Put turtle illuminati on the lower left corner island.

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>>94921297
>Not just some autist talking to himself.

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The left side continent is full of city states with a loose mutual alliance for defence and vastly diffrent cultures, but they viciously trade war with each other keeping a shifting power base throughout the alliance. They have nearly no navy aside from fishing armadas and a few light warships for protection.
The center continent is a vast kingdom under the leadership of a wise old king who has long kept order and peace in his realm. Many are simple farmers, merchants, and craftsman spending much of their time improving and working long held family homesteads and massive plantations (a rare feature of the kingdom is citizens land is there own and generally kept in the same family for many generations) and focusing heavily on traditions and raising extremely large families. While the Kingdom maintains a relatively large navy of highly capable warships, the extensive coastline spreads its forces too thin to effectively launch attacks..
The right side continent is split into 2 sections.. The northern waste.. A vast desert of glass and jagged metal decending into a massive crater from some forgoten tragedy.. and the southern desert, where a secretive society of lost technologys and secrets are squirreled away in hidden oasis of seclusion.. Forever fearful of some nameless forgotten terror, they live highly regulated lives even so far as betrothals at behest of the illusive Grand Council... Though extremely small in number, their many secrets, mystical and technological, make even the lowliest of their caste some of the powerful individuals in all of the lands. Their feared "glowships" are considered by others to be the most dangerous creatures in all the seas... luckily they are almost never used offensively, but the sheer speed and sight is enough to force even some of the sturdiest sailors to drop to the deck and weep...

What system of cosmology are we using here? Also, what's the scale?

>>94922535
What if the city states were placed in the giant archipelago instead? Where every island is a state? Turn the typical city state mercenary wars situation into a naval version instead.

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>>94921297
There are two massive canals at the points indicated that have been in use for longer than recorded history. Nobody knows who actually built them and they've been the subject of countless wars over the generations.

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>>94922614
I like the idea of this

No suspiciously round bodies of water this time. Maybe this one is a place of honor.

>>94922689
I think I might recognize one of the bodies in there

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These two islands are ruled by a lich king. Not a wizardy lich but a death knighty lich. All things considered, he's pretty chill for an undead horror who personally destroyed everything he ever loved, but he is objectively a blight upon the face of the world. Gave up on conquest a few centuries back, now he's content to do social experiments on his peasants to some unknown end.

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There is a theocracy run by a priestly caste with great political influence like the Pharisees in Ancient Judeah

>>94925611
Someone map territory

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Someone map out the "Varem Plains" a vast plains home to various tribes of centaurs who roam the land.

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Somewhere in the world is a gladiatorial arena where Lanista's run Ludus training gladiators in the art of combat to win glory and fame.

>>94925676
These games attract HUGE crowds.

Mammoths are still around & are domesticated instead of cows

>>94922535
>>94925597
The King of the Middle Island, Udla the Ancient, has ruled wisely for seven decades as did his wise mother Inder the Swift Hammer before him. The issue is that their rule is an anomaly in the history of the Middle Island (that has a better name but the locals call it just that in their own languages) and in the past it has been a split battlefield more often than not and the bloodshed might be soon returning.

Alas, the beautiful children of King Udla have all died before him and now his numerous grandchildren are scheming behind his back. Who of them will rule next? Not sure, succession has always been a complicated issue in the Middle Island. Even Udla wasn't a famous prince before he suddenly became the king.

Rumors of ships with black sails, murders most foul, necromancer students of the Lich King and secret mercenary armies are whispered in the palaces of the coastal cities. Have these whispers reached the ears of the king, no-one knows. If the King has a chosen successor, it is not public information. The previous princess who was the favourite of the court has been mysteriously missing for two winters.

>>94926991
Megafauna aurochs fill the role of elephants in armies.

These "/tg/ maeks settling" settings are all the same.

>>94929758
cry about it

>>94928493
I mean aurochs are just bison sized cows.

>>94930010
They’re smarter and more aggressive than cows, in addition to being bigger. These are even bigger and even more dangerous.

>>94930560
Which is exactly why they make bad mounts. elephants only worked in classical and medieval warfare because people learned getting them pissed on wine/mead made them suggestible enough to charge at enemies. Even then it was trivially easy to spook them. flaming arrows scared them shitless and they often just shattered the friendly lines in a blind panic.

>>94930759
>flaming arrows

stop being autistic about real history and start being autistic about fake history

A map this zoomed out is hard to fill in.

Also, one reply turning every major landmass at once into brief, single-sentence snippets without a hint of leaving space on the board is about the only "yes, and" thing I'll just say no to. Stuff like >>94922614 is how basically all of those things need to go.

Do we have a tech level? Age of Exploration, maybe? I'm always fond of Age of Exploration fantasy, and there's plenty of space for naval stuff on this map.

>>94934743
I was thinking kind of antiquity-esque for some reason. Maybe something like a blend of exploration era tech and antiquity aesthetics?

>>94934743
>Also, one reply turning every major landmass at once into brief, single-sentence snippets without a hint of leaving space on the board is about the only "yes, and"
Agreed. “Yes and” should be the principle by which we approach this endeavor.

>>94934743
Agreed, it’s better to focus on one continent or region than a whole world

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>>94921297
This island right here? Not actually an island.
It’s a giant Shark

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>>94922614
>>94922673
Commonly referred to by outsiders as the "Entente"
Historically, the islands have never had many formal alliances among themselves. Though foreigners tend to lump them all together under the same cultural umbrella, there is hardly any kinship felt for one another by the far-flung islanders. Perhaps in some distant past, these islands were settled by (mostly) the same peoples. Common belief places it some thousand years ago or more, with the intervening period to modern history being a nearly endless cycle of blood feuds and purges and inter-island warfare.
Then, from the north, a grand empire made the foolish decision to invade.
Though the people of the Entente saw one another as strangers, these foreign invaders were truly alien. Ancient enmities were put aside, even if only temporarily, in order to unite and drive out the imperial forces. A century of bloody warfare followed, some islands were left entirely depopulated, but eventually the empire crumbled under the pressure of protracted warfare and internal conflicts.
Within a decade, the island cities were warring with one another again. With no outside force to rally against, old feuds flared up and blood was shed once more.
Despite this, the wars of the modern era are far less brutal than in ages past. No longer do the members of the Entente seek to wipe each other out, merely to establish supremacy (however temporary) over their rivals.
Perhaps a man of the Entente can tell his fellows apart by the way they wear their hats and the shape of the buttons on their shirts, but a grudging respect has been instilled in the islands.
In smoke-filled taverns and in the parlors of mansions alike, there is one word that seems to tumble from every pair of lips.
Unification.
In a hundred years, perhaps the Entente might be united bloodlessly; or perhaps a cunning warlord might arise from the isles and take its many shores for himself.

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I added a lake to the eastern canal.

1. Udla's Kingdom (>>94927149; needs name)
His mother knew she would not live to see the completion of the grand canal project she had begun, but bringing it to completion is one of Udla's proudest achievements as king. Udla knows his kingdom is on the verge of stretching itself too thin - the canal provides a much needed link between parts of the kingdom that were at the greatest risk of drifting apart.
2. The Entente (>>94940254)
3. The Varem Plains (>>94925620)
A vast steppe, hemmed by mountains and home to nomadic centaur tribes. The messy border with Udla's Kingdom is a consequence of their ever-shifting movements. One tribe signs a treaty, but then another tribe cuts through the borders the treaty established. No attempt to conquer the tribes has succeeded. The expansionist nobility in Udla's kingdom push for a campaign of extermination. They are ill-prepared for the risk of unifying the centaurs against a common threat, but Udla grows old and his nobles grow restless.
4. The realm of the Lich-Knight King (>>94925597; needs name)
5. Ulketh
Realm of a wizardly Lich King, Vehenn, who prefers vassalization and political maneuver to grand conquest. Snow elves and undead. Solid stone architecture with Norse carvings. Ulketh trades through Lenzyr, importing crops for its living population and lumber for the Ulkethi Dead Fleet. The island chain between Ulketh and Lenzyr is connected by a series of enormous stone teleportation arches, creating the famous Broken Causeway.
6. Lenzyr
East Asian-themed fox people. Vassal to Ulketh. Fanatically loyal to Vehenn due to his arrival matching with an ancient prophecy (he may or may not have done this on purpose). Often twist things he says into an excuse to conquer (they were certainly not asked to claim those distant islands). They currently 'share' a deserted island with 4. because Vehenn didn't want Lenzyr to drag themselves into yet another war "on his behalf".

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>>94943172
Shid, wrong image.

>>94943172
>>94943177
(cont.)
7. Naera - or what's left of it.
Norse-themed snow elves. The last stubborn holdouts of the kingdom that once ruled the island before Vehenn's conquest. Most of the rest have integrated into Ulketh (many didn't even need to move), but on the icy edge of the world, these noble warriors still hold back the Ulkethi advance adamantly. They live to be a thorn in Vehenn's side... but they know it's only a matter of time. Some Naeran parents send their children to live in Ulketh, unwilling to subject them to the winter starvation now common in Naera. They know their own children imploring them to join them in Ulketh is the insidious intent of Vehenn allowing the practice... but knowing that is not enough to stop it from working. Naera's last and greatest warriors may end up conquered in their very homes, bloodlessly.
8. Vraph
(inspired by >>94939716 - oceans are not deep enough for a shark that size, unfortunately) A kingdom of amphibious merfolk (still legless) who live on the back of a gargantuan dragon turtle, also called Vraph. The smaller island is her head.
9. Quviel
A land of towering Gothic spires and cobble streets, ruled by vampires. Humans, despite effectively being cattle, are still treated fairly well. The vampire queen Myrdria is notoriously mercurial about everything except her realm's logistics (and her unrequited - as far as we know - crush on the Lich-Knight King of 4.). Quviel is an absolute menace on the battlefield due to their use of tamed, vampiric smilodons (I like keeping ice age megafauna around, >>94926991) whose enormous fangs can pierce plate armor with ease and who can drain the vitality of a fully grown mammoth in seconds.
10. >>94925611 (needs name/details)
11. Turtle Illuminati (>>94921390; needs name/details)
A culture of political intrigue and constant information gathering. The long lives and distaste for conflict of the native turtle people have created a culture of patience and skillful indirect influence.

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>>94943172
>4. The realm of the Lich-Knight King
Artahn the Deathless has been many things. He was a quiet and shy boy in his youth. He was branded a murderer for the killing of a friend, after being attacked in a quarrel over a village girl. He has been a bandit lord, a mercenary captain, a knight of great renown. A lich, born of violence and despair. He once held the fate of the world in his hands, having only narrowly been forced to abandon his ambitions in ages past.
Unlike most rulers in the Sea of Souls (So called for the thin connection to the afterlife in the waters of the south), Artahn was never a weaver of spellcraft in life. He gained power by force, ripping it from the hands of slain wizards. Stolen power and stolen rituals made him what he is now. It is said he cut his own death from his soul and cast it into the sea, buried it in the earth, hid it inside a needle inside an egg inside a duck, or guards it jealously inside the deepest vault of his castle.
Regardless of the truth, the fact is that he remains. He has been slain five times, and each time death has refused to keep him. He has been a hero and a villain.
Now he is tired, and he spends his days contemplating philosophy and social engineering. He writes poetry, reads books, and hoards magical artifacts.
In the east, on the Isle of Lanet, he builds and tests fortifications. His castle rises high from the mists, great black stones reaching toward the heavens. It is here that he dwells.
In the west, on the Isle of Brayesse, his people live and toil under the watchful gaze of his followers. There are few cities, most living in villages kept mostly isolated from one another outside of sanctioned holidays and licensed merchants.
The shadow of Artahn looms large in the south, despite his retirement. If rumors of his involvement in the brewing succession crisis are true, perhaps they are right to be wary of this ancient warrior.
He could not be reached for comment on Myrdria's attempts at courting him.

