Gratia, Wranenic and NE [Eastern Hemisphere, 3]
This is part of the world map of the shared world. This is one half of the planet. Call it the Eastern Hemisphere.
I have done little more than sketch out and put the roughest of outlines on some of these places. It has been left wide open for others to run with the basics and go from there.
This is box 3 on the grid - Current year 2434
The far NW of the Eastern hemisphere, composed of three sets of islands (South, North and Eastern Gratia Islands), as well as Wranenic ('the lonely land'). The three sets of islands couldn't be more different from each other even though they lay in a 1000x1000 mile square area.
Accmal - this island sits at the mouth of Accmal Bay in NG. It was once the home to a Pommet trading town (founded in 145) that acted as the port for NG and EG during their reign. The island was over harvested and no trees remain. The island is choked with bludzu (a kudzu like plant) that is covered in large deep red blossoms and thorns. Bludzu was introduced by the Pommet over 2000 years ago and it took off as an invasive species after they left.
After the kingdom fell in 1130 the town became an independant town, but without the support of the major trading companies of the kingdom it slowly lost its traffic. In less than 200 years it had been abandon, especially after the bludzu took over most of the island. After Maygil became a major port in EG, this town never really had a chance to rebound and has been in ruins since.
Occasionally pirates will use the old port as a base, but they never stick around long as the overgrown island hides predators of some kind, no one is exactly sure what kills people as none have been captured.
Accmal Bay - the bay that splits NG is choked with ice during the winter, cutting off the major port on the island from the outside world.
Andariella - the only town in Cheradria, located on the nw coast of the ne island in SG. It is a trading town and pretty much the only contact point with the eladrin of SG.
Brightwater Fort - the only permanent settlement on Wranenic. It sits in a fjord near the mouth of the bay that nearly splits Wranenic. It is home to traders/clerics and monks of Waukeen who number about 250. During the winter they trade with the clans of western Wranenic while they winter in the south.
The normal trade is skins/furs/obsidian from the Wranenic for finished goods/steel weapons from the traders of Brightwater Fort.
The fort has been there for the past 60 years and they have respected the clans people of Wranenic during that time. They also have been trying to make contact with the elves of the east, who are extremely wary of outsiders.
This fort was built on the ruins of Eastport which had been abandon for almost 700 years.
Cheradria - the two northern islands of SG, a eladrin kingdom. Pretty much closed to outsiders since they were formed in 1672 when the island split in 4 pieces. The western island contains a small town that has non-eladrin population allowed, while the eastern island is off-limits to any non-eladrin. Even the western island does not look to kindly on non-eladrin outside of the town limits of Andariella, but a few types are semi-tolerated, anyone with ties to feywyrd, other elves, gnomes of SG and other friends of the eladrin of SG.
Eastern Gratia [EG] - these islands lay 300 miles east of North Gratia and they number in the hundreds. Some of them are little more than rock spires that are a few acres in size, the majority of them are between 30-75 square miles (Easter Island), while just three of them are at least 50 miles in length (Maui) and about half as wide, two of them have active volcanoes.
The majority of the islands are unihabited and covered with sparce tundra forest or bogs, or both. Fishing, crabbing and herding are the way the majority of people feed themselves. The larger islands that do have populations support a few small villages, if they are lucky a town of around 500 people or so with a dock for a seafaring ship or two.
The people of the islands are very clannish (based on the island they live on) and are just about all human. The few non-humans that are on the islands are mostly in the towns, there are exceptions that live on the smaller islands, usually as hermit like figures.
The first wave of people came to these islands about 2500 years ago as they were escaping from the Pommet Empire on the Northern Continent, with the majority of them from the conquered kingdoms of the Renware Peninsula [NE corner of the Northern Continent]. Their mishmash of languages has created a new language that has almost nothing to do with common and is a separate language.
Another wave landed on the islands about 800 years ago, this wave was escaping from Wranenic. A much smaller wave of refugees, their lifestyle fit in well with the people already there. The ones that settled on inhabited islands fit in seemlessly, they brought their red elk with them, although over the years they have gotten smaller than the ones on Wranenic because of the less abundant plant life. They have also lost their red coats as they do not feed on the scarlet moss that grows only in Wranenic.
EG is also the home to many monestaries of many gods, both old and new from all pantheons (human and non-human), from all corners of the world. For the most part the monestary shares an island with a village or two, depending on the size of the island. There are numerous monestaries that are the only inhabitants of a small island.
Longwharf - the only other 'town' on NG, it sits on the eastern coast of the island and is home to less than 800 people. It sees little port traffic as Ottnig is the major port on the island, but when the bay is iced over, Longwharf is the only port on the island during the winter, but the winter sees few trading ships up here anyway.
