Great Interior Sea Region
The Great Interior Sea Region is one of the few places on Maran that is dominated by good. It’s kingdoms and protectorates are shining examples in a very evil world. Surrounded by enemies on all sides these lands holdout through sheer willpower and strength of faith in the Gods of Good. Yet, evil lurks in the deep, dark forests surrounding these lands, and the Virtuous Realms, as they’re referred to, stand isolated from the world.
The most powerful of these lands are the Realms of the Heart. Angel Heart, Castle Heart, and the Heart of the Reverie stand on the shores of the Great Interior Sea. Angel Heart is a land dominated by angels and other celestials and is often referred to as the Kingdom of Nirvana. Castle Heart is a land of shining knights and is one of the few lands with a strong force of paladins and other holy warriors. The Heart of the Reverie is the largest standing elven kingdom still in existence. These three pillars of good are all that stands between the Virtuous Realms and the evil of the Drow Lands & the elemental princes of The Steaming Pits.
Two other lands stand as protectors of the citizens of the Virtuous Realms – The Bastion Kingdom of the southern shore and the Burnished Kingdom of the northern shore. The Bastion Kingdom is a human land known for its no-nonsense warrior tradition and vigilance against the machinations of the warlords of the Treacherous Warlands to the south of the Slaughter Weald. The Burnished Kingdom is a land dominated by gnomes, dwarves, and halflings who protect the Virtuous Realms from the burning insanity of the Demon Hoarders of the northern forests, which are twisted mass of burning timber and insane, vile-touched treants (or worse).
The last two lands of the Virtuous Realms are, for the most part, protected by the fact that they have little to offer a conquering force. The lands around the eastern shoreline of the Great Interior Sea – the Charylands and The Sundered Shore – are quite barren and hardly considered hospitable. The Charylands are a little better off as they fall under the protection of The Bastion Kingdom, but is considered a poor place to try and make a living, as the denizens of the Slaughter Weald are more of open threat here. The Sundered Shore is a wild place patrolled by elite rangers and inhabited by moral barbarian tribes who have aligned themselves with both the Burnished Kingdom and the fey elves of The High Weald. They are a proud people who insist on protecting their lands, their way.
Already mentioned were the Drow Lands, The Steaming Pits, The Slaughter Weald, and the High Weald. All of these lands are considered to be less than virtuous if not completely evil. The Drow Lands are fairly self-explanatory other than to say the drow of the world of Maran believe in evil in all its forms. They tend to be “more lawful” if living on the surface, but not always, and there are dozens of Fortified Houses scattered throughout the dark forests west of Great Interior Sea. These drow households are huge, walled compounds that are both independent and aligned to other Houses in the region. It is said that the most powerful drow matriarchies and patriarchies have fiendish blood and make pacts with evil outsiders.
Beyond the Drow Lands lies The Steaming Pits. This unnatural region is basically an enormous, shallow canyon that is filled with hot, boiling mud. Princes of Elemental Evil rule here whether they be Earth, Ooze, Steam, or Water Lords of Evil. The region is patrolled constantly by these evil Elemental Princes’ minions, as well as roaming groups of mud elementals and much fouler creatures. It is said that a realm of good once controlled the canyon and that it was brought low when a cabal of evil wizards and sorcerers opened several rifts to the elemental planes. Scholars of the Virtuous Realms believe that several powerful magical relics of good still exist, buried deep beneath the boiling mud, to be rescued.
The region known as The Slaughter Weald isn’t a kingdom, its more like a burned out, withering battlefield where The Bastion Kingdom and the warlords of the Treacherous Warlands constantly fight each other for ground. It is a blackened no man’s land where foul beasts walk during the day and deadly undead seek to feed during the night. Only the very brave or very foolish would dare cross this region alone or in small groups (i.e. adventurers). Another place where it is unsafe to tread day or night is the land known as LittleRot. Located east of The Sundered Shore, this land was full of halfling communities more than 400 years ago. Now, it is a destroyed land that acts as a buffer between The Sundered Shore and the warlords of the Low Shores. The land isn’t safe, however, as its former denizens have either degenerated into evil, feral Jerren or become undead guardians of the fallen halfling communities.
South of LittleRot and east of The Slaughter Weald is the enigma that is The High Weald. Here a race of fey-like elves lives in relative peace and harmony with nature, yet they become openly violent towards any that dare enter their lands without invitation. They are usually free-spirited but passive towards others and have powerful shamans as their leaders. The barbarians of The Sundered Shore believe that they are the divine servants of the Detached Gods, and their devotion to the High Elves of the Weald borders on worship. The other denizens of the Virtuous Realms give this region a wide berth.
The three mountain ranges nearest to the Great Interior Sea affect the lives of the citizens of the Virtuous Realms in different ways, if at all. The distant Smoking Mountains only troubles the minds of the virtuous when its volcanic peaks rumble, threatening to erupt. The Spikes of the Fallen are more troublesome, as the high mountains are known for evil humanoids, giants, aberrations, and fallen angels. The smaller Kilnpeaks offer some solace, as they are home to goodhearted dwarves and gnomes who are allied with the denizens of the Burnished Kingdom.
Not really considered a part of the Great Interior Sea Region, the lands surrounding it – The Treacherous Warlands, the Low Shores, and The Burnt Forests of the Demon Hoarders – are some of the most despicable and warlike on the world of Maran. The Demon Hoarders are the most troublesome, as they are truly the closest, but the warlords of the southern lands come a close second. The warlords and evil rulers of the Low Shores are less of a problem, as they would rather fight with each other and raid into the southern lands east of the Smoking Mountains. The Demon Hoarders are a race of humans similar to the Vashar, but with both demon and dragon ancestry. Not all of these people are evil, but most are. The warlords of Treacherous Warlands tend toward lawfulness or neutrality in morals, while those of the Low Shores are almost always bent towards evil.
