The Ravings of Demented Rabbits

The Return of Worldbuilding

In which we return to the world I keep jotting notes for, previously detailed in posts here and here.

This time with two maps:

Overview showing the whole continent, with my rough notes on who or what is going where. Note the awesome CC3 graphics, about which I shall perhaps discourse on another time.

Regional map showing the whole continent, this time roughly broken down by races and regions. Eventually, this will become the basis for a Forgotten Realms-style region list, or perhaps something stuck directly into the racial rules when I get there?

Let's go over each of those and talk about them some.

Black: Uninhabited

Which is probably off by a little bit, but at the least uninhabited by PC races, since I know those mountains in the northwest are going to have at least semi-sentient monsters in them. Too, I've been writing most of them off as "will develop later," which is going to start biting me in the ass, since I need to, you know, develop them at some point. But not yet.

Also, while I've got a lot of swamps, I don't really have a ton of forests, at least not big, big ones like you ought to find in a world at this stage of development. Some of that will fill in later, when I get down to actually designing individual kingdoms (and I really DO need to finish up my demographics rules), but I could probably fill some of that vast wilderness in the north with some more trees. I don't necessarily want to add new races and such, since the 10 or so I've got is probably more than enough, but things could get a bit more interesting, terrain-wise. I should probably go to the level of detail of adding trees to the actual mountains, to show that they're forested, most of them.

While we're on this terrain note, at 30 miles to the hex, even the Middle Sea is pretty small by our standards (the Mediterranean is something like 4 times the size). This means shipbuilding is probably way way way less advanced than your typical D&D world, and mostly oar-driven biremes and triremes, longboats in the Vikingesque north. Maybe those eastern wizard types have actual, you know, sailing ships, which makes them awesome. We'll see.

Also note that black-covered island down south I still haven't figured out what to do with.

Somewhere in here, I need to move all the larger off-shore islands much further off the shore (so that getting to the wizards is an actual chore, and not "I leap on the boat and sail 20 minutes", among other things.

Red: Empire of Great Ssithilos

Our yuan-ti kingdom. Who won't be called that when I get done with them, but Ssithilans or some other name. I think I'll also ignore most of their stats as presented and give them a few minor powers or stat increases, plus a "bonus feat" they can use to pick either one of the awesome yuan-ti feats from Serpent Kingdoms, or the precursor powers thereof.

They rule over lizardfolk (who I'll talk about in a bit) slaves, and something akin to firenewts (see Monsters of Faerun). Towards the rest of the world (mostly human), they're probably pretty amiable in a sort of ancient Chinese "Greetings, you ignorant barbarian, please buy our stuff, then leave" sort of way. Wouldn't want humans as slaves much, because the ones they've got are just flat out better, but they could still use them for various things, like cannon fodder.

We've previously discussed that the whole place will be sort of like China meets the Aztecs in the Old South, or maybe something akin to sticking Ancient Egypt in a jungle and removing the god king part. Settlement is mostly riverine, with large plantations on the big, navigable rivers. Cities probably mostly coastal, with a couple that break the pattern. Lots of lizardfolk working the land for various crops, fishing, hunting the big ass dinosaurs in the jungles, and such on yuan-ti run plantations. In the mountains, all those volcanoes are probably a great source of gems, and the firenewts are well-equipped to go in and mine them.

We've previously established that the whole place is ruled nominally by Great Ssithilos, who really is a god, but who's been sleeping in his capital city for the last however long. I will need to establish history as to why this is. Government is by the Twelve Hooded Lords, whoever they may be, but probably some sort of temple bureaucracy plus satraps of the various parts of the country. Probably elects itself. Probably a lot of Politburo-style intrigue, too. If there's any kind of wizard's school, they probably have a seat too.

Lower levels of government are probably pretty non-existant outside of the cities, since each plantation owner pretty much calls his own shots as long as he's obedient to the Twelve.

Society is pretty insular, and the model I'm thinking of here is China, except without the treaty ports. Foreigners are pretty much free to come and go (if they pay taxes), and for the most part, Great Ssithilos is big enough, rich enough, and on the surface powerful enough that they just don't care about anyone else.

They also have a big running issue with slave rebellions, and I imagine a big part of the foreign trade is hiring mercenaries to go fight them, since actual yuan-ti are pretty thin on the ground.

Oh yes, and Great Ssithilos is the original source for like, all the dinosaurs, and the yuan-ti are good at controlling some of them. Triceratopses with howdahs, that sort of thing.

Orange: Lizardfolk enclaves

Which for the most part will probably be called "Blerk swamp" or just "Lizardfolk tribes" rather than given actual country names.

As a race, lizardfolk are going to need to get widely scaled back so as to be playable. Will look into this, but lesser stat bonuses, lesser natural AC, etc seem like a good starting point. Probably penalty versus enchantments, since the yuan-ti roll that way.

