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Life in the desert
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<blockquote data-quote="Nyeshet" data-source="post: 4645202" data-attributes="member: 18363"><p>This will likely be my last posting tonight, so I will not be able to answer your response to this post until tomorrow. </p><p></p><p>My first thought is to have some dwarves remaining behind in the mountains. The humans may not know about the dwarves, but perhaps the Freman / Desert Elves trade with them. Indeed, the humans might presume that the Desert Elves are the source of ores and various metal crafted items when in fact they are mere tradesmen selling to the humans the fruits of the dwarves mines and forges in the mountains. The main reason for this is twofold: 1) if a PC wishes to be a dwarf it allows for the option, and 2) it allows for further adventure ideas later should the PCs start exploring the mountains. This is just a thought, however. </p><p></p><p>As you are using Eladrin, perhaps *they* are the 'blue eyed Freman'? This would explain their rarety, the unusual powers they have (compared to desert elves), and so forth. </p><p></p><p>As you are using Eladrin, I presume this is 4e? If so, then as I recall Halflings are associated with water. Why not have them living on the main river along its (shorter) surface length? Or around the lake in the mountains? Or along the marsh lands near the delta of the main river? </p><p></p><p>How is the lake in the mountains getting its water? I presume you are basing it off Lake Victoria that feeds the Nile - with the major river being fed in part or whole by this lake before sinking underground for its journey to the coast? But if I recall correctly, Lake Victoria receives much of its water from intermittent or seasonal sub-tropical rains. Are the mountains in which the the lake is located on the equator-side of the continent? Is that coast more akin to savanna or sahel, receiving intermittent or seasonal rains? Or might the Lake have in its depths a portal to the Plane of Water, ever filling it even as it drains away into the major river? </p><p></p><p>If you are using 4e, then Dragonborn might well fit into the setting you are creating. Perhaps Dragonborn are mostly barbarous and are in fact the original inhabitants of the continent. Tieflings do not really sound as if they would fit, however. </p><p></p><p>It sounds as if the continent was settled three times: first by the dwarves, who mostly or completely left at some point a few centuries after arriving; then later by the desert elves, who have more or less settled well upon the continent; and lastly by the humans, who have somehow supplanted the desert elves, forcing them away from the coasts and further into the harsher deserts inland. I would expect some conflict between the prior two races. </p><p></p><p>How did the halflings arrive? Were they perhaps initially slaves of the elves or humans? </p><p></p><p>Recall that as far as trade goes, salt is almost as important as water in a desert. In fact in Earth history, many that lived in or near a desert traded in salt. Sometimes they carved it from salt flats. At other times they gathered water from drying out / dying inland seas and let the sun remove the water, leaving only salt behind. </p><p></p><p>It sounds like the desert elves both live upon the surface and under the surface, working as caravans (and raiders?) across the desert and in towns and caravans along the underworld length of the major river. Perhaps they use hidden entrances to this underworld, raiding human settlements only to seemingly vanish into the desert afterward.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nyeshet, post: 4645202, member: 18363"] This will likely be my last posting tonight, so I will not be able to answer your response to this post until tomorrow. My first thought is to have some dwarves remaining behind in the mountains. The humans may not know about the dwarves, but perhaps the Freman / Desert Elves trade with them. Indeed, the humans might presume that the Desert Elves are the source of ores and various metal crafted items when in fact they are mere tradesmen selling to the humans the fruits of the dwarves mines and forges in the mountains. The main reason for this is twofold: 1) if a PC wishes to be a dwarf it allows for the option, and 2) it allows for further adventure ideas later should the PCs start exploring the mountains. This is just a thought, however. As you are using Eladrin, perhaps *they* are the 'blue eyed Freman'? This would explain their rarety, the unusual powers they have (compared to desert elves), and so forth. As you are using Eladrin, I presume this is 4e? If so, then as I recall Halflings are associated with water. Why not have them living on the main river along its (shorter) surface length? Or around the lake in the mountains? Or along the marsh lands near the delta of the main river? How is the lake in the mountains getting its water? I presume you are basing it off Lake Victoria that feeds the Nile - with the major river being fed in part or whole by this lake before sinking underground for its journey to the coast? But if I recall correctly, Lake Victoria receives much of its water from intermittent or seasonal sub-tropical rains. Are the mountains in which the the lake is located on the equator-side of the continent? Is that coast more akin to savanna or sahel, receiving intermittent or seasonal rains? Or might the Lake have in its depths a portal to the Plane of Water, ever filling it even as it drains away into the major river? If you are using 4e, then Dragonborn might well fit into the setting you are creating. Perhaps Dragonborn are mostly barbarous and are in fact the original inhabitants of the continent. Tieflings do not really sound as if they would fit, however. It sounds as if the continent was settled three times: first by the dwarves, who mostly or completely left at some point a few centuries after arriving; then later by the desert elves, who have more or less settled well upon the continent; and lastly by the humans, who have somehow supplanted the desert elves, forcing them away from the coasts and further into the harsher deserts inland. I would expect some conflict between the prior two races. How did the halflings arrive? Were they perhaps initially slaves of the elves or humans? Recall that as far as trade goes, salt is almost as important as water in a desert. In fact in Earth history, many that lived in or near a desert traded in salt. Sometimes they carved it from salt flats. At other times they gathered water from drying out / dying inland seas and let the sun remove the water, leaving only salt behind. It sounds like the desert elves both live upon the surface and under the surface, working as caravans (and raiders?) across the desert and in towns and caravans along the underworld length of the major river. Perhaps they use hidden entrances to this underworld, raiding human settlements only to seemingly vanish into the desert afterward. [/QUOTE]
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