt these drugs give you magic powers but are terrible for you -- possibly while using them you have to cut your veins open to let blood out or the drugs will increase the pressure in your veins so much that they explode. with prolonged use over time they make your veins thicken and grow outside your skin like gross roots and vines.

also there should be drugs rendered from the poisons of various animals, and glowing gels extracted from bioluminescent creatures.

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>>94186729
I've got an area in my setting my players refuse to go to, so I don't have much planned out but I love the idea of it.

A great forest of mighty trees sits on the edge of the Estarian plains and the barren wastes of the Undying Lands unlike any other in Avalon. Trees that are so large it could take minutes to walk around, if you could keep up with it, that is.

The Marching Forest is a system of migratory trees that slowly crawl their way around the lake of the Needle's Eye. They follow a predictable yearly cycle, churning the soil beneath them into arable land as they pass through. No permanent settlements can be made in the tree's migratory path as they'd be trampled beneath thousands of twisting roots, but small clusters of elaborate tree houses form ever changing towns among the branches.

Mobile farmsteads work the land around the migratory path year round until harvest time, when the forests come back and the treefolk bring the farmers up to their homes in the branches. By the time their crops are all sold and their stocks replenished, the farmers are dropped back off onto freshly tilled earth, ready for the next season's growth.

High among the canopies of the tallest trees are settlements of the mysterious Syzygy, large furry moth-like people that use their proximity to the moon and stars to read omens of the future.

I want to know what game this is going to be used for.

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>>94190216
Love the astrologer moth people. Reminds me of an idea I had recently for star-worshipping firefly people called the Luminatra...

The marching trees risk being an ent ripoff, but maybe it could connect to the hallucinogenic sap idea I mentioned above — perhaps those magical saps come only from moving plants and are neurotoxic to other creatures because they are somehow the plant's "neurochemicals".

>>94190490
D&D, but I doubt all the standard D&D monsters or races are present there. The vibe I'm getting is that it should feel exotic but a little more muted and down to earth — you might encounter a gross crawling beast of tentacles, but not completely garish and outlandish monsters like beholders or ethereal filchers (which I usually love). Even traditional demons might be too otherworldly; instead of summoning a bat winged demon in a runic circle, an evil sorcerer might animate a homunculus with an evil spirit.

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>>94186729
It annoys me that there is a "The __ North", "The __ South", "The __ Easts", but no "The __ West".

Despite there obviously being a major western land area. Doesnt work well with my Symetry Autism.
So I guess id Call Ganaroth "The __ West".

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>>94186729
Different subraces of catgirls with fat tits live scattered around the whole continent, to make your setting extra sophisticated

>>94192435
I'd go the other way and try to reduce the amount of naming major things by cardinal directions.

>>94192529
sounds less easy to remember and less immediately evocative. Id prefer for
thier to have 2 names. whatever provincial vulgate, and an immediately recognizable descriptor such as "the _ north/south/east/west"
Ganaroth means nothing to me

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>>94186729
Here lies a consistent magic pulse that spews sand out every few hours

>>94186729
I like the geography here.

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There was a village called Albinkirk that was torn apart during a recent war. War has changed in recent decades, with the infantry squares with it's brightly colored uniforms steadily being replaced by trenches and massed artillery strikes... And such was the fate of that village. Artillery had blasted the fortified buildings.

With it's shells, bullets, canisters, and even some old cannonballs for good measure.

>>94186729
In Hamastra lies the remannts of the great divine pillars, the Tower of Babel that underpins reality. Although ruined it still stands miles tall. If it were to truly shatter then mankind would lose their ability to speak and descend back into mindless beasts.

>>94192746
Nice try but this shit has already been done recently. The map clearly gives off a fantasy-medievalish vibe

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>>94192746
>>94192877
Agreed that it's high fantasy, but something could be done with colored magical/alchemical gunpowders. Perhaps sorcerous powders that unleash spirits of fire or powders made with ground dragon bones that produce the effects of dragon breath (if there are dragons in this world). I could see the Fortress Run on the east coast being guarded by forts armed with primitive "dragonmouth" cannons (or djinnmouth/hellmouth).

>>94192435
>>94192551
(pic related) The Misty/Windy/Clouded/Placid West?

I think Ganaroth was supposed to be generic medieval fantasyland, so I'd like this neighboring area to be anything OTHER than the obligatory Celtic land of mist, twilight, shadows, druids and tragic heroes, but frankly that's what springs to mind. Better ideas?


>>94192698
Nice.
>>94192601
The Sandspume. Done.
>>94192772
A Tower of Speech with one level for each language could be interesting. Perhaps there are more huge buildings of this sort that were built by giants.

>>94193128
speaking of druids, we're used to seeing druidic cults of nature and animal worship be overshadowed by centralized religions of powerful gods, based on what happened with Christianity and pagan religions in Europe. But what if in this world, druids are the ones with the powerful centralized religions and great temples while the squabbling priests of different gods are the sidelined ones?

Animal worship died out in real life as humans tamed nature but maybe it persisted here because there are monsters more powerful than any real animal. Monster worship could be big.

>>94193128
I like the misty west, yes.
brings to mind albion and arthurian shit.

THough I also like the windy west (beyond just alliteration) brings to mind windmills and does seem like the place that has the most prominent cluster of settlements.
>>94193191
>druids
the problem with that is that centralized religions are usually cognate with centralized god worship. animism is mirrors a likewise decentralized society. Not that you couldnt go for a celtic angle. Id think monster worship would be more a thing in "the wild north" as per its name.

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>>94193242
>Wind, merchantalism
maybe make it dutch-ish. like if the netherlands was big instead of smol.
Or maybe go off of midieval flanders which was a big power house in medieval europe, but not often talked about.

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A few foreign Empires have established colonies alongside the coasts. Kingsport, established on the mouth of Malorienwood, functions as a penal colony. A dumping ground for convicts, political dissidents, religious minorities, and unwanted children with a supply line harried by fierce storms and pirates... It can be said that man's first steps into the dark continent are going to be long and hard. Made ever worse by the natives who, unlike other colonial adventures, were quite resistive to their guns and germs and steel and opium...

Infact, the fungus of the continent would wreak havoc upon the landed gentry in the far west and distant east.

>>94193286
Read the room, bruh.
See:
>>94192877
>>94193128

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>>94186729
Alright. There's a fortress in the Brass Desert made out of the ruins of a lost city. One of the Dark Lords lives there and used to be the 'chosen one' until the winds of fate and the cycle of history made him turn into the prophesized lord of darkness. Yeah, it's Bungie time baby.

>>94193242
Yeah. You'd have to imagine animistic/druidic beliefs that developed into a centralized religion — henge-cathedrals and so on. IRL that might not be so different from the major religions of today, but in a D&D-style world it's interesting to imagine druids controlling the major religion while clerics and their gods are on the sidelines. But I'm not wed to the idea.

>>94193253
What about a netherlands inspired colony in the south that polder-ifies the marshlands and grows huge colorful fields of the sentient dangerous psychoactive flowers mentioned above? Then back home the druidic culture could be trying to build greenhouses to grow them domestically.

>>94193286
I like the fungus. The weird plant life of the south seems like it could be a recurring theme.

>>94193338
Reasonable. I like the implication that fate is real but instead of meaning everything is predestined, there are somehow "winds" or "cycles" where timing is everything and things can just as easily flip on you.

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>>94186729
Going off the map here.
>Ganaroth, Mistwind, Maloriendwood: they have to look European. Ganaroth might tend towards the Germanic whereas the Malorienwood maybe southern French or even Mediterranean in appearance. There's probably a firbolg-ish half elf people around Malorienwood that are good archers and shit. Mistwind gives me a Fae vibe too.
>The Wild North: either Norse or Slavs. I've also seen people that live in the Urals that are the most lily white people you'll see outside of a Mormon compound but have slanted eyes.
>Wyverndale: these guys resemble mountain peoples. So Scots, Swiss, Coloradans, hell even Canadians that live in the northern territories.
>The Verdant South: probably Mediterranean peoples. Their skin gets darker the closer you get to Morril. Possibly Italic in appearance in the north, Turkic and Persian in the south.
>Jalakra: Chinese or East Indian. I'm also getting a steppe vibe here so there could be nomadic raiders that terrorize the South and Jalakra from time to time. They could be Mongols but also the Lakota due to the plain biome of the territory.
>Morril: They possibly look like the Burmese or the Vietnamese. Honestly? Remember the swamp benders from goddamn Avatar? That's the vibe I'm getting here.
>The Arid East: they could be Arab. But the colder temperatures could suggest a Navajo or even an Anasazi aspect to the region. These guys are probably going to get shrekt pretty fast though.

>>94193338
YES. I was also getting a huge myth vibe here.

>Evernight Reach: massive gigachad redhead berserkers live here. You can fuck over the boyars and junkers all you want, but as soon as you piss them off it's over.

>>94193253
windmills, wool, and widows.
luxurious tapestries, gothic cathedrals, and Questions of Knightly deeds, guile, and sanctity. The first writing of the grail was a comission for Philip, count of flanders in "Perceval, the Story of the Grail" by Chretian de troyes. Second only to the northern italian city states in terms of wealth and culture in the middle ages.

(picrelated, Lady and the unicorn tapestry of wool and silk woven in Flanders.)

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>>94193823
forgot pic

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>>94193128
>Ganaroth
Nah. Ganaroth is the mudcore, truly medieval backwater in which Elves and Dwarves make way for Fey creatures and Blymmes. The peasants are a superstitious lot, living in fear as a set of bickering kingdoms fights over which pompous crowned head becomes king of them all. The people of this land are not Druids, in fact they not only believe in a wrathful deity that punishes them with hellfire and damnation, but they believe that's the only way to keep people good. Without god, without Him holding your feet over the pit of fire, you turn to sin.

Men, especially young men, turn into violent lecherous savages who quickly turn their swords on you. And young women fall to witchcraft and Satan without the fist of the lord. While the south sits in Merrie England, here you can see the medieval mind at its absolute worst with preachers giving sermons speaking of hellfire and damnation. Made even worse is the German character of the land.

This is the land of Mephistopheles and the Loup Garou. Here devils tempt man to sin, paving the way to their ultimate damnation, while men afflicted with a bestial curse wander the woods in search of victims. It's also the realm of Fey beings who demand tribute from villages or else they'll take your sons and daughters, bewitching them to fairieland where you'll never see them again. It's a realm of black forests pockmarked with villages and towns, in which knights play chess with death himself and black goats are harbingers of doom.

It's still highly fantastical with haunted castles and fairies, but not in the DND way. Oh no... And naive adventuring parties better think twice before crossing a forked road. Beware the fiddle!

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Alright, you want generic high fantasy? I'll give you it!
>Wizards have united under the White Council.
>The White Council are sworn against the dark arts.
>And the Dark Lord(s).
>The Dark Arts includes necromancy, demonology, and other bad no nos.
>The Council rules over magical society and lets mundanes rule over mundane society.
>Northern kings, southern kings, dukes, archbishops, shit even village chiefs put up with them for some reason.
>Wizard cops are called Wardens and kill evil wizards.
>Most powerful wizard is called the...
Fuck it.
>>94193338
>Avatara!
>Only the master of all 10 (?) magic disciplines can stop the Dark Lord(s) and bring balance back to the world.

>>94186729
Obviously the lands on ocean side of Jagged Peaks is a highly fertile land, sadly due terrible winds on the sea of tattered sails it's not really accessible without crossing the dangerous and treacherous Jagged Peaks themselves

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>>94186729
>Avlim, the crystal lake
Avlim the crystal-lake, lies in an extensive mountain basin, which closes around a vast flooded valley, like the edge of a chalice.
its water, or rather the crystal clear, slightly fluorescent substance, which at first glance appears to be water, allows one to see even to the deepest layers of the water body. Transparent, crystalline fish of all sizes can be observed floating through its depths. The bottom of the lake is covered in a pearly white layer of mineral dust. Besides the shimmering water and crystal inhabitants, there's another peculiarity about the Avlim Lake.
After the first dawn, as soon as the first rays of sun shine on the water surface, an extraordinary evaporation process is set in motion.
Even with the naked eye one can clearly see how the water surface gradually sinks and sinks, while a fine, glittering vapor rises in swirling streaks from the lake, covering everything on its shores with a glossy dew.
It should be noted, that this does not seem to require any special temperatures.In fact, the climate around Avlim tends to be pleasantly mild. Initially the evaporation process moves relatively slow, but the speed accelerates as the water surface approaches the bottom. At the same time, the rising clouds of mist become more dense and clearly visible.

>>94194253
By midday the lake is already two-thirds empty and a change can be noticed in the behavior of the shiny crystal fish.
While they were previously mostly just gliding around slow and peacefully, the closer they get to each other, due to the decreasing amount of fluid, the more restless they get and the more hectic their movements become. Towards the late afternoon, when about two thirds of the lake have already evaporated, the unrest slowly turns aggressive.
The larger fish begin snapping at the smaller ones with their massive jaws filled with dagger-like crystal teeth. When that is no longer enough to make room for themselves, they finally begin to pursue and hunt down the smaller specimens in order to eventually devour them one by one.
In the late evening, when the sun slowly sets and the last rays of sunshine reflect in the moist mineral dust at the bottom of the lake, all the water has finally evaporated and only the largest fish are left silently gasping, as they writhe on dry land in their final twitches.
Eventually the flapping of the last fish stops, his diamond eyes turn milky, and with Avlim gone, the real natural miracle begins.

>>94194261
>Erelin, the night forest
As soon as the sun-disk has disappeared behind the horizon, the bodies of the first fish begin to bulge and burst open, with the previously devoured smaller fish belching out, whose bodies also burst open to reveal even smaller ones and so on. When the last fish in the food chain are reached this way, their bellies start to break open too, releasing small newborn birds, which clumsily unfold their wings for the first time and one by one rise up into the night air. Nightingales, magpies, doves, shrikes, birds of paradise, ravens, crows, storks, nightjars, owls and other more wondrous ones that defy any description. Their plumage, reflecting the moonlight, is mostly as black as coal while others have feathers shining in all the colors of the night. Cornflower blue, moon silver, violett, plunket, gray, lavender or white. While the dark flocks of birds rise into the night sky, something wonderful happens on the fertile ground of the dried lake.
The remains of the fish carcasses have rotted away as if time lapsed while something is beginning to stir beneath the soil. The diamond eyes of the fish, the only things left of them, have sunken into the damp ground, where they now break open like seeds that are starting to sprout. The seed grow very quickly, you could watch it. They unfold leaves and stems, sprout buds that burst into wonderful, glowing, silvery leaves and phosphorescent white flowers. Small fruits are forming, which, as soon as they are ripe, explode and spray a shower of sparks, from which new seeds emerge.

>>94194308
New plants grow from these new seeds, but they have different shapes, resembling fern fronds or mushrooms, giant thistles, bushes, horsetails or gnarled trees. Many of them glowing and shining in an eerie but captivating light.
Soon, around and on all sides, the velvet darkness gets filled with sprouting and growing plants of light.
These plants seem to rely on some sort of lunar photosynthesis and are inexhaustible in producing ever new shapes and forms. Always larger flower buds open and ever richer umbels emerge. Weirdly all this growth takes place in complete silence, only occasionally interrupted by the alluring song of one of the night birds, which have grown too and are now perching on the growing roots and branches of Erelin. The growth of the night plants continues silently, gently and unstoppably. After a while, some plants have reached the height of barn doors, some are as big as fruit trees.
There are fans made of long, emerald green leaves, flowers like peacock tails full of iridescent eyes. Other plants resemble pagodas, made of umbrellas of violet silk, stretched one above the other. Some of the thicker trunks are twisted together. Because they are translucent, some of them look like they are made of milky glass, lit from within.
There are flowers that resemble large clusters of blue and yellow lanterns.
In some places thousands upon thousands of tiny starflowers hang like glittering silver waterfalls, or dark gold curtains of bluebells with long, tassel-like stamens. These luminous night plants grow even more lush and dense, gradually interweaving themselves into a wonderful network of mild light.
The strangely shaped and bright fruits of Erelin are not only edible but taste excellent, some sour, some sweet, some a little bitter, but all extremely appetizing.

>>94194317
The overgrown thicket of light plants gradually forms a dense latticework of treetops, a glowing fabric that encloses any unsuspecting trespasser, like a large tent. Little sparks of light rain down everywhere, from which new seeds sprout. These smoldering seeds cover most of the forest floor.
At midnight, the largest trunks in the Erelin forest have reached the height and thickness of church towers - and yet they are still growing. In some places these shimmering giant pillars are so close together that it gets impossible to slip between them. Thorny lianas and aerial roots grow down from above and intertwine with the thicket to form an impenetrable bush, while new smoldering seeds continue to fall like a shower of sparks.
The transcendental experience of standing in a clearing in the Erelin forest can be at best compared to the sublime feeling of looking up inside a huge, ornate cathedral, a literal dome of light.
In this forest, where there are no seasons or the change of day and night, the experience of time is something completely different. Minutes can feel like hours and hours like days.
At witching hour, the smoldering undergrowth of the forest gradually stopps growing and has become so thick that it blocks the view on all sides when standing on the forest floor.
If anyone at this point in time were so bold as to climb to the top of one of the tallest trees of Erelin, then he would be greeted by a magnificent sight. The velvet darkness of a starry sky arching above, and below the infinity of the treetops of Erelin stretched out in a play of colors that almost overwhelms the eyes. The night birds have now reached their adult form and are starting to sing their most beautiful and enchanting songs, in order to seize their only chance in life to attract a potential mate. However, this beautiful condition only lasts until the sun rises.