Less nuetral and more rustic than Ottnig, this 'town' contains the hardest of the hard people who live on the island. Also, contains one of the few non-hidden churches of Malar in the world.
Lvandros - one of the eastern most islands of EG, there is no village there, but there are three monestaries that share the island. The three gods are Savras [northern continent god of divination, fate, truth], Urogalan [halfing god of earth, death, protection of the dead] and Math Mathonry [old Pommet god of magic]
It is an interesting combination of gods and the three monestaries have co-habitated for the past 130 years, with Savras being the last to show up. The monestary of Math Mathonry is close to 2000 years old and rumored to have accurate (and up to date) family trees of the Pommet emperors, in case any of them want to try and reclaim the throne.
Maygil - "The Pearl of the North", the largest town of Eastern Gratia [EG], realistically, their only town that can be called a town with a population of 8500 [88% human (90% EG lineage), 4% dwarf, 3% harengon, 3% dragonborn, 2% other].
This is where the majority of non-humans in EG live, even so, non-humans make up a little more than 10% of the population of the town. Those 1000 non-humans make up about 80% of all non-humans across all of EG.
It is located on the largest non-volcanic island in EG on the southern shore, so it faces into the rest of the EG islands. The major port of EG, it acts as a funnel for all the small islands in EG. Like all EG villages and towns, its major products are fishing, crabbing, herding, shellfish and trade.
The volcanic island to the west of town, about 50 miles to the west of Maygil has huge beds of oysters that are harvested by the fishermen of Maygil. The pearl harvesting helps to make the port important.
Every year there is a huge 9 day long festival/market fest that takes place in late Flamerule and ends two days after Midsummer. [Flamerule 25 - Eleasis 2], that has been going on for the past 220+ years. This is the time that most monestaries send representatives to Maygil to communicate with the outside world, trade and search for goods, and also take in the orphans that end up in Maygil. The festival may have had a name at one time, but its now called Monkfest.
Maygil acts as a collecting ground for the many orphans that are created by the harsh conditions on the islands. The majority of the smaller islands only have a few families, and most of these villages are unable to handle an extra mouth to feed, so as a collective whole, the monestaries support an orphanage in Maygil and then accept these children into their folds when they get older. This orphanage also supports a school (and a public library), and all children of the town are given free education until the age of 11 (when many apprenticeships start). This means the literacy rate of this town is north of 97%.
North Gratia [NG]- This is the largest island (approx the size of Georgia) in the Gratians and is primarily covered in a large wet, cold, dark forest. This island sees a ton of rain and snow through out the year. The warm water that sweeps up the east coast of the Northern Continent almost makes it all the way to North Gratia, but its collision point with the cold water that flows over the top of the Northern Continent is just sw of the island.
Storms and fogs are almost constant across the island. Very rugged with forested hills, the only real flat, arable land is the SW peninsula of the island (and Accmal, the small island at the mouth of the bay), the few farming comminities that are on this island are concentrated there.
Accmal Bay that splits the island is choked with ice during the winter, cutting off the one port on the island from the outside world.
There is no real governing body for the island. The small farming communities of the SW are run by a reeve (like a mayor or sheriff) and any legal matters are taken up with the priests that live in Ottnig. The churches that can be found in Ottnig are Helm and Palonius Spotshrew (a demi-god of hunting and hunters). Clerics of Mielikki, Silvanus and Selune are also found here, but they multi-class as rangers, druids or (rarely) barbarians and they have little more than shrines through out the islands, and many of them are part of Evergreen Fogwardens, a council of druids, rangers, clerics and barbarians that roam the forest that makes up more than 90% of the island.
The Evergreen Fogwardens are an extremely nuetral group that roam the Forest (it really doesn't have a name as every group has their own name for it). It contains followers of Mielikki, Silvanus, Selune, Palonius Spotshrew, Shar, Malar and Lurue.
Beasts of all kinds roam the woods, centuars, satyrs, firbolg, good and evil lycanthropes, as well as dire versions of many forest critters. There is also (supposely) an ancient green dragon that calls the island home, but it has not been seen in many many years.
Ottnig - This is the largest town on NG it sits inside a sheltered bay near the geographic center of the island. Population [4250], the major industries of the town are hunters, furs, jerky, exotic forest plants/herbs, seals, fish.
This city was built as a trading post as Northport by Emperor Tel'Kalk in 1502.
