THE THUNDER LANDS: The region known as the
Thunder Lands grew out of the original adventuring of my 2E group. The adventurers passed through this region on their way to the
Far South, which made me think more about what I wanted this region to be about.
I decided that I wanted to go for a group of "independant" kingdoms and city-states that are less inclined to work together than, say, the lands of the
Eastern Shores. (Not that those lands are as tightly "allied" as they use to be.)
There are some exceptions, as the lands surrounding the
Thunder Mountains (the east map) have a common foe in the mountain orcs of the
Black Kingdom. The
Barony of Liran, the
Free City of Yuln, and the
Freeholds of the Strand have been battling the mountains orcs living in the Thunder Mountains for as long as anyone can remember.
Since
The Transformation, another city exists in this region.
Tschaja, the City of the Kha, is a strange city that exists on bamboo stilts and is home to a race of birdmen originally from a world known as
Sio. The
"Kha" are a race of warriors and their original home is a "no magic" world without Gods. They find the idea of magic and Gods strange but fascinating.
The Black Kingdom of the Thunder Orcs and the Barony of Liran are loosely based on the D&D module
"The Silver Key". The orcs of the Black Kingdom are said to breed like rabbits and are as vicious as worgs.
The map of the western half of the Thunder Lands is dominated by the
Kul Moren Mountains and the lands surrounding it.
The Independant Domain of Anoria,
The Free City of Caloric,
The Barony of Calot,
The Dominion of Cauldron,
Fortress Mountain, and the
City-state of Flamerule.
Anoria is based on the
EN World City Project that once dominated the "Rogues Gallery Forum" here on EN World, while
Cauldron City is taken right out of the
DUNGEON Shackled City Adventure Path, twisted for the
Lands of Harqual.
The
City-state of Flamerule and the
Hather Plains grew out of my imagination, after my 2E players traveled through this region, into the desert known as
The Great Expanse, and into the (pre-"Transformation") lands of the
Nebral Peninsula of the Far South.
The Hather Plains is to the western Thunder Lands what the Black Kingdom is to the eastern Thunder Lands. It is a land where evil rules and slavery is the major import/export.
Calot is a young land that just gained the recognition of self-rule. It it strongly allied with
Minar to the northeast. It is a pastoral land dominated by humans, halflings, elves, and kitts.
Caloric, known as
The Border City and
Traders' Way, is known for its mercantile culture.
Caloric is also known for its neutrality, and its leaders rarely become involved in the "conflicts" of the other lands and city-states of the Thunder Lands.
The other major power base in this region is Fortress Mountain, also known as
The Mountain Fortress of the Du’gar. This great peak is home to several clans of duergar driven out of the
Underearth by the morlocks that dominate the subterranean lands of the
World of Kulan.
The duergar have a tentative alliance with several warbands of mountain orcs that originate from Fortress Mountain and the Kul Moren Mountains.
The other lands show on these two maps are part of different regions.
Izmer and the
Verdalf Forest are part of the
Verdalf Forest Region, while Minar is part of the
Lake Qualitian Region.
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