Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

[Mouseferatu]

I really like this idea, but I think it's going to get confusing soon. With the mass of facts that will soon pile up, inconsistancy will emerge. In order to prevent this, would anyone be interested in a compilation of all the facts, divided into sub-catagories?

Yeah, we seem to be running into that, with the climate if nothing else...

Let me whip something together real quick.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Our Setting So Far:

The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros.

Note: I've made a few tweaks and edits when compiling this list. This is not because I assume the right to change people's ideas, but simply because, in the confusion, a few points have been slightly contradictory. Any change I made was strictly for the purpose of making the various facts fit together.

(Actually, I did leave out two other posts, on a topic that I asked to be dropped. My apologies to the posters, who I know were just trying to contribute, but it takes us in a direction I just don't think we need to go. Thanks for understanding.)

Politics and culture:

Half-orcs make up the ruling class of Eyros, and the most high born can trace their ancestry back through several generations of orcish forebears. It has a long tradition of senatorial governance, with occassional periods of despotic autocracy when a particular family or individual gains dominance. Eyros is a militant society: the half-orcs in power fear it is one in decline, for they are not the iron warriors their forefathers were. The armies of Eyros tend to favor cavalry and ranged combat due to the potential large battlefields, and need for distance from plainsfires.

Because only a TRUE first-generation half-orc may ascend the Thone, the Noble families are very strict about the purity of their House lineages. There are 6 of these families, known collectively as "The Pillars". Three are Human, and Three are Orcish. The greatest political wrangling consists of arranging marriages between Orc and Human children, striving for that one first-generation child that will next take the throne. Needless to say, those half-orc noble childern that don't make the throne find themselves very,very expendable.

Eyros has very "Roman-esque" feel, Style of dress, and architecture. People favor togas, buildings have Big Columns..Large, beautiful statues of the Gods/Kings.

As is to be expected from a culture dominated by Half-Orcs, fashion throughout the realm takes it's cue from the nobles. Royal clothes are dyed red with the blood of a ritually slaughtered sacred lizard. Only one of these beasts may be sacrificed in this manner each year, making red garments both highly desireable, as well as incredibly expensive.

Additionally the green tint of a half orcs skin is seen as a sign of virility and nobility. As such there is great demand for skin dyes and cosmetics to enhance the greenish tint of the skin. Surprisingly, many of the other races have also taken to using these green cosmetics. Since Copper is the necessary ingredient for these cosmetics, it is never used as currency, and it's value has been steadily increasing throughout the realm.

Lamb is the predominant food source. Most peasants are shepherd/farmers, who save the fattest and juiciest lamb of the year as an offering for the sacred lizards at the local temples.

Religion:

The dominant and oldest religion has grown up around the worship of the reptiles which are common in the area. Other religions include an elemental fire cult and a relatively new dualistic religion. Dragons, though they feature prominently in fairy tales and children's bedtime stories, are suspicously absent from modern history. Locals believe that the large reptiles that roam the nearby wilderness are somehow linked to these dragons, which in turn represented divine forces. This is why the dominant religion focuses on reptiles.

The common folk make frequent, largely ceremonial blood sacrifice to the soil; the blood of thousands waits beneath the ground for the call of sorcery and ritual.

Each family of the ruling class also has a family god, usually a legendary ancestor, that only they worship. This god is given small offerings, usually of food or incense, at the last meal of the day and are also honored at a yearly festival, during which the idols are clothed and bejewelled in a lavish style. Families compete to have the most beautifully, and expensively, dressed idol and show them off in grand parade. It is a great disgrace and bad luck for a family to lose the idol, to have their idol destroyed or to be unable to honor it with appropriate gifts.

Other races:

The Orc-Blooded royal and noble families keep a population of elven slaves, trained from birth to be completely loyal and to practice arcane magics. They are used to make up for the fact that the Orc-Blooded themselves don't make the best arcane casters. Free elves (and other non-orc races) refer to these slave/wizard elves as "Masks," in reference to the fact that there's always an Orc-Blood "behind" them.

Dwarves, an outlawed race, seem to be the dominate race in the Jagged Eye (see below).

Government hegemony is enforced by a cadre of gnomish necromancers known as Praes Thanatos. Insurgent groups such as the Jagged Eye, and sympathisers, are suppressed by summoning small armies of undead from the ambient corpses due to sacrifical rituals. As such, dwarves and gnomes tend not to get along, as many dwarves have friends or relatives who have been pacificed by Praes Thanatos.