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I imagine this is roughly the scale: up to Nunavut in the north with the southern swamps being around the same latitude as the everglades. Ganaroth is the size of Washington, Oregon and Idaho combined, with a chunk of Nevada if you factor in the Desolations of Shinspar (whatever they may be).

The fact that this matches up decently well makes me think about using America rather than Eurasia as a model. Although really, I'd like it to be neither and instead feel purely fantastical.

>>94194036
Yeah, Monty Python medieval mud villages is my impulse for Ganaroth as well, since it seems like the vibe of the world so far is more sword and sorcery than shiny knights and castles. But instead of purely European maybe it could be blended with an almost American frontier aesthetic or something. Fey creatures are a good fit; "Sylvan Sidansar" in the south of Ganaroth could be a fey forest. But a straight sendup of medieval Christianity is boring IMO — can you think of something cooler for their superstitions/beliefs?

>>94193468
The idea of putting Anasazi type stuff in the east area is cool. They could have cliff dwellings on the east side of the mountain range. Barbarians in Evernight Reach is tropey but probably unavoidable. As for ethnicities I think it's more interesting to make up fantasy ones. In the Ganaroth area maybe you have multiple pale-skinned ethnicities like "giantstock" and albino "waifs".

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>>94194352
Already at the first dawn, the trees, plants and mushrooms of the night forest begin to melt into a clear, shimmering substance, which first flows down in small rivulets and finally cascades into the depths like wild torrents, quickly filling up the valley below. The fragile bodies of the now visibly aged night birds tear open, some of them still in flight, and thousands of shiny pearls roll out of them like roe.
They rain down onto the wet surface of Avlim, the Crystal Lake, where they form concentric circles on impact. Before their bodies can even hit the ground, the feathers and flesh of the birds have already disintegrated and crumbled into a glistening white powder that flutters down on the morning scene like snow and slowly sinks to the bottom of the lake. When the first sunlight hits the floating white pearls, they begin to crack and break apart as crystalline fish hatch out of them, quickly growing in size, not knowing that their lives too will soon come to an end.

>>94194253
>a pearly white layer of mineral dust
>covering everything on its shores with a glossy dew
every player will call this the Cum Lake...

>>94194419
reading on, that's kind of cool. maybe add an A and make it "Avalim"? sounds kind of like Avalon.

I like the concept but having the forest grow every night feels a little too fairyland; maybe this is an annual cycle?

>>94194452
>reading on, that's kind of cool. maybe add an A and make it "Avalim"
Sure, I'm fine with that.
>maybe this is an annual cycle?
Anon, it's called the night forest.
Only growing at night is kind of it's whole shtick.

>>94194317
I actually love the name "The Night Forest" and the idea of the moon-fed plants though. Simple but great imagery. Even if you simplified it to a forest that is plain and dun by day but opens up with luminescent moonflowers by night it would still be neat.

>>94194475
Sure, I guess it would work fine too. I personally prefer the dichotomy, however. Feels more powerful in an allegorical sense

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>>94194173
Witches, unlike their pretentious male counterparts, are far more decentralized. Preferring smaller, more localized covens that work in the mundane community instead of acting like a government within a government. Witches tend to police their own, using local witch courts to try and judge the ner-do-wells among their ranks. The intense gender segregation among magic users dates back to antiquity and beyond, with some pointing towards pagan cults. Indeed, some Witch bloodlines trace their roots to old cults dedicated to one feminine deity or another.

Wizards and Witches, despite their Houses having been forced to intermarry through the aeons, do not get along. Apart of this is due to politics: the White Council dislikes how Witches play fast and loose with Magical Law (if there's truly such a thing). After all: when a Witch decides to build a kingdom, they call themselves the witch queen and rule directly. This is highly illegal and against the accords that set the precedence for magical society.

This angers Wizards as magic is never meant to enslave mundanes, merely guide them. Hence why it's perfectly legal for Wizards to have kingdoms with all power, de-facto, held by the local wizard college or what not as they 'guide' the mundie king.

>>94194401
No Catholic Church? A realm of dark forests full of witches and terrible monsters? American?.. Oh shit. Salem time.

>>94194485
Yeah it might just be for a more fairytale setting. I'll mark it in provisionally.

>>94194475
>>94194485
Also imagine your players deciding to explore this forest at night and ending up trying not to drown in the morning or players taking a boat trip on this totally unsuspecting lake in the evening. Great opportunities to surprise and fuck with them a little.
Including whimsical stuff doesn't have to be a bad thing imo.
Gives the world a legitimate sense of wonder if done right.

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Roundup of geography additions from today, marked in red.

>>94186738
1. Ishpar, desert city in the shadow of the Jagged Peaks.
>>94186782
2. Gryphon-Kings' Roost: Mountain hideout of the the griffon riding bandit kings known as the Gryphon-Kings of Caldecar.
3. Caldecar: Ruins of an abandoned desert town that the presumptuous Gryphon-Kings have taken over as their mock "capital".
>>94190216
4. The Silkspun Spires: Moth-like beings who revere the stars and have great knowledge of astrology have webbed ancient ruined towers in the south with their silk to create their dwellings.
>>94192601
5. The Sandspume: Hole in the desert that geysers out giant plumes of sand.
>>94192772
6. The Tower of Tongues: Some kind of monolithic ancient building in Hamastra possibly built by giants.
>>94193286
7. Kingsport: Penal colony on the mouth of the river that flows through Malorienwood.
>>94193253
>>94193385 (You)
8. Flowerfields: A colony in the swampy south where colorful fields of toxic, psychoactive sentient flowers are grown for export. The inhabitants are trying to recover sunken marshland for agriculture.
>>94193338
9. The Fatelost Fortress: Fortress-ruin in the Brass Desert home to some kind of villain.
>>94194253
10. Avalim/Erelim, the Night Forest: Magical lake-forest (or just forest?) with flowers that bloom only in the moonlight.

-----

Plus a lot of other worldbuilding.

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>>94194419
The main reason the sea of shattered hulls is called the sea of shattered hulls is due to a creature known as the "Sawfish" (pic related). Occasionally also called the "Sea Wolf", this sea monster is feared because of the serrated crest on its back set with razor-sharp bones, reminiscent of the teeth of a saw, with which it can cut seamlessly through boat hulls and cause entire fleets to capsize. Sailors do not like the sawfish because it causes ships to sink. The sawfish tires after thirty or forty stadia and dives back into the water to devour fish. Contrary to what its name suggests, the sawfish is in fact a mammal and has fur. He's also a non opportunistic carnivore who prefers to feed on shipwrecked sailors.

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These are the Isles of Iirizon ("ear is on"). Iirizon is the name of the biggest one. The smaller ones all have double i names like this:

Saraziir
Karaziir
Miriziir
Tarajiir
Iiriskar

>>94186729
holy fuck these names suck

>>94194583
I've seen much worse desu

>>94194583
let me guess you think humans should live in Milltown elves should live in Greenwood and dwarves should live in Forgedeep

>>94186729
Why is the east so hot?

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>>94194401
>In the Ganaroth area maybe you have multiple pale-skinned ethnicities like "giantstock" and albino "waifs".
Let me try something.
>Ganaroth is home to the Rostmen, a single ethnic group split up into four different kingdoms. While very subtle, very slight physical variations exist between the four, they're exceptionally fair in skin and hair with a penchant towards aquiline noses and steely blue eyes. Interbreeding with the northern peoples have given many Rostmen grey eyes as well, with a small but very defensive red haired minority aggressively defending their status in 'civil' society.
>The Kingdoms of Virina, Sangrield, Drachenland, and Eisen have been at each other's throats for centuries. Centuries of inbreeding have led to all four royal families having valid claims on the other leading to nonstop power plays at expanding their territory thus keeping the four in a never-ending competition for land. Then there's many more independent duchies, counties, and kingdoms adding even more geopolitical turmoil to the region.
And they're not Catholic. Oh no... They're Protestant. And not just Protestant, the fire and brimstone type.
>The Rostland Church believes in predestination. They believe that God knows all, knows who's damned and chooses those that can be saved at the time of their birth. Everything is set in stone, only his loyal congregations will see the light of the divine with the rest given to hellfire. And even if you're saved, God could take it away with the snap of a finger.
There's also Calvinist rants about total depravity somewhere but I'm about to go to sleep. Ethnic minorities exist, mostly differentiated by hair color and face shape with entire books published on how you can tell whose a witch based upon their nose. It sucks ass to be the one olive skinned person in the Rostland but... At least you're not Dave the Blymme. Now he has it rough!

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>>94186782
>Gryphon-Kings of Caldecar
Maybe their gryphons can look like this?

>>94193253
>>Wind, merchantalism
What if the windmills are actually magical constructs built to literally steal the wind. Hear me out. The wind is stolen and subsequently stored in a special type of bag (made from the skin of some mythical animal or some shit) and sold at exorbitant prices which are inflated due to the intentionally created wind shortage.

>>94186729
I'm tired of the "wild, cold north, wet, warm south" stereotype. Flip it and place it on the southern hemisphere.

>>94194606
It's not hot, it's dry. And you can easily explain this by winds coming mainly from the east, making the atmosphere dump all the water while it's pushed over those mountains.

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>>94194692
>>94187347
>breath-money that you’ll have to hold in your mouth until find someone to pay it to,

>>94194660
or GRRM griffins (picrel)...imagine how tragic that would be.

>>94194626
The idea of arguments over small differences in ethnic features spiraling into accusations of witchcraft is hilarious. Perhaps the line between fey and witches is highly blurred in the minds of the layfolk and having "sylvan" features is a common accusation. (There may even be a people with nut-brown skin, green eyes and button noses from the forested part of Ganaroth who are directly suspected of being fey blooded.)

The question of ethnicity is ultimately impossible to answer without asking whether humans are native to the continent. My impulse is to say they aren't.

There's clearly a link between the name of the continent "Ganalon" and the country "Ganaroth"; maybe it was colonized by the ... Gan? .... people and Ganaroth is where they landed or something. Then maybe another ethnic group colonized it from the peninsulas in the southeast, which could be the tip of another continent or could be part of a larger island chain. On the other hand, maybe humans simply evolved in Hamastra. Or maybe this is one of those worlds where life was placed/terraformed by aliens/angels/godlike beings whatever -- I get a mental image of very tall, thin archfey with elongated, slightly bug/alien-like faces who were "progenitor"/"nephilim"/"lifeseeder" types. Like a mix of slenderman, 1950s aliens, elves, and butterflies. It's something you could do.

On the other hand Leif Erikson colonizing the continent from the northwest while tropical peoples colonized it from the southeast would also work. Hamastra probably *should* be the "cradle of evolution" on this continent, but perhaps for the continent's native sapient species (giants?) rather than humans.

>>94194606
>>94194811
yeah the idea seems to be westerly winds with the mountains blocking moisture. FYI the yellow is supposed to be plains and the tan (see Brass Desert) is desert.

>>94194820
I actually like the mental image of the tall thin high-cheeked bug-eyed gossamer butterfly elf alien archfey who "seed life" or whatever. Whether for use here or somewhere else I'm saving that image

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Shalazar, a castle built atop a leyline confluence brimming with magic deep in the wild woods and mountains of the frozen north.

Setting out to find it is seemingly impossible, as even if one supposedly knows where it is on the map, trying to find Shalazar blind finds one retracing old steps, going in circles, stumbling across the same frozen marshes and bogs over and over again. Only those with innate magic power can even sense a route in the first place, and even then it is more of a vague intuition until one has actually stepped foot inside the icy walls.

The castle itself is as much an enigma as the befuddling landscape. Impossibly larger on the inside than out, ancient automatons built by long forgotten beings rove the halls performing tasks from cleaning and fetching asked for parcels to even just staring vaguely at something even wizards cannot discern alongside a host of mundane humanoids that have somehow found their way into the castle and now serve their magical betters.

The castle's main function is as Elysium for magic users. Pure neutral ground respected however begrudgingly by the loftiest lich to the lowliest cantrip mage. For magic users of all talent and ideals it is a free haven and refuge, where the only governing law is to not harm those accepted within it's walls and, while inside Shalazar, to just be quite excellent to one another. Those that cannot abide these simple rules find themselves rapidly ejected from the castle, stepping through a door and finding themselves in steamy jungles or searing deserts hundreds of miles away, or disappearing in the long recesses of the night.

The castle seemingly wants for nothing, and magic users could spend their whole lives within its warm opulent walls pursuing whatever magical experiments they wish...so long as they engage in activities that might offend more extremely morally opposed guests in private chambers.

>>94194820
Umm, sir … those are witcher gryphons not GRRM gryphons.

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>>94194553
The feared centaur khans rule the deserts and steppes from Öalun all the way down to the Ketar Tombway. They see themselves as superior to humans, but will accept them as slaves or defected soldiers in their hordes. The centaurs are nomads and travel in huge tent cities whose dust clouds can be seen from miles away.
They mostly follow hit and run archery tactics but also have some heavily armored knights in their ranks. They khans make use of psychological warfare tactics such as piling up massive piles of skulls after successful raids, the quartering of enemies, the trampling to death of disaffecters or quartering as a punishment for looting during battle. They give neighboring areas into which they invade the choice of whether they want to surrender and join the Khanate or whether they want their cities to be burned down, their women to be cruelly violated and their men to be slaughtered. Because of this quite a few parties have surrendered to them in the past. Especially when done so without being asked, the cenatur khans are known to treat those who surrender to them well, only making them pay a small tax and demanding some gifts or recruits for the horde. The most powerful khan of the centaurs, the khākān, khan of the khans Omurtag is the de-facto-leader of all centaurs going by a who has the biggest horde logic.

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>>94186729

So can we clarify a few things?

>1.) Outside colonization or no colonization?
On one hand, it explains the presence of man and solidifies him as an outside force. That being said, the 19th Century seems to be too highly advanced. 18th and 17th centuries seem to work better if we're going with that route. On the other hand, no colonialism solidifies the high fantasy aspect of the setting.
>2.) Are humans native to the setting?
Humans seem to be run counter to the fey races, particularly the insectoid ones.
>3.) Dorfs and Elves?
Are we going high fantasy or something else?

>>94199131
Just passing by but my suggestion is to leave out everything american coded and go the classical european medieval route but put in some effort to actually make it interesting. Including higher tech automatically ruins a good fantasy setting except that's specifically what the setting is going for like Arcanum. Otherwise just don't do it imo. I could go on a tantrum about this throwing around more cringy popculture references like LOTR or Princess Mononoke but I'll spare you.

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>>94199131
1) Humans having colonized the continent doesn't mean the tech level has to be Age of Exploration. People colonized the Americas in prehistory via a land bridge, they colonized the pacific islands even earlier in primitive canoes and rafts, etc. And in a fantasy world you can invent ways for people to cross even big oceans — weather mages to subdue waves, pacts with sea gods for safe passage, ships pulled by krakens, ships powered by elemental engines, flying across on dragonback, etc. So even if humans aren't native to this continent it's an open question when the colonization occurred.

Re tech level, I think going past a renaissance tech level at most would be a mistake because the shape of the continent seems a little too whimsical/mythical for "historical fiction". Probably it's an idiosyncratic tech level where you have barbarians in furs but also "mysterious mystical explosive powders". Magic, again, can come to our side here because different kinds of magic can be equalizers between cultures with different levels of metallurgy or whatever—a barbarian with totemic beast powers is much more of a threat than his tech level suggests.


2) If they aren't the question is what creatures *are* native to this continent. Some ideas that have been thrown out so far are fey, giants, and plant creatures in the south (as well as possibly the moth people). The most interesting would be new inventions.

There might be no native sapient/humanoid species because it was dominated by monsters.

3) One way to handle the traditional tolkien races is to have a roughly similar race in the setting that has different fluff but uses their stats. There could be human subraces that match up to them for example -- fey crossbreeds and tunnel dwelling mole-men or whatever.

>>94199228
American elements don't mean a colonial tech level. Ganaroth could have terrain inspired by Idaho and WA (picrel) and have bigfoot apes living in the woods while being mudcore medieval.

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>>94194626
I would throw in some Anglicanism (Rostland is Canadian apparently). Or rather, the dissolution of the monasteries and the retention of old Catholic titles. While you still have bishops, high priests, vicars, the works- be they worshippers of a pantheon or one God - they're still beholden to the king's law. Indeed, the downfall of the old Church has led to the priesthood playing second fiddle to the nobility with the holy order's wealth being redistributed by the kings in order to fund their numerous wars. The effects on the Rostmenn and their southern neighbors are twofold:

>1.) The priesthood, while holding some political influence, is no longer the dumping ground for unwanted sons and daughters. Many of the bastards take up the sword or become administrators.
>2.) Ironically, with the end of the convents, women have been barred from the priesthood. Only human men can choose the life of the cloth.
>3.) Monasteries and convents have been repurposed into asylums, hospitals, and schools. Some have been outright abandoned, becoming dungeons.
>4.) Monks, Clerics, and Paladins are unavailable to humans as a class.

On the plus side, while the old Church has died out, the reformed faith has control over education and most hospitals leading to an increase in literacy among humans. While you still roll peasants and die of cholera, at least you can recognize your name.

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>>94197960
Not unreasonable (and neat pic), maybe mix some native american influence in there instead of purely mongol. They could also be elk centaurs, goat centaurs or some other ungulate...

>>94200057
One thing about the map is that there are big regions with broad labels. "Ganaroth" is almost certainly a regional name consisting of a patchwork of smaller realms, whether or not they are united under one or more kings (the mud village aesthetic is also not incompatible with certain free communities run by more communitarian structures like town councils, aldermen, yearly elected "season-kings", or "wise women" (witches).