>>94943183
Any thoughts on where you'd stick (>>94925676) or would it be until some anon makes the appropriate civ?

If someone makes a wiki please use Miraheze instead this time

>>94921297
The magma core at the center of the earth is powered and ruled by elder dragons

>>94943750
Could put it somewhere in that collapsed empire mentioned in >>94940254

Ordo Lunaris Argentei: The Order of the Silver Moon is a loose collection of Duidic Clans of Shapechangers. These wardens of Nature have been fighting Demonic Corruption and Evil, but the Order is extremely bearucratic, with each Clan respecting different traditions to be followed in order to make them move to protect anything beyond their wildlands.

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>>94943919
Something like this?

>>94943950
Amazing

>>94927149
gpt

>>94922003
kek

>>94943750
I made the map thinking of Udla's kingdom as Roman-themed for some reason (in the later stages of the Roman Empire: perhaps the closest thing to a superpower in the world, but verging on too vast to rule from the capital), so I'd thought the gladiatorial games may have been taking place there. A nation based around gladiatorial games as a culture far deeper than just a source of entertainment does sound interesting.

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>>94921297
Halflings are infamous for being lecherous little shits that hoard food. While they make excellent quartermasters or shopkeeps, hobbits are notorious for being exceptionally rowdy and being unable to hold their liquor. Think of the Wizard of Oz: during filming, they didn't have any money to pay the Midgets so they stuck them all in a hotel and paid them with beer which resulted in massive orgies and fights. But despite it all, these lecherous, hoarding, alcoholic hobbits who are worse than Injun Joe at keeping their liquor have a king in one mid-sized faction.

He looks like pic related.

>>94944126
It's also in the Ganaroth thread.

>>94947350
Gladiator anon here
No that sounds really cool. just thought it would be a cool thing to add to a specific nation as a perk

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One of the main heroes is a stranded astronaut.

pick one of those island clusters and fill them with savage inbred cannibal pygmies that make all of their tools and clothing from other humans

>>94948528
I like this

>>94948528
>>94949058
This but they’re also catgirls

>>94950225
They were regular women once until they ran aground on an island ruled by a powerful and malevolent jaguar spirit. A bargain was struck.

>>94948507
That is a darn fine native girl

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>>94948507
He comes from a planet with higher gravity, giving him great (relative) strength in this setting.

bamperino

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>>94950780
When the slavers found him, he was chained and taken to the games where he fought scores of beasts and men. The sorcerer kings looked on with awe as the world's most ferocious warriors, the most savage monsters, fell to his blade.

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>>94952546
Countless days and nights he fought, blood staining the ground as the howling spirits of the fallen roared in rage. Traitor legionaries, the walking dead, feral slaves, terrible lizards and vengeful amazons... He was unfazed even as the bodies piled on, the crowd roaring for more as they grew ever thirstier for more. But he never broke, dreaming of the world outside of the gladiator compounds and the arena.

Instead it's a few autists talking to themselves, great job

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>>94952655
The finest mares were given to him, for the sorcerers couldn't imagine a finer stallion. They dreamed of fielding an entire army of mighty gladiators that would put their enemies to the sword.

>>94952708
That's every thread with more than one poster

>>94952708
>a few autists talking to themselves
that's just /tg/ bru

>>94952546
>>94952655
>>94952741
You do know this is a setting thread, right? Stuff like >>94943695 is how you do this - he needs an actual place in the world. "Hurr durr muh not-John Carter guy is the physically strongest and sex-having-est humanoid in the entire world" is fine as long as you give us a place to actually put him.

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>>94925676
>>94943856
>>94947350
>>94948242
>>94948507
>>94950780 ( & Etc. )
>Fig. A, the magocratic Sybellon Empire at its height.
In an age long past, before the Missing Years, the Sybellon Empire reigned supreme. Untold advances in magic gave them the means to conquer the continent. Modern kings salivate at the thought of their many magical weapons of war, but the wise know it was their supreme capacity for logistics and communication that won them their supremacy.
With conquest came luxury, and with luxury came decadence. Fine silks, wines, spices, and jewels poured into the Empire. The ruling caste, the Sorcerers Rex, grew debauched and indolent. All those with no magical talent became slaves, and all those with it began to scheme against one another for power.
The great arena at Harnoss drew visitors from all over, where gladiators were pitted against monsters and each other. It was one of the few venues where the Unenlightened, those without magic, were able to find advancement.
During the fall of the empire, as the Missing Years drew close, the arena at Harnoss saw the emergence of one gladiator in particular. A strange man from some far off land, unheard of even in mighty Sybello. He is now long dead, even his name obliterated from history by the machinations of the Sorcerers Rex, but the outlander's shadow looms large over the Harnossi of today.
He was tall and strong, with a voice like thunder. His eyes burned with a fury that could not be quenched. He was the envy of every man, the desire of every woman; or so it is said.
When a patron's wife seemed too intrigued by this gladiator's meteoric wife, he was betrayed and nearly murdered on the orders of a man he thought of as a friend.
It was then that the outlander knew: The Sorcerers Rex and all their ilk could not be trusted. A man like him, an Unenlightened, could never truly be free. He had traded his shackles of iron for ones of gold, and he paid for them in the blood of men like himself.

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>>94958102
The outlander plotted to liberate himself and his compatriots. For too long, they had fought and bled for little more than trinkets and the amusement of their captors. The Fifth Unenlightened Revolt erupted when a gladiator was beaten to death for the crime of limping where the audience could see him.
What began as an arena riot quickly grew. Slaves strangled their masters with the chains that bound them, and the Unenlightened freed themselves. It would have been a short-lived rebellion, to be sure, for by their very nature they lacked the means to fight the Sybellon mages as equals.
As luck would have it, costly wars on the frontiers and infighting among the Sorcerers Rex drew the attention of the bulk of the Sybellon military. It was an opportunity the outlander could not ignore.
Lightning strikes won the day, aided by sympathetic slaves. No door could be barred that one of the Unenlightened would not open as soon as his master looked away. Weapons were seized, then forts, then cities. Harnoss became the beating heart of the outlander's rebellion, and runaway slaves came in droves.
Then, at the Battle of the Black River, tragedy struck. The outlander was wounded in battle, struck down by the magic of Sybello. He survived, but he was a shadow of his former self. He could no longer fight, his once great strength only a memory.
However, even while bedridden he refused to back down. The Black River swallowed countless Sybellon soldiers, and even today one can hardly trawl for catfish without turning up a helmet or two. When he finally succumbed to his injuries, he demanded that his skin be made into a drum that he might continue to inspire his men after death. The slave army named themselves his orphans, and the war dragged on. Eventually, the price of invading Harnoss grew far greater than what would be gained by retaking it. The Sybellon army recoiled under the weight of its many wars and rebellions, finally too weak to do more than cede ground.

>>94958102
>When a patron's wife seemed too intrigued by this gladiator's meteoric wife
Meteoric rise. Rise!

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>>94958200
>12. The Republic of Harnoss
The fate of the outlander is shrouded in mystery. During the Missing Years, it is believed that one of the Sorcerers Rex cast a spell across the land in order to blot out the memory of the outlander. All forgot his name, his face, his voice. Perhaps the mage thought that, without the memory of their savior, the slaves of the empire would quail and return to a more pliable state. No such luck.
His voice was gone, but the outlander's words remained. His face was gone, but his followers still stood. His name was gone, but the cause he championed still shone.
Eventually, after the end of the Missing Years, the Empire was gone and the Harnossi were free.
The arena still stands in Harnoss. The Outlander's Orphans still remember their friend, the father of their cause. They still battle one another in the arena, but for sport and for law. Disputes are settled upon the sands, and the vanquished are invited to return stronger.
The outlander himself left behind descendants. Sixteen sons and five daughters by seventeen different women all claimed patrilineage from the outlander.
Among his belongings were a number of treatises on technology and warfare, as well as a mysterious map that he claimed would lead "to the stars" on his deathbed.
The Republic of Harnoss, like most Imperial Successors, is littered with ruins dating back to the Sybellon Empire. Forts and roads and great walls, as well as many hidden crypts and towers out in the wilderness. As far as Successors go, it is a relatively peaceful land; the Orphans spent much time hunting down those mages who would not accept the rule of the Unenlightened, as well as driving out those beasts too dangerous to live beside.
A hot wind blows in from the north, as hot as the blood of the Harnossi.

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>>94958102
On a large island to the south lies a splinter faction of the former Sybellon Empire, the Mercendax Conclave. After a political conflict during the debauched height of the Empire, one group of Sorcerers Rex fled the imperial heartland to establish their own freehold, subjugating the local peoples with their magical prowess. Here, each Sorcerer established his own domain and allied only so far as to deter any attacks by the Sybellon military.
Because of their decentralized nature, the Sorcerer-Patricians lacked the military might of their Sybellon forebears and instead leveraged their strategic position to establish a mercantile and economic powerhouse. This turned them from potential rivals into trade partners with Sybellon.
After the fall of the Empire, the Sorcerer-Patricians expanded their reach over the seas. Across the former empire and beyond, trading posts of the Mercendax families can be seen.

The Mercendax Conclave inherits much of the decadent culture of old Sybellon, and they too value magic greatly, but to the Mercendax power and magic are best exercised subtly. Better to pit enemies against each other than fight them yourself, and better to convince the "unenlightened" that their services are merely less valuable than the magic-wielding elites'. As such, the laws of Mercendax society allow anyone to climb up the status hierarchy, provided they can either be adopted into the family of someone higher-ranked or can pay a registration fee.
In reality, Mercendax society is as stratified as old Sybellon, if not more so. At the top are the Sorcerer-Patrician families which have absolute authority within their mercantile fiefdoms. Below them are the Magisters, the magic-users who run the operations of the Sorcerer-Patricians. Below the Magisters are the Servants, the descendants of the Patricians' and Magisters' servants who came with them from old Sybellon. Finally, the Natives of the island are brutally subjugated, bearing no rights.

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>>94959878
Because each city in the Conclave is run differently, the Natives in each city are also treated differently. In some, they are treated as freely as the Servants and able to climb the social ranks. In others, they're forced to perform hard labor for menial wages, if any. And some, particularly those bordering the domain of Ulketh, treat the Natives merely as livestock to be converted into undead servants or used as blood stock for arcane rituals.

