Vineland Background: The Broad Strokes (Non-Story!)

Just to remind everyone this is the Continent of Vineland.

I've been asked to give a little background on the continent and it's major areas, so here goes: heading from North to South and West to East (more or less...) we have the following areas:

(Each is given a VERY rough outline, more details will be placed in separate focused chapters bellow as necessary.)

The Under Empire of Karaz-Ah-Kelton:
This is the largest concentration of Dwarves on the continent. They worship their own gods, (more on that later) and are the biggest source of gems, metallic ore, and stonework on the continent. They are ruled by the "High-(King/Queen)"* of the eponymous fortress city of Karaz-Ah-Kelton.

*(Dwarf inherited titles go to the firstborn son, but several times the High King has had only daughters. It must also be noted that these women were often among the best rulers of the Under Empire in their age...)

The Land Of Spirits:
This realm of lake, water meadow, and swamp is, ironically, the spiritual leader of the continent. This area holds the peculiar distinction of being the continent's only major nation which is a theocracy, and also is only nominally part of "The Auld Alliance" as their northern neighbors across the "Bay Of Darvosh" call it. They have representatives from almost every group of clergy on the continent, and the state religion claims that all gods and goddesses are actually just aspects of the "Cosmic Consciousness" which underpins the omniverse. Interestingly, when powerful clerics of other faiths ask their gods if this is true, the deities refuse to either confirm or deny. The Land Of Spirits exports little and imports less: they are almost wholly self-sufficient. They also have not fought an external war in almost 200 years, as the gods of war make it known that they are not to be attacked.

Samaria's Forge:
This area of Sandy dessert was once a lush jungle paradise, where numberless exotic creatures played and roamed. Then the Dothkar herdsmen from across the sea invaded, and through five centuries of ecological miss-managing turned it into an arid wasteland. The Dothkar moved on, but the natives they had converted to their religion prevent the Elven druids from Lafyth restoring it with their magic... Here dwell hardy and harsh folk, forged by their monotheistic religion into deadly fighters and long wandering evangelists. Fortunately for the rest of the continent, all of the other gods are united against Samaria's faith gaining any ground.

Just to remind everyone this is the Continent of Vineland.

Balinarisha:
This human kingdom is composed primarily of broad rolling planes except for one major forest and a central mountain range. It is a largely self-sufficient nation, except for importing most of its ore from the Under-Empire to the north, which it pays for with and agricultural products. The current royal family of Balinarisha claims unbroken decent from one of the Kings who was a signatory to the compact which created the Union of Civilized Races.

The Free Lands Of Dendritic:

This area is a democracy, which welcomes all the civilized races. The terrain of this nation is diverse and productive, but they are not self-sufficient, although they could be if they had to.

Dendritic became a democracy about 100 years ago, when their last king, (a feckless arrogant fool who concerned himself only with parties and wenching,) died with no legitimate heirs. This touched off a powder keg of resentment and fictionalized political parties. When the dust settled the Anti-Royalists had carried the day and the country ousted it's nobility to become a democracy. Repeated attempts by neighboring Balinarisha and the Glempth Principalities to restore the monarchy have only stiffened the resolve of the Dendritic people to remain a democracy, and inculcated a sense of nationalism.

The Lawless Marches:
(The Ruins of the Orc Empire: Balgannash.)

The lawless marches are not exactly a nation at all, but rather the continent's, (and indeed perhaps the world's,) only "successful" experiment in True Anarchy.

Before that however they were the heart of the one major 'Unhuman' nation which, for a time, stood against the "Auld Alliance", the Orcish empire of Balgannash. Though the orcs capitol of Naggashzar was razed to the ground when the Human, Dwarven, and Elven armies of the alliance at last managed to bring it down at the end of the "Thirty Years Siege" which was the culmination of the "Hundred Years War" which cemented the Alliance of Civilised Races as the dominant on the continent: within a decade "Bolnaggash: The Lawless City" rose out of the ruins and the remains of the almost suburban sprawl of the besiegers vast encampments.