I think the superstitious/fear element is great. Throw the sasquatch-filled forests of the american northwest, the witch and devil filled autumn glooms of the northeast, and the hag and fey haunted black forests of old Europe together in a blender and glaze it with the primeval fantasy feeling of a Conan movie.

As for how it actually looks, I think basing its landscape on the pacific northwest and idaho is great because those landscapes are objectively quite gloomy and spooky, yet they aren't seen in a lot of fantasy worlds because they don't have the same tradition of folklore around them due to how late they were settled.

Hags and witches are obviously a big presence there. For some reason I imagine witches and hags having a big connection to MILK -- something about the corrupted/twisted femininity/motherhood theme. I imagine they use their own breastmilk to make their potions, drink the milk of monsters, and create other weird milk based concoctions. Actually, I saw some screencaps from the recent movie "The Substance" that could be used as inspiration where the character becomes like a living teratoma (picrel). Maybe hags look like this and witchcraft has something to do with infant sacrifice/miscarriages/giving birth to monsters?

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"Agatha Furmantle" would be a good, simple name for a hunched hag-queen who wears a bearpelt cape with the paws clasped around her shoulders.

Another thing about the Ganaroth region is you have this bay in the picture. What if you have a bunch of feuding port cities situated around it, each part of a different fief/kingdom? they could even raid each other when appropriate.

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any ideas for how to make the sasquatch inspired cold-weather dire apes that live in the Ganaroth woods more unique?

Another idea for hags/witches: when a woman is dying in childbirth, certain midwives who practice "the old ways" know potions or techniques that will save her life, at the cost of turning her into a hag. This practice is now suppressed for it is seen as making a pact with demons, but some elderly midwives will still quietly do so — but the mother so transformed will have to run away and live in the woods lest she be pitchforked.

This practice could involve some kind of necromantic C-section...

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>>94200374
May I introduce you to Witcher's take on the Three Witches. Hideous, deformed, cruel, yet they look after their domain in their own screwed up way. They use hair to predict the future, bestow curses, and hold century long grudges over the pettiest of slights. They're not nice and play by rules only fully understood by other witches.

Eventually the Witches will tame themselves down into the cutesy sweethearts of Kikki and Little Witch Academia but that's five hundred years down the line. It's hag time for you, my dear adventurers.

>>94199838
>Ganaroth could have terrain inspired by Idaho and WA (picrel) and have bigfoot apes living in the woods while being mudcore medieval.
It would be pretty disgusting though

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It's very rare to find a 'normal' wizard or witch who isn't completely screwed up. Or obsessed with stupid magic society bullshit. Or traumatized from both. Happy, much less normal upbringings are pretty rare in the magic world so a well-adjusted wizard who had a kind teacher are rarer still making them more valuable than gold. But if there's any type of magic user that's consistently kind... It's those that specialize in death magic.

>>94200057
They go by many names: spirit singers, reapers, mediums... The Purple Wizards who specialize in putting the dead to rest. They trace their origins to mortuary cults in distant antiquity, those who preserved the deceased and presided over funerary ceremonies. During the days of the old Church, entire temples were dedicated to the gods of death. Entire monasteries would painstakingly maintain catacombs, knightly orders dedicated to slaying the undead, hell undertakers themselves were seen as unwelcome but inevitable visitors. But with the downfall of the organized Temple, the death cults were cracked down on by greedy kings who saw the great catacombs and graveyards as ample pillaging opportunities.

And the wizards, particularly those with a fiery temperament, purged the keepers of death lore under the illusion that they were necromancers. However, Necromancers summoned the dead to do their bidding. Purple Wizards dedicated their entire lives to putting the dead to rest so in truth, the purge was a cold blooded political maneuver by the White Council to get rid of another 'aberrant' school of magic. A few Purple Wizards survived in the wilderness where they were isolated from magical society

Purple apprentices are usually taken when they're older than normal, usually at around eleven or twelve years of age and have the touch of death to them. Perhaps it's the isolation, perhaps it's experiencing death at a young age, perhaps it's the grim nature of their work... But reapers are far more empathetic than their peers.

>>94201061
I like the concept of the reapers. I know they're meant to be benevolent but perhaps this could trace to some ancient custom where they would serve as itinerant scapegoats who would do the uncomfortable work of forcibly "putting to rest" the people a hardscrabble community couldn't afford to care for -- executing criminals but also painlessly putting to death the lame, sick and elderly, as well as children with deformities. Perhaps farmers would let passing reapers know their help was needed by placing a bag over the head of their scarecrow and provide discreet payment by putting a bag of coins in the scarecrow's hand. Of course this practice may no longer persist.

Coincidentally I have a D&D world where each color corresponds to a school of magic and purple is necromancy. Maybe reapers are technically necromancers, but are "good necromancers" who refuse to animate the dead and as such object to the term?

>>94201146
Yep. They're 'technically' necromancers because they can evoke ghosts and use neurotic spells. So spells like decay, acid blast, or spirit summons are the norm. Where the differ from necromancers in truth is the fact that they stray away from summoning skeletons or hordes of wights to do their bidding. They get a bad rep because they did have to euthanize people in antiquity which goes against Magic Law*.

*Of course, the Black Council also has Magic Law... Necromancers are little better than their peers.

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The Kingdom of Kaledor emerged from the chaos of the Magi Wars as a true contender for the north. Warring with Virina to the south, the mountain folk to the north, and the eastern savages, House Koester emerged as a true contender for unifying Rostland. While Rolf Koester can trace his ancestry to the Knights of the Grassy Vale, he did away with the prancing horse and embraced the unicorn as his sigil. Unicorns are, after all, savage animals.

>>94201293
Yet some claim he took the sigil as a knowing wink to the fact that his noble bride, though they shared a bed for three decades, remained forever a virgin...

>>94201293
Drawing up a more detailed map of the ganaroth area right now so we can go into more detail about exact kingdom placement/locations.

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It's the golden age of the knighthood. The nonstop wars have led to preeminence of the knight as the need for heavy calvary has never been greater. Be it shattering bowmen, men-at-arms, feral serfs, rowdy peasants, or northern berserkers, the warriors of the aristocracy have proven their mettle not only in war but in peace. The joust is the penultimate sport of the west with thousands flocking to the cities to watch the game of kings. It's the age of chivalry, the age of spectacular violence, when legends are made and heroes are born!

For a century, brief as it may be, the knights RIDE!

>>94200057
The Age of Knights is ironically a direct consequence of this. Without the Church providing a life path for third sons, they had no choice but to take up the sword. For the highborn, they became squires before being knighted. For the lowborn, Men-at-Arms who serve their liege lords. The Church, famed for it's inquisitions and corruption, was one of the great stabilizing forces in civilization but now... It's the Iron Century.

"Pick up your sword and FIGHT!"

>>94201389
Appreciate the input but for the love of God guys this is for D&D not Chainmail. I swear there are some people on this board who think history books are too high-magic.

>>94201389
With that said btw, I think a medieval-esque quilt of principalities and duchies (with the attendant warring) would be more interesting than Forgotten Realms style pseudo-modern nation-kingdoms.

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>>94201439
>>94201453
Knights are classic DND. There's nothing quite like seeing a massed calvary charge into an orc horde, the dim witted greenskins breaking before the force of the lance. But if we need some high fantasy that can be arranged... Oh yes. Knights need a good quest!

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-- Kingdoms of the Ganaroth region --

See pic for key. Randomly spitballing here so open to changes.

This is the "default fantasy starting area" so I think it deserves more detail.

FORESTS A, B and C: In broad strokes, Forest A is the low-level starting area forest with sasquatches (dire apes), Forest B has hags and witches, and Forest C to the south has fey.

1. WYVERNDALE: Generic fantasy "starting area" situated along the River Wyvern. Dramatic rocky landscapes in the shadow of the snowcapped Icecrags. Starting hub on the river and a port town to the west. Surrounded by a variety of interesting areas.
2. NORTHERN VALES: Weird, remote inbred valleys tucked away in the northern crook of the mountains. Rough and tumble country, highly pastoral. Here you'll find tall impossibly balanced stone cairns, ancient customs, witches ruling villages, cousins f'ing cousins, etc.
3. FREEFIELDS: Stretch of land ruled by the farmers themselves in some sort of proto-democratic council system. Slightly dysfunctional and slow to respond to threats but amiable. Capital is landlocked town of Humblefield.
3A: Breakaway state from the Freefields by people either following some demagogue or trying an even more ambitious, doomed collectivist experiment. Realm now riven down the middle and Freefield doesn't want to start a civil war (although some in the breakaway state want to "liberate" the rest of the country).
4. PORT CITY STATE: Principality/city state on the peninsula containing the central, major city state in the northern bay. Biggest city in northern Ganaroth something of a "northern capital" but lacks the quality and quantity of land to become a major kingdom.
5. [NORTHERN WARDENS]: Rugged warrior principality that guards against the monsters and barbarians from Evernight Reach to the north.
6. [FISHER KINGDOM]: Strip-shaped coastal kingdom of fishermen. Its capital holds a prime position controlling the mouth of the bay but southward the rustic fisherfolk have odd beliefs.

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>>94201180
Black Magic Law seems to be more... 'Lax' than White Magic Law. Remember the edgy sith academy from KOTOR I? That's what they act like.

>>94201549
>Freefields
>Knights fighting in every direction.
>Dark Lord to the east.
>Berserkers to the north.
Yeah, these guys are fucked. The circle city was never a great design.

>>94201549
7. [COAST KINGDOM 1]: Its sheltered coastal capital has better access to the farmland of the interior than the two major maritime cities of areas 4 + 6, giving it a bigger population than either but less maritime influence. Once part of a major coastal kingdom that filled areas 7, 8, and 9 but now the kingdom has broken up and it's in a war with 9 for dominance, using its large population to send out large armies.
8. THE WARSCAR: This area of middle ground between areas 7 and 9 has become a burned ash-filled no-man's land thanks to the vicious war between the two.
9. [COAST KINGDOM 2]: Open to debate, but at war with 7.
10. TRUETHRONE: This city-state was the original capital of the colonists who sailed to Ganalon from the north-west, and was the seat of the first king crowned in Ganaroth centuries ago. As such, the king of Truethrone claims to be Ganaroth's legitimate monarch and observes all the solemnities of this claimed station, but with only a single city in his control is utterly powerless to do anything more about it.
11. [CENTRAL KINGDOM]: Starting from an unassuming and vulnerable position in the center of the Hundred Fiefdoms (area 12), this expansionist kingdom has managed to eat up nearby rivals and emerge as a major power. It aspires to challenge area 14 as the ruling kingdom in the realm and have its king crowned high king. However, its previous king, Terathorn, became convinced that in order to challenge area 14 his kingdom needed sea access, so he threw away his more capable predecessor's plans to conduct a successful but extraordinarily costly campaign to claim a tenuous, twisting path to the coast. This twisting tongue of land is known as Terathorn's Claim; the coastal end of it was won at such great and destructive cost that it's called the Ashfield. Above the Ashfield sits the Ashbastion, a coastal fortress that Terathorn built. Following this Pyrrhic campaign, Terathorn's successor is facing the possible implosion of his kingdom.

>>94201293
Could Caledor be area 11 ("Central Kingdom")? Or where would you put it on the map? Maybe in the gray area between 9 and 18?

>>94186729
We have a worldbuilding general here. There all other nogames "worldbuilders" can post about their "settings" they will never play in.

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>>94201608
Sure. 12 can be Sangrield. Virina can be the name for 7. Drachenland can be the name for 9. Eisen could be the name for 14.

>>94201610
Go back to the 40k general, Matt.

>>94201549
>>94201604
12. THE HUNDRED FIEFS: The big gray area in the center is a morass of tiny warring principalities. This serves as an area where a DM can easily insert whatever kingdom or city state they want.
13. SIDANSAR BARONY: Bordering the fey-filled forest of Sylvan Sidansar, barony is populated by a green-eyed, nut-brown-skinned, button-nosed ethnicity who some claim are the result of fey admixture. Witches here practice "green magic" and grow magic briars. Supplies lumber to other areas one assumes.
14. [CAPITAL KINGDOM]: Most powerful kingdom with most legitimate High King claimant and the biggest city. However, the kingdom — including its capital — lie right across the river from the Desolations of Shinspar, where dangers no doubt dwell — bandit warlords if nothing worse.
15. RIVERREALM: One of the "big 3" most powerful kingdoms along with 14 and 11. Controls highly fertile land and its capital, at the juncture of rivers at its southern tip, is the second most prominent city in Ganaroth after 14's capital (and by pure population possibly the largest?). Rivalry with 14 but can't afford war with it due to their interdependence. Has its eyes on 16.
16: [WESTERN RIVERREALM]: Guards the pass to the northern lands, making it a trade hub. But what was formerly its southern territory has been harassed and taken over by 17, which is also raiding its river traffic. In addition to this it rightfully fears conflict with an ambitious and well-fed 15.
17. DUBIOUS BANDIT REALM: An allegedly half-giant warlord with a hag advisor has fashioned a stronghold at the southern tip of the Icecrags and has used this base to scourge, raid and take over a swathe of valuable territory that belonged to kingdoms 14 and 16, leading all the way up to Riverrealm's capital. Despite this remarkable success it has pissed off three powerful kingdoms and now fears being squashed like a bug in reprisal.

>>94186729
not me reading "glowingice" as "glownigger"
i need to take a break from this site

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Dwarves are a pissed off race. Their homeland is lost, their mineshafts are all gone, all they have is a singular drive to survive and get their revenge. They're not even axe wielding fighters anymore, they all died during the war. They're grenadiers, sappers, demolition men as the surviving dwarves were miners and artisans.

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>>94201692
(cont)
To prevent this, the hag has advised the half-giant warlord to send ambassadors to Riverrealm, hoping the river kingdom will legitimize and help them as a way of impeding its rivals in 14 and 16. Yet it's a far-fetched strategy, and the hag believes she may have to rely on enchantment magic to make a deal.
18: RANCHLANDS: Flat open largely empty plains in the shadow of the mountains, poor in irrigation and bad for agriculture but good for cattle. Imagine ranches in Montana. The ranchers are highly suspicious of the forest to the north.
19. REIGN-IN-EXILE: A young prince dispossessed of his rightful throne journeyed north with his supporters and men-at-arms and established a rather pitiful and perilous small realm hidden by the eaves of Forest B. His enemies mockingly called him "The Forest King" due to his impoverished state. Yet as humble as his Oakgrove Court may be, he has found new strength in an alliance with a mystical warlord of the forest (see 20).
20. FENDRELEN: An antlered, enigmatic ranger-lord of the forest — agreed by all to be some kind of fey, though none can agree exactly what kind; some say he's an elf, some a centaur — has made an alliance with the young prince who rules area 19. Stalking the wood with his hunters, he's prevented the prince's enemies from seeking out and destroying him. Yet Fendrelen's motives are not altruistic; in exchange for protection the Forest King has granted him his own retainers. After training these men into hardened rangers, he's used them to lead raids into the Hundred Fiefs and establish a small fiefdom of his own, named after himself. Whether he has any more use for the Forest King remains to be seen.
Rumors of “The Forest King and Fendrelen Nightstag” have started to spread as exaggerated figures of terror to remote parts of the realm, the young prince with a mocking epithet becoming a powerful fey lord of folklore.
21. [WITCH REALM]: A small evil vale ruled by witches.

>>94201549
>>94201745
22. ROVINGHAVEN: A pirate city-state founded in an isolated position on the coast where it can prey on sea traffic into the bay, which has made it an enemy of areas 14 and 6 in particular, as well as the foreign nations who trade with them. Can't be reached by land without going through the dangerous forest.
23. ICE BARBARIANS: Ultimately we all know it's inevitable that ice berserkers live in Evernight Reach and threaten the civilized areas to the south.

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Those are the Ganaroth regions -- add your own suggestions or fill in the placeholder ones if you want. Here's an updated map of the ones with names.

>>94201293
Reminder to myself, the "Rolf Koester" character with this art for him is pretty decent so as mentioned I'll add his kingdom between 9 and 20.

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The last of the Dwarven warriors seek nothing but death. They failed to defend their Kals and now launch themselves into suicidal melees, seeking a glorious death in battle to assuage their grave dishonor. Every Warrior should've died with their Kals, and the survivors know that their gods will damn them for their failure, leaving them to a grim, grey afterlife in which they wander a misty surface never returning to the earth. This is reflective of all dwarves as they're a dying race with few known females left alive, the survivors among the dwarves have adopted a grim and fatalistic view towards their future.

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>>94201835
The noble dwarves try to petition human leaders to reclaim their mines, offering gold and jewels as a potential reward. It never works. Most successful expeditions are carried out by working dwarves, often with adventuring parties paid by the local dwarven community pooling just enough money to get professionals in on the job.

>>94201687
tweaking name to Drachenveld or Drachenveldt (veld/veldt as in “field”). Actually that could be a good fit for the central area 11 because it sounds aggressive.

I think the story I sketched out for area 11 is interesting. You have a kingdom that rose above the fray to become the most powerful nation in The Hundred Fiefs and a rival to the current capital (area 14). But then a ruler dismayed with the fact that his nation is landlocked spends all his military capital on a harebrained campaign to reach the coast. He succeeds, but the new coastal land, while a lifeline in terms of trade, is completely overextended and hard to defend from 7 and 9, while the fiefdoms back inland are all massing against you because your army is decimated. You were up but now you're on the verge of losing it all. What do you do? More importantly, what do the players do — will they help the new king save his kingdom and become the new capital? Do they work as diplomats of area 14 to covertly organize an alliance of the Hundred Fiefs to take 11 down? Will they storm the Ashbastion on the coast on behalf of one of the coastal powers? Etc. These multi-nation situations become pretty fun pretty quick.