The governance of the Conclave seems arcane to outsiders, for each ruling Sorcerer-Patrician has a say in the government. However, as the cities have expanded and more families have risen to the ranks, the Conclave created three governing councils: the Triarchs' Council, the Collegium Collegiorum, and the Conclave General. The Great Council consists of the three most respected Patricians, elected by the Collegium Collegiorum; it decides on the affairs of state, including diplomacy and military.
The Collegium Collegiorum, or "College of Colleges," consists of seven Patricians, elected to handle the appointments of officials and oversee nominations. In disputes between the cities of the conclave, they will often act as judges. Motions by the Collegium typically require a simple majority vote.
Finally, the Conclave General is the original governing body, of which every ruling Patrician is a member. As such, it can overturn the decisions of the Triarchs or the Collegium. However, these kinds of substantive motions typically require a 2/3 supermajority to pass. A simple majority only works for procedural motions and appointments, such as to the Collegium.

This structure makes wide policy-making slow, but likewise prevents the formation of broad empire-building. These days, one can only become a member of the Patricians with a supermajority by the Conclave General, making the feat extremely rare.

tl;dr they're an apartheid merchant magocracy that combines the Telvanni of Morrowind with medieval Venice.

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>>94959878
>>94960003
>13. the Mercendax Conclave
Given their current size, one might wonder how they got that large if they were as inefficient and peaceful as described. The answer is surprisingly simple: each city only allows one Sorcerer-Patrician, but each ruler has many children. Some go so far as to keep harems and have more children than they have peers. These children inevitably compete to inherit, but many others strive to establish their own cities and ascend to the Patrician ranks like their forebears. Raised from birth to rule with a golden fist, many of these Patrician scions had the means and the will to establish their own demesnes.
Thus, while the conclave itself abstained from armed conflicts, a Patrician's son might decide to go on an independent adventure and establish his own domain. And, with the political backing of his parents, admitting this domain to the Conclave is not such a difficult thing.

This system has led to an explosion of Patricians, going from 11 when the Conclave was first established to 113 at the present day. The current system was established in part to allow new Patricians to be admitted without causing diplomatic crises, as Triarchs could "deal with" ambitious Patricians without upsetting the existing order.


Also, I'm not sure who the native peoples of the area should be. Maybe cousins to the fox people of Lenzyr?

>>94959878
>>94960003
I'm curious about those little spits of land/tiny islands that were loyal to the Empire despite being so close to (and eventually absorbed by) the Conclave.

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>>94943695
The Lich King had an interesting hobby: he would corrupt heroes and raise their broken bodies as his generals. They're called the Fallen Lords and have been soul bound to their new master, serving as his ruthless commanders through the centuries. They are nameless, only known by their titles for Artahn made them forget. They are:
>The Burned Man: formerly a devout cleric, a priest who raised orphans and took care of widows, now a ruthless demagogue who hates his former faith with a passion. He twists scripture as he leads the Black Crusades into the lands of the living, venerating perversions of his former god as he takes his bloody revenge, mutilating holy symbols and corrupting other men of the cloth. It's believed he was roasted alive before Artahn made him the way he is.
>Stormbringer: former barbarian king who marched into battle with a hammer that, legend holds, attracted lightning like a rod. Whenever he marches to battle, monstrous weather precedes his arrival: hurricanes, blizzards, sandstorms, even tornadoes precede his armies. While his hammer is gone, his golden hair long since fallen from his rotting scalp, his blue eyes now burning orbs glaring from near impenetrable armor, he still leads the savage draughs into the fray. Despises rogues.
>Whisper: in life, an accomplished young woman who was the envy of the land. The daughter of a merchant, he defied convention when she married the Prince who slew a dragon. Now? She's a hate filled illusionist with a mutilated face. A trickster who uses shadows and smoke to hide her movements, leading vampires and ghouls against the forces of man. She gambled and lost it all, a true rogue.
>Bonegnasher: a cannibal wrapped in linen as his face is hideously deformed. Little is known about his origins save for a possible life as a beggar before his lost city was burned to a crisp and he was brought into Artahn's fold. He's associated with rats, ghouls, and pestilence that follow him.

>>94958102
why does this map look like what the EU would look like after WW3 thermonuclear war

Are we making an alternate history, fantasy post-earth?

Can we have the comet lich as a reoccurring natural disaster?

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>>94961087
Cont.
>The Deceiver: a wizard that wears a multifaced mask that eats souls, absorbing their knowledge. He's a devious trickster but can't get past the fact that Artahn deceived him. Unlike the others, he's perfectly fine using mortal men in his armies... Sometimes forcibly conscripting entire cities to be used as massed human shields. He's got more of a comic side to him, well aware he's fucked, but every bit as cruel as his peers.
>The White Lady: the beautiful witch. Once seen as the hope of the world, her breaking was considered one of Artahn's greatest achievements. The Good Witch is now a monstrous tyrant. Devious, spiteful, and cruel- she gives out curses like they're candy. She's egotistical and always has to be the one in charge, which makes him both a valuable asset to Artahn and an extreme danger.
>Shifter: a woman that can shapeshift into a whole host of creatures. She's always wrapped in fur, and is hardly ever seen outside of a thick fur coat. She always smells like herbs as she's always mixing new potions. Despite the only sign of her being human being two glowing red eyes poking out of her coat, she's the only one remotely capable of mimicking human interaction... And is very petite, much to the Deceiver's Amusement.
>The Burning Crown: the Crown is a complete lunatic. Just disembodied flame in the shape of a man, he wants to take vengeance on those that took his throne. The crown seems to be the only thing giving him a physical presence in the mortal world.
When they take ride, run mortal. Run to the very edge of the world... But know it is fruitless. They will hunt you, they will kill you, and will take your soul to Artahn. And know that some fates are worse than death.

>>94921297

I've never understood why /tg/ doesn't make a single country at a time. Everyone spamming random ideas rarely ends with even a remotely decent setting. You just get a small handful of areas with decent lore and some with (insert op fat fetish hero/villain godtier self insert) character. Can we be more autistic and less ADHD with these threads?

>>94960433
The Empire's reach was long, and it inevitably already had a couple colonies in the region already. Those islands, however, were sufficiently remote from the center of power that the fleeing sorcerers and future Patricians posed no threat to the empire. Particularly at the beginning, the Patricians found the imperial outposts to be boons, not hindrances, for they had to build their city-states from the ground up. The only resource they had in abundance came from the native peoples; during times of conflict with them, the Patricians would sell the prisoners of war as slaves to be shipped to the Empire.

Their policy changed as the city-states became more fully developed and the Conclave's institutions formed, at which point the Patricians favored expanding their mercantile influences. Incidentally, the Sybellon Empire was in the midst of its collapse; the seas around the Conclave quickly saw a collapse in a central authority.
At this point, the Conclave voted unanimously to declare itself the sole controller of its island. The imperial outpost in the center of the island acquiesced and its governor joined as a new Sorcerer-Patrician, but the eastern outpost tried to declare itself a free city. The ruling Patricians declared one of their own the ruler of the city and united to impose him upon them by force.
This comradery only arose because the Sorcerer-Patricians believed consolidating the island would allow them to reduce their military presence and only maintain a navy. War is, after all, bad for business.

The island acquisitions followed mostly according to >>94960097. Each island is basically its own city-state ruled by a Patrician who took over the area.

>>94961087
>>94961204
Are they sticking around in his little kingdom now that he's retired from trying to conquer the world, or do you think one or more of them have fucked off to try and establish their own little undeadocracy?
>>94961142
>Comet Lich
I'm imaging some kind of undead alien monstrosity, the greatest necromancer of a world long-dead. It occasionally passes by this world, greatly amplifying the local necromancy while it's nearby. Attempts to communicate with it have thus far been unsuccessful, but its path is fairly regular and nations make plans around its predicted arrivals.

>>94931231
Yeah, that's what I said. Retard.

>>94934743
Every region is a different tech level, none of which are analogous to any period in Earth's history.

>>94953726
Retard.

>>94957017
Fuck off

>>94948528
>>94949058
>>94950225
>>94950277
So if I've got this straight... this'd be an island cluster populated by violent, diminutive catgirls who eat people and reproduce by... what, parthenogenesis? Mitosis?

Maybe they lay eggs.

>>94965682
What part of "it's fine, just tell us where to put him" upset you, anon?

>>94964891
Hang on, I thought the meteor was his wife. (>>94958102 and >>94958254 had me imagining our nameless John Carter expie marrying an alien woman made of space rocks. Which, IIRC, is... quite similar to a part of the original Ben 10 canon? I may be misremembering.)

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>>94967334
>Hang on, I thought the meteor was his wife.
I made a typo in the group chat. Please do not get my ass. Having him have a wife somewhere made out of space rocks would, however, be fine. I have no objections there.

>>94967334
they lay eggs into human men and women and once gestated the ravenous kittengirls eat their way out of their victim

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>>94950225
>>94948528
also they look like this
>>94967334
>So if I've got this straight... this'd be an island cluster populated by violent, diminutive catgirls who eat people and reproduce by... what, parthenogenesis? Mitosis?
there are only two types of captives: "meat" and "manmeat" -- favored "manmeats" are kept alive for decades and reused by the entire tribe over and over again, which leads to the aforementioned inbreeding problem

What have we got so far anons?

>>94968110
I think I prefer the eggs idea >>94967403

>>94967403
Their sexual organs are physically compatible with humans (they have a vagina) and catgirls are seen as sexually desirable, however if they are in heat a spiked ovipositor with sharp mandibles will descend from their womb for egg laying purposes. This is why slave catgirls are commonly sterilized.
They lay clutches of up to twelve eggs into their victims and usually at least half survive the hatching process, the rest being devoured by their siblings or crushed by the trashing of their victims. Typically about a quarter survive until adulthood although catgirl mothers are successful hunters and will be able to support the full dozen kittens if the clutch gets unusually lucky.
In nature catgirl culture is isolated as they are solitary territorial hunters. If forced into human society their hormonal cycle is disrupted and they will strongly bond with a frequently seen human and go into heat much more often. Thus the need for sterilization as the situation can get dangerous quickly.

>>94968455
There's currently no short summary, but the index posts are >>94943172 and >>94943183

Since then, we've added Sybellon, Harnoss, and the Mercendax Conclave
>12. Harnoss
>>94958102
Sybellon is a former magocratic empire that collapsed due to a slave uprising with heavy Roman themes.
Harnoss is a successor state of Sybellon formed from the slave uprising.

>13. The Mercendax Conclave
>>94959878
They're another successor state of Sybellon formed by exiled sorcerers, but they've developed into a magocratic republic and the native peoples have no rights.

We also have a fetish catgirl cannibal tribe
>>94948528
>>94970510

I think the most productive places to write new stuff are the former Sybellon Empire and Udla's Kingdom, which are both mostly-blank slates.

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>>94927149
>>94943177
Throughout the Middle Island, there are many dynasties which claim lineage from the legendary warlord Mund Magnos. Having emerged in the anarchy following the Missing Years, Mund swiftly conquered the Middle Island at the head of a barbarian army. Taking lessons from the Sybellon empire, he began to centralize his nation and codify law. The Munding dynasty ruled for seven generations before collapsing under the weight of inheritance.
It was not until many years later that Inder emerged. Youngest daughter of a weak king, she knew that her father's lands would not last another decade without a stern hand at the wheel.
So she schemed and bargained and warred, and eventually stood triumphant among her brothers and sisters.
The wars of unification that followed were long and brutal. Inder saw more than twenty winters before they were through. She had been married, had become a mother, had outlived husband and child.
Udla inherited the bulk of her project. A kingdom newly minted in the shadow of his Munding forbears. Udla's mother, a Munding herself, had married a scion of the outlander; a mercenary king who made a name for himself winning kingdoms in the shattered west for his wealthy patrons.
Two lineages united in Udla. In his youth, he looked the part of the romantic hero. He was tall, strong, and wise.
Now, Udla looks back on his ancestors and weeps. He has outlived his children, and his grandchildren are decadent wastrels. Each of them aims for the throne. Those few among them with an ounce of worth dwindle, under assassins' knives and mysterious fates. Two have already been imprisoned for the murder of their cousins.
Udla weeps. He wonders what his mother would do. He wonders if, perhaps, stories of her own ascension to the throne are what inspires this wave of treachery.
Udla the Ancient wishes to be remembered as a wise king, but unless he takes drastic measures, he shall surely be remembered as merely the prelude to a bitter civil war.