Halflings have escaped the Dominion of Eyros by turning to the sea- they now have gargantuan floating colonies of latched-together ships, rafts, and boats that drift with the currents. Piracy has become the backbone of halfling society, without the plunder obtained from raids along the coastlines of Eyros the halflings in their cities of floating flotsam could not survive. The most notorious of the halfling pirate gangs is the Bloodsong Buccaneers, led by the pirate-bard Captain Darrenback.

Warlike goblinoid clans make frequent raids into Eryos' northern territory.

Climate and geography:

The climate is that of the chaparral (Mediterranean climate zones) and is characterised by
mild winters, and hot dry summers. Topography includes flat plains, rocky hills and mountain slopes scrubland predominates although larger woodland areas do exist. Fires occur frequently in the grasslands and scrub.

The planet of Eyros circles a blue sun in a slightly erratic and ellipical orbit both winters and summers vary greatly from year to year (some winters are mild while others nearly snuff the life from the land). The sun appears about 75% of the size of Sol and a year is significantly longer than an Earth year. (Mouseferatu's edit, to reconcile these two facts: While these long winters don't hit Eyros that hard, as per Tonguez's post, which came first, it does impact the climate of the world as a whole, often resulting in shortages and famine in Eyros because it has fewer trading partners.)

The kingdom’s capital is the great city of Eyrdeyn (often colloquially referred to as the First City), a sprawling metropolis built upon the slopes of Mt. Xark, upon which the largest of the Grand Monarch’s fortress-palaces stands. The capital is well over three thousand years old making it the oldest settlement in Eyros still in use. Due to its long history and the general instability of Mt. Xark the city of Eyrdeyn has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, each time the city is rebuilt on the ruins of the previous city. This has created a vast underground labyrinth of ruins beneath the city, layers upon layers of ancient ruins stacked on top of each other.

Mt Xarx is a volcano and the surrounding area famed for its hot springs and spas. A tourist trade is in place serving those who seek the restorative mineral waters. The highest pool on Mt Xarx is the Royal Pool and the exclusive property of the Palace. The inner chambers chambers are kept by the Priests of the Fire Cult, a royal mystery cult.

Plot points:

A secret society of psionicists, known as the Jagged Eye, seek to overthrow the government. The underground trade in narcotics, which are often purchased by dilettante nobles, is secretly funded by the Jagged Eye.

The laurel wreath, A kind of vegetable tiara, is woven from the leaves and young branches of the laurel, Laurus psionicus, this shrub or small tree common in forest communities throughout the region. It is known by Herbalists to have anti-psionic properties. Used as a Laurel Crown (favored by nobility) it protect the wearer from Mental Intrusion. Brewed just right by a skilled hand, it also becomes a toxic substance when it is ingested by anyone with Psionic abilities.

Felra Raj-Tinar (the dashed name indicates her connection to both her orc and human House lineages) is an intelligent and well-liked young half orc who is expected by many to take the throne when the aging ruler abdicates (half-orcs have such a low life-expectancy...) Little does anyone suspect that Felra is secretly involved in a forbidden love affair with the notorious pirate captain Darrenback!

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Religion:

The dominant and oldest religion has grown up around the worship of the reptiles which are common in the area. Other religions include an elemental fire cult and a relatively new dualistic religion. Dragons, though they feature prominently in fairy tales and children's bedtime stories, are suspicously absent from modern history. Locals believe that the large reptiles that roam the nearby wilderness are somehow linked to these dragons, which in turn represented divine forces. This is why the dominant religion focuses on reptiles.

The common folk make frequent, largely ceremonial blood sacrifice to the soil; the blood of thousands waits beneath the ground for the call of sorcery and ritual.

Each family of the ruling class also has a family god, usually a legendary ancestor, that only they worship. This god is given small offerings, usually of food or incense, at the last meal of the day and are also honored at a yearly festival, during which the idols are clothed and bejewelled in a lavish style. Families compete to have the most beautifully, and expensively, dressed idol and show them off in grand parade. It is a great disgrace and bad luck for a family to lose the idol, to have their idol destroyed or to be unable to honor it with appropriate gifts.

Deities as such are unknown. The divine is recognized in honored ancestors, the dispassionate elements, and totemic creatures.

The dominant and oldest religion is the Draconic Legacy, who revere saurians of all types and the dragons of legend in particular.

The elemental fire cult calls itself the Crucible. Besides the maintenance of Mt Xarx, their primary duty is to preserve the purity of the royal lineage.

Halflings worship the power of the Sea itself.