But instead of getting carried away playing fantasy politics you have to make sure players are invested. One thing that can make these situations more compelling in an actual game is to give each country a clear culture/belief-set so players can choose which team they identify with. Freefields already has this for example, but kingdom 11 lacks a motive other than power. Maybe it wants to win so that it can take down the weak decadent coastal courtiers in area 14 and implement strict legal reforms throughout the land or whatever. Or if not the whole culture, create a dispute between countries where players can decide which side's grievance they think is more just. Or give each land something unique that they can pay the PCs for helping them.

>>94201724
I like this, but the issue with "our Xes are different" in a game is that if a player wants to play an X it's usually because he wants to play the version of the X he knows. Two ways to get around this are making them different but even more X, like making dwarves blind mole-people or something or battlebots that use alcohol as literal fuel or whatever. Another which I suggested earlier is to make it be nominally a completely different race but use the X race's stats which usually goes over better IME.

>>94201293
What could the unicorn kingdom stand for in terms of its place in the campaign world? Is it like the classical chivalry kingdom taken up to 11 where the knights must swear vows of chastity in order to ride unicorns? Maybe yes, but you put a twist on it and make them black knights riding black unicorns or something instead of holy knights riding silver ones. Or maybe the unicorn stuff is figurative and they are called the "Iron Unicorns" because they outfit their horses with iron horns they use during charges. "The Iron Unicorn" would be a cool epithet for a warrior-king btw.

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>>94202620
Nah. The Unicorn is it's coat of arms. Like the Red Dragon of Wales or the Lion of Normandy. They inspire feelings of might, of majesty, that the lord of that land can beat your ass in and there's nothing you can do about it.

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>>94202600
>>94202620
The Unicorn probably ties into their national mythos, somehow. Even if there's no single Unicorn anywhere in the world, some ancient story exists of a unicorn doing something in that land so the lords have adopted it. Made even better by medieval people seeing unicorns as a dangerous beast so there's a precedence for using it as a symbol of strength regardless of how it's perceived as being effeminate to modern eyes.

>>94203479
Not necessarily, Marginalia could be used as the basis for a whole multitude of sigils. While most of the high-born use animals that are either badass symbols of strength (the lion, wolf, dog, sun, knight holding the decapitated head of his rival, etc.) or represent the character of their land (fish, bat, eagle, sail, etc.), some use the doodles they've found in old manuscripts. Some of these knights probably came from 'higher' monastic orders that were shut down so some might use the weird doodles they drew as the basis for their coat of arms. 99% of the time, these are just drawings meant to demoralize their foes be it on the field or in a tourney.

If your foe in the melee has something like pic related on his banner, you're dealing with an interesting guy.

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>>94203612
Speaking of marginalia, allow me to introduce you to the rabbits. Rabbits were portrayed as nasty little villains in medieval art, possibly a early form of political cartoons drawn by bemused monks as they sat hunched by the candlelight. And the fun part? There has to be at least knight that has adopted the hare as his sigil. While the symbol of a rabbit probably hearkens many to laugh, seasoned knights know better as rabbits can be fierce during mating season.

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>>94203644
I know all about the rabbits. That's great.

Tried some AI concept art to help visualize cities that are vaguely medieval yet could be from unfamiliar fantasy cultures. Here's one that's OK looking -- obviously replace the orthodox crosses with flags or fantasy religious symbols.

If hags represent corrupted femininity, would be interesting to have monsters that represent corrupted masculinity — maybe grotesquely overmuscled bodybuilder "hulks"? Hags and hulks? What else could corrupted masculinity mean?

>>94186729
Projects like this need a certain amount of moderation otherwise they'll just end up as an incoherent mess. Whoever was involved in creating the Expedition to Agartha decent thing managed to get this right.

Fallen Jalakra! Empire of Song and Light that was! Jalakra the bright! Jalakra the lauded! Jalakra the storied! Harken unto the bards when they tell of Jalakra; their guild dates to those distant days, even if it rather lower now when they tell tales to the dour lords of Wyverndale in their gloomy fortresses to while away the winter.

In reality, Jalakra was a rather nasty empire for everyone that wasn't one of the favored castes (nobility and priesthood especially, the bards being an offshoot of the priests of the god of song and tale) but memories of the bad parts have dulled over time in most of Ganalon. The one notable thing was the royal palace and capital, which was on a floating island and so nearly unassailable. The fall was literal; the capital tumbled from the sky and crashed to earth, and it broke the empire. Why did it fall? Presumably only known to those who died in the event. The fall triggered a widespread revolt, as both peasants and soldiery fell upon what remained of their shaken former lords.
The amazing thing is that the bards somehow survived and managed to keep singing some the Jalakran praise-hymns (though sometimes with some swift renaming to insert the name of a local nabob, expedience being what it is in all places and time).

>>94200425
>a hunched hag-queen who wears a bearpelt cape
How about Allerleirauh as a last name instead of Furmantle.
It basically means "pelts / furs of all sorts" in german and it is the title of a fairytale about the story of a princess who escapes her father's desire to marry her, disguises herself in a cloak made of many animal furs, works as a kitchen maid, and eventually reveals her true identity after catching the attention of another king during royal festivities.

>>94205454
The Devouring Mother imprisons the child by keeping it emotionally dependent and destroying its autonomy. She clings to it and thereby prevents independent development which becomes a crushing force that keeps the individual passive and dependent. The image of devouring symbolizes the fact that she “swallows” the individual, binds it to herself and inhibits all independence.

The Negative Father oppresses the child through authoritarian control, emotional coldness or outright violence. He suppresses the child's individual freedom and creative potential through authoritarian strictness and dogmatic rules. He does not promote independence but rather enforces blind obedience which he enforces through violence.

(Stolen from CG Jung)

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>>94203612
Unicorns arent "feminine" women and girls just worhsip them because they are secretly attracted to their unfiltered phallic energy which pop-culturally speaking has lead to some confusion. True chads identify with the unicorn instead of feeling sexually threatened by it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=9MKyku2cvl4

>>94205454
>>94205669
>>94205708
Thinking about it why not just combine these two. Unicorns basically already are aggressive, muscular horses with an allegorical penis on the forehead. Why could just play further into that making them sentient authoritarian monsters that will provoke, threaten and attack everything that does not submit to their will.

Does anyone know a decent software to generate and edit hex maps? I've tried wordographer but it's so janky I feel like I'm always fighting against it. I don't care if it's free or not

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>>94205787
The Nuglahs (intime word for unicorn) are physically imposing, extremely muscular beasts capable of a neighing but cold and commanding sounding language. Their unbreakable horns are long, sharp and they can pierce through stone with them. They wield them as weapons and think of them as prove of their innate authority.
A wound inflicted by a nuglah horn does not clot and never truly heals. Their is society is valuing beauty and strength in the strong and demanding submission from the weak.
The Nuglahs have enslaved the Houyhnhnms who live under their tyrannical control. They rule over them through violence, intimidation, and fear and derogatorily call them "degenerate apelings". Houyhnhnms are bestial, humanoid creatures with grotesque, apelike features, deformed looking bodies and stooped posture. They are covered in coarse, matted hair, with skin that is filthy and scabbed. Their faces are a hideous mix of animal and human traits and grotesquly distorted with madness and cruelty in their eyes.
Though they walk on two legs, Houyhnhnms often crawl or scramble on all fours like beasts.
They are strong but not particularly intelligent, and they live in squalor, driven by their base instincts and lust for shiny objects.
They are prone to infighting and communicate in grunts, screeches, and wild gestures.
They create crude shelters and wallow in mud and waste, hoarding anything shiny or edible.
Wherever they go, they leave destruction and filth in their wake.
They embody everything the Nuglahs despise. Ugliness, weakness, flith and chaos.
The Nuglahs treat them accordingly, stripe them of any autonomy and force them into hard physical labor (which they themselves can't do because, well no hands). They also send them into battle as shock troops or cannon fodder.
Any sign of rebellion gets brutally crushed and the rebellious ones impaled and trampled ensuring that no Houyhnhnm can rise above its prescribed place.

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Orcs, while succeeding in overwhelming the Dwarven mines, were beaten during the Great War. They now squat in the Icecrags, scavenging from ruined mineshafts and raiding the Wyverndale for food. While the Orcs still know smithing, they have forgotten the secrets of steel and industry that made their armies the unstoppable force a century ago, forgoing any role in society save for that of the warrior. True Orc blacksmiths have all died out, with all knowledge of metallurgy being passed down from Orc tribe to Orc tribe, forging ramshackle weapons to make war upon the humans.

In a great irony, they're a dying culture due to possessing a self-destructive culture that necessitates never ending conflict. While some Orcs like the young Kaless* aim to change that, having a code of honor that's truly a rarity among orcs, most of the old greenskins are regressing into a state of primordial savagery: wielding stone clubs and running into battle completely naked. Some orcs have even taken to wearing woad or red ochre in battle, seeing a way to terrify their enemies. But despite being a truly fierce race that would laugh at a dragon, the civilized people have stopped viewing them as a threat.

The Icecrags are too treacherous to the men of Ganaroth so they prefer to mine the easier lodes of the Wyverndale, and the Dwarves? The Dwarves, unlike the Orcs, are a truly dying race. There's less and less Dwarf men every year, meaning less and less aimless expeditions to reclaim a Dwarven hall. While the dwarves are proud, having earned the orcs grudging respect, they simply lack the numbers to launch a true invasion of the 'crags which ironically works in the orc's favor.

It's only a matter of time before someone unites the orcs into a single empire. Be it Kaless, the young warrior who with his brave fool hearty ideas of honor and law, or the ageing Molor's love for conquest and savagery.

*Yeah, before anyone says it: yeah, I'm a trekkie.

>>94192601
>sea of shattered hulls
Would it not have a name made before the invention of ships? Doesn’t make sense to name it that desu.

>>94192746
I just knew I'd see something like this. You cannot have a worldbuilding thread like this without some fucking autist coming in and forcing their annoying fixation with Napeonic warfare, pike and shotte, early firearms, etc.

>>94207566
Well it was quickly shutdown, and the Dorf poster gave a good retcon: knife ears pissed off the Dwarf Chads, Legolas go boom boom.

>>94207566
It could be worse. The crab guy didn't show up.

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>>94205468
I can make a doc to keep track of the lore.
Main thing is a cohesive tone. For this the tone is in the middle — not historical/low-fantasy where the countries are just copies of real ones but also not a surreal fairyland. It's sword and sorcery.

>>94205479
I like the anecdote of the noble flying city crashing and the earthbound peasants falling upon a killing the survivors. Having the aristocrats literally float off the ground makes their fear of and distance from the populace very literal. Flying cities could become too fantastical/fairyland, but maybe it fits if Jalakra was like the sorcerous empire and it was a one-off thing.

Clearly the whole southern area is meant to be full of ancient ruins, many overgrown by plants and sunken in swamps. But Jalakra's fall could also be more recent; maybe it was conquered by foreign invaders and guerilla cells still operate in the forests to its west, hoping to reclaim their land. But making it a sorcerous land feels right. It also doesn't have to be human; my instant metal image is of humanoids with metallic-colored skin and slightly odd head shapes. Of course, it could just be that the sorcerers of Jalakra paint their skin with metallic paints. Maybe this could hint at worship/connnection to metallic dragons? (Dragons and their presence or nonpresence in the setting are an elephant in the room I haven't brought up yet.)

>>94205708
>>94205787
I like this a lot. My impulse for the unicorn kingdom is that from a distance it's an image of idealized knighthood but then there's some sort of dark twist to it. Making the unicorns themselves slightly sinister and domineering fits with that.

>>94207294
Like dragons, goblinoids/evil humanoid mooks are another elephant in the room I've been avoiding. If they exist anywhere, a good place would be the "Desolations of Shinspar", which puts them in prime position to descend in hordes on the royal capital. Varags from 3e (see pic) are one interesting orc substitute.

>>94205551
Prefer the easier to pronounce name but could easily use the folktale for inspiration.

Speaking of hags here are some hag ideas from my notes:

Agatha Furmantle - Legendary hag-queen of the northern vales, wears a grizzly pelt. In nod to folktale, was a princess who ran away from home.
Ruinous Dusk - A feral indigo-blue night hag with skull jewelry, knotted black hair and a sky-splitting shriek. Yet by day she turns into her beautiful dawn-pale sister, Lustrous Aurora. They're two people who share the same body.
Lady Aperider - Takes piggyback rides on sasquatches and gleefully copulates with them. Has rather simian neanderthalic features herself. Helps them capture other young maidens. Wears long swinging braids. Was once the village idiot. (Ulna Aperider)
Ekki Icetouch - Arctic hag who wears a polar bear pelt; frostbite has blackened her face and caused her nose to fall off. Helps the ice barbarians.
Lady Feyfair - A hag with a chillingly beautiful face and hair, but hideous from the neck down — covered in diseased boils and pustules, hideously warty and aged.
Jessica Shadowqueen - Ordinary woman who can’t cast spells but her shadow can.
Lady Leatherbelly - An obese hag. A primitive C-section almost cost her her life; she survived by stitching cow’s leather over her stomach, giving her cow’s udders.
Gretchin Womb-Rot - Has had countless miscarriages. Evil spirits inhabit the corpses of her dead infants, turning them into flying demonic imp familiars.
Lady Leash - Leads her hellspawn child around by its still-attached umbilical, refusing to let it go free.
Regan Stomachspill - Bulimic hag who vomits out sprays of acidic bile. Nubs for teeth.
Emaciata something - Looks like that skeletal anorexic eceleb who gets posted here.
Ellys Allseer - Blind hag who cut off her husband’s testicles and used them to replace her eyes.

Then you could do one that eats her children, and various other corruptions of motherhood/femininity/etc.

>>94208195
>>94200374
On reflection I really like the idea of basing the default hag appearance on the teratoma tumor monster from “The Substance”. It comes across as a sort of twisted life magic, which fits the theme of witchcraft being a corruption of a mother’s “life-giving” capacity (and the similar idea I mentioned that witches brew potions with their own breastmilk, etc). Also, I like the idea that one way hags are created is when witchcraft is used to save a woman from one of the many forms of death they might face in the medieval era, like death from childbirth, starvation, infection, or the plague, but that the magic that saves their life also turns them into monsters. And the deformed tumorous appearance fits very well with that.

Fleshing out one of the villains: the bandit king of area 17.

>>94201692
> 17. DUBIOUS BANDIT REALM: An allegedly half-giant warlord with a hag advisor has fashioned a stronghold at the southern tip of the Icecrags and has used this base to scourge, raid and take over a swathe of valuable territory that belonged to kingdoms 14 and 16. Despite 17's success it has pissed off three powerful kingdoms and now fears being squashed like a bug in reprisal.

Hruln Half-Giant was a brutal northborn mercenary who made his name fighting in the Hundred Fiefs. He was highly effective but would start ravaging innocent villages, including your own, the second you stopped paying him. When it became clear to him that an unreliable outsider like himself would never be granted a knighthood or land, he seized a castle for his own — but when the aristocrats he took captive inside mocked him, he killed them in fury rather than offering them for ransom, making him a blackname (persona non grata) throughout the Fiefs. So he led his men north and sold his services to Area 5, helping fight the barbarians of Evernight Reach. Against these savages there were no rules of warfare. He began leading daring raids through the passes of the Icecrags, and even befriended the primitive Cragmen who dwelt in those harsh peaks. But on one of these audacious raids he disappeared, presumed dead.

Years later he suddenly reappeared, descending from the mountains far more powerful than before. At his side was the wretched hag seeress Blind Elystra, who had become his mentor and advisor, determined to help him achieve his destiny as a great king. She had somehow helped him to obtain several powerful artifacts, including a Mattock of the Titans and the Sunderhorn — one blow upon which can split stone walls apart. Some say the hag warms his bed as a nurturing elder concubine, while others claim she took his testicles as payment for leading him to greatness.

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>>94208866
Using the Horn and the Mattock, he personally fashioned the Cragfort, a crude and jagged fortress of split stone, hewn from the natural rock of the southernmost peak of the Icecrags. (Shaped vaguely like picrel but made entirely of natural stone.) As he projects his power into the surrounding lands -- and as brigands and outcasts of all kinds flock to his banner, eager to raid and spoil -- he's also used these tools to personally carve trenches and earthworks, helping rapidly fortify the lands he lays claim to. The fact that he puts in his own sweat like this is one of the reasons his troops love him.

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>>94208908
regarding the unnatural spiky shape of the Cragfort picture I'm imagining that when you blow the Sunderhorn at unworked stone, the stone will crack apart at sharp angles. I imagine he "softened up" the mountainside by cracking it up this way and then did the carving/building work with the Mattock.

Was also contemplating giving him a moaning diamond that he wears in his crown or on his forehead like a third eye: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:The_Moaning_Diamond

>>94186729
>gANALon
>two halves split down the middle
>"""lake""" Hamastra
Could you at least try to hide your magical realm?

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>>94208954
I see what you mean but when you actually orient it that way it doesn't look as profane as you'd expect.

>>94208975
>already figured it out
>OP still tries to make me look at his totally not goatse map
I appreciate your tenacity.

>>94201831
Just realized that the nobles of area 6 are sea urchin themed. The tidepools along the coast contain psionic sea urchins whose needles are potently venomed.

The ridiculous part is this — the nobles somehow psionically control the sea urchins, which levitate in the air and are used as weapons (possibly spitting needles at enemies?).

