Nellisir

The Near North lies between the Kameurhorns and the Spearwall, and stretches from Dore's eastern border to the Stormhall Peaks in the west. The climate here is notably cooler than in the Hundred Kingdoms and the Woodmarches, and civilization far more isolated.

The people of the Near North fall into three groups: the Dornish, the Haluar tribes, and the Northers. The Doren are most common in Dore, Innergild, and Kaulderzhun. There are two principal Haluar tribes in the Near North; the Keldruag of Keldru and the Middurplanz, and the Vorisk of the Voriskoghn Penninsula. While the Keldru remain relatively pure, the Vorisk have mingled with and taken on many of the characteristics of the Vanar Northers. The Vandin and their cousins, the Aesdin, came from the North centuries ago, with the fall of Honduar. The Aesdin allied with the dwarves of Arthringlaur and founded Kameurgard and numerous smaller settlements along the seacoast, while the Vandin went west and were assimilated into the Vorisk clans.

Features of the Near North
Bailetais - Rainfall on the Talven Alasen drains down through a labyrinth of caverns and reemerges in this swamp; as a result the Bailetais is laden with monsters - and treasure.
Driathorn Forest - A thick, wild woodland between Dore and the Spearwall Mountains.
Farzwold - The Frozen Forest; a small forest between the Kameurhorns and the Stormhalls.
Gonenfall Forest - The largest forest in the Near North, the Gonenfall is largely untouched and unexplored.
Kameurhorns - A vast, towering mountain range that marks the northern edge of the Shadowend region. Beyond it lies the High Ice.
Middurplanz - Blood-soaked plains, the location of thousands of battles over the centuries between humanoid hordes from the Kameurhorns and the armies of Dore. Small mercenary hobgoblin troops hold minor fortifications, while scavenger gnolls inhabit the ruins.
Nuatuverg - A small island off the Voriskoghn coast; rumored to be the resting place of an imprisoned Envidier power.
River Fathing - Marks the border between Keldru and the Middurplanz; drains the Bailetais and by extension, the Talven Alasen.
River Ylg - A large, slow river, the Ylg marks Dore's border with the Middurplanz. Once heavily fortified, many of the fortifications have fallen into ruin.
Shrouded Peaks - A misty, fog-ridden mountain range that borders the Bailetais; home to many orcish tribes.
Spearwall Mountains - A narrow, much eroded range known for its elaborate spires and twisting canyons. The border between the Near North and the Woodmarches. Not known for its mineral wealth.
Stormhall Peaks - A wild, unexplored range in the Voriskoghn Penninsula.
Talven Alasen - The Anvil of Winter, a high plateau in the Kameurhorns. The Anvil once linked Honduar with the southern realms, and dwarves quarried gemstones from underneath, but with the fall of Honduar, the entirety of the Talven Alasen is now monster-held.
Voriskoghn - The penninsula and area west of Kameurgard and the Gaunt; few large settlements. Homeland of the Vorish and the Vandin; many jotunar and troldfolk. Giants, trolls, ogres, and orcs are all frequent threats.

Realms of the Near North
Arthringlaur - Diamondsdelve, the greathall and realm of the mountain dwarves.
Ceir Yn - An isolated and xenophobic realm of fair elves in the Stormhall Peaks; one of the few sources of mithril.
Dore - A crumbling realm assaulted by orcish hordes and other threats.
Gaidrilar - The City of Coins, a powerful city-state built on trade.
Innergild - The City of Scrolls, renowned for its arcane guilds.
Kameurgard - A strong but neutral realm ruled jointly by humans and dwarves.
Keldru - The homeland of the Keldruag tribesmen, a semi-nomadic people renowned for their horsemanship.
Pelkot - A small realm in the Voriskoghn mostly known for its sea-raiders.
Zelasklaur - Silversdeep, a dwarven greathall in the Stormhall Peaks.

Notables of the Near North
Anagi - The High Druid of the Voriskoghn Penninsula.
Snowhawk - A reclusive archmage who makes his home in the Gonenfall Forest.
Travail Icingblade - Archmage and advisor to the Roving King of the Keldruag.

