College of War

The first of two of short posts that touch things that have been only briefly mentioned so far.

The three colonies in the area of the the College are the Bay’s End colony, the New Sturmgaut colony and the Aeterna colony. B.E. is the colony formerly owned by Impera that was transferred to Fieon rule a while back. There are 3 larger towns in the Bay’s End colony - Bay’s End, Creek and Cairnswind. The fourth major population center in the area is the Johnstown seaport which serves as the main trade harbor, but is located on the most inhospitable piece of land imaginable, so it never grew into a place to live. But if you need something, Johnstown port is the best place to get that. For a price.

The New Sturmgaut colony is geologically separated from Bay’s End by a long cliff so massive that it is near impossible to scale and it actually changes the environment and nature on each side. On the northern side, it’s mostly conifers and birch, downhill these mix with oak, maple, beech, and elm. The Gerenians who have moved to the area have somewhat retained aspects of the heavily feudal system their homeland still values. There is a strong sense of hierarchical structure amongst the inhabitants even if there is more land to go around and people aren’t strictly bound to their lords.

The third colony in the area is the Aeterna colony to the north from B.E. area. It’s a joint venture from the Hisperans and the Anardi. Officially under the rule of the Queen of Hispera, the Anardi merchant lords are the actual rulers there. The Aeterna colony spans far north of St. Azmael river, with 2 other large cities within the borders.

Beyond the three northernmost colonies, there are a couple Imperan colonies on the coastline to the south, Fieon have colonized some lands southwest from Bay’s End. And when you go further south, you get to lands populated by Anardi and Hisperan. The Andegal have always found peninsulas a natural habitat and the towns they’ve established usually are located on remote islands. Some say they’re commencing piracy from the remote coves, but that might be just nasty rumors.

For ages we thought that the world was the lands we knew, but the journeys of Anardian and Imperal explorers across the Great Chasm yielded results that literally changed the face of the world. On the edge of the world, there is a whole new world. Everyone with ships and magicians set sails West, for the New World, Tera Neuve.

The Eastern Continent, Old World

The Old World is divided between three distinctive areas - in the North, beyond a near-impenetrable mountain range lies the Imperan plains - the heart of the Impera empire. Isolated from the rest of the world, the Imperans have always been forced to rely on their navy and trade through sea routes for foreign relations.

The Middlelands is the large continental area south of the Northen Peaks - habitable land-mass big enough for three Impera-sized countries: Fieon, Gerenia and Anardi. Of the three, only Fieon has had an easy access to the Ocean - Gerenia’s harbors are near the Northern Peaks and hard to reach by land from the main part of the country and Anardi’s connection to the Ocean is through the Southern Sea, around the Hisperan Peninsula.

South of the Middlelands is an area called Hisperan Peninsula that consists of the long and narrow peninsula (containing the country Hispera) and the surrounding Andegal islands. The Hisperan peninsula is sealed from the Ocean by a high mountain range, but they have huge harbors to the Southern Sea area in the east and south.

From this viewpoint, it is quite obvious why Fieon and Impera are the two leading nations to the expansion to the west. Anardi on the other hand requires a much longer explanation that stems from the political alliances it has made with Hispera and Andegal over the years.

The Great Chasm

When you sail far enough west from the Eastern continent, you realize why people for the longest time thought that it was the edge of the world - the water’s surface starts to literally bend “downhill”, with strange phenomenon as waterspout-like waves appearing from nowhere. You are attacked by elemental forces that are beyond any ship’s capability to survive. At least without a proper magician specialized in sea travel aboard to keep them at bay.

The first ship known to survive the Great Chasm was actually a Gerenian military vessel, who wanted to test their mages’ new shielding spells in extreme conditions. Followed by the news that the Chasm (known as “The Edge” back then) could be crossed, all the sea-faring nations sent out expeditions, and it is quite impossible to say who actually “found” the New World first.

New World, The Western Continent

The new continent discovered hasn’t been explored fully yet, but it seems to be a land-mass at least the size of the Middlelands, perhaps even larger. There were people living there before the explorers arrived, but these are primitive folk, with no idea how to use magic and who live on the strange animals found there. From the explorers’ and later the colonists’ point of view, it’s quite easy to divide the New world to two parts - the forested north and the arid south. The coastal area is habitable, but the conditions get harsher as soon as you start moving inlands. In the north, the wilderness might bear more fruit, but the winters are so cold you can actually freeze to death if you travel too far in the cold. In the south, the summer’s heat will cook you alive if you don’t find a shade.

Between the extreme areas rises yet another mountain range, making things inhospitable. Some returning explorers from further west tell tales of lands that could be hospitable to human life again, but no-one has yet sent a larger expedition beyond the Deadlands (as the inhospitable cold and hot areas are commonly called).

The land-areas that will be given less focus

Beyond these two, there are two larger land-masses that need to be mentioned, but which won’t be playing such a vital role in the campaign starting just now.

To the south of Old World is another land-mass, fully occupied by the Elves. They try to avoid contact as much as possible, and thanks to their aptitude with magics, the southern continent has become known as “Nightmare Lands” to the Old Worlders.

East from Anardi, connected via an isthmus is a land filled with strange cultures and exotic people. These people try to avoid contact with the Old Worlders almost as much as the Elves do, and are usually referred to as “East”. It’s known that Anardi trade with them quite actively.