The ruling stronghold is called Urchinhold and at its center is the House of Tides, whose lower levels are like indoor tidepools, crusted with barnacles. The nobles sleep on beds of kelp. More later.

twist on sleeping beauty -- people who live in the wild north randomly fall into icesleep, a form of icicle-encrusted magical hibernation that can last for years. you know you will enter icesleep soon when you start having icedreams.

area 16, which controls the mountain pass to the north, is ruled by Lord Marten/Marven Summersnow. There's a tragic rift between him and his cousin, Lord Melvyn Wintersnow. Perhaps it was over a northern bride they both coveted, who fell into an icesleep before either could marry her -- they both blame each other. Lord Melvyn left court and now leads the errant band of questing knights known as the Knights of the Frozen Rose or the Winterlorn Knights, whose arms are a blue winter rose. They sally forth into the frozen northern woods seeking a way to thaw his love. But with Riverrealm now threatening area 16, the ruling Lord Summersnow needs to mend the rift with his brother for the good of his realm if nothing else -- both to get the help of Lord Melvyn's knights and men at arms, and because the chilly divide between the noble families is making it impossible for him to rule effectively.

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A list of potential 'foreign' encounters. These are exceptionally rare (roll a 99 on an encounter sheet) with the vast majority doubting they even exist:

1-4: High Elves: elves are also truly foreign to the continent. They come from a distant eastern continent and pay visits to their cousins in Ganalon. While they're beautiful and wise, High Elves are even more egotistical than their 'backwards' cousins, bragging about the spired cities of their homeland.

5-9: sea dwarves. There's a caste of dwarves that live somewhere to the distant west and they're hearty seamen. They have little in common with the dwarves of Ganalon, viewing their doom with the mockery traditionally reserved for dwarves of lesser castes. They can range from hearty mariners to grim whalers or even pirates.

10-15: Northmen, vikings. They come from an archipelago from the distant northwest. Distantly related to the men of Ganarath, they worship grim war gods that demand human sacrifice. They sometimes get lost in a storm and wind up in Ganalon. Grim men who view a death in battle as the highest honor, they will charge against foes that greatly overpower them.

16-20: Exploratores: Before they're thrown in, there's an 'exotic,' 'diverse*' empire dominated by tanned mediterranean humans who conquer and enslave everything around them for that is the nature of war. But they're from a distant continent that has only had tangential contact with Gandora, preferring the easier targets back home to making a perilous voyage across the sea. That does not stop the exploratores, however.

21-30: Gobbos. Sometimes a bunch of dispshit greenskins build a raft. Sometimes they survive and end in Ganalon. They're little different from their cousins in the desolation.

cont.

*It's diverse in the sense that you can buy anything from the slave market.

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>>94212226
31-40: lost fishermen. Low level commoners blown off course. Can range from Portuguese to Japanese depending upon region.

41-50: Apemen. Isolated humans that were trapped in the underdark for so long they regressed into savage ape creatures.

51-60: Troglodytes. Humans that were trapped in the underdark. Stone age.

61-70: Kobolds. One Kobold invented the ship. One kobold crashed the ship. Now you get to deal with them.

71-80: crashed trade galley. In the southeast, the mighty Emperors charter trade ships to explore the world. This one didn't make it. (true story, a Chinese trade galley might have sunk near Madagascar)

81-85: trade galley. Merchants from the southeast. Sell exotic goods for jacked up prices.

86-90: monk. A monk from the distant east has found your land. He now meditates in peace.

91-95: corsair crew. The corsairs have tormented the far west for centuries but this ship was blown off course. Now these dusky skinned men raid Gandora in the name of their god.

96-99: foreign wizard. A wizard with exotic traditions. (separate table needed)

100: Dragon. Most dragons are assholes. The wavy serpentine dragons are different.

Speaking of dragons, any ideas for how dragons work here? Ways to make them slightly interesting/novel? You certainly need at least one dragon overlord on the southeast peninsula/islands.

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The ruins of the Tower of Tongues is overrun by goblins. In fact, this is the place where goblins emerge from. As they meddle with the tower more and more the languages of the world diverge further from each other, but none dare dislodge them because the Tower is warded by primeval magic from the dawn of time. This close association of goblins with meaningless language has coined the phrase 'gobbledygook' to refer to gibberish that someone doesn't understand.

Goblins are the masters of language and often use their sly tongues to deceive and take advantage of other races.

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>>94216360
I like it!

what if they or a related race are called "quilltongues" and have the abililty to "speak" writing onto surfaces? Like they will talk at a stone wall and the words will be incised in it. Similarly they can speak words at you and the words will be incised in your flesh like umbridge's quill in harry potter. perhaps they literally have cat-like razortongues to represent this.

btw, a name that occurred to me: "The House of Lost Horizons". It makes me think of some cartographer's or historian's guild that preserves knowledge of lands over the sea (or even other planets?) to which contact has been lost.

Also a "House of Tremors" in the capital city that is like a drug den for users of the drugs that give you magical powers. People inside go through the strange fits and otherworldly visions of their drug trips, hovering, transforming, and so on.

man, goatse world must be the most enticing world building autism thread so far.

>>94221268
Hopefully a compliment...

Here are some names that would fit the world, say who and wait they are if you want

PERSONAL NAMES
Reginald Oakenface
Sarazen the Twice-Demeaned
Haravan Half-Head
Edrith Macumber
Mellur Rimbra
Samareth Erkenvar
Arhalan Hembrel
Arhalan Ta’Vor
Ran Encoraðros
Ermine Donahue
Larsen Pevell
Cor Elyrra
Cathembaird
Galen Stonesrevere
Rahlejh-Maleez

PLACES
the fair city of Melbelyra
the city of Stormtossed Ghol
Cavecastle
Hereticstown
Sortoroza
Rhondurel
Lementèra
Terenvar
Ozrulon
Sal-Hallar
Rivenheart
Nuribira
Velremael
Velremar
Yizarra
Garrugir
The Unduvvar Tablelands
Relrelon
Rovingisle

another name I like:

Ernaldo Zepheran

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>>94224165
> The Unduvvar Tablelands
Let's put those in the Desolations of Shinspar and make them look like this spot in utah

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the eastern end of the Safeway (the road across the Wild North) should be a cold desert like in Pakistan. Call it Snowsand

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>>94224300
in fact this triangle between the mountains in the Wild North is marked green but could instead be a raised arid plateau. Certainly doesn't look like it would receive a lot of moisture.

Speaking of moisture, have to come up with a reason, natural or magical, why the Desolations of Shinspar are arid when the lands across the river aren't.

>>94224308
>Speaking of moisture, have to come up with a reason, natural or magical, why the Desolations of Shinspar are arid when the lands across the river aren't.
Feeling it might be more magical. I'm imagining monolith-like natural spires of dark rock rising from the cracked brown land - unworked but unnatural-looking.

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>>94194308
>>94194317
>>94194352
A peculiar property of the night forest is that the nights in it are never the same. The forest always grows into a different shape with unique plants, mushrooms, birds and trees that only exist for this short period of time. Metaphysicists and mystics claim the forest is a sentient entity that dreams itself every night. A natural phenomenon that supports this theory is the regularly but unexpected occurrence of “nightmares” in the forest. When the forest has a "nightmare", which happens about two to three times in a lunar cycle, the otherwise largely peaceful birds turn into hideous feathered beasts with long, sharp beaks, cold piercing eyes and terrible claws. The atmosphere in the forest changes and becomes eerie and threatening. Singing trees and black birds begin to intonate ominous melodies. The shining trees become dark, gnarled and twisted, their branches reaching out like skeletal hands. The shrubbery gets thorny and the fruits become poisonous. As if that wasn't enough the forest begins to emit hallucinatory aromas which conjure up terrible horror visions and existential fears in everyone who breathes them in. Only the bravest and most hardened survive such a night in Erelin, and those who do leave the forest forever changed.

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>>94224449
Love the idea of the Night Wood dreaming and having nightmares. I love the "sentient landscape" trope in general. I have another setting with a much more weird/fantastical theme where there's a wood of night fey; I might steal this idea for that.

>>94201831
Thinking about the capitals for each kingdom. The capital of Area 19, Reign-in-Exile -- the exiled court taking shelter in the forest -- is the small wooded town of Oakeneaves. Only unpaved dirt trails lead to it through the summery forest. The king in exile's court is the Oaken Grove, a clearing where they have carved him a humble wood throne from a tree felled on the spot.

The capital of Area 11 (the warlike expansionist kingdom) is called the Bladebastion. I have two ideas for it. One is that it's a castle where they have crenellated the walls and towers with swords almost like a spiked fence. The other idea, which might be too manga/high fantasy, is that the castle is literally shaped like a sword stuck in the ground like picrel. (But not actually made of metal.)

Trying to think of religion ideas that aren't generic and may be practices that don't even take the form of traditional god worship. The issue is that completely arbitrary/wasteful activities would be selected out — for example a running religion that taught you to run laps pointlessly would be impractical in a near subsistence farming society. So trying to think of neutral/adaptive behaviors.

What about a Faith of Fear that teaches people to be terrified all the time and has people gather for group terror sessions?

>>94227405
What about it?

If western witchcraft in this world is based on life — milk, motherhood, medicine — witchcraft in the east is based on clothing. The eastern witches are spinners, weavers. Their ancient practice started with the creation of totemic masks — still practiced in Öalûn — but now involves blessed or cursed veils, dresses, hijabs, gowns, scarves, mummification, and curses written on linen strips. Obviously, the creation of magical clothing is highly related to shape-shifting and illusion, the manipulation of form and appearance (the schools of illusion and transfiguration in game terms, plus enchantment because your appearance can beguile others).

>>94231515
You can also link this to the real world mythical motif of the "loom of fate" and the Fates as weavers, which brings divination into play as well. So western witches might read the future in an animal's entrails or in other life-signs while an eastern witch might try to affect the future by spinning a tapestry of esoteric symbols.

Basing witchcraft on these two traditional female activities makes sense, so the next question is what sort of stereotypical male activities could inform wizardcraft. I'm thinking that you could parallel life-giving with life-taking (warrior/hunter) and clothes-making with tool-making (in game terms, magic items that are worn vs. those that are wielded, like wands/staffs/weapons/shields). Of course, the nature of witchcraft is that it corrupts or subverts these traditional activities — a witch might eat her own children or sell their souls to a demon, etc — so rather than a pure masculine archetype, the wizard would be somehow subverting or inverting them. Necromancy is an obvious example — a witch inverts life-giving becoming a force of death, maybe a wizard inverts life-taking by reanimating the dead. Also, wizards creating "false life" via golems, homunculi, or demons grown in vitro could be seen as a perversion of their gender role, trying to "falsely imitate" the role of mother. I'm thinking of how in real Norse and Anglo-Saxon societies, male diviners and magicians were seen as contemptibly feminine at the same time as being respected.

Also, if witchcraft involves milk I assume that since we're going gross mudcore medieval, sperm must play a part in "life wizardry" (creating golems/homunculi). With the apparent emphasis on bodily fluids you could take influence from the humoral theory of medicine and Chinese traditional medicine.

>>94229513
Perhaps you could connect it to anachronistic ideas of the "terrifying sublime" in the 19th century or Camus-style suicidal existentialism in the 20th, but with an occult, medieval spin. Convocations of fear where people gather in a church to experience shared emotions of terror or whatever just seems like a funny spin on the traditional religious gathering where the tone is usually positive.

>>94186729


there exists in the verdant south a great mist named yor'denfried
it is said that once a legendary bandit, in long wane'ings of age made a pact with some now forgotten evil, and became its watchdog
when the mist passes through something, it takes from it
sometimes a coin or two, sometimes a child, absolutle anything unwatched
the things stolen never return to the ground in their owners lifetime
rumor has it if you brave the mist you may rarely see a great fortress in the sky, stolen from its kingdom
(small, just about visible on the map)

I like the idea of a bog that just goes all the way down
Like an underwater kingdom but its a huge bog filled with tunnels
Where everything is sinking, Always

>>94186729
that lake along a fault reminds me of a spot where i grew up
for that reason put a village somewhere near it called Matheson

Where is Mpreg island?

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>>94233196

>>94233461
>>94233196
what about obese pale penguin-shaped hermaphroditic humans in the far arctic who take shelter in ice tunnels created by frost worms burrowing through the ice?

>>94216555
Solid idea I like it. Maybe besides the writing into flesh part which could lead into problems

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Here's my addition

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Paradise garden is a real visitable place in this setting. It is safely guarded and watched with argus eyes.
A large, beautiful species of naked humanoids called Nephim lives in it.
They are pure beings free from sin who know nothing of the moral horrors of the outside world.

>>94235625
Came here to suggest something similar but that anon already got this. Arathax chads, rise up

>>94235625
Cultural-historically speaking, unfathomable evils alwas come from the east

>>94192274
The sap can be consumed to create a dryad connection to nature, but doing so can permanently fuck with the mind of the imbiber.
Alternatively, when applied on the surface of an openly amputated body part it will create a living wood prosthetic.
However the person cannot be incapacitated and left on the ground for longer than 3 days or the prosthetic will take root into the earth.
This has lead to living trees that mark sites of ancient battlefields, the living trees, horrific in nature will tell tales of battles and serve as living memories to the past.

>>94235625
>>94235842
OK, but make it connect to this anon's Dark Lord: >>94193338. Let's make "Dark Lords" a real concrete thing in this setting rather than a hokey title. Maybe there are a set, fixed number. Maybe it's the result of a specific magic ritual, maybe it comes from possession of a specific artifact of which there are a fixed number, or maybe it's the last few members of an ancient progenitor race.
- Maybe members of an ancient evil race fuse with mortals "Venom" style to create dark lords.
- Maybe you feed your Jungian shadow until it blossoms out as a corporeal shadow-being and eats your body.
- Maybe like the other anon suggested it has to do with prophecy, and a hero who is chosen by a prophecy but fails turns into a dark lord.
- Maybe all the world's prophecies were maintained by a great stone seal created by gods, and when the seal was shattered everyone who was part of its prophecies turned into a dark wraith-lord.
- Etc.

>>94239121
"shadesyrup", "red honey", "firesalve" -- there are all kinds of cool magical drugs you could make up, and they're a perfect fit for the medium-fantasy tone of this world since they're magical but in a gritty down to earth way.

Perhaps the tall, elongated high-cheeked gray-skinned colorful-winged elf-fairy-butterfly-insect-alien hybrids I suggested as a progenitor race can be included as the creators of all these psychedelic and walking/living plants in the Verdant South, and perhaps for some of the fey. Call them the "Gardeners' or "Lifekeepers". One way to make them visually distinct would be to give them butterfly wings but the wings are attached to their arms the way bat wings are.

---

This weekend I'll write a more detailed lore doc combining the things we've talked about.

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>>94240109
>- Maybe all the world's prophecies were maintained by a great stone seal created by gods, and when the seal was shattered everyone who was part of its prophecies turned into a dark wraith-lord.
Similar idea: what if every prophecy in this world is physically contained within an item? If that item is destroyed the prophecy breaks. Maybe skilled diviners can create these items, creating physical prophecies that control events unless the object is destroyed.

The first items that spring to mind to hold prophecies are colorful orbs of blown glass, but it could be any object.

For Jalakra the one anon's suggestion of making it a sorcerous empire seems fine. I like the mental image I mentioned of it being populated by (bald?) humanoids with metallic-colored skin (not actually metal, just colored like it) and odd skull shapes. You could imagine an aquatic variant of this race with finned ears and webbed digits as well. Perhaps this race migrated to Ganalon from the southeast peninsulas while the northern humans came here over the western sea. The other human ethnicities must also have come from the southeast, or perhaps they reached it some other way. Actually, what if you had a small group of humans who were like dragonriders or pteranodon riders who got blown across the ocean by a storm, landed on Ganalon and founded a colony there?

Drop any more ideas for the metallic-skinned sorcerers of Jalakra. The main thing I'm thinking is that it could relate to metallic dragons, but I want to avoid generic dragon-people, and I like the image of smooth metallic skin better than scales.

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Also feel free to drop creature ideas. I see the yrthak as being the flying mount of choice in the east and south. Possibly wyverns in the north/west.

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can also see this flying leaf ray living in the Verdant South.

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>>94240234
cool image of a harnessed riding yrthak from Jalakra or Brastolan.

>>94236108
That's why Arathax was so successful, nobody expected an ancient evil to the northwest
>>94240109
Maybe the Dark Lords are all the sons and daughters of the Dark Emperor who was slain many centuries ago.

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Turning attention to the capital city of the Ganaroth region. one character idea: "the Sewerhag" (Telterynn Sewerhag?), a green hag who lives in the sewers and leads a crime ring. she's extremely disgusting, crusted in sewage and fungal growths. perhaps allied with a giant turtle or dragon turtle, Greenfilth, who lives in the part of the bay that the sewers dump out into and is filth encrusted himself.
I mentioned the House of Tremors, a sort of legitimate guild-like drug den for warlocks and wizards who use the various drugs that grant magical powers. Maybe these people have real power in the city; perhaps part of the capital's "degeneracy" in the eyes of the northern nations around the bay is that its courts and halls of influence are rife with these drug-addled warlocks and freaks, who many believe aim to take power and turn the city (and by extension realm) into a magocracy.

For the most part, it's OK for the capital to be a generic D&D capital — after all, Ganaroth is the "generic medieval fantasy starting area" — but it would be nice to think of one or two ways to differentiate it. Maybe instead of a sprawling degenerate capital of vice it's actually quite courtly, regimental and well-ordered like the Chinese capitals were.

>>94249197
City's name should be simple and easy to remember because it's one players should remember. Summerhaven, Trell, Highcourt, IDK. Velremael or Velremar from this list >>94224165 could fit but may be too hard to remember.

At this point we should decide which additions so far should become canonical and which shouldn't.