Just to remind everyone this is the Continent of Vineland.

The Lafyth Woods:

The Sun Elves, original signatories to the Treaty Of Union that created "The Grand Alliance of the Civilised Races" as they call it, have always lived in this land of sylvan tranquility. Treating the forest as a garden to be tended they long have been rivals of the so called "Dark Elves" of the stygean primeval forests of the continent's east who refused to sign the Treaty Of Union, but it didn't flare into outright "kinstrife" until almost 700 years later when the Corshem Shires formed following the of 90% of the intermediate "Wood Elves" during the "Plauge of Slimes" 350 years ago...

The Lafyth Woods, (the full elven name for which takes almost an entire minute to say...) is and always has been a Constitutional Monarchy. However, unlike our own world's Great Britain it is not a monarchy in name only: the monarch doesn't merely reign, they rule, being head of the executive branch in thier own right. Thus far there have been 5 monarchs of the Lafyth Woods, 3 of them since the founding of The Union of the Civilized Races. The Elves here worship the Elven pantheon, with Corellon Larethian and Calistara at its head.

Centralia:

This nation is young and beautiful, but it hides a darker side. Created when a young half-elf officer of the Balinarisha army found a set of mystically charged relics in the tomb of a long dead king 55 years ago Centralia is a nation on the rise. The officer, a woman now known only as "Impiratrix Bower" conquered and unified the area formerly known as 'The Blighted Lands', turning it from an area of backward feuding savages into a organized, law abiding, and militarily powerful fascist dictatorship in a single human generation.

Impiratrix Bower claims that she is the legitimate heir of the Saquara Dynasty, the last rulers of a great Civilization of human mage-wrights who ruled the continent over 3000 years ago. That she has been accepted by at least two of the Instruments of Imperial Authority is not in question, but the Hancientic League argues that as over 2000 years have passed since the fall of the Saquara Dynasty their claims to the continent are null and void. Currently they have invaded and seized Centralia's eastern coast and the two nations are embroiled in open war, but many fear that if Centralia wins: the entirety of the rest of the continent just lost...

Glempth Principalities:

Lying amidst the South-Central part of the continent this "nation" is actually a melange of tiny pocket Kingdoms, Principalities, Arch-Dutchies, and so on. The so-called Glempth Principalities are united only by two factors, geographic proximity and language. Almost every sort of feudal era government type can be found here somewhere, and they are mostly at daggers drawn with one another if not embroiled in open war. This makes the area one of the parts of the Auld Alliance which is most accessible to the unhumans. Most political units are almost always on the lookout for a few more mercenary soldiers to fight of the raids of their rivals or conduct such raids, and not especially particular about who you are if you are willing to take the lord's coin and follow orders...

The Glempth Principalities were once the homelands of the Gnomes, and many such can still be found there: but these are the more traditional magic wielding Gnomes, not the "technomancers" of the Hencentic League*...
*(See Bellow...)

The Shattered Island:

This realm in the southern Seas is not well understood by outsiders, quite mysterious and hard to reach safely. A tropical realm of reefs, storms, volcanism, and untamed magic it is home to many creatures never before seen by the civilized races. The terrain of this tropical archipelago is mountainous and rocky, but becomes overgrown with dense jungle within a decade of each fresh eruption. Volcanic soil is among the most fertile in the world and this contributes to the fecundity of both plant and animal life in the area. Rumors of vast ruins of ancient cities buried by lava come to the port cities near the edges of the South Seas every few years, but few now give them any credence, as most who go in search of them come back empty handed; IF they come back at all...

Just to remind everyone this is the Continent of Vineland.