As places, these are all refugee slaves combined with some native lizardfolk. Tribal structure, with chiefs and shamans of the lizardfolk god, who's portrayed as an ex-slave yuan-ti asskicker. As areas, they're dirt poor (wet dirt at that), and the lizards mostly live by raiding and hunting hadrosaurs and such. Probably some major league rituals around taking all the males of the tribe and bringing one down.

The southeastern enclave is pretty isolated, and might actual be a real civilization with some actual organization. Maybe not.

There's an enclave up near the Plains of Black Ash that has the potential to be interesting. Probably lots more civilized than the others, they've got enough Kitilumian influence to use arcane magic, and they're probably more traders/pirates/ruin looters than anything, and they just live in the swamp 'cause they're amphibians.

The enclave in the northwest is surrounded by the main human kingdom, which has some potential. I have the urge to play these guys mostly straight, hunters/raiders like the others, except mostly raiders, and what's more they're actually good at it, and have good steel weapons from the humans.

Dark Red: Peretoi

Who I have previously described as mostly human Zulu types. Tribal based, they do a lot of hunting and raiding and suchlike, mostly with each other, and they also facilitate trade with various people. Great Ssithilos has at one time or another probably brought whole tribes to go fight for them. Signature weapon is some sort of spear, probably a Zulu-esque short hafted, broad-bladed spear that does a d8 damage and has a 20' range increment, plus can be set against a charge. Exotic weapon that they get for free, like dwarf weapons.

I'm thinking some kind of animistic spirit-based religion, with a dash of Celtic druidism thrown in (mostly the inviolate nature of druids, and their roles as peacemakers and such). I've marked out some "Cairn Hills", so I bet they bury their dead with some amount of ritual at holy cairns or holy necropolises, which can be ancient ruins too, and in one form or another they're probably responsible for a ton of undead, incorporeal or otherwise.

One future idea is to have an actual Peretoi kingdom in the southeast, near all those civilized types. Kinda crappy as kingdoms go, but we'll think on it.

Yellow: Kitilumia

Where the aischroi live. I've described these guys in a lot of detail in previous posts. Demonic-blooded, sorcerous guys ruling over brutal, dimwitted ones. All of them deformed humans, living precariously in the demon-infested ruins of what used to be one of the great civilizations in small groups, living on a mostly meat diet, sometimes trading a little bit with the other, more advanced civilizations around them.

Blue: Sanagos

Which is a human city-state described in excessive detail in previous posts. Theocratic kingdom ruled by the Chosen of Sanagos, who is a Dalai Lama type figure. Best metalworkers in the world, which is their edge in trade, plus they sponser groups that loot the ruins of ancient Kitilumia, get killed by demons, or both at the same time.

Light Blue Undefined kingdoms

Being that area of the map I have no good ideas for whatsoever.

Brown Arabic/genie clockwork wizards/sha'irs?

I've sort of elaborated on how this civilization might work in the second post - guild-driven, highly regimented sort of place, which is at not-quite-Tokugawa-Japan levels of insularity from the outside world. This is riddled with problems, since clockwork has been done, the whole thing feels a lot like what I know of Eberron, and I'm unsure about how to make any game revolving around it fun without having it be self-contained. So we'll think on that, too.

Light Brown Pirates! Yearg!

Or maybe coastal fisher yuan-ti, but that's kind of boring and pirates aren't, so. Plus we need somewhere for all the scum and villains to go. Plenty of lizardfolk, yuan-ti, humans, you name it. Will probably develop this more if I ever need it for anything.

Magenta Seven Free Cities

Which may not end up being called that, exactly. I'm thinking a collection of human city-states, independent of the Brown Kingdom over west of them, who squabble with each other a lot, but unite every time the King comes to fuck with them. Pretty Italian Rennaisance stuff, in other words. Probably have a couple republics, a few tyrranies, stuff like that. These guys are some of the major traders, being smack in the middle of things as they are. In addition, lots of condotierri mercenaries, lots of whom stick around to fight in the penninsula (and sometimes take over ruling), many others of whom go off to work in Great Ssithilos to make their fortune.

As southern humans, I've got these guys pegged as being sort of Greco-Sumerian as far as culture goes, with lots more emphasis on the Greek part than the Sumerian part here.

Brown Major Human Kingdom

Which is pretty much how I described it. Used to be a much stronger human kingdom, but lost parts to civil war, invasions, and what have you. They'd honestly like it back, and the king works to do so when he has the chance, aided by knights and the like. Sort of a Greco-Sumerian take on the classic human kingdom, of which we need the one. Probably fairly Crusaderish, and hate the hobgoblin tribes of the north an awful lot, which gets them in trouble, as we shall see.

These folks are the major breadbasket of the continent, and sell grain all over the place.

Purple Saxonesque human/hobgoblin mixture

Probably some sort of ex-Danelaw type of situation, where the Viking hobgoblins came to stay, then actually broke free of the homeland and set up a mixed sort of society, much like how lots of 6th century Europe must have looked between Romans and barbarians. We're going for the whole decentralized, witan/weak king thing here, and there are probably several actual kingdoms. The crusaders in the south piss them off, and they get raided by the hobgoblins in the north. Lots of hill forts and the like.