Palonius Spotshrew - a demi-god of hunting and hunters and is a servent of Mielikki. He roamed these woods 1300 years ago as a human. He was born on Renware Penisula in a now fallen kingdom, according to the stories, he was either a prince, an assassin who murdered the king, or both. Regardless, he fled to NG and over the course of 60 years found peace as a trapper, hunter and tracker of unsurpassed skill.
Towards the end of his life he was in the village that would become Ottnig and a strange woman asked if he get some golden feathers from a particularly marked owl she saw flying past her window a month ago. It took him 5 days to find to find the exact owl and he returned with the feathers for the woman. She reveiled herself as Mielikki and he has been tied to her ever since.
In the past millenia or so, he has taken on a larger role, especially on NG, where he is looked on as more of a collegue of Mielikki's, rather than being subserviant. In the past century, his followers have begun to spread to the Northern Continent, and oddly, the Lost Continent.
His symbol is a pair of owl eyes with three feathers sprouting from the top.
South Gratia [SG] - an island that split into four pieces in 1672 (757 years ago). It lies at the northern most part of a gulf stream that runs up the eastern side of the Northern Continent, so it is more temperate that other lands at the same latitude.
It was once one island and the single forest was heavily populated with fey creatures, Eladrin, Fairy, Harengon and Satyr before other races arrived. It sits about 650 miles due east from the eastern coast of the Northern Continent and 450 miles due south of NG.
Gnomes were the first to arrive, having been driven from Renware Peninsula by the expanding Pommet Empire over 2200 years ago. The gnomes fit in well with the fey-adjacent creatures of the island.
In 899 Emperor Pek'Tolas V 'conquered' the island in the name of the Pommet Empire. No battles were fought, the races on the island just melted into the forest as the Pommet had settlers on the western side of the island on the parts of the island not covered in forest. They founded the city Tolasburg on the sw side of the island (its now called Traeveca) and quickly found that grapes and mandarin oranges grow well on the island. Huge plantations were constructed and the Pommet left the fey-races on the island alone, except for the gnomes, who decided to move into Tolasburg and carve out plantations of their own.
In 987 Emperor Tel'Kalk IV decides that SG belongs in totality to the Pommet and try to force the rest of the races off of SG and begins a war against them. Initially they make great gains by forcing all these fey-races deep into the woods and over the hills that run the length of the woods (which in the current time follows the strait that splits the islands).
In 990 Emperor Tel'Kalk IV, all full of himself for defeating 'wussbag races', decides to lead the campaign in 990 himself. The northern parts of the forest are much different than the southern part, thicker, more connected to the feyworld.
Things do not go well and his campaign failed and he disappears. Upon his disappearance the generals that remain decide to torch the forest to punish the races for defeating the mighty Pommet empire. After the fires start, the winds suddenly shift and catch the Pommet army with their pants down and a huge blaze surrounds and torches more than half the army in a valley. No one survives. The campaign ends and the new emperor Fek'Nobim IV ends the war in SG, sign a peace treaty with some of the races of SG. The satyr, gnomes and harengon all sign the peace deal; the eladrin and fairy do not, but instead cut themselves off from all contact with all races and declare all lands north of the hills sovreign lands.
When the Pommet Empire collapses in 1085, Tolasburg remains part of the Empire on one of the sides that tries to claim the throne. When the kingdom falls in 1110, the city remains under the control of a shard of the Empire, now called the Kingdom of Channak, which is made up of parts of Renware Peninsula and SG.
The Kingdom of Channak lasts 192 years before the Renware Peninsula erupts into civil war. Tolasburg is able to become an independant town in 1302 and holds off any claims made by the warring Renware kingdoms to remain so.
1402, after a century of independance the town changes its name to Traeveca and the eladrin and fairy break their centuries long self-hiding, but not in the numbers they had prior to their self-seclusion. Many decided to completely enter the feywyrd and abandon this plane. They also free Emperor Tel'Kalk IV, who wasn't killed years ago, just taken captive by the fey. He spent over 400 years in the feywyrd, but he thinks only about 6 years have passed. His kingdom is long gone and at first he doesn't believe anyone on SG and ends up trying to go back to his capital, but instead ends up co-opting one of the kingdoms that is fighting on the Renware Peninsula as he is able to prove his lineage and this kingdom was claiming to be the real heirs to the Pommet throne even before he showed up. His line ends with him as he is unable to produce any heirs due to his time in the feywyrd.
The city remains its independance as the plantations of grapes and manderins keep the money flowing to the island as world class wines and liquors flow out. The money allows them to pay and train excellent guards for the city, as well as a navy. They resist all attempts to being conquered/coerced or plain out bought back into one of the warring states of Renware.