The Corshem Shires:

Though the Corshem Shires formed only about 350 years ago, following the "Plague of Slimes" which decimated the population of the Wood Elves in this region it is considered to be the legal successor of one of the original signatories to the Treaty Of Union. At the time the Treaty Of Union was first signed the halflings were rootless nomads herding goats and cows across the continent. They happened upon the site of the negotiations which formed the Auld Alliance and managed to ingratiate themselves to the more settled races with poetry, acrobatics, song, and cooking. Their leadership was invited to sign by the humans and Elves, with the Gnomes and Dwarves simply not objecting. It was not for more than six hundred years that the halflings were to abandon their rootless wanderings, and settle in the Corshem Shires.

The Plague of Slimes began 400 years ago. Its exact cause has never been discovered, but oozes of every description simply began to appear one day all across what was then known as Marvoric Forest, home of the Wood Elves. By 50 years later both the forest and its elvish defenders were all but destroyed. For reasons unknown at that point the vast majority of the halflings on the continent then came pouring into the area and managed to put the hordes of oozes down with alkali bombs and then restored the land to its natural fertility with magic and hard labor. The survivors of the Wood Elves mostly moved away into ether the Lafyth Woods or Haquis Eytherdlues depending on which of the two cultures they felt they could more easily assimilate into. Those who stayed built small enclosures in the small patches of the forest which had survived, and shut out the sorrow of seeing the once forested realm turned into vast tracts of farmland with only thin lines of too-young trees along the borders of each field.

Politically the Corshem Shires are democratic isolationists. Each shire has its own executive, the "Sheriffs", and they cooperate only for issues of truely national significance, such as the "Second War Of Slimes" which began on the 222nd anniversary of the founding of The Shires, and the "Woodlot Crusade" of 300 years ago when Haquis Eytherdlues came to war with the Auld Alliance over their belief that the Plauge of Slimes had been artificially induced by the halflings greatest mages as a deliberate attack on thier neighbors the Wood Elves...

The Hencentic League:

The Hencentic League is one of the largest nations on the continent, and among the wealthiest.

Begun in the far eastern edge of the continent this nation is built around trade and commercial endeavors. It has grown over the past 240 years from a loose confederation of eastern port cities into a major imperial power.

The roots of this expansion are 3 fold: Money, Mercenaries, and Machinery.

Money is easy to tell: the Hencentic League have a strong central government which both supports business ventures and taxes them enough to spend vast sums on infrastructure and incentives to keep the private sector vibrant and thriving, but not that key millage "too much"...

"Mercenaries" are a bit more complicated.

The Hencentic League are and always have been both major supporters and trainers of "Adventurers". It is estimated that over the past 200 years about 70% of all the most famous bands of Adventurers in Vineland have had at least 1 member who was originally trained and did their early adventures in the Hencentic League. The Hencentic League's "Adventurers Guild" have training halls in every major city of the nation and a few large towns. Some specialize in certain disciplines but most have facilities for several different types of adventurers, all of whome serve the Guild as indentured mercenaries for 1/20th of their races' total lifetime* when they graduate.
*(or until they bring in enough GP to pay off their training.)

The other half of the "Mercenaries" equation is the League's armed forces: Army, Navy, Air , Chaplainate, and Magic Corps, but most especially "Musketeers". The Hanseantic League is the only nation on Vineland which has the secret of black powder. Thier Gnomish artificers discovered the secret of making this explosive mixture of compounds about 100 years ago, and it has been kept a state secret ever since. All of thier armed forces are equipped with flintlock rifles and pistols, but none of them know how to create the powerful alchemical concoction that these weapons require to function. This can be a problem, as parts of all the Hencentic League's forces, but the Musketeers especially, are rented out as mercenaries across the continent whenever the nation is not actively at war... The official reason is to keep the troops fully trained and create veterans, but the real reason is to line the government's pockets...

"Machinery" is another one that is easy to explain: thanks to the Gnomish artificers, the Hencentic League is about the only country in all of Vineland that engages in mass manufacturing. They are still at the very earliest stages but they are getting more efficient all the time...