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>>94974582
>1A: Archduchy of Salais
Formerly the Kingdom of Salais, since demoted after the reconstruction of the Mundic Kingdom. Homeland of Inder, and Udla's childhood home. One of his brothers rules it now, a loyal vassal to the crown. Udla visits often, wandering the gardens in a wistful daze. There are a scant few Sybellon ruins here, as it was always a poor country. Udla turned it into a verdant landscape, rich in vegetables and grains and fruits. He considers it his best accomplishment.
>2A: Mundic Heartland
Current capital of the revived Mundic Kingdom. It is a crossroads, and people from east and west filter in, bringing commerce and warfare alike.
Urban and cosmopolitan, it is a vast land filled with art and music.
Historically, the centaurs of the plains have often raided into these lands. After Inder gelded fifteen centaur chiefs and had them ridden back to their clans, these raids have grown less frequent.
>1C: Duchy of Choinon
A cold and wretched wind blows in from the Sea of Souls to the south. Choisson is often attacked by raiding necromancers, eager to seize the wealth of the north. The people here are as hard as the rocky shores of their home, and they ply the sea with expert skill. It is said that there are few among the living brave enough to sail the Sea of Souls, save for the men of Choisson.
The Duke of Choisson is a fat Munding lord who might have been a king some day. Unfortunately for him, his grandfather bent the knee to Inder. Some whisper he resents Udla for the insult.
>1D: Duchy of Kaltia
The Kalts were never united. Even in Mund's day, they could scarcely have been called his subjects. They are hot blooded and quick to draw steel. Many Halflings dwell here, and the Kalts treat them as kin.
Kalts are merely respectable sailors. They'll never forgive the Choissons for their superiority.

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>>94974743
>1E: Duchy of Ardurium
Named for the old Sybellon fort town on the banks of the great canal. The Sybellon blood is strong here, and much magical knowledge has been retained. Arguably the greatest magical college in the world, if only for the size and scope of its library, resides within the walls of the old fort.
Despite their Sybellon heritage, the Ardurian identity is strong and proud; they pulled themselves from the wreckage of the Empire, no thanks to the cowardly Sorcerers Rex.
>1F: Duchy of Lorant
Little more than hills lie in Lorant, but it has historically been a good source of stone and pikemen. The young Duke of Lorant is a libertine fellow, known for spending frivolously on hedonistic pursuits. Where he finds the money is uncertain, and many suspect criminal connections. Mere road tolls and quarries cannot provide him his means, surely.
It is known that he was close with the missing princess that Udla favored, and the two spoke privately at great length after her disappearance. Whatever words they exchanged, both have remained tight-lipped.

bump

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14. Ordo Lunaris Argentei (>>94943919)
These druidic clans live in the wilderness surrounding the Great Spiral, what many believe may have been the ultimate source of life in the world. Vast amounts of living energy swell up from beneath the sea here, permeating the land and carrying across the world through the sea. Despite its proximity to the Sea of Souls, the currents move southward here, so the cycle of life and death in the region is still at its most primal and pure. The isolated cove's waters at the Spiral's center are a secret the Ordo keeps on pain of death - the fabled "Fountain of Youth" lies here. It could have found no greater stewards and protectors than the Ordo, and the few attempts to take from the Waters of Life for greedy reasons have found their armies reduced to fertilizer in short order. The plants here, suffused by energies welling up from the fiery, impregnable heart of the world, are both nearly immune to flame and able to blunt blades after one or two cuts. Not that the Ordo lets anyone dangerous get close enough to try - it is one of the few things they need no deliberation on.

It is also only in the Great Spiral that certain kinds of undead can meet a true end - though the more powerful varieties have excised themselves from the cycle too completely for this to work. Undead usually find the place inherently uncomfortable, but it is one of the most efficient ways of purging undead rivals. Rarely, ships laden with bound undead sail quietly into the Spiral, undefended. The Ordo lights them ablaze from the shore, returning the undead onboard to the cycle once more.

During eons when the dragons wane, Vraph travels to the Great Spiral to lay new eggs, which float into the Spiral and sink deep beneath the world for centuries until they hatch, emerging from volcanos. Vraph is a primordial who was one of the first living beings in the world, and all dragons trace their lineage back to her.

15. The Vile Isles (>>94970510 and previous)
Called something to that effect in dozens of languages (only in this one does it happen to rhyme), these horrid jungle islands are idyllic to behold from the sea but absolutely horrific to visit. Twisted by some hideous perversion of the natural world, their most well-known feature is that these accursed jungles, filled with parasitic creatures, abominable diseases, enormous carnivorous plants, and all manner of other things both willing and able to kill you in utterly alien and torturous ways... are the native lands of the "catgirls." Their isolated, territorial species had no need for language prior to contact, let alone a name for their kind. Like many things from the Vile Isles, a non-sterilized population of catgirls establishing itself anywhere else is likely to turn into a devastating infestation. Their lack of native tongue does not prevent catgirls from learning to speak or even learning to read and write, but many have slight (but almost suspiciously like cat noises) speech impediments.

On many of the islands of the Entente, "sailing to the Vile Isles" is a common turn of phrase with two meanings: when followed by "for the scenery," it's a euphemism for suicide. When followed by "for the locals," it refers to doing something monumentally, dangerously stupid - usually while drunk and/or horny.

16. The body of Tellanphilox
While quasi-divine and able to create eggs from her will alone as a primordial, Vraph did at one point have a mate - another primordial dragon turtle, larger than herself, named Tellanphilox. It is unknown when or even how Tellanphilox died - some say that Artahn was the one who killed him - but Vraph appears uninterested in how it happened. In truth, she had come to despise the self-titled "Will of the World" long before he died, and is, by some, suspected of being responsible herself. What is known is that he refused to go quietly. Suffusing his primordial body with a pure, ancient insult to the concepts of both life and death, he became both undead and completely insane. Some element of his instincts knew that to purge his undeath and restore himself, he needed to return to the dragon turtles' place of birth - the Great Spiral. If he had done so, the energy of his now corrupted form would have had catastrophic consequences on all life in the world.

Whether Artahn triggered his undeath or not, it was Artahn who subdued the undead Tellanphilox personally for just long enough that massive chains of altered deepmetal from the southern forges of Ulketh could be bound around him, freezing his body and soul in time at the moment of his subdual. It may indeed simply not be possible to truly kill such a being. Once sealed, it was Vehenn's forces who were left to drag the titan away from the Great Spiral, into what would become the Sea of Souls, using undead leviathan whales and krakens that Vehenn seldom reveals are in his service in modern times. Whether this was collaboration between the two lich kings or simply coincidental timing, neither will say.

The currents carrying life energy from the Great Spiral to the Sea of Souls slowly revert his undeath, but the vast chunks missing from Tellanphilox's body ooze corrupted power still. His defeat is quite recent in the long memory of the world, but ancient history to most.

Revisits: (>>94943183)

10. The Hyrcanean Orthodoxy
The Orthodoxy was last a puppet state of the Mundic Kingdom, but before that invaded by Sybellon. When Sybellon conquered their capital, the royals were slaughtered and the royalty abolished. Now in the vacuum, religious officials fill the space once held by royals. The priesthood and the temples are places of both worship and governance, but highly restrictive in both. All fear the risk of civil war should the creation of a new royal family be attempted, inevitably causing conflict and competition among the priesthood. Now freed from a foreign yoke by a treaty signed by Udla, it remains to be seen whether the Hyrcaneans will thrive under Orthodoxy rule or chafe against it.

11. The Cryptodiran Consulate
Outwardly, Cryptodirans are neutral in almost all things. They are frequently called upon as third-party advisors or mediators in disputes, but not without resistance or doubt. Some blame their machinations for the collapse of the Sybellon Empire, or for the missing princess in the Mundic Kingdom, or for every single petty war in the Entente, or for everything else. The straight answer is not something a Cryptodiran will give you, and you will likely be asked a probing philosophical question in response. They are expert modelers (or, as some accuse, manipulators) of foreign affairs, and predicted the fall of the Sybellon Empire to the month a full six decades before it happened. However, the Entente is particularly intractable to their modeling, a sort of impossibly cohesive chaos that they struggle to account for. They thus find it and its people uniquely fascinating, and it is on those islands that one sees the most Cryptodirans outside their homelands.

Minor addenda to make things more cohesive/fleshed out:

- Most of the rulers in the Sea of Souls were already there before the Empire arose, as it is quite a stagnant and intractable place (most of the time).
- Deepmetal absorbs energy and incorporates it into its structure, requiring ancient magic to release the energy. Vehenn's deepmetal stole not energy, but time - Tellanphilox's chains become more unbreakable with each moment they steal from the primordial, and even if eventually restored to life there, he would remain bound within the moment of his defeat unless they were broken. Vehenn's bones are known to be replaced with this 'chronometal,' always stealing from himself any moment containing his own death, and - allegedly - from his enemies any moment of victory over him.
- Vehenn's invasion of Naera stalled over a millennium ago when he obtained what he invaded them for - the secrets of an ancient Naeran ritual, one of the few in the world that could ignite the spark of magic in a being without it (to be modified into a method to turn undead minions into mages), and samples of deepmetal, which prior to Vehenn's replication was believed by Naerans to be craftable only by their gods.
- The natives enslaved by the Mercendax Conclave are red panda people called the Ailuru. They are particularly vulnerable to mind magic, and thus easy for mages to subdue.
- Lenzyrans, in contrast, are effectively immune to mind magic and unparalleled illusionists themselves, which made fully subjugating Lenzyr basically impossible. Vehenn is quite fond of the Lenzyrans (despite their unruliness), but they rebuffed his offers to assist against Sybellon. Instead, they created entire illusory "colonies" whose "exports" would suddenly vanish from both storehouses and quartermaster ledgers after being shipped. Real exports from elsewhere would then, somehow, always end up with "from Lenzyr" labels. The ruse outlived the Empire, buried under bureaucratic bloat and embezzlement.

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In the South East lands, A swamp region with heavy fungal activity that start lightly on the mainland and gets denser on the outer islands.
Weather includes heavy spore fogs that surround the islands, Large species of slugs and snails crawl about these places, even some unique fungal slimes monsters.