The Shadowend is home to a great number of intelligent races, tribes, clans, and lineages. Some of these, like the Trueborn of Dore or the wild leshii, are few in number, living in small, isolated communities or individually among the more populous races. Others number in the hundreds of thousands and rule kingdoms, or inhabit vast warrens in the mountain depths.
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Common Races
Dwarves: Masters of earth and stone, dwarves are an ancient race that command many greatholds and smallhalls in the mountains of Shadowend. Dweorhin (mountain dwarves) and duergar are frequent in the north, while dwerg, or hill dwarves, are better known in the south.

Elves: Elves are a powerful, reclusive race skilled in magic and attuned to the natural world. Faerilven have small settlements throughout the woodlands of Shadowend, while corrupt faerilven become dark elves, or darilven. Sailven have numerous communities in the waters around the Shadowend.

Giants: Giants of all kinds are found throughout Shadowend. The Typhos loathed the original giant race, and corrupted many over the ages, creating the common giants known today. If any true giants remain in the Shadowend today, they are well hidden.

Gnomes: Cunning, inquisitive, and clever, gnomes are fond of secrets and knowledge, and skilled in the magical arts of divination and illusion. In the east, wood gnomes live in small villages and warrens, while stone gnomes hold expansive subterranean realms rich with gold and gems in the west.

Goblinoids: Goblins and their kin are a plague throughout the Shadowend. Goblins live wherever they can, while hobgoblins form itinerant mercenary bands. Bugbears live in the small family groups, often in larger communities of goblins, or as elite soldiers in a hobgoblin troop.

Humans: Humans control most of the civilized land in Shadowend. The Amerite Empire once controlled most of the Shadowend, and as a result Amer blood and culture is common throughout region. The Haluar tribes are native to the east, though most of their culture was swallowed by the Amerites, and the northern lands are the domain of the Aesar and Vanar.

Orcs: A savage race, orcs live in places even goblins find unpleasant. Periodically, a massive horde sweeps out of the Kameurhorns, inundating the civilizations of the south.

Uncommon Races
Domovii: Humanity's familiar, domovii have linked their fate to the larger race. Domovii are fey that dwell in human villages and hamlets, trading their labor and skills for protection and security.

Jotunar: Jotunar are born to human families in the wilder lands of Shadowend, and sometimes called giantkin. Two lineages of jotunar are common; the frost giant-blooded talvijotun, and the hill giant-blooded firjotun.

Troldfolk: Also called bridge trolls or bjergfolk, troldfolk are found wherever they can steal a living. They fey beings are mostly seen as pests by the larger races, but powerful troldfolk paragons are a common feature in legends and tall tales.

Rare Races
Half-Breeds: There are several half-human lineages worth noting. Fuah are goblinoid-human half-breeds, found wherever the two races meet. Most fuah make their way as thieves or mercenaries. Half-elves, or ha'ilven, are often found where the two races meet. They are adaptable and personable, and move easily between the two cultures. A few half-elven families are found near the Driathorn Forest, the Shadowend Forest, and the Elven Forest. Roane, also called sealkine, are the offspring of a union between a selkie and a human. Their fey parentage makes them curious and charming, traits that set most roane on a life of travel and adventure.

Leshii: Spirits of the forest, leshii are wild fey that sometimes venture out of the deep woodlands to investigate the larger world. They are roughly human in appearance, with barklike skin, leafy hair, and a crown of branch-like horns.

Liosilven: Originally faerilven, the light elves underwent a magical transformation into radiant defenders of good. Their transformation made them immortal but incapable of reproducing, and the only remaining liosilven stay hidden in their well-protected home in Utgard.

Introduction: The Shadowend is a high-fantasy setting that emphasizes traditional fairy tale, sword-and-sorcery, and folkloric themes. The Shadowend has feuding gods and godlings; a glass mountain; kings, queens, and the politics that go with them; fair elves; mountain dwarves; leshii; jotunar; giants; dragons; a city of assassins and thieves; griffonriders; wizards, witches, and mages; the sidhe; and a thousand adventures!

Theme: Civilization vs ruin is something that threads through alot of the Shadowend - and civilization is losing. The forces of ruin aren't always evil (though some are), but they are amoral and uncaring. Civilization isn't always good (though some are), and it's often domineering and restrictive. I'm not sure who I'm rooting for. There is magic. There was stronger magic in the past, but while that magic is currently lost, it is not inaccessible or unusable.