>>94186729
The arid East has nomads tribes of amazon warriors who look like a mix of ancient India on horses. They fight from horseback with deadly slingshots.
They're into raiding, plundering and raping, like a bunch of femdom Dothrakis.

>>94253544
Imagine the war with the mongol centaurs..

>>94207998
>I like the anecdote of the noble flying city crashing and the earthbound peasants falling upon a killing the survivors.
I was trying to go for both a literal and figurative fall. Maybe also a moral fall too, but that can be left mysterious. The main thing is that the players can poke around there and perhaps find some overlooked bits and pieces, but most was long scavenged and all actual truth about what really happened is unknowable.
But you can always wave around lots of contradictory stories, each of which being told by someone who claims to know exactly what really happened. Nothing better for telling astute players that nobody really knows shit than to have them witness an NPC bard and an NPC wizard in a punch-up in a bar over whose story is right.

Image: a being who wears a stylized metal mask-helmet sculpted like a human woman's face, but with a lithe red and purple monstrous body — vaguely draconic, but as long and thin as a lizard walking upright. Perhaps some sorcerous queen of Jalakra.

>>94249197
>Maybe these people have real power in the city; perhaps part of the capital's "degeneracy" in the eyes of the northern nations around the bay is that its courts and halls of influence are rife with these drug-addled warlocks and freaks, who many believe aim to take power and turn the city (and by extension realm) into a magocracy.
On further thought, the king himself is addicted to magical drugs. He's so paranoid of the intrigues at court and of potential betrayals that he takes drugs that give him premonitions and Third Sight, but cripple his health.

To increase the dislike the northern realms have for the high king, perhaps he's also a nonhuman race. Maybe an elf or half-elf. I think of all the Anglo-Saxon kings with names that had the word "elf" in them, like Aelfred and Aelfwine. But instead of the typical half-elf let's use the 3e aelfborn race (it even matches the anglo saxon spelling), fey half-elves with pale hair who go mad over time, losing Wisdom as they age. Very much a "mad king" vibe -- partly thanks to the drugs, partly due to his fey/elf heritage, he is maddened with visions that contain some flashes of genuine insight, and truly does have third sight of a kind, but nonetheless comes across as too unstable for sundry, day-to-day rulership.

For some reason I get a mental image of this pale-haired king in his elegant coastal palace swimming in an indoor aqua-blue pool with giant pet morays.

Another angle would be to make him an actual humanoid-shaped monster, like an ethergaunt or an ogre mage.

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>>94186729
Took the freedom to turn this map into a hex map.
Now we only need to come up with a legenda and add symbols for settlements, sights, and biomes.
Maybe throw in some rolltables while we're at it.
This way this project can become actually playable as a legit oldschool hexcrawl.

>>94254252
I can make the hexes bigger or smaller if you want me to btw.

>>94253474
Yes, it's time to make a lore doc, I just don't have time yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

Offhand, some suggestions I've liked: mud medieval aesthetic for the Ganaroth region, creatures and coats of arms based on the marginalia doodles of medieval manuscripts, the kingdom of unicorn knights (but IMO, make them seemingly good with a dark twist, and because this is fantasy not medieval history the unicorns should be a real thing), the sinister unicorns that represent a domineering masculinity, the quilltongue goblins and perhaps the Tower of Tongues, sorcerous Jalakra, neutral necromancers called reapers, the suggestions for magical plant drugs that turn you into a plant, the dutch-inspured colony, and then my own suggestions.

On fence about: the mongol/comanche centaurs (I like the art and they are reasonable, but wanted to avoid the trope of fantasy reskins of earth cultures) and the dark lords (is there a way to make them more thematically fitting — less Forgotten Realms high fantasy, more weird sword and sorcery? I made some suggestions above.)

Don't like: dwarves or orcs. Orcs belong to Tolkien. Dwarves are fairly one-note and feel tied to Nordic cultures. Anon's suggestion of making them alchemists/explosives oriented seems like it just makes them into gnomes. Should either be turned into something different (mole-men? earth elementals? standing stones that turn human occasionally?) or dropped.

>>94254369
Don't forget the night forest

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>>94254252
Hey, nice!
I left the southeast peninsulas blank because I hadn't decided their terrain type. Probably Hawaiian/tropical with volcanic mountains up the middle. A sort of "evil paradise".

>>94254267
>I can make the hexes bigger or smaller if you want me to btw.
Ideal scale is probably enough to better define the shape of this bay since it seems like an important region. OTOH you could make a closeup map of Ganaroth.

Again, cool stuff. Only feedback would be to increase the contrast of some coastal tiles or make the ocean darker.

>>94254388
True, just wasn't sure if anon was cool with getting rid of the overnight forest/lake element and focusing on the forest.

>>94254423
Personally I don't see any reason not to include the lake part. Makes it more interesting, but that's just my opinion

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>>94254419
Better? Also slightly increased the tile spacing

>>94254520
Suggested scale would be one day per hex assuming you travel on foot

I don't think you need hexes for areas that large
What do they even mean at such a scale? If you cant see all of the things on your hex or can't see into the surrounding hexes isn't it the same as just walking in a straight line?

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>>94254520
Sure. Details can always be touched up in PS. I know traditional hex crawls were wilderness exploration, but with the addition of all those political details for Ganaroth I could see a political/war campaign being played here too.

>>94254369
Thinking more, I like the idea of putting an aelborn on the throne because elves are usually portrayed as haughty/superior but rarely as directly ruling over humans. Why not have the dynastic war between the northwestern bay and the southeastern river result in an elven or half-elven dynasty taking control? Likely they come from the fey-filled Forest C in the south of the region (pic).

Westerners hatefully and disparagingly call him "The Elf King". One reason he's so paranoid and fearful -- hence his taking of the diviner's drugs -- is that his father was poisoned with iron, because aelborn the susceptibility to iron of their fey/elven ancestors. Perhaps the king himself was once injured or even held captive and tortured with the touch of iron, leaving violent purple scars on his body to this day — maybe he even has the epithet "Ironscar" (Melyth/Mellys Ironscar or something). This adds another reason the northwesterners hate the ruling dynasty: they refuse to engage in melee combat because any blow with iron or steel weapons would be gravely injurious, while the northwesterns expect leaders to be warrior kings who fight at the front.

Another detail about the elf king: in his paranoia, he sleeps under a special blanket woven with gemstones in order to "protect himself from malady". He's in his 30s, but is unmarried because he seeks a diplomatic marriage that will strengthen the realm, but has been unable to secure one — perhaps he is intentionally holding out to see if Area 11, the aggressive expansionist kingdom, becomes enough of a threat that he needs to marry with it to prevent it from attacking him. Maybe also in love with a nymph mistress who lives in a swimming pool in his palace.

>>94255821
in keeping with the gemstone blanket theme maybe his crown is a flexible chain of gemstones woven with silver wire and his official title is "Elfstar" or something. I also like the name "Darkruby" for something associated with him. Maybe his mistress is named "Lady Darkruby"? Or maybe that's the name of his sword, which is set with a blood ruby in the hilt and has sorcerous powers that let him use it without fighting in combat. Perhaps it's a dancing weapon (flies out and fights on its own).

>>94255851
Perhaps the sword IS his lover and can take human form as a fey — Excalibur/Lady of the Lake vibe except that both are the same entity. In fact, perhaps because she is technically made of iron, his "iron scars" come from sex with the sword-lady.

>>94255853
Another possible idea: because the sword was presumably forged from meteoric iron, perhaps the fey inside is like some sort of Lovecraftian spirit from beyond the stars.

>>94255821
aelfborn*

>>94254520
What would be considered the main locations so far and where on the map should they go? I'll add em

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>>94258440
Not pretty but here's the WIP.

>>94258705
Northport was supposed to be a placeholder, but maybe it should stick. The problem is in an RPG you need simple easy to remember names that basically say what the thing is because otherwise players will forget it, which is why the map has all these boring two word english names on it.

>>94235625
speaking of names, warming to "arathex" because you could call his followers the "Arathexian Thanes" which sounds cool.

>>94224165
Also speaking of names, a way to help for anyone interested would be to create character concepts for some of these names. Here are some more too:
Rigel Golden-Eyes
Doran Quelkos
Xiphon Theris
Carabor Calchris
Sengrivosh Barrowglaive
Lazlane Rastalt
Merrovan Bloodgreaves
Lucas Zaldephon
Sarazen the Lion
Darien Onrush
Madjeera div'Azay
Erin Shadowfar
Scandrath Eðelina
Shergei Enselulon
Mennel Enzeltarra

>>94261875
>Northport was supposed to be a placeholder, but maybe it should stick.
It's a fine place name.
You probably ought to decide on some river names. Rivers are important for naming things. About the only one I can place based on naming is the River Wyvern, and that doesn't even show on your maps yet! Yet it's there in the names "Wyverndale", "Wyvernmeet", and "Wyvernport". That's a good way of naming things! It's how reality does it.

>>94258705
>>94261875
What's going on in these places?

>>94263085
If I didn't cover them above >>94201549, go ahead and make it up.

>>94258705
I think he was asking for the locations we established so far in this thread

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these but Big

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the vibe i get from this setting is that fantasy monsters are quite important symbols of power. Also hamastra to me looks like the basin of a great river or lake. Lets say thats fertile land.

In hamastra lies great flat fields for the Dragons of this world. They fly from across the world to mate- the lands are pleniful of fruits and animals. They have been using the basin before the arrival of humans and have been "defending it" from large scale colonization efforts from surrounding kingdoms far back into history. The dragons in this world are by no means civilized or intelligent, being about as smart as a chimp. But they have an animalistic social order they respect.

The humans of hamastra: there are a small group of native hamastra that live under the noses of the dragons. They hunt, trying to to draw attention to themselves as dragons fly overhead looking for megafauna to scoop out of the sky.
Other Cultures and civilizations have been known to make treks thru the great plains of Hamastra, these parties "should consist of no more than 5 men and bring nothing except what can be carried by each man" as mentioned in an old Ganaroth text
(Although the folk of Forgotten run seem to be immune to this rule, being somehow able to caravan wagons and animals across the plains.)

Picrel some native hamastra

>>94266784
"As with Jalakra, Goes the World" - Jalakran proverb
The forgotten run: the forgotten run had been ruled by a high merchant-king since the time of the first Jala.
When Jalakra collapsed the coffers of the high king dried up and the merchant kings fractured into city states.
>writers block...

Two important High kings of Runnian
High king Pakar (early history): king to unify The Run with support of the Jalakra

High king Rak (mythology) mythological figure who ventured into Hamastra, met a talking dragon, and made a eternal deal between the Runians and the Dragons. The reality of this story is up to other anons.

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>>94194570
Whats the range on these Sea Wolfs? Clearly these Sea Wolves are culturally important if the Jalakra named their Sea after it. Id like them to be Symbols of the south like Wyverns and Gryphons are Symbols of Their Regions.

"Sawfishing and Prostitution, Two oldest Trades" - Jalakra Proverb
First starting in the shallow Reefs and Sandbars. Smaller species of Sawfish were almost immediately hunted to extinction for their miraculous waterproof fur, and Magical properties of their Oils, Eyes, and Teeth. The Sawfishing industry expanded immensely under the Jalakra. Adolescent dreams of joining a Sawfishing boat are among the most common.
the fall of Jalakra affected the industry immensely and the population of sawfish has been seeing a slow increase ever since (with a Rise in sawfish attacks too!)

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Jalakra at its greatest extent.
Also some other stuff i came up with i wrote in read.

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>>94240217
>>94194570
>Drop any more ideas for the metallic-skinned sorcerers of Jalakra.
The Sorcerers of Jalakra refined and ate the biproducts of Seawolves. Besides imbuing those who ate with magical power tenfold it has the unfortunate side effect of turning those who ate it a metallic color as the magical pigments come to the skin.

>>94268332
But how do they catch them if the sawfish could just saw their hull in half?

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>>94266784
This is what a dragon looks like in this setting

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>>94271292
Dragons nest on the inside of the cliffs of Hamastra's mountains by carving large caves.
Reaching one by climbing up or descending from above is suicidal.

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>>94271225
Image: large castle-ship with a Sea-Wolf banner gently floating on the open seas like an inflatable life raft

there was a kind of vein of stone imbued with air energy (its strong but it floats like a ballon) found in the forgotten mountains. Once The Jalakra fell the large scale mining operations ceased thus the name "forgotten" due to its abandoned state. (the kind of abandoned where it looks like everyone suddenly vanished)
Some floating castles still remain active today! As the last of the sawfishers or as pirates raiding along the coast of jalakra (piracy is one of the few industries that has seen a BOOM, lack of pirate-hunters since the fall and also increase in trading between the peoples along the coast)

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>>94271710
>Sea-Wolf banner
How about this?

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>>94271535
"Id sooner climb a cliff!" -Hamastra Proverb
The favorite Mythological tale of Hamastra is that of Cliff-Racer, Long before... there was a Chieftain, this Chieftain met talking dragon, the Dragon told him like he told every human "leave this place at once! the animals and plants are much too large for you! Where are your wings? your teeth? your claws?"
Cliff-racer told the dragon "i need none lf those things and neither do my people, And ill prove it! Simply race me to the top of that mountain there, first to touch ground wins, if you win we shall leave forever"
The dragon accepted. the race begun- and the dragon took off at astounding speed. The cunning Cliff-racer grabbed unto the tail of the beast and was carried all the way to the top. Then... all cliff racer had to do was simply let go as the dragon looked for a spot to land. Cliff-racers feet hit the ground first and the talking dragon was impressed by the cunning of the Chief. From then on those descent from that tribe of were forever allowed to cower the land that belongs to the Dragons...

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>>94186729
This foul beast dwells on the northern shores

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>>94271939
Every winter season they migrate the warmer shores of the Northern Wardens (5) and Ice barbarians (23) perhaps other coasts too.

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>>94271904
Pirate version

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>>94272006
I could see a place called Sealshore
>>94271939
Like this a lot. That's exactly the vibe I'd like to see for the wildlife -- slightly weird/alt-evolution
>>94271292
Finding a unique look for dragons would be good but they have to have wings and not be lame. But the creature in that image could be a linnorm or something. I don't think dragons being native to Hamastra feels right; honestly, I don't know if they should be native to Ganalon at all — maybe they should be from elsewhere, just like humans. Linnorms in Hamastra could work though.
>>94271904
Like this, but a little too european for Jalakra. Why not make that the crest of the pirates of Rovinghaven in Ganaroth and have them call themselves "sea wolves"?

>>94272311
>they have to have wings
Why though? Making them visually unique sounds like an opportunity

>>94272311
that pic is one idea for a unique look for dragons proper. I like the way that picture play with their head shape -- you could use that idea or make their heads look unusual in some other way.

as for ideas to give dragons something unique, maybe they're bound in sleep until some future age or until a prophecy is complete. awaking one prematurely results in it being filled with supernatural rage. Stealing from their hoards awakens them, and villains or wizards will sometimes awaken them in order to dominate them (though often they fail to do so).

Or dragons were driven from Ganalon during a crusade called the Dragonpurge and now roost only on the southeastern peninsulas near Iirizon (we need a name for those southeastern peninsulas -- maybe Iiristar?)

>>94272360
As a general principle, making something more boring is the wrong way to make it unique. For example, you could make dragons unique by having them not breathe fire, but then they would just be less interesting. At the very least you have to replace it with something else interesting -- in that example, maybe they breathe magical energy or molten metal or w/e.

Like I said, a linnorm like creature like in that pic fits just fine, I just don't think that should replace all dragons.

>>94272311
if you want the sea wolves to be in the eastern ocean rather than in Ganaroth, you could also make them a colony of transplants from Ganaroth who sailed there

>>94268666
silkwall is an interesting name. I think probably that whole area is heavily forested. I can imagine a wall of silk spun from tree to tree to block humans passing west. Maybe intelligent giant spiders/driders?

>>94272006
I can clearly see the shores of the Wardens area and Evernight reach being rocky and seal-filled similar to the northern pacific coast. We're used to ice barbarians being polar bear or woolly mammoth themed; what about "walrus berserkers"?

My tentative name for the northern wardens was Everwatch. Instead of the grizzled old king you'd expect, maybe they're led by a stern military woman with an eyepatch. Hildegard or something? In fact, they don't use the title of King or Queen because they are humble, down to earth and entirely focused on fighting off the barbarians, so she calls herself simply Lady Hildegard (or whatever her name is).

>>94272524
While the people of Everwatch fight the barbarians, I think it would be more interesting and realistic to admit that Everwatch itself is the result of some barbarian admixture — at least with the southern barbarian cultures nearest its territory. This admixture isn't just racial; they've also adopted some barbaric religious practices, including the worship of the so-called "Clay Idols". This admixture happened in two ways: Everwatch was able to advance into and conquer some barbarian territories by force, and in other cases, southern barbarian tribes allied with Everwatch against their northerly rivals and eventually became absorbed into it as fiefs. Perhaps the Lady herself is of part-barbarian blood.

The major settlements of Everwatch are its capital, Everguard, which sits in a forward position to the north, guarding the coastal plain between the sea and mountains that leads to Evernight; the wave- and rain-lashed ocean port of Stormbuffet; the castle-port of Firekeep, which guards an important series of lighthouses on a rocky part of the western coast; and an interior port set on the bay that receives most of its maritime traffic due to the inhospitality of the open ocean. So why do they have the ocean ports? Perhaps because they are needed to maintain a system of coastal watchposts against barbarian sea raiders.

>>94272311
Alr OP ill stay far from the dragons from now on... How bout large flying birds in the skies of Hamastra instead, something to eat the Linnorms and keep the people scared. Then we still have the cliff nests reasonably.