The newest faith is a dualistic religion called the Childen of the Dawn, who seek to usher the world out of what they see a the current age of darkness and into a new golden age. They see those opposed to their goals as agents of Twilight.

 

[Andor]

The delta of the great river Kohoal is home to a race of Lizardmen regarded as semi-divine. These lizardmen called the Kohl'Tass, are autonomous and are the heart of the druidic tradition in Eyros. It is considered a great honor amoung the druids to train with the Kohl'Tass.

Several rare plants in the delta are valuable components for magic item creation and poachers are a constant problem.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

(Okay, this is a tad more than sentence. I’ll make my next post shorter, I promise.)


From its delta 80 miles west of Mt. Xark, the great river Kohoal winds far to the northeast, its headwaters springing from among the sharp crags of the Valdweyn Peaks. Here, in the far-flung province of Zhalccu (where House Zhal has a strong presence and governs with semi-autonomy), the Jagged Eye maintains a number of secret camps linked to mountain villages by underground passageways. Yet slowly and inexorably the Jagged Eye is being hunted to extinction, as one by one their hidden caches and training camps are discovered.



Having recently ordered the execution of her father/great uncle, the new governess Keyzha Zhal--a young full-blooded (if highly inbred) orc--has been ruthlessly pursuing agents and sympathisers of the Jagged Eye, destroying whole villages if necessary. At her disposal are a growing force of locally conscripted soldiers, a handful of local huntsmen who have been threatened into serving as guides on the mountain trails, a half-insane elf-thrall, and a gnomish necromancer. Leaving nothing to chance, Keyzha Zhal also has goaded warbands of goblin mercenaries to pursue the hunt from their tribal lands on the far side of the peaks.



Note to Mouseferatu and the group: I’ll offer to make maps of Eyros, as the world gets more detailed. ;-)




ironregime

 

[Mouseferatu]

Note to Mouseferatu and the group: I’ll offer to make maps of Eyros, as the world gets more detailed. ;-)

ironregime

You do that, and I'll definitely forgive you the extra-long contribution.

 

[jayaint]

There are rumors of relic-hunters returning in weakened and ragged state, scared witless from some cave or temple far up the river Kohoal called the Mindful Halls. Apparently the Jagged Eye has found some ancient Psionic artifacts there but not without a heavy cost of man power and gold.

 

[Mouseferatu]

(Okay, this is a tad more than sentence. I’ll make my next post shorter, I promise.)


From its delta 80 miles west of Mt. Xark, the great river Kohoal winds far to the northeast, its headwaters springing from among the sharp crags of the Valdweyn Peaks. Here, in the far-flung province of Zhalccu (where House Zhal has a strong presence and governs with semi-autonomy), the Jagged Eye maintains a number of secret camps linked to mountain villages by underground passageways. Yet slowly and inexorably the Jagged Eye is being hunted to extinction, as one by one their hidden caches and training camps are discovered.

The kingdom of Ghalfaen is a small coastal nation, and was a traditional enemy of Eyros until the Sovereign Dominion grew so large, Ghalfaen couldn't possibly compete. It is now very nearly a protectorate, and its king a semi-puppet of the Orc-Blooded, allowed to rule only so long as he cooperates with Eyros. Secretly, however, he and his court have licensed the halfling privateers to prey on Eyros ships in Ghalfaen territorial waters.

 

[Tonguez]

I would like to point out that Tonguez established in the second post that Eyros has "mild winters". While this doesn't preclude somewhat harsher ones, lava pools seem a tad unnecessary to survive.

I agree hence

the six families of the 'Pillars' are said to return to the heart of the volcano itself into chambers heated by lava pools and geothermal steam.

Its a rumour perhaps linked to the mystery cult and not necessarily true

 

[Phineas Crow]

The kingdom of Ghalfaen is a small coastal nation, and was a traditional enemy of Eyros until the Sovereign Dominion grew so large, Ghalfaen couldn't possibly compete. It is now very nearly a protectorate, and its king a semi-puppet of the Orc-Blooded, allowed to rule only so long as he cooperates with Eyros. Secretly, however, he and his court have licensed the halfling privateers to prey on Eyros ships in Ghalfaen territorial waters.

Much of the land that makes up present-day Eyros was once, thousands of years ago, an elven province. From the northern highlands an invading army of orc and human tribes marched through the fertile elven steppes where they sacked and destroyed the splendid elven cities. Eventually the conquering army reached the base of Mt. Xark where they declared total victory over the elves and founded the city of Eyrdeyn to be their capitol over their newly conquered lands.