Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

[Rystil Arden]

Contribution:

Riiisa Falyn, a friendly street acrobat of Eyrdeyn who is known for her love of children and furry animals (in contrast to most Eyrians, who prefer dhazi), has a terrible secret. Not only is she not Eyrian and not only is she a Xal expatriate, but she is also a member of the Cult of Fools and elder sister to the Jade Jaguar (thus, Riisa Falyn may not be her real name at all). Unwilling to undergo the process of lichdom like her brother after her, Riisa fled her country to avoid her fate, leaving the line of succession to the current emperor. Now she dearly hopes to avoid discovery by either her own people or the Eyrians, both of whom would execute her if they recognised her for what she reallt was.

 

[Arkhandus]

Thanks for understanding, Sarellion. No hard feelings.

As for the population of Eyros, with the new numbers my old calculation of 0.004% of the populus being mages would result in a little under 20,000 mages (sorcerers/wizards) in Eyros. If Eyros is going to be a bit less magically-powerful than core D&D, it might be reduced to 10,000 mages since we know many of the Masks and Praes Thanatos are quite experienced (read: mid- to high-level). In that case I'd suggest bumping up the number of Enforcer Masks to 5,000, other Masks to 800 or 1200, Praes Thanatos to 2,000 or so, and other mages (Arcaneum and freelance) to roughly 2,000. This would require fixing any posts (here and in the riters wiki) that described the number of Masks, Praes Thanatos, or Arcaneum mages. Opinions? (keep 'em short please, thanks)

 

[Doug McCrae]

Is there any room on the main continent for more countries? I'm a bit unclear where Eyros's borders lie, which may be deliberate.

 

[Arkhandus]

If Xaleris is on an island or peninsula in the northwestern ocean......then yes, there's room in the northwestern corner of Eyros' main continent that probably isn't claimed by Kwlloch nor Saagersberg, and the Sovereign Dominion's territory ends somewhere near the northern edge of the Kelnar Mountains and the southern edge of the Allerach (Alleroch?) Hills. I don't think Eyros controls the western edge of the continent beside the Kelnar Mountains, because House Malarn's territory is at the southwestern edge and House Mulcibe's territory is along the east side of the Kelnar Mountains. Also, there's some space to the northeastern corner of the main continent, but probably not a lot of space there. Recall that Eyros is supposed to be something like half-surrounded by various barbarians that were never worth conquering in the first place. :^D Most of them in Kwlloch of course, and probably Saagersberg....

 

[Rhialto]

As it now stands Xaleris is on an island/small continent in the southwestern ocean. So once again, there seems to be room. Plus, I wouldn't mind if Xaleris had a neighbor or two--it had to conquer somebody to get started as the Old Empire, even if it's clearly on a downslide now...

 

[Mouseferatu]

Contribution:

Riiisa Falyn, a friendly street acrobat of Eyrdeyn who is known for her love of children and furry animals (in contrast to most Eyrians, who prefer dhazi), has a terrible secret. Not only is she not Eyrian and not only is she a Xal expatriate, but she is also a member of the Cult of Fools and elder sister to the Jade Jaguar (thus, Riisa Falyn may not be her real name at all). Unwilling to undergo the process of lichdom like her brother after her, Riisa fled her country to avoid her fate, leaving the line of succession to the current emperor. Now she dearly hopes to avoid discovery by either her own people or the Eyrians, both of whom would execute her if they recognised her for what she reallt was.

Contribution:

The Grand Monarch's capitol (palace? fortress? I'm blanking at the moment) has a great chamber called the Hall of Predecessors. In it stand stone statues of all the prior Grand Monarchs. Unknown to anyone but the Grand Monarch and his closest advisors, one of the oldest of the statues is actually an advanced and fully sentient/awakened stone golem. In ancient days, the golem served as a protector of the Grand Monarch. It has not, however, moved from its spot in several generations, and none know if it's even capable of movement any longer. It does, however, still speak, and its long existance has made it one of the Monarch's most trusted advisors on historical and political matters (although its knowledge of current events is somewhat limited).

(Again, let me know if I'm stepping on prior posts' toes. I'm trying to finish up a PDF project and preparing to start on a WotC one, so I'm having trouble keeping everything straight. )

 

[Sarellion]

If we put Xaleris on another continent we have the problem how Eyros was able to attack their homelands.

Eyros has no real navy, their ships are galleys and I think that the navy doesn´t have good commanders as the navy seems to be the red-headed stepchild of the imperial forces, possibly a dumping ground for inept comanders, forced to fight pesky halflings. And that´s the state of affairs since the New Haven debacle.

But there is no space on the mainland as it is now.

Arkhandus
Do you mean 0,004=0,4% instead of 0,004%?

 

[Rhialto]

Rome didn't have that great a Navy either, but they managed to dominate the Mediterranean and attack Carthage. Xaleris is far away, but not unreasonably so. Thus the trip is doable.

Also, their navy is, if anything, worse.

 

[Tonguez]

If we put Xaleris on another continent we have the problem how Eyros was able to attack their homelands.

Eyros has no real navy, their ships are galleys and I think that the navy doesn´t have good commanders as the navy seems to be the red-headed stepchild of the imperial forces, possibly a dumping ground for inept comanders, forced to fight pesky halflings. And that´s the state of affairs since the New Haven debacle.
?

We know that House Garren had a naval tradition so most of the Eyros admiralty and its maritime expertise may have been lost with the fall of house Garren. Furthermore it has remain undereveloped as the Eyros military turned north (and thus landward) to fight the goblinoid raids from Kwlloch et al. Since then the military has developed a significant landbased capacity at the expense of its maritime development. It has also become somewhat inward focussed maintaining the peace and keeping uprising like those of the Jagged Eye under control.
ergo the Navy exists it just isn't too flash

 

[Mouseferatu]

Rome didn't have that great a Navy either, but they managed to dominate the Mediterranean and attack Carthage. Xaleris is far away, but not unreasonably so. Thus the trip is doable.

Also, their navy is, if anything, worse.

Exactly. The navy of Eyros doesn't have to be good enough to fight; it just has to be good enough to land the legions on the enemy's beaches.