When the island splits apart in 1672, the north two islands become a single eladrin 'kingdom' called Cheradria, although they do not have a true king, just powerful families. The channel that cuts through west to east formed right where the hills were and the channel is lined by cliffs (ranging from 50' to 350' high along its entire length and there are no ports or beaches along the west-east channel.
The north-south channel does not cut through hills and there are some small harbors that grow up along the north-south channels.
To this day the two islands of Cheradria are still dominated by eladrin and retain a very magical fey-adjacent feel to the woods. A small port town, Andariella, sits on the western island on the north western coast and it contains the only non-eladrin population in Cheradria.
The two southern islands are still dominated this day by the city of Traeveca, the one true power of SG. A small city, it still produces world class wines and liquors, and have since added skilled mercenary bands, finished wooden goods, and like most Gratian islands, fishing and shipbuilding.
Traeveca - a cosmopolitan city-state (pop 45000) it is by far the largest and most important town on any of the Gratian islands. The city controls all the lands of the southern two islands of SG as plantations, orchards and rich farm fields are scattered all over the southern two islands. It is also the name of the land that is made up by the two southern islands.
Humans, satyr, gnomes and harengon all live in Traeveca in peace as hard times are few and far between. Lands are fertile, there are no evil races hidden in the forests (only the normal forest apex predators, bears, owlbears, dire wolves).
The lands have been stable for well over a 1000 years and the city state is lead by Drunk Council. Not their real name, but its stuck. A dozen or so of the most powerful families of the city-state have run the council and the city-state ever since its independance 1127 years ago.
Wranenic - also called 'The Lonely Land' in the local people's tongue. The west side of the mountains are home to peaceful human clans who follow the herds of caribou that wander the lands. The clans spend the summer (for the most part), north of the river, then they follow them south for the winter and spend the winter on the peninsula in semi-permanent camps. They ride red elk, made red because of the scarlet moss they eat, which is native to only Wranenic.
Every clan centers their winter camp on a 'swipigipi', a combo clan barrow/longhouse that has usually been in the clan for many/many generations. During the winters, the men fish and hunt, often leaving the swipigipi for weeks.
The elves of the eastern side of Wranenic are extremely wary of outsiders and have resisted contact with any non-winter elves for the past 150 years. Little is known about them. The few Winter Elves that have left their homeland in the past 100 years speak nothing about their homelands and why they leave.
Y'rhel - This group of islands of EG is located somewhere in the middle of EG and is home to a strange cult of humans that speak no language that can be deciphered, nor is their 'god' known among the various pantheons of the planet. They harbor no visitors and it is only in the last 50 years that they have spread off their home island. Right now they control two small islands about 25sq miles each, plus a few small rocky outcroppings that are only a few acres in total.
The two islands are separated by 10 miles or so and all the outcroppings are between the two islands, each outcropping has a single simple 3 story tower. Sailors who get close to the islands say that they see flashing from the tops of the towers generally in the direction of the next tower, as if signalling between them. If it is a code, it is an unknown code.
They do not appear to be conquerers as they have only taken over uninhabited islands, but they are close to a few small (20-40 sq mil) islands that do have people living on them.
---- ----
-50 -to 50 - first wave of inhabitants leave the Renware Peninsula and settle North Gratia and Eastern Gratia islands [EH3]
145 - Pommet trading outpost settled on Accmal [EH3]
230-240 - gnomes, driven from their homes in a non-human pogrom on the Renware Peninsula, migrate to South Gratia. [EH3]
899 - Pommet Emperor Pek'Tolas V 'conquered' South Gratia in the name of the Pommet Empire [EH3]
901 - Tolasburg founded by Pommet Empire on South Gratia [EH3]
990 - Emperor Tel'Kalk IV disappears on South Gratia in the middle of a war campaign against the fey-adjacent races of South Gratia [EH3]
1085 - Pommet Empire falls, splits into warring factions [EH3]
1110 - Kingdom of Channak among many kingdoms that arise from the collapse of the Pommet Empire, control Renware and South Gratia [EH3]
1302 - Kingdom of Channak falls. Tolasburg becomes an independant city [EH3]
1315 - Old Pommet trading outpost on Accmal abandon [EH3]
1402 - Tolasburg changes their name to Traeveca as they celebrate their 100 year anniversary of freedom from any kingdom. Emperor Tel'Kalk IV returns from feywyrd, believes he spent 6 years there. It was over 400 [EH3]
1619 - settlers from Wranenic settle in the Eastern Gratia islands [EH3]
1672 - South Gratia splits into four separate islands, northern two are called Cheradria [EH3]
2372 - Brightwater Fort, constructed by followers of Waukeen on Wranenic [EH3]
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