Fey and monsters are strong elements in my campaigns, as well as resurrected leavings of the Amerite Empire like the Fallen and the Black Legion. Tension between Chaos and Law is likewise influential, though neither is "right" or "wrong", and there are no overt manifestations of it in the campaign setting itself (no one worships "Chaos").

Geography: The Shadowend is a mostly temperate region in the northeast corner of what was once the Amerite Empire. To the south lies the Tehmar, a vast grassland dominated by primitive humanoid tribes and the arcane ruins of Nekkarn. The Shadowend Forest dominates the east; a trackless expanse not even the elves have fully explored. The Kameurhorn Mountains define the northern border; beyond the Horns lies the unyielding power of the High Ice and the frozen domains of its servants. West is the Shattered Sea, and beyond that the once-mighty nations of Amatheir and Bherune.

The Shadowend may be split into four sub-regions: the Near North; Utgard; the Woodmarches; and the Hundred Kingdoms.
* The Near North includes the Voriskoghn, wherein dwell the Vorisk and the Vanar; the city-state of Gaidrilar, the City of Coins; the mage-city of Innergild and the realm of Dore; the dwarven greathall of Arthringlaur and its tributary realm of Kameurgard; and Keldruag tribes of Keldru.
* Utgard includes the eastern Kameurhorns; Tuonela, the realm of the Black Sorcerers; the wasted land of Kaulderzhun; Jarnwold, the stronghold of the Iron Witches; and countless miles of swamps, fens, forests, mountains, and moors.
* The Woodmarches are in many ways the front lines of civilization against the forces that would bring ruin, and include the kingdoms of Larenyss, Roen, Coedalan, and Guanes; the near-fey realm of Shalanholt; the goblinoid stronghold of Old Sarn; the ruins of Asavar; dwarven Tarandrellur and the remnants of the elven realm of Illendia.
* The Hundred Kingdoms of the Taras Penninsula are the gateway to the civilized west, and include the fey redoubt of Wythin Wood; sinister Blackgate; the matriarchal tyranny of Orbor; imperial Triumport, still courting Amerite favor; wizard-ruled Starfell; and the slave-trading merchants of Chollor.

History: The rule of Law peaked in the Shadowend nearly a thousand years ago, with the rise of the Amerite Empire. When the Dragon Throne weakened, though, the peoples of the Shadowend were among the first to tear free, beginning a long period of anarchy and conflict as petty warlords, princelings, and kings fought for control. Eventually, the kingdoms of Larenyss, Arramor, Dore, Sarn, Sieriven, and Asavar coalesced from the chaos. That respite was brief, however, as Sarn fell to goblinoid hordes, and Sieriven to the divisive manipulations of the Crone Goddess Kajalla. Arramor split apart, its western reaches forming the country of Roen, Romagna, and the Forest of Eoghin.

The Second Speaking of Te ushered in a new Age of the Wyrld. Divine bonds were casted off, and many remnants of past Ages surfaced for the first time in millenia. Asavar fell to a plague of monstrous creatures, though the survivors rebuilt as the kingdom of Coedalan. Innergild seceded from Dore, and Dore itself was hit by waves of orc hordes, devastated the country and reducing it to a shadow of its former self. The fey Queen of Larenyss disappeared, then reappeared, unaged, forty years later, instigating a war of revolution that irrevocably weakened the Griffon Throne, established the palatinate state of Guanes, and led to the recovery and resettlement of parts of Sieriven as Shalanholt. The sidhe returned to the Shadowend, bring a new complication to the lives of elves and men alike.

The Taras Penninsula remained relatively unchanged this whole time, insofar as that change and revolution was the order of the day. Petty states rose and fell, eventually leading to the current major realms of Orbor, Triumport, Chollor, the Open Halls, Bellararan, Archen, Starfell, and Vaena (plus the ungoverned Marchlands, and a host of minor realms - many no larger than a tower keep and some farmland).

I've had a few Shadowend campaign threads on various places on the internet (here, True20 boards) and a blog on CM (where blogs have apparently been disabled), so initially this blog will probably reprint a fair amount of material from those sources. I'm trying to gather it all together.

I'll throw the campaign map in here for a little "value added" (for a larger version of the map click here)
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