>>94984624
The Hyrcanean priests of old, at least officially, gave their blessing to Mund’s rule. In return he swore to protect Hyrcanea’s liberty and neutrality, at least officially, and never formally invaded it.
In practice, the priests received an ultimatum and bargained the blessings of the divine for a stay of execution. The Hyrcanean faith prospered under Mund, but he kept the priests on a short leash.
Inder, likewise, did not invade. However, her armies did occasionally skirmish with the priesthood’s in various border disputes. She never received their blessing and never asked for it.
Udla won peace and the respect of the faithful across the kingdom by signing a treaty to formally recognize the borders and independence of the priests. He remains quite popular among the clergy, especially within his own borders, but some whisper that his death shall signal an age of theocratic expansion. Should the kingdom collapse, it is expected that the church will seize power in parts of Kaltia - a place where the faith is already strong.

>>94984765
this is because the land there is roughly foot-shaped, isn't it?

>>94985201
I didn't notice that until send it but now, absolutely yes

>fungus lands
how long until nazi dictator obama appears?

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>>94988329
Pic related is the barbarian hero of the sample DND party.
>"My name is Ezana of the Black Lands, and the Gods will hear my wrath!"

>>94984765
The Spore Islands are shunned by outsiders but are not necessarily hostile.
The coast where the sporefall is light symbiosis does not occur and several small towns exist without problems. The environment appears alien to foreigners but the flora and fauna are mixed with normal species. You can find a pack of wolves chasing a stalkbeast or herders driving milkslugs on a daily basis. It is no more dangerous than untamed wilderness elsewhere.
The medium sporefall islands are not permanently inhabited but are used as a shipping route as short term stays are usually safe. Only two permanent routes exist, as the shallower waters are often blocked by enormous and hardy fungal floaters which are difficult to remove but typically die within weeks. Thus the waterways are ever-shifting except for the northern passage along the coast and the southern passage where traders have stations where they can interact with the tribes of the far south.
Among the islands with the heaviest sporefall the species of fungi are so numerous that outsiders without the ability to chart fungal territories can die in seconds from exposure to toxic varieties or be eaten alive in a matter of hours by others. Yet even there hundreds of small tribes of humans survive and thrive, having formed symbiotic relationships with certain varieties of fungi which adapt their bodies to the environment and the deadly battle of natural selection that occurs at every moment.

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>>94984611
Cool shit here!

Added names of the places here, hopely all properly. Makes it far more enjoyable.

Two as they are close:

>>17. Forests of Oman
Woodland in the shadows of the Silver-Spear Mountains. Lands of Oman have been since the ancient times inhabited by various tribes of beastmen that seem to share heritage with the centaurs of Varem Plains (>>94925620
) At least since Mundings (>>94974582) forests have been attempted to be either conquered numerous times due the mineral wealth of the silver-lined rivers of the land. The locals have fiercely protected their own lands. Whispers of curses are told among veterans.

Thirty years ago, Duchy of Choinon ( >>94974743 ) finally succeeded. Under the leadership of Prince Ekse (third son of Udla) they thrust deep into Oman and burned down the central towns of the locals. After few massacres and destructions of holy lake shrines, the local resistance faded. Until Prince Ekse was murdered and another round of bloody skirmishes began. Afterwards the surviving local tribes were mostly driven from their fertile lands into the Silver-Spear Mountains. But King Udla had not agreed to the whole campaing (it had began as an raid/adventure of Prince Ekse) and put a stop to the war when he heard what the "civilized underlings" of the previous Duke of Choinon were doing there.

Situation hasn't improved since. The "Oman Situation" is an open wound, although the sailors of Choinon have claimed few of the coastal islands for themselves. But the denisens of the forests are growing in numbers. A bitter new generation has grown to adulthood. They just need a spark?

>>18. Silver-Spear Mountains
Cold and tall, they pierce the heart of the Middle Island. As the name states, various veins of metal are evident. Legends tell of caves filled with huge slimy monsters, but after the Omanists were forced there none were found.

>>94984840
Darn Udla is perhaps a bit too much surrounded. But it makes sense to have hungry neighbours

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I'm thinking that the Sea of Souls region (basically picrel) should be the "grimdark" part of the setting.
We already have
>An evil lich empire and its equally-evil fox subjects in Ulketh and Lenzyr >>94943172
>The realm of Artahn the Deathless, a Death Knight King >>94943695
>The tyrannical merchant wizards of Mercendax >>94959878
It seems to track pretty well with the Artahn portion mentioning that the Sea of Souls has a thin connection to the afterlife.

This might even fit with the spore islands >>94984765, since mushrooms are closely tied to death and decay. Maybe the spirits of the dead accrue in those islands before reaching the underworld, which is why there are so many mushrooms there.

But why would so much evil exist there? I think the spirits of the dead drive people with magical affinities mad. Throw in outsiders like the Mercendax or Kings Artahn and Vehann drawn to the magical power flowing through the region, and you have a recipe for more evil regimes.

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Could there be a naval colonial Empire that kind of resembles the Spanish Empire?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJSFLS9A3GM

Involved in conquest and religious zeal, and slave trade etc.

>>94990941
Man, I really overestimated the size of readable text there, that was the only reason I hadn't put any anywhere.
Font/typeface/size settings? I've been using Aseprite for this but I'd like to be consistent and I like this style a lot. Not been using aliasing because it fucks with the palette.
>>94991743
>so much evil
My explanation for the veil of the afterlife being riddled with holes there was twofold:
1. Assuming some east-to-west flow of currents, the quasi-corpse of Tellanphilox (>>94984620) is constantly oozing nastiness into the ocean and the Sea of Souls basically begins around 16. It remixes (mostly) with water from 14. before it hits the coast of the middle and western continents, so they're not being poisoned by it. Much.
2. 16. is for all intents and purposes basically the dead (and/or dying) body of a god who was not a very nice one in life. I was running up against character limits on basically all of that and couldn't chain it properly lol.

Maybe something primal and inherent to the world (like some opposite of the Spiral) drew the evil primordial there, or maybe he ruined the region by staying there.

Naera is almost explicitly a grimdark "hopelessly holding back the tide" place with no allies or future. Everything in the region being primed to exploit or kill would-be PCs is something I think we've been nicely consistent on.

I wanted to put a 'mummy undead' nation on that larger island next to Quviel, but I felt like two new locations at once (one being a character - I promise I'm done putting massive turtles in the ocean) was enough.

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Zhorg lives there.
Don't mess with him, it's his home.

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The Serpent Mountains (or The Serpent Mountain Range) serves as the geological backbone for the Western Continent. Named for its long snaking shape and jaw like region of the far south cove, the Serpent halts ocean wind and rain from both distant Ordo Lunaris Argentei and the Sea of Souls. The magical weather forces drill mystical caverns into the old rocks of the Serpent, and force heavy rainfall conditions onto the western lowlands. By blocking these winds, the eastern lowlands of the Serpent face drier, more arid landscapes. The Dreams of the livings and the dead are said to get caught in the Serpents caverns, and manifest whole creatures, cities and even treasures.
Curiously, the Tail of the Serpent Mountains serves as the bedrock for part of the ancient massive Canal in the middle of the western continent, hinting that these grand tall rocks might have once be home to their builders? Perhaps it will be the dreams of those ancients that you will find wondering the deep places here.

>>94992438
> Man, I really overestimated the size of readable text there, that was the only reason I hadn't put any anywhere.
>Font/typeface/size settings?
NTA, but I use Verdana for general purposes. It’s specifically designed to be extremely readable regardless of font size.
>Sea of Souls
I feel like the region was always kind of magically charged, and the presence of a dead god did absolutely nothing to make things better. I imagine it’s easier for powerful undead to sustain themselves there due to the proximity to the afterlife, so it sort of attracts undead warlord types. Historically, it’s seen quite a shifting landscape of undead overlords vying for power. Ever since Artahn and Vehenn set up shop, it’s probably been way more politically stable than ever before.
Also, there’s probably some uber powerful undead who simply cannot exist anywhere else and rely on the magic seeping out of Tellanphilox merely to (un)live.

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The Vraphian merfolk (8. >>94943183) look like this (MtG Dominarian merfolk, basically). They aren't riding reptilian beasts around (and goblins would never be allowed near Vraph), I just think this art is funny. Their women are flat-chested, but have more lithe bodies and much finer, smoother scales than the males.

They are occasionally (though they find it highly offensive) called sirens. While they do have a magically enchanting voice, it merely has a calming effect, one which can even improve focus and mental clarity. Song and meditation, often done in tandem, are deeply important in rituals of the Vraphic religion (naturally reverent to Vraph herself). Non-merfolk are encouraged to join as silent listeners, but those not able to acclimate to the effects often fall asleep. Vraphians don't mind this, seeing dreams as deep meditation... provided the individual doesn't snore and disrupt the complex harmonies, in which case they will be politely but firmly awakened and asked to listen from outside the echoic choir chambers. They prefer to sing in air, and "floors" in their architecture are actually pools of roughly chest-deep water.

True sirens are unintelligent, with manatee bodies but the face and lure (held above the water like a will-o'-the-wisp) of an anglerfish. Their vocalizations cause rage and hallucinations, and are carried by infrasound that unenchanted earplugs can't block. It draws victims in by, paradoxically, making them want to kill and silence the siren itself. The rage becomes so intense with proximity that it causes aneurysms and cardiac arrest, with a 70% fatality rate for humans within roughly 10ft (3m) of a single siren. They live in shallows along the northern coast of the 'medium' Spore Lands (>>94984765). Their glowing lures are valuable alchemical ingredients, and are actually symbiotic fungal bulbs.

>>94991777
Absolutely. Make one!

Maybe it's one of the successor states of Sybellon, and near the Entente but on the mainland?

>>94998332
>Maybe it's one of the successor states of Sybellon, and near the Entente but on the mainland?
Based
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjFIj_p86zo

>>94998383
>>94998332
>>94943183
It is called Virellon Empire and they have treasure ships that ship treasure back to their homeland from colonies they plunder. They are extremely religious and zealous and have a massive Armada.

>>94998415
(Feel free to help me expand this anons)

>>94998415
The Sybellon Empire made extensive use of Virellon sailors, so there’s lots of far-flung people with Virellon heritage.

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>>94998415
>>94998545
>>94998627
On the largest Virellon flagships, the Greatsails, entire cathedrals made of ship timber were built atop the hulls. Each sail takes an entire year to manufacture. The arcane knowledge required for the construction of Greatsails (as their hulls would collapse without magical reinforcement) was lost with the fall of the Sybellon Empire everywhere except in Virellon, the de facto inheritors of most of Sybellon's naval culture and expertise. Only four Greatsails exist, permanently at sea as mobile bases - much too large for coastal waters - that serve as highly defended hubs for Virellon's treasure ships... and extremely tempting targets for the pirate both daring and stupid enough to try.

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>>94998779
>>94991777
Given that they are one of the best inheritors of an empires sea based weapons, perhaps they dominate the lower halfs coasts of the western continent with its large nature cove?
They would probably as natural enemies to the Entente plundering / invading the dead Sybellon Empire, maybe even a natural rivally that goes all the way back to the Entente/Sybellon wars?
just an idea, maybe they are more northen and can have more conflict with Ancient Udla and Repblic of Harnoss as successor states

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>>94998911
If you want them to be more like Imperial Spain, I'd put them in a place that's suited for a real naval empire. Maybe something like picrel?

Treat this as the mainland Empire, give them a few overseas colonies, and maybe give them an Austria analogue as a mainland ally.

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>>94999259
Would the colonies be on the other side of the world like the America's were with Spain? (Like this location?)