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>>94273048

>>94273048
yeah that's based. I could easily see Hamastra being a place of monsters; it's this big open passage from east to west, so having it be completely settled and civilized is just boring -- makes it too easy. Passage through it should be dangerous in some way. That could be because it's full of monsters and untamed, or there could be some sort of hostile civilization there (or both). If you don't like the name linnorm/lindwurm, the wingless dragons could also be called demi-dragons, elder dragons, or whatever.

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>>94273183
Hamastra should be almost primordial. Flightless birds, Terror birds, giant wart-hogs, raptors, giant grazing birds (think a enormous kiwi bird). If the world is ruled by mammals, Hamastra never got that memo.

>>94273586
to tie into earlier anon's idea about there being ancient monuments of the gods there like the tower of tongues, it could be a land of "the works of the gods", including not just ancient structures but all kinds of magical monsters that people think of as "the gods' pets", living in their natural habitats or guarding ancient ruins. A land where man was never meant to tread type of vibe, more mythical than pure primordial wilderness. Maybe you have a race of strange humanoids who live there called "the Keepers" who act as overseers of the gods' ancient works. And of course, while men say it was the gods, who knows who really built these ancient things.
I could also see it being inhabited by giants, who would fit in well with the monsters and megafauna idea.
I'm not sure though. Personally, after finishing the Ganaroth region the next thing I'm interested in is the southern half of the western region, under the bay, with "Mistport" and "Malorienwood". I mentioned druidism for this area but I'm iffy on that because I'd like it to be something other than a cliche celtic area.

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Whos going to want to collaborate with someone who can only take ideas and make them more retarded? None of these have to do with "tone" its just your preference what you think is cool. I think magical plains full of magical monsters and magical humanoids who defend the magical structures is fucking stupid and lame. "the keepers" really? Wtf.

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>>94275397
one anon wanted ancient buildings of the gods there, another wants primordial beasts, hence magical monsters and magical structures. if you don't like it suggest something else.

I think the monsters direction, like anon's pic here >>94273053, could be cool. Wouldn't look like an african savanna though because it's in a more temperate climate than the rift valley in africa. One real world inspiration that could work is that in the waimangu rift valley in new zealand there's a steaming lake; maybe do that but for the giant lake in hamastra.

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>>94272385
The idea of a dragon came from venomous snakes so the OG babylonian dragons didn't have wings. They also weren't laughably huge btw. It's an attribute that was added later on and has been done to death by fantasy slop media so there is a strong argument to be made that the default fire-breathing winged dragons is already a pretty boring cliché. Going back to it's roots and exploring the concepts from there has much more potential for originality. But alright let's go by the rule of if you remove something you have to add something. So instead of wings every dragon has a Karfunkelstone inside. It's a part of the dragon's body that can be found in their brain. Its size depends on the dragon as well as its power. It is seen as sacred artifact the source of the dragins power and of great religious as well as monetary value.
After the dragon's death, the carbuncle is often used as a potent ingredient for magic or alchemy.

>>94276064
sounds cool, what if there are a fixed number of dragons and a dead dragon's carbuncle/firestone must be used to create another?

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>>94255821
Some quick AI concepts for the aelfborn high king of Ganaroth:
https://imgur.com/a/NzRMkfl

Names I spitballed above were "Meleth/Melyth Ironscar" and for his sword that shape changes into a woman, "Lady Darkruby". Northerners call him "The Elf King".

I imagine the aelfborn as wearing light delicate clothing like togas, robes and diaphanous gowns, and lately, the king is so sickly, delicate and mad that he is "pained" by the touch of clothing, so he wears only a white cloth toga or loincloth. He even claims to be pained by the touch of air now, so he spends long hours in swimming pools. Again, his skin has been scarred by the touch of iron, which aelfborn are highly vulnerable to because they're descended from fey. I imagine that he's covered himself with Pict-like tattoos, both aesthetically, to cover the scars, but also because he superstitiously believes they give him magical protection.

As for his sword, I suggested it was a dancing weapon but it might be cooler if instead he could swing it and cause wounds on people at a distance — an "air slasher" or "farstrike blade", possibly a common type of magic sword among the cowardly sorcerers of this setting.

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>>94276257
>He even claims to be pained by the touch of air now, so he spends long hours in swimming pools.
Here he is in a pool with his pet morays (those are supposed to be moray eels and they should be in the water).
Actually, why not give him a pet Loch Ness monster?

>>94276257
Let's keep ai art out of this, maybe.

>>94276312
can do an mspaint sketch if you prefer......

>>94276359
I'd much prefer this. No front by the way. AI art is just still looking so generic that it drains all creativity. A crude paint sketch or simple photo collage does a much better job conveying an idea in my opinion.

>>94276257
I really like the idea of swords that turn into women, but is it like a metallic-skinned iron woman or a real-looking one? I think real-looking and here's my explanation: these ancient elf-blades were made with blood magic, and the swords take the form of the maiden who was sacrificed as part of the ritual to enchant them. During this ritual the sword is used to kill the maiden, granting it its magical powers. and the two fuse.

Of course, the magic sword is only taking her physical form — it's the sword's spirit inhabiting her body, in this case a spirit of meteoric iron — a Lovecraftian spirit "from beyond the stars", for the iron came from a special comet whose origin was far beyond this solar system...

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>>94276203
Interesting concept. Maybe after dragons mate the female devours the male like spiders or praying mantises do. This way the stone from the father could be transported into the egg which the female dragon lays afterwards. This way the numbers would stay the same.
Also destroying such a stone would mean permanently destroying a dragon "soul" since technically dragons can't increase in numbers and are constantly in danger of slowly going extinct

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Let's discuss the nature of warfare in Ganalon? War isn't just war - war always teaches us a lot about a nation or world's culture, their art, their environment, life, geographical features, politics, philosophy and civil systems, and so much more. Understand the nature of war in a world then, and you'll understand the world better.

Some questions like, how is war conducted - in the air, land and sea? What's the most powerful weapon, magical ability/power or piece of technology/artifact here? Do firearms exist? Is the art of horseback-riding and cavalry well-developed? Are there any standing armies in the world or are there mostly mercenary bands which fight the wars for their lords and kings? What about medicine - in the context of war - is it man-made and conventional, using chemistry and folk knowledge, or do people use magic to cure amputated limbs and diseases after a battle? I'm curious on how air battles are fought though. If dragons can fly, then that means the battlefield of war is now three-dimensional. Also, do skyships or some form of aircraft using magic exist here? Stuff like these could help flesh out the world even better, and make sure stuff fits...

>>94254252
Beautiful. I see a world conquest campaign...

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>>94276591
>world conquest campaign
we could even take this one step further and have a legend which proclaims that when one combines all the carbuncles back into one stone (maybe forged in the fire of the last dragon or some shit) they merge back into the legendary philosohers stone which grants immortality and the abbility to turn everything the one holding it touches into gold

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>>94276591
>Do firearms exist?
No.

>>94186729
A city right at the start of the river delta known as Spine Break, so named because the mountain pass looks like someone broke the spin of some giant beast. It's a very rich city with access to the Verdant South, Hamastra, and Ganaroth as well as the rich farming from the Delta but is hotly contested for both it's richest and it's strategic location.

>>94276389
OK, for Lady Darkruby I'll offer you a hybrid vision board. The one trace of her sword-ness is long dark iron nails/claws. Red hair because iron/rust. Possibly the ritual on the woman who was sacrificed involved replacing her eyes with rubies.

DESU every half-elf clan should have their own woman-sword.

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>>94276781
forgot pic. and yes I hate AI art I just like having something to help visualize. We can make a rule MSPaint sketches only from now on.

Also since meteor it would be cool if she could go "fire-form" -- maybe her raid hair glowing like the trail of a comet.

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>>94276647
Medieval seven dragon balls desu.

Jokes aside keep cooking, this is a nice motive for the different nations/factions in the world to actually struggle and fight one another.

>>94276665
>No.
But magic exists...
And if magic exists, that means niggas can shoot people using lightning bolts and fireballs coming out of their asses...
So when someone who doesn't have any magical talent sees them doing that, he'll definitely start thinking, "how do I kill that asshole with the magical powers?" After a while, he discovers how to make an explosive powder as an alternative to magic. He uses this to make a cannon or a pistol, and that's history for you. Don't underestimate the creativity of humans for killing each other.

I imagine mercs and assassins who use gunpowder weapons exist, and they might hunt wizards and witches exclusively due to their weapons' ability to pen magic or kill the wiz before he can even react.

>>94258705
MASTER... You forgot to map the rivers! Imo maybe you have to at least put rivers on the map as the one of the basic detail of the land...

I kind of like this villain pair. Meleth whateverscar and Lady Darkruby. Ultimately the characters are what matter for an RPG.
>>94276591
I liked the idea of mystical gunpowders, but they are used to like create magical pyrotechnical monsters instead of to propel bullets. This is for D&D so I assume high medievalish potpourri. Certainly not guns certainly not chainmail and kite shields.
>>94276437
speaking of images, like this.

>>94276803
based derpy paint sketch

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>>94276827
> mystical gunpowders
Oh yeah, someone mentioned that. It slipped my mind but I wanted to ask about that too. You think magical crystals/resources exist, which can be mined or synthesized here? For example, a "wind" crystal which has properties related to the element of air/wind. So this stuff's used by mages to make foci specifically for channeling wind magic, etc. but when ground into powder, it becomes a powerful oxidizer/explosive. Something like that?

The whole magic gunpowder/crystal thing has many implications. Can these things be used to, for example, make objects float? Act as fuel? Lots of implications here.
>magical pyrotechnical monsters
Oh, what do they do ?

>This is for D&D so I assume high medievalish potpourri
Sounds cool. I guess if I were to do it (I tend to value realism as much as possible in my settings) magic and tech would feel like they both fit in equally in the world. Like you can have demon kings around, but also clever humans innovating by using both magic and metal to summon golems and naval gunships, etc.

>Certainly not guns certainly not chainmail and kite shields.
Oh sorry, I don't mean like guns guns, just maybe really medieval versions of gunpowder powered stuff. Think Turkish bombards and 12th century cast iron cannons. They don't exist at all here ?

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>>94276810
>MASTER... You forgot to map the rivers! Imo maybe you have to at least put rivers on the map as the one of the basic detail of the land...
this is where it annoyingly becomes about game design. North river, the River Wyvern, goes through the default starting area down to first major town (Wyvernmeet). From there it could go to starting port, Wyvernport, from whence PCs can sail to any of the other coastal areas. Or could go through Freefields down to the grave stone city of Althamont where you probably have wizards colleges or whatever. Or, it could flow down through the entire region and join the major southern river and lead to the capital.

All work but I'm not sure about the last one. I kind of like that the capital feels distant and you either have to go through a patchwork of warring states or take a long sea voyage to get there. also adds to the northwest-southeast cultural divide we've been discussing. So Wyvernport or Althamont.

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>>94276810
>keep cooking
Instead of fire dragons spew burning mercury (chemists don't ackshyually me it's magic I ain't gonna explain shit) on their victims which releases toxic fumes. Being part of the tria prima and a major planetary metal this further links them to alchemy. Also dragons smell like sulfur, can be protected against using salt and their hides can only be pierced by silver weapons.
Fire doesn't hurt them, it gives them energy.
They also chase their own tails and sleep gnawing on them.

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>>94276965
Then you probably have a couple southern rivers like so. One forming delta at south side of bay for sure, near the big city there. Then, it could also make sense to have Terathorn's Claim (the winding pyrrhic tract of land conquered by Kingdom 11) follow a river, but that might ruin the joke of that tract of land being so bizarre and circuitous. So maybe you instead put it to the north, as marked in cyan, so that the Warscar -- the area of land being fought over by the coast kingdoms of 7 and 9 -- is "between the two rivers" and each of their capitals is on one of the rivers. Also while unmarked on the original map there's clearly a spine of elevation along the wooded south where one or both of the southern rivers must flow from.

>>94276932
>I guess if I were to do it (I tend to value realism as much as possible in my settings) magic and tech would feel like they both fit in equally in the world.
Not dissimilar to what I at least have been trying to angle for which is that it's not low fantasy but the magical elements are tactile and grounded rather than like walls of arcane energy. Of course in practice D&D is D&D but I still think the vibe influences it.

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>>94276965
Uh, I think we might have another issue...

You know how rivers start, right? They begin high up in mountains and mountain ranges, and generally just high elevations. That's the problem: In the first picture, it looks like you're implying that the- Oh wait. The brown areas are mountains right? I'm such an idiot... So there's the rivers' origins.
>All work but I'm not sure about the last one. I kind of like that the capital feels distant and you either have to go through a patchwork of warring states or take a long sea voyage to get there. also adds to the northwest-southeast cultural divide we've been discussing. So Wyvernport or Althamont.
Wyvernport or Althamont it is. Besides, it just doesn't make sense for a river to flow from the Wyvern mountains(Irondale?) down to the capital, without rolling down to the closest point to the sea. It'll mean the whole Wyvern region is lower than sea level, which- yeahh.

I think you should see if you can put a mountain range/alps between the Wyvern region and the Capital, so it's not just a hike through plains and lowlands to get to the capital. Additionally, mountains there would mean more opportunities to draw rivers and other bodies/landmarks in Ganaroth. Find out their elevations, where's sea level, where's the lowlands/highlands, plus where it'd be logical to have fortresses/ruins at. Lots of stuff. Pretty fun to discuss geography and topography.

>>94277047
>>94277057
Saw this just while posting, reading...

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>>94271710
We need to make sure floating stone doesn't get too overpowered as a building material. Otherwise people would just use it for ships.
Hear me out. The floating stone material attracts much larger leviathans, see snakes and monsters from the dephts. Those condemned to death and and nihilist mercenaries are sent to these castles instead of being beheaded in order to hunt for the valuable materials of the sea wolves. These "castles of the damned" are regularly attacked by huge tentacles, long water snakes and other unspeakable creatures, each time claiming dozens of human lives. Every now and then even an entire castle is sunk by a particularly large sea monster. However, due to the valuable, long burning wolf-oil, the waterproof fur and the hardy saw teeth used for the production of tools and weapons which are essential for trade and survival, those castles are still worth building.

>>94277034
>Medieval seven dragon balls
To make things worse, a thing that is mostly unknown, whenever you destroy a carbuncle the carbuncle of the nearest dragon grows according to the size of the destroyed stone which increases its power accordingly. Dwarves for example believe the dragon stones must be ritually destroyed in order to purge the dragon plague but by destroying them they actually strenghten the dragons around them. The much smarter thing would be to keep them intact but hide them away from dragons which are attracted to them even more than to gold and will try to steal them away.

>>94276647
>>94277034
Like the alchemical theme. Specifics can be hammered out. An alchemical spin on D&D's metallic dragons would make sense. Could also connect to the earlier mentioned possibility of a connection between metallic dragons and the metal-skinned sorcerers of Jalakra.
>>94276810
>Medieval seven dragon balls desu.
Yeah fighting over dragoncores is cool.
>>94276932
> Oh sorry, I don't mean like guns guns, just maybe really medieval versions of gunpowder powered stuff. Think Turkish bombards and 12th century cast iron cannons. They don't exist at all here ?
Early bombards are certainly part of the medieval setting but I imagine them mainly in the east. Re mystical gunpowders it's whatever floats your boat; by pyrotechnic monsters I meant transient effects like the fireworks dragon from lotr or hp fiendfyre.
>>94277186
as the tone police that pic is definitely on-theme but not sold on floating rock, at least not as more than a curiosity you would see in small quantities in a lab. the floating citadel (probably singular) of Jalakra would be raised by some tremendous potentially blood and sweat fueled ritual, not floating rock.

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>>94277047
Ah, I seem to recognize this one! It looks like Portugal, if Portugal had a mountain range separating it from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. Or is it more like Peru...? Ahem
>put it to the north, so that the Warscar
That sounds right to me! A river running in between two warring kingdoms... The River Warscar - named so because the land is a face marred by the scar of war, and the river - it bleeds.

> Also while unmarked on the original map there's clearly a spine of elevation along the wooded south where one or both of the southern rivers must flow from.
That makes sense. Mountains and rivers always go hand in hand. From the looks of it, those ranges could be extremely rural/wild areas where tribes and hundreds of city-states/castles could live, considering high medieval.

>>94277057
Oh my, I realized it's the same post.. Let me also add: The bay (What's its name?) area, with all the rivers exiting out to it is a greaaat place and opportunity to place tons of fortresses and castle-cities in. With multiple rivers around, and deltas at the coast, kingdoms will certainly strategically place fortifications there as defense and territorial control. Forts and castles are almost always close to water because they need water to withstand sieges. I think that makes the name 'Warscar' even more fitting - this place is a battlefield for sure.

>>94277034
Sir, I think you just made a fantastical magic creature.
>Instead of fire dragons spew burning mercury
>Implying the dragons can metabolize/deal with the poisonous mercury in their system
Sounds like a Lernean Hydra to me. Their blood and stuff might be poisonous due to the mercury, so they'd be great monsters to fight. But I hope there's dragons that can be domesticated for human use...

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>>94277370
>An alchemical spin on D&D's metallic dragons would make sense.
>Leadwyvern
>Tindragon
>Mercurywurm
>Copperdragon
>Irondrake
>Silverserpent
>Goldwyrm
I like it.
That would still be quite tame though.
Why stop there. How about this:
Creatures of this world are divided into three categories:
>Biological life (birds, fish, mammals etc.),
>Geological life (metal dragons, golden goats, golems, orelings, tin men ...)
and
>Vegetable (wood stags, walking trees, mandrakes, vegetable lambs, root men, flower fairies, ...)
These beings are equally recognized as "normal" wildlife but, with the separation of their spheres, forming the fundamental alchemical tripartite division of the world, whereby sulfur stands for biological life, salt for geological life and mercury for plant life

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>>94277093
I mean it's O.K. to just have magic and say, "that's that. Don't ask any questions." while also maintaining realism. Magic when left alone gives that thrilling mystery vibe in stories, and the contrast is great.

