Scratch Pad: Mornelith Free City

[seasong]

Sketching out ideas for a setting. Feel free to comment.

A single wide continental strip of land stretches roughly 10,000 miles from east to west on a severely tilted and tide-locked (with the sun) planet. The south pole angles toward the sun, and the southernmost 500-1,000 miles (north-south) range from temperate to tropical. South of the main landmass are thousands of tropical islands.

Most of the continent, however, is dominated by the Waste, roughly 25 million square miles of churned up tundra, glaciar-driven lakes, slushy rivers and freezing mud. Sporadic patches of hardy plant-life form a mosaic of green in the otherwise black and white landscape, and although the soil is rich, the bitter cold prevents all but the hardiest of crops from growing well. The Waste ends in glaciation and eternal nightfall 2,500 miles north of its jagged southern edge, and the Waste itself stretches the entire length between coastlines to the east and west.

The majority of the civilized world dwells in the strip of temperate lands, with a few colonies of the Empire (at the western shores), several agricultural peoples (scattered through the middle) and The Mornelith Free City (at the eastern end) being the notable exceptions. Most cultures tend to believe that the Waste stretches all the way to hell in the bitter north. They may be right.

We will be concerning ourselves with The Mornelith Free City (called Mornelith in casual conversation) within these pages. Founded by fleeing refugees of a genocidal war, the city is half-fortress, half-refuge for those who fit nowhere else.

 

[seasong]

Various Races

Arachnea: Lifespan 42-50 years. Total regional population 2,000 or more. Sentient spiders of medium size, arachnea are native to cold climes (particularly tundra "lowlands"), and are extremely sturdy and heavily furred. They average about 150-200 lbs. Arachnea are pure meat eaters, and not well trusted by most sentient humanoids - there is always an undercurrent of racial prejudice stemming from ancient history, when arachnea were known to eat their enemies on the field of battle. Almost entirely urban as a species, and tend to dwell in small ghettos where they produce beautiful silk products.

Brutham: Lifespan 61-80 years. Total regional population 60,000 or more. Eight hundred pound primates with just enough dim sapience to enjoy the fruits of manual labor. Almost entirely rural as a species, with fewer than a thousand living in cities. Tend to be in the service of others, but tend to form mini-villages of brutham where ever they live.

Erathatch: Lifespan 104-140 years. Total regional population 20,000 or more. Tiny monkeys with powerful social instincts and deep wisdom furrowing their miniature brows. Erathatch often take roles as philosophers, mystics and priests. In cities, they tend to form small ghettoes to live in (where they sleep in groups of a dozen or more), but spend most of their time with other races. Evenly mixed urban and rural.

Kamehamugh: Lifespan 151-250 years. Total regional population 250,000 or more. Born of magma and stone, all kamehamugh are considered the same race and can interbreed (based on azer and salamanders and others). Generally, they are either squat humanoids or serpent-bodied humanoids, and favor either magma or stone (thus, there are four basic "types"). Known for their craftsmanship, the kamehamugh typically carve out caverns in the bedrock beneath cities to dwell in.

Kith (humans): Lifespan 72-110 years. Total regional population 2 million or more. An aggregate race of immense flexibility, the kith are humans, in a variety of sizes (from small to large). This includes a variant of halflings, humans and orc-like human, as well as a gracile race somewhere between halfling and human. All kith can interbreed (the results are typically a slightly smaller or larger variant of the mother's sub-race).

Lizardfolk: Lifespan 52-90 years. Total regional population less than a hundred. Common only to the hot southern islands, lizardfolk tend to be miserable along the tundra, but some few do. Lizardfolk are often healers and herbalists, and almost always foreigners. Noted changes: swim movement rate, breath holding, vulnerability to cold.

Rakshasa: Lifespan 101-200 years. Total regional population less than a thousand. Elegant and charismatic, rakshasa are a race of shapeshifting, sentient tigers. Although there is some tendency to viciousness, most tales of their tendency to cruelty are merest prejudices, inspired by primitive fear of efficient predators. Just ask any rakshasa. Socially, they tend to be advisors and performers rather than leaders, and operate with maximum flair and pomp.

Sphinx: Lifespan 502-700 years. Total regional population less than a hundred. Leonine creatures of great intelligence and power, sphinxes are solitary regarding their own kind, but fairly sociable among other races, so long as they are dominant. Most cities have a sphinx or two ruling a district, guild or similar - they typically make excellent administrators, regardless of their actual skills, and they blend into the cultures of some organizations rather well.