>>94999299
Well I guess update it with these (>>94992516) but there is still alot of unclaimed space for Virellon colonies to be here.

>>94999307
Also this mountain range (>>94992620)

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>>94999327
I'm thinking one of these islands could be home to a Nassau/Tortuga type Pirate Haven Republic that feeds on trade in the Virellon colonies (Which would be located to the West with the Virellon Empire mainland like in (>>94999259). Feel free to come up with a name for this Nassau/Tortuga.

>>94999259
I think I prefer these borders, but maybe give them a bit more territory into that cove on their northern border.

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This island is the home of the wizard lords, who have been constantly battling in the Ascension War of the Wizard God for like 8000 years.
They have access to super magic but are too busy being insane crypto-fascist cultists all trying to become the king of magic. They gather in huge wizard military juntas to wage hyperware on each other. Nothing matters except winning the Ascension War of the Wizard God, because if you or one of your buddies can become the Wizard God you can basically remake the world as you see fit.
The war has actually been won several times, but each time someone always time travels back into the past and kills the winner when they were a baby or something. They don't acknowledge that the rest of the world exists, they think the rest of the planet is a just a realistic illusion created just to confuse them and interfere with the wizard war (This is arguably true from certain niche perspectives).
It's complete chaos.

>>94999898
I agree

>>94999898
We should also do the borders for (>>94999299) the Virellon colonies (Like Spanish America).

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>>95000389
>>94999487
>>94999898
New version of the map with pirate islands, new colonies, Empire and Snake mountains

>>95001614
Nice!

>>95001614
>even the borders are aliased
My precious palette!
No biggie, I will endeavor to fix this, and I'm going to start removing the numbers, too.
>>95000035
Workable, but I'm partial to the idea that the ascension basically entails carving a new parallel reality as a god rather than time travel bullshit - it isn't constantly destroying the rest of the setting because victory is represented by wizards suddenly vanishing from their towers after achieving it. Everybody else thinks they were assassinated or went into hiding, fueling the conflict and paranoia.

What should we name this whole setting, BTW?

Someone should draw up an authoritarian/libertarian right/left chart when this setting is more fleshed out it would be fun

>>94943821
Also this (>>94943821)

>>95001614
How are the politics on the pirates islands The Devils etc.?

>>95006030
Is it like in Black Sails? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwIRzgbe2jo

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>>94964891

>>94964891
>Are they sticking around in his little kingdom now that he's retired from trying to conquer the world, or do you think one or more of them have fucked off to try and establish their own little undeadocracy?
They goon most days. Except for the Crown as he lacks the proper equipment. Instead he waxes poetically to a figure known as the Tiara.

>>94988329
>obama
He's already in the other one so-

>>94988656
Barbarian hero Obama. Interesting.

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Should we wait till all the Nations are filled out before we start doing the Pantheons people follow?

>>95007126
not particularly, you can syncretize some neighbours together later on if you like

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>>95007135
Avrais, the God of Order

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>>95009065
Siarva, God of Chaos
Most gods in this setting, regardless of pantheon, have a dualistic nature. Typically this manifests as a second self that oversees the opposite of their domain. Fire and ice, light and darkness, civilization and nature, etc. Only a handful of gods do not fit this trend, and they are not widely worshipped.

>>95011121
nice

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>>95001614

>Rose Land & Goat Isle
The centrally located peninsula has been cursed since times of Sybellons. Or so the sailors say. "The Sea of Souls blows strong in the currents". In old times, both the peninsula and the Isle were even more desolate and only goats of curious bloody wool colour survived there among the snakes. Fragmented Mercendax records state that the area was used by the Sybellons as some kind of magical waste duping area, perhaps after a war or calamity. Entende priests state that whole place is cursed by "the blood of Siarva". Thesedays goats have died on the peninsula, covering the land with thorny and peculiarly blue rose bushes. After the Missing Years, it has been said various underwater monsters nested in the Straits and there is several conflicting stories about heroes that slew them - many of these Slayers then retired to found an Entende citystate.

Windswept and poor lands lacking drinkable water, no-one has successfully claimed them for long. Of course the numerous Entente citystates have tried to colonize them and so have the Mercendax, Virellons and many others over the history. Most of these attempts rapidly became bloody clusterfucks: The coasts are full of ruined forts and shipwrecks. Even two Greatsails!

Currently the surrounding powers have defacto demilitarised the islands but the waters see pirates and all kinds of "unofficially sanctioned" activities around the very strategic straits. But no-one expects a great war around these straits for a while, for the last one (the seventh Big One) was only a decade ago and the surrounding powers are still quite exhausted. However only one of the only things that Virellon Empire and the Entende states agree that there is a possibility for a canal just north of the Rose Lands... There has been significant increase in sightings of geologists and other adventurers in that region. Mercendax, who tax the usage of their own strait, is a bit worried.

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The Virellon Armada

>>95013605
Seriously, what font is this? It's driving me nuts. It's extremely similar to Times New Roman but not quite the same. Maybe it literally is Times New Roman and Aseprite just fucks up the rendering.

>>95013737
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJSFLS9A3GM

>>94992516
>>95000035
>>95004327
Zhorg is the dude who created this reality after winning the ascension war in his previous reality. He exists as a sort of cosmic hole in perception; mapmakers instinctively mark down his little peninsula as the place where he lives, people read it and never question it, ship captains never think to land there. On the off chance that somebody DOES decide to enter his territory, they immediately get hit by a disintegration beam and die.
He mostly spends his days carving wooden figurines, watching the clouds and the stars, or blasting stray animals with arcane power fit to slay gods. Frankly, he's pretty depressed.
He keeps hoping one of the wizard lords in the ascension war will piece together his existence and come to slay him. Maybe that would be a fun way to kill a few hours, smiting some young upstart who's only been doing magic for like a thousand years or so.
One of the rare times Zhorg ever felt obliged to interact with the world since he went into solitude resulted in some fuckwit causing the Missing Years. Not doing that again, if he can help it.

bamperoni

>>95004562
enlightened/worldly and civilized/barbaric

>>95023488
this

>>95014944
Ah it was just Bold Times New Roman 15 pixels wide for most ones and then 30 fornfew bigger ones. Dukedoms were not bolded.

>>94999259
>>95013737
Liking that the civilized areas seem to be more advanced in tech, up to late medieval/even later. Fun!

lets bump this shit

hooga hooga

>>95025973
Yeah, it's nice that we have some tech diversity

hoogin

>>95025973
Do we think there should be some random high-tech nation as a nod to the various sci-fi tie-ins that fantasy settings get?

>>95038449
Maybe not a nation, but we can stick a big crashed spaceship somewhere as some kind of biome full of mechanical horrors and squid aliens.

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>>95038449
Long ago, before the oldest songs were sung, before the channels were carved with divine fire and the mountains smoothed into temples, a great silver pillar descended from the heavens. It came in fire and light, bringing a great storm and a heavy cloud that smothered the land with it. The ground grew angry at its presence and began to flow, red-hot from fury until the silver pillar stood in the middle of a great glowing pit. The earth bucked and snarled but eventually grew still for it could not fight something as implacable as the Pillar. The ground and Pillar entered into a pact, and to celebrate this occasion the earth gifted a bounty of black glass to the Pillar, marking it as the true lord of all it surveyed.

In time the smothering cloud dissipated and the First Blessed discovered the Pillar. They left offerings at its foot and always made the the sign of silver if their eyes glanced upon it. The pillar was pleased and from its guts walked out the High Azure, welcoming the Blessed to their destiny.

The priests used great powers bestowed by our Lord from High to create the Great Channels, allowing our fishermen access to the east and the west. This flooded the Great Pit with seawater but the Pillar was not bothered, for it was so mighty that its form still breached the surface and could survey its domain. The priests used their nimble hands to smooth the mountains like clay and formed great fortresses from what remained, sturdy as the bedrock itself and not marred by a single crack. All they wanted in return was to officiate a marriage between our peoples and we finally became the Blessed, our veins carrying the blood of the Azure and marking our skin with their blessed shade.

>>95038835
As time passed the High Azure helped us time and time again, but in ever smaller tasks and ever less frequently. They said it was a test, for we needed to grow like children do and learn independence. One day, they said, we'd leave our home to find our own place in the vast world, children no more.
We see less of the Azure now, as they leave the Silver Pillar only on rare occasions. They still accept our traditional gifts of food and black glass and divine marriage is still performed, once a generation. The women who enter the Pillar for a generation eventually return bearing no memory and having not aged, but bring their children with them and always bring us a great divine relic. We have not found use for all these relics but as challenges from the Lord from High we trust the day will come.

tl;dr it's the Blessed Nation, people who interbred with aliens (maybe) and are gifted with scifi tech (maybe) worshipping a great spaceship (maybe) which is no longer capable of interstellar flight (maybe) and its occupants spending more and more time in cryosleep (maybe) as the ship slowly degrades (maybe).
There's still remnants of their decayed world-shaping machines around, they used them to create the two great channels north of the Serpent Mountains and leveled the northern side of the mountains turning some of them into great keeps carved from bedrock which this civilization then built itself around.

>>95038849
I feel like having a definitive source for the canals clashes with their intended mysterious nature. Maybe it's just a local myth that they were built by the aliens, while foreign historians cast doubt on the idea?

>>95038917
I did write it from an in-universe perspective, it can all be in doubt for other peoples.

>>95038963
nure

Come on let's get this going guys

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Blackjack and hookers.
No really.
Fueled by perpetual fair weather, predictable winds, intersecting ley lines, and an lack of organized law this tropical island paradise named "Bree" is a massive market hub. Ships come and go by the hour and massive docks stretch out to the horizons. More gold flows through this island than entire nations. With the gold comes people and endless magical artifacts and ingredients, leading it to be one of the biggest collections of magic practitioner on the planet.

Attempts to annex the island are all but guaranteed to fail. The typically unstructured collection of wizards, witches, warlocks, and every other person able to cast fireball can and have organized on the fly to repel any armada that threatens their way of life. Endless shipwrecks and floating castles attest to this fact.

The lawless Bree can offer anything to anyone provided you can afford it.

>>95046954
wrong image?

>>95046954
umm what? That's just the canvas?

Kalts have a saying. "Little transgressions make little deaths." Foreigners think it's some kind of reminder to be polite and gracious, traits that the Kalts value. Kalts know it's a euphemism - Insult a Kalt Halfling, and he'll break into your house at night with eight of his friends to stab you to death.

>>95056268
like it

>>95056268
homicidal autistic spaz halflings ftw

bemp

Sybello was the capital of the Sybellon Empire. Nine out of every ten Unenlightened who besieged the city were killed, but there were enough of them left over to completely swamp the mage defenders. Everyone in the city who could use magic was put to the sword, everything of value was looted, and the city burned for months.
The city has been occupied by the descendants of the stewards and servants of the mages who once lived there. Officially, no one with magic has been born inside the city ever since and no mages are permitted to enter. Unofficially, and this is no great secret, having a child capable of using magic is enough to get your entire family tossed out of the city.
The Seneschals Rex sit in a council chamber beside the one the Sorcerers Rex once used. They debate taxes and tolls, the shadow of their ancestors' masters looming over them.
Sybello remains wealthy, but she scarcely controls enough land to sustain herself. The Seneschals Rex live in fear of a second sacking, and many view the city as too cursed to risk conquering. It is a delicate balance.