>>94277186
>We need to make sure floating stone doesn't get too overpowered as a building material. Otherwise people would just use it for ships.
Hey that sounds nice. What if those 'floating stones' are only useful after they're properly refined by alchemists and such? Raw floatingstone could be not as useful as refined floatingstone, and the more refined/pure it is, the higher its buoyancy/thrust-to-weight ratio. People won't just build flying ships if it's exceptionally expensive to make.

>Re mystical gunpowders it's whatever floats your boat
This could replace the concept of gunpowder after all. Maybe cannons in this world are powered by magic powders from elements (fire crystals etc. for explosives) Maybe sulfur and saltpetre aren't well known. So where would it come from? Crystals or energy-rich substances? Off the top of my head, it could be used as ammunition/energy sources for mages casting their magic in different ways, to basic stuff like lamps/torches and fuel for high-temp magic furnaces.

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>>94277515
To logically follow up on this :
>Humans are biological.
They get born by sexual fusion and die rotting away.
>Elves are botanical.
They grow from the trees and when they die, they become wooden again.
>Dwarves are geological.
The grow inside the earth and when they die, they once again become stone.

>>94277572
I think by floating, the guy who introduced the stone only meant floating on water if I'm correct.

I think we should erase all the stuff from the op map except the stuff added in this thread in order to make thinks a little more clear and managable.

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>>94277515
>Creatures of this world are divided into three categories:
>>Biological life (birds, fish, mammals etc.),
>>Geological life (metal dragons, golden goats, golems, orelings, tin men ...)
>>Vegetable (wood stags, walking trees, mandrakes, vegetable lambs, root men, flower fairies, ...)
I like this one. This is seriously clever - it really feels like high fantasy when you add those things which we know for a fact are impossible in the real world. "Geological life" is by far the best here. You just know you'll likely see them underground and in dungeons.

>>94277652
Ahh, I see.

>>94277697
I think it's nice how we all got together over a single subject. Compared to /WBG/ this thread was super clean and cohesive, and we're actually making a world

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>>94277515
>Geological Life
>Geode Snake
The Geode Snake's head is an open geode split down the center to reveal sharp crystal teeth. Its rocky head is rough and jagged, and when it closes it's jaw it blends seamlessly into it's stony habitat. Each Geode Snake has unique crystal formations, with some sporting amethyst-like purple hues, others glinting with smoky quartz, and still others with blue-green celestite-like shards. The Geode Snake is blind and relies on its acute tremorsense to perceive it's sourroundings.
It's a patient predator, lying still for hours against a rocky surface, blending perfectly with its environment waiting for tremors, vibrations and other movements in its territory. It will glide silently beneath the ground striking when it's prey is the most unsuspecting. When threatened, the Geode Snake arches its head, exposing the vivid colors of its geode-head.
The Geode Snake subsists on a diet primarily composed of minerals and crystalline deposits found deep within caverns and subterranean rock formations. Over centuries, it bores through entire cave systems, leaving behind hollow tunnels.
Occasionally however, it supplements its diet with any creatures it encounters.
The Snakes Geode Head is highly sought after which is one of the reasons why dwarves hunt them using vibration-based lures. Some alchemists pay quite handsomely for the remains.

>>94277515
geological life sure, although with the metal cores it seems more like you're describing alchemically or magically created life than something naturally occurring. These aren't like silicon based life forms. My only concern is that if all the geological creatures have metal cores, that makes the dragoncores less special.

coincidentally, I just had a mental image, possibly for the east — obsidian beings in the shape of vaguely snake-like abstract statues.

>>94277748
>I think it's nice how we all got together over a single subject. Compared to /WBG/ this thread was super clean and cohesive, and we're actually making a world
Speaking of which when this thread defaults or maxes, I'll make another once I finally make the lore document. I want to make it a little more comprehensive than just writing down the things we've talked about -- going to flesh out each of the Ganaroth regions for v1.

Frankly, with 8 or 9 major regions on the map, it's probably best to laser down and do things region by region instead of jumping around. If you have anything to add for Ganaroth now is the time. My major questions are the basic historical facts:
1 - We seem to have settled on Ganaroth being colonized by sailors who landed on the northwestern bay. Who were they? How long ago did this happen? Were the ice barbarians part of this migration wave, or are they evidence of an earlier migration? If the former, why are they so culturally different? If the latter, how and when did they get there?
2 - The northwestern colonists came into swift conflict with the native fey. At some point, there was a dynastic war between the reigning northwestern dynasty and the southern aelfborn dynasty, who had intermingled with the fey and dwelt among the woods. What are the details of this war? How did the aelfborn/half-elves come to be, and why did they fight this war rather than the elves themselves? Do the elves still live here, or did they never live here permanently and always reside in a faerie/otherworld, only intermingling with humans occasionally (changelings, etc)?

>>94281029
>Do the elves still live here, or did they never live here permanently and always reside in a faerie/otherworld, only intermingling with humans occasionally (changelings, etc)?
This isn't bad actually. Maybe you do have elves but they are the ethereal/otherworld type elves of older myth, rather than fully physical Tolkien elves. You can't play elves themselves as a player race, but you can play different kinds of changelings and aelfborn with elf blood. And then there is probably at least one more earthly, plant-like fey race.

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>>94280692
>Geological Life
>Crystal Spider
The Crystal Spider is a rare and dangerous creature found in the deepest caverns and crystal-rich caves of Ganalon. It resembles a large spider with a crystalline exoskeleton in shades of rock crystal, quarz and even sapphire, with legs sharp as blades. Its web is made out of razor-sharp crystalline filaments, which glisten in ambient light and can slice through flesh like sharp wires. Crystal Spiders are notoriously territorial creatures, preferring to ambush their prey from hidden crevices.
Crystal Spiders are carnivorous and consume the flesh of any creature unfortunate enough to stumble into their domain, from small cave-dwelling animals to intruding adventurers. Once the prey is immobilized or killed, the spider injects it with a paralytic venom that slowly dissolves flesh, allowing the spider to drain the liquefied tissues for sustenance. They are known to leave behind undissolved parts, like bones or armor, which can litter the cave floor, marking the spider's territory.
While mostly hunting solitary crystal spiders sometimes form packs and create swarming nests inside especially crystal rich caverns which they use as their breeding grounds. The crystalline eggs of these spiders are used for all sorts of alchemical concoctions.
>>94280953
They don't have to have any core. I'd reserve that for dragons too.

>>94277640
pic on the right looks like an acceptable vision of a dwarf. conspicuously not bearded is good. they could be spontaneously arisen elementals or could be stone-slaves created with stone or metal cores to serve as laborers, either by giants or an old pagan civilization. maybe simply call them stone-men but common people call them dwarves because of their dumpy stature.

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>>94281064
>Geological Life
>Stalagmyr
The Stalagmyr is a creature with a body of stone and earth, somewhat resembling a turtle or lizard covered in various types of rocky outcroppings. Each Stalagmyr is unique in it's shape and size, with rock formations like gneiss, basalt, quartz, and granite adorning its back. These rocky protrusions grow and change over centuries, resembling the terrain in which the creature resides. Stalagmyrs are typically found in caves and mountainous regions. Their rocky hides are extremely resilient able to withstand harsh temperatures and physical blows alike.
The Stalagmyr feeds primarily on moss, lichen, and mineral-rich soil, absorbing nutrients to sustain its rocky physiology. Slow but efficient, it grazes on subterranean plant life and extracts essential minerals directly from the earth. It sometimes spends months in one location until the area’s resources are depleted.
The Stalagmyr has few natural enemies with the geode snake as an exception.
It's only defense is to burrow into sourrounding rock, relying on its hard surface to outlast threats.

>>94281029
have a mental image for the northerner-aelfborn war: aelfborn clans, each with their own lady-sword, come together for a war council at a sacred pool. Under threat from the humans, the bickering clans agree to put aside their differences and unite for war. They leave the choice of who will be high king to the nymph of the pool. She presents them with "The Sword Maleficent", an ancient runed stone sword, and has some kind of test for who shall wield it, with the winner becoming king. The Sword Maleficent still exists, but no one in their right mind would wield it because using it rapidly ages you or something. In fact maybe in the original war it passed between numerous wielders because each wielder would die after wielding its power for one battle or something.

maybe the northerner-aelfborn war was called "the War of the Burning Wood" and it was triggered by the humans deciding to burn down the entirety of the fey forests or something, setting massive forest fires.

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>>94281177
>Geological Life
>Stone Troll
Stone Trolls are towering, broad creatures with an imposing, jagged figure. Their body somewhat resembles a craggy mountain peak. Stone Trolls inhabit rocky mountain ranges, deep caves, and abandoned mines. Their huge boulderlike surface makes them difficult to spot in their natural habitat, as they blend seamlessly with the surrounding terrain.
They mostly feed on loose minerals and ores, digesting them to strengthen their robust bodies.
However Stone Trolls are also, aggressive territorial hunters with an insatiable taste for human flesh.
They hunt primarily at dusk and night, since sunlight petriefies them and turns them into eerie stone statures.
They often lurk around caves or underground because of this.
Compared to hill trolls, these creatures are much stronger, tougher, and more territorial.
The Stone Troll's body, especially their hunched bulging back, is made from various stones and minerals.
Stones such as slate, granite, and basalt form a rough hide, and especially old specimens even sprout veins of ore like iron, coal or silver across their backs.
Stone Trolls mostly rely on their sense of smell to track prey. Their eyesight is limited, leaving them with a murky, shadowed vision; however, their nose is exceptionally sensitive, capable of distinguishing the scent of flesh even through layers of stone.

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>>94281358
>Geological Life
>Pebbleback
The Pebbleback is an imposing creature, resembling something in between a massive bovine and a geological formation. Its body is robust and muscular, covered in a thick hide of weathered stone.
It's most striking feature is its back, adorned with large, flat slabs of hardemed stone. These slabs vary in shade, ranging from bright grays to muted browns giving the beast the impression of a living boulder. Their backs are often flecked with veins of quartz or other lesser minerals. The Pebbleback boasts two impressive horns that curve outward from its head, made of smooth polished rock. It's dense hooves, leave deep impressions in the earth as it moves. Fortunately, the Pebbleback is not a meat eater, but feeds on grasses and pebbles which it collects from the ground with its large mouth. Due to its enormous strength, dwarves use the Pebbleback as a draft animal to pull heavy loads and plows. However, these geological animals are very stubborn and can accidentally cause serious accidents at work due to their tough exterior.

>>94281029
>I'll make another once I finally make the lore document.
Considering how this thread is going. Maybe start a bestiary while you're at it.

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>>94281620
>Geological Life
>Boulderstrider
The Boulderstrider is a massive geological creature that resembles a large boulder formation at first glance. Boulderstriders inhabit rocky hills, crags and alpine meadows.
They thrive on the moss and lichen that grows on their rough surfaces, which they absorb.
It provides them with all the essential nutrients that they need for moving.
On closer inspection one can see that they slowly wander around on all fours somewhat reminiscient of they way in which large apes walk. The boulderstrider is a peaceful creature that remains dormant unless it is disturbed by loud noises or echoes. When this occurs, it becomes aggressive and may mercilessly attack if it can locate the source of the noise until it falls silent again. The attack of one of these creatures is comparable to a force of nature, and its massive club-like stone limbs leave nothing but bloody mud in its wake.

>>94281766
This one I think crosses the line into too JRPG. IMO the subtly mineral-related, alchemical, slightly magical ones like this gold ram pic >>94277515 are better than just "creatures made of rock".

>>94281934
It's not that far fetched. Basically just a natural golem without a face and task. Just wandering around instead of protecting something. Hardly more fantastical than a fire breating dragon. The gold ram is literally "creature made of gold" so I don't really see your point here besides it not attending to your personal taste.

anyway as we approach the bump limit I encourage people to add things for the Ganaroth region because I will post second thread after finishing the gazetteer for that region. Specifically these 2 questions: >>94281029
>1 - We seem to have settled on Ganaroth being colonized by sailors who landed on the northwestern bay. Who were they? How long ago did this happen? Were the ice barbarians part of this migration wave, or are they evidence of an earlier migration? If the former, why are they so culturally different? If the latter, how and when did they get there?
>2 - The northwestern colonists came into swift conflict with the native fey. At some point, there was a dynastic war between the reigning northwestern dynasty and the southern aelfborn dynasty, who had intermingled with the fey and dwelt among the woods. What are the details of this war? How did the aelfborn/half-elves come to be, and why did they fight this war rather than the elves themselves? Do the elves still live here, or did they never live here permanently and always reside in a faerie/otherworld, only intermingling with humans occasionally (changelings, etc)?

>>94281965
my personal taste is usually super high fantasy DESU. Tone for this one is just slightly different. You've made some good suggestions, I'm not dishing them by any means.
>The gold ram is literally "creature made of gold"
Interesting, to me that picture looked like it was like a living creature but with metallic fur and gold horns. fits with the idea of the "alchemical cores", which I think was quite interesting -- you have these living creatures, but with an alchemical essence inside of them.

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>>94281029
>1 -
>2 -
We could keep this history vague for now, or even outright just write it down as unclear/unknown. Personally I'd say about 4,000-5,000 years ago is a good enough timespan to say that ancient colonies landed on the northwestern bay to establish the first communities.

4,000 years ago, these people came from an unknown land beyond the oceans. They quickly came into contact with the superior native fey, some of which took over the colonists and enslaved them. As time went by, some humans learned to use magic as well, and they overthrew their fey masters to establish the first Kingdoms of Men. How did they do this? Some say it's because the human population quickly outnumbered the fey. Maybe it's because unlike the fey and other natives, Men are truly warlike beings who are willing to die fighting their enemies, while the fey are extremely fragile; although with their long lives, they don't procreate as much as humans at all, and they quickly became outmatched by the tenacity and perseverance of the human race.

While the fey died out, the Kingdoms of Men prospered and spread throughout the continent - but they also fought one another throughout the ages, until the present day. This also leads to the war between the Northwest and the Aelfborns, and the division between Men and the half-blooded Aelfborns.

The Aelfborns allied themselves with the elves because of their shared blood and culture, while mankind united itself against them. This might not even be a single great war at all, but just how the world was back then. The elves weren't wiped out in this war - they simply died out while the Kingdoms of Men remained strong. Thus, this is how the Ganalon today came to be.

Or something like that!

>>94282988
Damn I was assuming much more recently, like 500 years (sort of like if vikings had colonized NA and these were now their colonies in high medieval times). This is why it's good to discuss...

The obvious question is if northwestern humans arrived much longer ago, how? Primitive Polynesian-esque shipcraft? Riding flying mounts? Teleportation? Wind magic?

Some of the ice barbarians could be descended from "icewalkers" who walked here across a frozen sea or even across the north pole. Could even be these >>94233960

Others could be contingents of the main colonization wave who regressed into barbarism or never progressed past barbarism because they were locked into the hostile lands of Evernight. So multiple ethnic groups in the ice area.

For the main group, why is there no ongoing contact with wherever they came from? Fleeing a magical catastrophe that destroyed their home like Atlantis is overdone, but there must be some reason, especially if the timescale is longer. A fantasy reason is best. The dread sea serpents awoke? Giant wall of mist or storms? Giant whirlpool?

I could see them coming from island-farers who are like polynesians but white. Maybe they came not directly from another continent but from an intermediate island chain in the sea. I mean I suppose that's the vikings too, not just the polynesians, but that's sort of how seafaring civilizations work.

4500 years feels too long; if 500 is too short, maybe like 1.5k?

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if theres one thing I know about worldbuilding it's that due to the position of its hand, Ganalon has to be accepting a dance from another continent like this

(not canon, just an example)
my point is just that there must be something to the west, because it's gesturing toward it

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could also be facing off against something

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>>94283125
500 years isn't even enough to establish an origin history (which I believe is what you're asking here? [Who were they? How long ago did this happen?... What are the details of this war? How did the aelfborn/half-elves come to be, and why did they fight this war rather than the elves themselves?])

Things like colonies turning into kingdoms don't happen overnight, which is what a few hundred years is. I based my 4,000 years estimate on real history, considering ancient civs like Egypt and Sumeria, and how long they took to advance enough to leave a relevant mark on human history. So 4,000-5,000 years tops, and 2,000 years at best (e.g. oldest pyramid is about 4,650 years old today.) Because we don't know much about these ancient colonists yet. What's their technological advancement? Their level of culture and science? They came ashore on Ganalon, and that implies they already have the ability to build ships, and possibly the skill and knowledge to navigate and chart the seas using the stars, mathematics, etc.

That's just my theory.
>like if vikings had colonized NA and these were now their colonies in high medieval times
That's right. We know the Vikings knew how to use the Sun and stars to keep sailing night and day towards Vinland (America). If it's the case here, then it's possible to even say they reached Ganalon as early as 3,000 to even 1,100 years ago. BUT considering the existence of Fey, magic and other stuff here, there's going to be some stagnation that would've lasted many, many hundreds if not thousands of years. These colonists would be in conflict with the Fey, and that entails many things; e.g. They probably can't build anything bigger than a small city, and even then, they'd lose every war in the long run due to the might of the Fey, until the first human magicians and the Kingdoms of Men rose and the Fey began to decline. These things take millenias.

(1/2)