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Message: <blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 721375" data-attributes="member: 6929">Grargh... I was going to post this twelve hours ago, but couldn't use the Net. If it's a little outdated, please forgive me. Anyway, here's what I though back in those days of yore:About the Khanate:I suppose their increased civilisation is beneficial to the scenario. However, I suggest that it's relatively new to them; they conquered their 'bread-basket' in the past few generations, and so there are still nomadic tribes out there (with little bearing on the coming battle, however). They rule a nation, but the people aren't their own... not that they care.As a name? Why don't we try something simple, like the Jinn? (I base this off two factors: Genghis Khan's birth name was Temujin, and Jin roughly means 'person' in Japanese).Their elite Godbloods can have both griffins and chariots, and their troops have good light weaponry - especially bows, developed to counter rival tribes' mobile raiders. They might not have much iron, and definitely can't make it; that's left to the magocracy.About the Magocracy:I do like the idea of sorcerer lords on longships. That actually gives meaning to the old stereotype of the sorcerer in his tower going, "I rule you all hahaha". The question is, do they have longships or something different? I don't think tech has advanced to the point where they can develop such efficient raiding vessels, but they are definitely capable of making galleys or triremes... which rely on slaves to row when the wind dies down. Triremes are by necessity limited to fairly coastal regions, because they won't hold together in rough seas, but with limited control over the sea and sky the magocracy can get around this problem for their raids.As for a name: My deutsch is getting a little rusty, and I can't find a dictionary, but the word Auslander came to mind when considering the idea of an island ruled by exiles from somewhere else. Extrapolating from that, why don't we call their island Ausel, and the people Auselen? (Pronounced: OWSE-ell-enn). They use it as a badge of pride, as the word in their language (descended from Jongan and Cresian mixed with the local tongue) has connotations of superiority. Like "I've escaped your foolish social order'.Right now the Stempa don't have much reason to get involved in the conflict, I notice. That's probably a good thing, because now they can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis; perhaps the Cresians might seek an alliance with one city or another, setting off political chain reactions in Stempa areas.The humanoid question: Do humanoids even exist right now? The Auselen have the ability to create them, and in fact may already have begun to do so with servant races (I'm thinking halflings because they're unobtrusive). If they do ever come about, it's likely to be as a result of magical meddling by Auselen mercenary-mages.The geography question: The Jongan island was defined by RW as being to the West of Cresia. That means the Cresian River comes from the North-East (roughly speaking). It serves as a thoroughfare for Cresian traffic, and flows from the Stempan mountains. Thus, there is some trade between the Stempa and the Cresians both along the river and along the coast.The Auselen island lies to the south, across a channel from Cresia. The channel is quite wide, perhaps a hundred miles - Jonga was 30 miles offshore. Ausel itself is quite big, at least a hundred miles across, and while it's not as luxurious as Cresia, it's still capable of supporting its population. The raiders aren't focused on bringing back food or slaves so much as proving themselves and getting treasure (good slaves count).Ausel is probably covered with jungle, dry tropical forest, or maybe some kind of conifer (if we're assuming this exercise is Northern hemisphere). Perhaps a combination? The conifers grow on the mountains, while the lowlands are jungle or cleared pasture.The Auselen Channel comes off the West Sea and disappears somewhere in the East. We don't know how far the continent extends up beyond Stempa, but we don't really care. As far as we know, Cresia occupies the entire bottom-left corner.The Jinn come from a series of moors, highlands and hilly countries (no mountains) to the East or north-east of Cresia. There's a mountain range between them and Cresia, but it stops parallel with Stempa, so an invasion force could concievable march around there (there are perhaps two hundred miles between Stempa and the mountains). Their territory extends for five or six hundred miles beyond the mountains, to an area similar to Cresia on the southern coast of the continent that's perhaps 500 miles across.The rivers are very important. Cresia is divided by the Cresian River which starts in Stempa, and it's a mainstay of freight and communication with their enhanced fleet capabilities. Freshwater dolphins and whales now exist, and the river has been dug out along a central spine to allow many ships to pass that way. It's one of the wonders of the world. Similarly, the Jinn bread-basket province is also housed around a river, flowing from the North and fed by streams flowing through the hills from the separating mountain range. The rest of their territory is open, rough and comparatively infertile.The entire 'battlefield' extends 1000 miles north to south (Stempa 400 miles of rough terrain, Cresia another 400, the Auselen channel 100 and Ausel itself another 100). From east to west, it's about nine hundred and thirty miles (Jonga to Cresia: 30, Cresia: 400, another 50-100 miles of mountains, then 300-350 miles of broken Jinn terrain and 200 miles of the breadbasket province, seat of the Khan and the Godbloods). This does pose problems for the Jinn: they have to send their troops about 700 miles from the furthest reaches of their realm to reach the easy passage around the mountains, and then another 4-600 to reach the heart of Cresia (should they be able to penetrate that far).I think snow can be expected only in the mountains or during cold winters in North Stempa, so that's not really a problem. We're still north of the Tropics, so no monsoon-type weather can realistically be expected. Winter may be cold, but it won't kill armies.Right, that about covers my contributions this time around. I shall return...</blockquote>

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