I'd like to contribute something. On the island next to Quiviel there is a mountain range and on the other side is a giant expanse of wasteland called the Sea of Fog. You might be tempted to imagine it as a mundane inhospitable desert, but the further into it you travel the stranger it becomes. Travelers report across its vast dusty plains anomalous features. The colors of the environment become muted, wind becomes more intense, the temperature actually becomes quite comfortable. There is of course, heavy dust storms and fog. Nothing grows besides for the remains of petrified trees. Beyond the wind there are no other sounds and no life. Stranger still is the existence of abandoned settlements that occasionally dot the landscape. Nobody knows who built them or why they are abandoned but there is nothing that would possess someone to spend the night there. Fear and paranoia are rampant and nights in this region bring with them eerie dreams. It seems to prey on the mind. The land is therefore seen as cursed and is avoided if possible except by those who believe some sort of treasure exists amongst the dunes.

>>95064236
Based lore writing. Where are they on the map?

>>95064753
I can't decide. Someone should look at the big blue blob on >>94958102 and decide for me.

>>95064777
Hmm the Virellon Empire actually is a successor state to the Sybellon Empire in their region.

>>94992438
>>95064752
Petrified fog mummies that (un)live in isolation. Make it so.

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>>95064753
>>95064777
How about somewhere around here?

>>95064787
Not the anon who wrote Virellon, but I always got the impression it only rose to its imperial status well after Sybellon collapsed. To borrow the Imperial Spain analogy, they struck me as barbarians who hybridized with the Sybellon culture to create their own people.

>>95064752
I should specify its the same island as Quviel, not the one next to it. It might sound weird the way i phrased it earlier

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>>95064967
This little island that was probably mistakenly left white was specifically kept politically neutral by the Sybellon Empire. Probably nobody lives there except some order of hermit monks, and its entire purpose is as a neutral meeting ground slash monastery or something.

>>95064967
What is the general moral compass of the Sybellon empire, I know the Virellons are ruthless imperialist hypereligious colonalist slavers.

>>95065675
If previous posts are anything to go by, the Sybellon Empire considered anyone without magic to be chattel at best. They were probably ruthlessly expansive, prone to infighting, and deeply cynical.

>>95065729
Less or more prone to infighting than modern day Virellon Empire? My assumption is that a strong monarchy and intense religious doctrine keeps the Virellon Empire internally stable.

There is a guy in a place with a sword

>>95065830
tl;dr?

>>95065850
Man
Place
Sword

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>>95065875
It's peak.

>>95065675
The Sybellon took the ruthless and imperialist to a new level. If anything, they're the ones who taught the Virellon their ways, and the Virellon still have much to learn.
Though the Virellon Empire sees a greater variety of goods, the scale of Sybellon was on its own level.

Much of Sybellon's decadent nature was preserved, not in Old Sybello, but in the southern islands of the Mercendax. These merchant-wizards were the source of the Virellon slave trade, and to this day they supply many of the slaves for the Virellon colonies.
The people of Virellon, nevertheless, abhor the Mercendax. For these despotic wizards, the lives of the unenlightened are less than nothing. To the Virellese, slavery offers salvation through honest labor.

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wish there's a map of climates and/or terrain features

The Region of Cyros was among the last to be conquered by the late Sybellon Empire, its history is tied to what most scholars believe to be one of the keystones which would prompt the decline and eventual fall of the Sybellon Empire. Historically a region many in old Sybello would consider to be backwards due to its disunited people, the region has grown considerably more rich and advanced in recent years despite the many petty kingdoms, city states, and principalities that holds claim to the realm. Back during the peak of the Sybellon Empire, the region of Cyros was brutally savaged and sacked by the armies and generals of Sybellia, settlements burnt down and the people murdered, enslaved, or raped during the war started by Emperor Victus Sybel XXII (or whatever his name is if you don't like it) which will become infamous for the griveous costs and casualties it will incur on the Empire. Whilst the initial conquest of the region was relatively straightforward, on the third year of the campaign they eventually reached the City of Enkrytos, a well-fortified and well-supplied city located on an easily defensible peninsula, in which they would start to besiege shortly after.

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>>95066200
The Siege of Enkrytos would last a staggering decade thanks to constant reinforcement and supplies coming in by sea from the Kingdom of Arkos and multiple other states, and secretly The Entente as well. Records from the past vary in the number of men and resources lost on both sides during the staggering siege, yet most contemporaries agree that at least 250,000 Sybellian soldiers and slaves would perish while another 328,000 would end up sick, missing, or injured whilst least 150,000 defenders perished, were injured, or ended up missing as most detailed records were lost during the takeover of the city by the Sybellians. The City would eventually fall only after the fall of the Kingdom of Arkos to the Sybellian Navy and their invasion force, cutting off any potential reinforcements and supplies, sealing the fate of the city. The last Archmagos-Governor of the City of Enkrytos eventually requested an armistice with the besieging army, and after a week of negotiations the gates were opened to the armies of The Sybellon Empire. Emperor Victus Sybel XXII would conduct a grand parade through the streets of the mostly intact city, which would secretly end with the public execution of multiple Enkrytonian figures which led the defenses of the city. This secret act would violate the treaty signed between the two parties, yet as the Emperor reached the stage at the front of the Archmagos-Governor's castle intending to start his speech, the castle vanished into nothing.

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>>95064752

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>>95066217
The newly renamed Fortress-City of Enkrytos would eventually be rebuilt and expanded by the forces of the Sybellon Empire, which alongside the Port City of Arkos would be the main Sybellian naval headquarters and port for their Eastern Navy to be used against the ever looming threat of the Entente for the decades to come. Whilst the city of Enkrytos would prosper, the lands of Cyros would continuously be savaged by their new Sybellon overlords' ever increasing demands. Cyros is naturally rich in resources, fertile soil, and talented individuals, as well as constant bickering and infighting amongst themselves. But as the decades pass, its many inhabitants would coalesce together, united in their hatred against the Sybellon oppressors. This union between old enemies would eventually start a region-wide rebellion that would spill into the neighbouring regions and destabilizing many others, kickstarting the rebellion which would culminate in the fall of the Sybellon Empire. As the Empire fell into chaos, the Fortress-City of Enkrytos stood tall on its own, deterring every potential invaders by its sheer title and presence. As the uprising spread into Arkos and the Eastern Imperial Navy scattered or sank to the bottom of the sea, the City-Governor of Enkrytos would understand that he could not survive without any incoming trade, supplies or reinforcements. Forced into a corner, The Governor would make the decision to relieve everyone from their posts and free every slaves before willingly stepping down from his position, opening the gates of the city to the rebellion. Mercifully, the former Governor was granted a peaceful exile in the Northernmost island of the Enkrytonian Isles alongside any willing subjects, where his descendants still reside to this day.

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>>95066380
In recent times, the missing castle of Enkrytos have seemingly reappeared out of nowhere. The castle now floats above the center of the city, chained to its walls. To the shock and awe of the world, the castle was found to be inhabited by what appears to be the descendants of the defenders of the city who were about to be betrayed in ages past. Many believe that it was a sign from Providence, that the City have truly returned to the rightful owners, while some dissenters exist, most of them were quelled when the inhabitants of the castle brought forth or retaught many arcane insight and discoveries, causing the recent growth of the region. This growth is clearly visible in the Port-City of Arkos, whilst it has stood as a massive port city for centuries owing to its strategic location between the heartlands of the late Sybello Empire and the rest of the world, the arcane knowledge that came with the return of the castle has caused the city to nearly triple in its size into one of the largest cities on its side of the world within the last decade.

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Updated map to merge >>95066341 with >>95013605

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>>95066611
Among the many arcane discoveries obtained from the return of the castle, one that has spread like wildfire throughout the region would be that which is aptly named the 'firegrain'. These grains of pure flame about the size of a grain of sand is said to be created from magical energies forced into a solid shape through some arcane ritual. Properties of these grains are that they would combust when given the spark of a heat or when magical energies overflows and their physical barrier can no longer contain the essence stored within. Whilst mages could simply use these firegrains as a catalyst for pyromancy magic, many of what they would call "untalented" individuals have also benefitted, mainly from using them in multiple methods and instances that a practitioner of the arcane arts would not even bother to think of. No longer does a state need to seek the employment of a magician should they wish to create wonderful displays and dances of light in the evening sky for merry occasions and celebrations, as engineers from Cyros have found a method for even the layman to perform said dazzling displays of light with nothing more than the lit wick of a candle and one of their 'firework' creation.

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The Great Sorcerous Canal is an unfinished project started during the reign of the Late Sybellon Emperor Rexus Sybel XVI and lasted for 7 years before resources had to be diverted to stop the multiple rebellions plaguing the Empire. Plans for The Great Sorcerous Canal was drafted as a way for merchants and naval ships to have a safe and fast passage between The Southern Sea and The Great Sea, as well as to reduce the threat of the recently broken off Mercendax Conclave. Whilst The Skirmish Sea used to be a safe naval lane, multiple and repeated use of the region now known as Goat Isle and Rose Land as a testing site and dumping ground for magical energies have affected the neighbouring seas in a negative way, as ships have been reported to disappear one night only to reappear with none of the crews present or even the ship suddenly disappearing leaving the crew to be stranded in the cursed waters. The Canal currently sits partly finished, and while the surrounding town that was built to support the canal have vowed to complete it, work on it has not been continued due to multiple internal and external factors.

>>95066626
forgot
>>95038835

>>95065830
this but it's a hot catgirl

Yeah i agree we need more geographic features.

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>>95066850
Of those external factors, perhaps the greatest was the rise of the Kingdom of the Broken Claw, so called because of the shape of the bay from which it was founded and because of its inhabitants' crablike features. Pirates from the Goat Isle, sponsored by the Mercendax Patrician Gaius Avitius had attempted to seize the canal and establish a new domain.
However, a fleet from the Enkrytonian Islands and Entente drove off the pirates and sunk their ships before they could give the Mercendax a new avenue to dominate the western seas.

These pirates landed at the foot of the bay. Morale was low and supplies were running out. Then they encountered the locals. Former slaves of Sybellon, these were not humans but tribes of bestial crabfolk. These crabfolk hosted the pirates, who in turn taught them the ways of the modern world. These pirates became the "nobility" of the Broken Claw, and the pirate captain their king. The crabfolk priests ritualistically drowned them, and they returned with the sea in them. Two decades later, the local crabfolk tribes all followed the King of the Broken Claw, with each tribe having its own lord.
The nobility of the Broken Claw are part divine messengers, part greater beings, and part crabfolk. Future generations of nobility would be half descended from the pirates and half descended from the crabfolk.

The lords of the Broken Claw now look upon the canal as the site for their future capital, not as a hub of trade but as a sunken city where the seas can rule. Thus, the canalfolk fiercely hold back the Broken Claw's crabfolk incursions even as they seek to secure commerce. This stalemate cannot hold forever, but neither party wishes to give up yet.

>>95067425
Fixed that issue.

>>95070141
Maybe put a jungle somewhere in the eastern continent or near the Entente?

>>95072745
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgmdLrKxvxE
With comfy vibes like this or like scary african cannibal vibes?

I want rivers

>>95074923
Why not both?

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My visual representation of the Sea of Fog i did in three minutes using Paint.