Purplish-Blue Viking Hobgoblins

As described previously. They've got some kind of wolf-god thing going, and those mountains definitely have gibberlings, and things like hags. Since the north is pretty crappy, they mostly raid the south. Very individual thanes and such sort of deal, although maybe some titular kings of varying levels of power.

Bluish Finnish Hobgoblins

Who definitely herd rothe. Very freaked out by the gibberlings and the hags and the kenku. The whole north is going to have that semi-horror movie Beowulf feel to it. These guys also get looked down on by the more civilized Vikingesque hobgoblins. All very tribal and such. I sure do have a lot of nomads in this world. Pretty good chance of them having a slightly more wise and paternal deity than the wolf god. Sort of a paternal protector type that saves them from all those big nasty forest spirits. Again, OA shaman to the rescue?

Green Kenku

Who I really haven't detailed at all, except so far as they exist. May well end up not being a PC race, like the gibberlings aren't going to be.

Deities

Sanagos - Has Traveler/Healer/Warrior/Ruler aspects, which is about like having 4 gods in one. Runs on clerics.
Ssithilos - Currently fast asleep, but still has temple bureaucracy of either wizards or clerics. Perhaps Dark Sun templars? That could be wildly cool.
Hobgoblin Wolf God - clerics
Hobgoblin Protector God - shamans?
Peretoi - shamans
Aischroi - no deities, but sorcs run things
Human Healing God - aasimar clerics, paladins, etc. Have talked about this in previous posts.
Lizardfolk god - probably clerics

The possibility of ancient Kitilumian gods and any other unexplored area's gods are unexamined, though the Kitilumians probably skipped out on gods entirely, they were arrogant enough.

Core Classes

Barbarian - really, this guy is really designed as a berserker for the lizardfolk and hobgoblins. Humans worshipping the wolf god probably take this class, too. Likely does not need any modification to use.

Bard - arcane magic is wildly problematic considering how many people flat out despise the stuff in this world. As some kind of skald class, might work out ok for the hobgoblins, etc. One or another of the books probably has powers for this. Must look into it.

Cleric - Would like to take this class out, at least as-is, and replace with something more akin to how, say, Aquerra does things. Each class with a different set of BAB, saves, armor restrictions, powers, etc. 2nd edition specialty priests, essentially.

Druid - Probably take this out. None of these gods are particularly nature-oriented in that fashion.

Fighter - Can go completely unchanged. Everyone has fighters.

Monk - Ah...no. Just no. There are some concepts here that might work well enough with the aasimar healing god, but on the whole, maybe not. OTOH, I do want a sort of Confucian feel to the aasimar healing god. This may not be the way to do it however.

Paladin - With the exception of the turn undead and the mount stuff, these guys work ok for that aasimar god. In slightly different form, these also work ok for Sanagos, except oriented towards demons. Pretty good chance of scrapping these and just going with fighters/divine champion PrCs, however.

Ranger - About half of me thinks it would be a great idea to scrap rangers as a class idea, and go with the Complete Adventurer Scout class instead, which skips some weird magic, and the whole "animal companions are annoying" thing. Not many people are that nature oriented, too.

Rogue - like fighters, everyone has these. Unchanged.

Sorcerer - Check into the Pathfinder RPG rules for demon binding here, as the source is demonic and not draconic. Of the races/regions, aischroi are big sorc users, and there's a fair smattering of humans and peretoi near Kitilumia, too. Outside of that, probably rare. In pretty much all societies, they're going to be reviled, or at the very least distrusted, with the exception of Great Ssithilos, where nobody cares.

Wizard - In general, not many of these. Outlawed flat out in Sanagos, at the very least distrusted most everywhere else, except Great Ssithilos, where you get a lot of wizards, some of whom are actual Transmuters and Enchanters. I could see a lot of the illusion school going to the lizardfolk clerics, and abjuration to the Sanagosi and hobgoblin protector god shamans. Necromancy either as a school or as individuals to the peretoi?

I can see the hobgoblins having some sort of runecasters, depending on how cool that can be made to be.

Languages

Not many of these, at least compared to the main game. Each race has one, plus abyssal, plus ancient versions of Kitilumian and Ssithan if not others. There Is No Common. Also a whole set of written languages, all of which cost extra language slots to write. Literacy is not free!

Technology

Slightly lower than the high middle ages presupposed by D&D. See if I can dig out my Dark Ages tech list from somewhere, which I think is buried in my Player's Options book somewhere, which is tragic as that is in Oregon. In any case, things like pikes and crossbows are probably gone, as is plate mail, as are a few other things. I'm not sure about imposing regional restrictions on equipment, but I will at least have regional suggestions.

Ships are going to suck, as previously mentioned. Not a lot of riding going on, except some dinosaurs in the south. Are there rules for controlling howdah-carrying animals somewhere? Not a lot of riding going on in the north, I'm thinking, which is perfectly ok. Horses are dead. Bye horses.

This sure was long. It's gonna get longer.

Posted by Dwip at June 2, 2008 3:51 PM