The government of The Hencentic League is a Plutocracy, those with the most money rule. The government is a corporation, with shares and dividends, and like other corporate groups it is ruled by its "investors". When a person is born or naturalized as a citizen they receive a single share in the government's stock. This share is controlled by thier parents untill they reach the age of majority for thier race, and may given as a deputation but not sold. The representatives in the "Shareholders Chamber" vote based on the number of shares they control, including any for which they act as a 'deputy'. The most powerful families are the oldest, mostly Gnomes, who have been buying up shares from the and impoverished for most of the country's history: each now holding hundreds of thousands of shares. By contrast there are the "poor deputies" who own only their own a single share and perhaps a few hundred shares that they act as deputy for, mostly children and working class families that can't afford to go to the capital city to plead their cases themselves.

The Hencentic League is led by the "Company President", who is elected by the shareholders. Mostly this means he/she is a major shareholder themselves, but it has been known for "popular upsets" to occur. The "presidential contract" is for one seven year term, and may be renewed indefinitely. So far there have been 23 Company Presidents, with the tenure of each one trending towards shorter and shorter numbers of terms in office, though there have been some exceptions and several Assassinations or other fatalities.

The Tribal Communities:

The Tribal Communities are not a nation so much as a large area of unincorporated land that has not been conquered by its neighbors. This area was left alone by the Auld Alliance as a dumping ground for captured monsters and adventuring area to train young heroes. Here one can find Orcs, Goblins, Ogres, Trolls, and many other raced the allied nations deem "Monsters". Most of this land is arid shrubland and upland wastes which are difficult for anyone to survive in but home to humanoids none the less.

Just to remind everyone this is the Continent of Vineland.

Now We come to the last two parts of this roundup. Both are home to the 'Dark Elves' (Which Are Distinct from the 'Drow', though the second group are closer kin to them than most of the Elves.) and in dire straights.

Bastion:

'Bastion' is a series of islands in the far north of the Vineland tectonic plate. It is home to thousands of outcasts from every race and fights for the ideal that all races should be free to live their lives unafraid of destruction by the forces of the Auld Alliance. Many of the younger warriors of the Dark Elves came here after the Surrender of the army of Haquis Eytherdlues 280 years ago. They shortly managed to whip the chaotic realm of feuding tribal groups into a powerful nation which has fought the advance of the Allied Races for centuries.

Bastion defends its shores with a powerful navy and not without reason. On an island just off the coast from the capitol is something that they know they must preserve at all cost: one of the 12 shoots of the world tree. Supposedly there were once 20 shoots of the world tree. Should the number of shoots drop bellow 8 it is believed the entire world will die.

However, many people either do not know or do not understand/believe this legend, and the Auld Alliance has vowed they will cut down The Shoot of Pine.

Why would they do this? Simple: as long as The Shoot of Pine stands the nature priests of Bastion can call on its power to perform several dozen great miracles: including raising the dead and causing thousands of pine trees to grow amidst an attacking army like spears erupting from the ground.

Haquis Eytherdlues:

The Former homeland of the Dark Elves was to Join the Auld Alliance at the point of a sword. When they attacked the The Corshem Shires 300 years ago it sparked The Woodlot Crusade, one of the last great mobilizations of the entire alliance in history. The Dark Elves had the advantage in terms of Skill, Preparation, Valor, and Training: but in the end only shier numbers mattered. The Government of the forest is now a puppet of the Lafyth Woods, and they use it as a way to deflect timber harvesting initiatives by other nations. Slowly but surely this last old growth forest in all of vineland is being cut down...

This is not going unchallenged however: both secret local resistance groups and raiders from Bastion kill loggers whenever they can do it without being caught. Logging is a dangerous profession at the best of times, and while the Bastion Raiders simply slaughter and withdraw the local resistance prefers more subtle methods, such as poisoning food supplies or spreading disease among a camp. Still, with each ancient giant that is cut the forest dies that little bit more. One day there will be no old growth forest left in vineland at all: unless there is some great change to halt the hideous plunder of this natural wonder.