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>>95072745
>Mijra Jungles
Mysterious and steamy jungles not much explored. Aggressive tiger-elephants and black crocodiles rule the ever-changing rivers. Oddly, it was not there in ancient maps. Has it appeared only in the last few centuries?

>>95013605
>>95070141
There is a bit of overlap with the new canal stuffs here

>>95066200
>wish there's a map of climates and/or terrain features
We can begin seeing that south seems to be colder, yet not still really polar and Harnoss felt quite mediterranean, other places fall between those. Terrains we need more yes

>>95066217
>>95066380
Was under the impression that the citystates of The Entente came into existence long since Sybellion had fallen. >>95064967

It does not sound like something that would be an issue to the mages of Sybellon. Of course there could have been something horrible in the ancient times there

>>95065258
Wondering about the same little island. Something fun and weird could be there.

>>95080021
The Entente came about as a coalition against Sybellon. The city-states already existed and Sybellon tried to conquer them, but between trouble at home and a drawn out war with the Entente, they just got too bogged down to push far into the region and were forced to abandon their ambitions there. One of many factors contributing to Sybellon’s decline and collapse.

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In the midst of the twilight years of The Sybellon Empire, as more and more provinces rose up against The Empire, The Eastern Imperial Navy made a heroic stand against the combined fleet of slave-rebels, mercenaries, and foreign invaders near the Cape of Cyros in what will be famously remembered as The Last Stand of Admiral Hylos. Admiral Hylos was a very highly regarded figure during his time, having served in the Sybellon Navy for nearly 20 years before meeting his fateful end, with records that would put some Emperors to shame. While his early life is muddled in unclear details, it is known that Hylos Mara-Hex would start his career in the navy at the early age of 12, serving as a young cadet owing to his family's status in the lesser nobility. Official records stated that Hylos finished his cadetship at the age of 16, where he would earn his rank as an officer and also his first taste of battle. While details of this engagement is unclear, medical records stated that he was wounded at least thrice over a period of 16 minutes before being treated by the ship's surgeon, and memoirs of the captain of the ship he served on tells the story of a young Hylos, bloodied and battered, standing strong and figthing off mercenary boarders before collapsing from his wounds. Over the next 15 years, Hylos would continue to serve on multiple ships and participate in over 26 battles, eventually gaining enough experience and fame to become youngest admiral in the empire's history, being promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral at the young age of 31 to the shock of many after taking over command of a fleet after the death of its commanding officer, turning what would've been a naval disaster into a costly but total victory against a fleet of foreign marauders and mercenaries. While Admiral Hylos would not be able to turn the tide against the fall of the empire, it is clear that his actions helped to prolong the lifespan of the Empire by some time.

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>>95080221
The Last Stand of Admiral Hylos was carefully planned and executed, with the full trust and loyalty of his officers and sailors into what they believe to be a suicide mission against what was the largest invasion force in history, comprised of rebels, bandits, pirates, and mercenaries from across the world in order to protect the empire. 62 heavy ships, 143 light ships, and 43 other miscellaneous vessels bolstered by 25 sea-wyrms, 16 drakes, and 7 elementals sailed west from the port of Arkos in the dead silent of a starless night to face a fleet numbering over 2000, assembled under the banner of The Pirate-Tyrant Azakh near the Cape of Cyros with the intent to sail past Enkrytos to raid the coastal regions of the Empire as well as to land a massive invasion army that would march Northeast towards Sybello. Sailing west in the dead of the darkest night of the year, Admiral Hylos and his crew stood alert for any signs of the enemy fleet for hours when two hours before the break of dawn, drake scouts hidden by magic and the night sky spotted hundreds of black dots just south of the Cape of Cyros before returning to the fleet. It is said that several forces were secretly dispatched to the west of the enemy fleet in order to prevent retreat while the mages of Sybello prepared their terrible spells and the ships of the fleet were arranged to multiple lines of battle. Various reports from the battle disagree on what exactly was the first attack launched by Hylos' fleet but most scholars agree that thirty minutes before daybreak in near utter darkness, chaos suddenly broke out within the Pirate-Tyrant's fleet as the loud shattering of the great magical barrier protecting the invasion fleet was immediately followed by the incoming hail of maelstroms, typhoons, firestorms, and many other attacks, causing panic and confusion in a scene one could compare to the twilight of the divines.

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>>95080232
While most of Azakh's ships tried to form a defensive perimeter, those that tried to escape were faced with the treacherous attack of the sea-wyrms, elemental barriers of water and ice, and drakes circling above, dooming any ship that dared to flee. Unfortunately for Hylos, it did not take long for Pirate-Tyrant Azakh to organize a semi-coherent defense, but not before losing hundreds of his ship. Azakh had opted to deploy his ships with into a more aggressive formation, knowing that the Eastern Imperial Navy numbered less than 500 ships. Azakh intended to fully envelop his vastly outnumbered enemy, and sailed most of his ship south in order to sail around envelop the enemy fleet. Hylos, having anticipated what would most likely be Azakh's plan, curved his battle line line eastwards and eventually northwards using his reserves, forming a massive circle with his flagship in the center of the formation. With his initial counter-attack plan thwarted, Azakh decided that he would force Hylos' fleet north towards the coast in order to disrupt the formation before launching a massive strike intended to bypass the circle and force himself into a duel aboard Hylos' flagship, with the hopes to eliminate Hylos and sow chaos among what will remain of his fleet. For this, Azoth redirected his forces south while magicians wrestled the wind and waves into his favour. Unable to contend with the greater number of magic users despite the superior skill and training that Imperial mage possess compounded by increasing naval losses, Hylos' fleet was rapidly being pushed north closer and closer towards the Cape of Cyros. After convening with what remains of his staff and realizing that killing Azakh would cause the most damage to the enemy fleet, Hylos decided that he would create a feint and intentionally formed gaps in his defensive line in order to bait Azakh into a trap he could not escape from.

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>>95080250
Not long after a false breakthrough was spotted, Azakh immediately set upon it with as many ships as he could, intending to expand and exploit it into a full collapse of the enemy, even having his own flagship lead the attack to inspire the rest of his fleet. As soon as Azakh's ship sailed past through the hole in the line, Hylos' carefully set aside reserves successfully plugged the gap despite the overwhelming enemy numbers, but this was not enough to fully isolate Azakh as 12 ships managed to enter the perimeter of the defensive line. Seeing the opportunity, Hylos' flagship immediately sailed towards Azakh's flagship followed by 4 others in a chevron formation as Azakh's flagship did the same. Both ships sailed head on towards the other and neither cowered as the bow of both ships crashed into each other. Sailors from both sides immediately poured into the scene, starting a deadly clash of steel and arcane might. Hylos and Azakh initially stood in the center of their sailor crowds, intending to blend in while they wait for the perfect moment to strike. Yet as the number of combatants dwindled and the crowd thinned, both men stood silent when they met each other eye to eye. It is impossible to postulate on the thoughts of these men when they stared deeply into each other's soul, but the silence was broken when the two men suddenly sprung into action and started clashing their might against each other. The two men fought in total silence for several minutes until a thick fog rolled over both ships, possibly loose from the first attacks performed by the magicians of Sybello, or potentially a desperate measure in order to prolong the survival of the ships trapped inside the perimeter enough to create a breakthrough. Both reports and anecdotes are vague regarding the fate of Admiral Hylos and Pirate-Tyrant Azakh after the fog obscured their duel, but both men have not been seen since and neither one's bodies were ever recovered.

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>>95080271
Ultimately, without the leadership of The Pirate-Tyrant Azakh, the less-organized foreign mercenary rebels were not able to contain the pre-planned breakthrough of the remaining Imperial ships, of which less than 50 remained by the end of the engagement. The remaining rebel forces fared much the same fate, with the initial invasion fleet of 2000 dwindling to a disorganized mess numbering less than 400 ships, with most of the survivors breaking off into their own groups or returning to their own homelands afterwards. While the price paid by the loss of one of the Imperial Navy's best and brightest mind and his fleet was great, in the end, no invasion would land and march north towards Sybello, but this would not change the final outcome of the empire in the years to come. Admiral Hylos' sacrifice would be forever remembered as perhaps, one of the greatest acts of heroism performed by what most believe to be one of the cruelest and most brutal regime in history to most men, and a brilliant masterpiece to what many scholars would agree to be performed by one of the greatest admiral in naval history. Some would say it is fitting perhaps, that the battle that started his career and ended it, would be the ones where he himself stood tall in the face of certain defeat, only to claw and grasp victory for himself.

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Wormwood. A dense forested island with several mountains ranges and highlands. Wormwood was the destination of many witches and other magic users who fled persecution in earlier times. After their exile, the colonists united as a polity known as the Grand Coven. In time this society split apart due to infighting and now the witches mostly live in isolation from one another and the rest of the world. Many travellers and explorers have disappeared in this region. Magical hybrid organisms as well as the natural fauna make it quite a dangerous location for the ill prepared. Certain witches with a kind disposition may spare your life if you are captured and simply decide to enslave you. Others would not be so merciful.

>climate
THIS close to mapping probable ocean currents and giving us a workable rainfall map

the map is small enough in filesize to have another map under it for a map that is purely terrain or climate

>>95083465
here's my take on it

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>>95083650

>>95083664
Varem Plains might need to exist on both maps, unless we want a generic “centaur country” marker on the political map.

>>95080007
I really like the rivers you drew

>>95088889
riber

>>95088356
It's a bunch of tribes

>>95093346
Is that a vote in favor of centaur country?

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>>95080341
Rusalka* are one of the worst forms of undead life found in the eastern hemisphere. An amalgamation of human cadavers, some say possessed by the spirit of a drowned woman, the Rusalka lures men with the guise of a beautiful maiden where it ensnares men and drags them into the deep bank. Drowning them, and adding the corpse to it's collection.

*Another name for them was 'bog devils.'

bimp

>>95089616
?

>>95083664
good job!

>>95105182
was just bumping with nonsense

>>95094903
"country" in the loosest sense of the word

>>95088356
>>95093346
>>95094903
>>95109613
I assume it's like a pre-genghis khan mongolia where it's just a bunch of nomadic tribes roaming around a vast steppe

>>95109613
Country in the sense of “bear country” not country as in a country.
Maybe “Centaur Clans” would be better on the map.

gravity is 500 times stronger than it is on earth, but everything is 500 times lighter so nobody notices

bamp

It’s time to let go.

>>95118548
If this thread is going to die (which it probably should when it's "bump" with no contribution), then we should at least save what was produced. Take the map >>95083664 and then integrate the various comments and notes into a potential setting guide.

Honestly, I think you could run some decent campaigns out of the former Sybellon region and maybe Udla's kingdom, so it's already "complete" in some regards.

>>95122326
>I think you could run some decent campaigns out of the former Sybellon region
I deliberately included adventure hooks in my initial writeup for the empire by way of baking in dungeons all over their territory for adventurers to explore. Some of which are even in Udla's territory!

>>95118548
Never

>>94922535
i feel like by giving so many suggestions so quickly youre kind of taking away making the communal aspect of this by establishing so much, should've just gave one of those ideas but you just wanted it to be your world right away

sorry that I introduced gunpowder weaponry to the setting, I'm a sucker for pike and shot warfare

>>95126562
Fits with Virellon Empire though.

>>95126562
All the worst people are.