An Example - My Setting Write-Up
At the risk of cross-posting (from the Paizo message boards), I just wrote up this description of my campaign world. Perhaps this will prove useful, if only as example of what not to do.
It's clear in other communications that Cauldron is the homebase, and they are supposed to come up a character concept that fits -- what exactly that is, is left purposefully open to their imaginations. I assume some super basic familiarity with Greyhawk/"3e default setting" concepts, which is right for my group. I've ripped off a lot of GHWiki content for the Sasserine and Hold of Sea Princes bits, but the Cauldron stuff is heavily modified/blanks filled in from what Paizo originally published.
Overview:
The isolated tropical city-states of Sasserine and Cauldron were colonized by the Hold of Sea Princes from CY 480-584. The piratical leaders of the Hold of Sea Princes kept the existence of these distant, jungle-bound cities a secret, to maintain their monopoly on the export of tropical fruits not found anywhere else in the Flanaess -- specifically, bananas, cacao (used to make chocolate), and durian. When the Hold of the Sea Princes was conquered by the Scarlet Brotherhood, its colonies reasserted their independence. The Hold is now embroiled in a many sided, anarchistic civil war, leaving Sasserine and Cauldron to their own devices.
The current year is CY 588.
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The city of Cauldron is located in the caldera of a dormant volcano, at the eastern edge of the Hellfurnaces range of volcanoes. The Hellfurnaces separate the blasted, empty desert called the Sea of Dust (the former heartland of the Suel Imperium) to the west from the Amedio Jungle in the east. Cauldron is nicknamed the Shackled City for the source of its wealth -- tropical cash crops produced by slave labor on the surrounding plantations.
Cauldron's nearest important neighbor is the port city of Sasserine, about 20 miles away on Jeklea Bay of the Azure Sea.
Most of the founders of Cauldron and the majority of its population came from the north across Jeklea Bay, from the Kingdom of Keoland or the Hold of Sea Princes. Keoland is a large, powerful, feudal kingdom, which along with its possessions or former posessions, holds most of the Sheldomar Valley, the largest settled region of the western Flanaess continent. The Hold is -- or perhaps was would be more accurate -- a nation of pirates who broke off from Keoland ~CY 450. It is located at the southwest periphery of the Sheldomar Valley, separated from Keoland by the fetid Hool Marshes.
The largest race in Cauldron are Suel (think: Northern European). The Suel originally migrated to the Flanaess from across the Hellfurnace range of volcanoes, as refugees from the ancient (1000 years ago) magical Rain of Colorless Fire that ended a great war. Today, Suel form the bulk of the population in both Keoland and the Hold, and in a few other harsh, isolated regions where they long ago found refuge, like the Amedio Jungle, the Viking-dominated petty kingdoms of the Thillronian Peninsula of the far northeast (north of the Great Kingdom), and the totalitarian racist regime of the Scarlet Brotherhood that began on a rocky peninsula south of the Great Kingdom.
Many other Cauldron folk came from the eastern reaches of the Azure Sea. Oeridians (think: Southern Europeans) are the second largest group in Cauldron, mostly coming from the city-states of the Wild Coast (including the City of Greyhawk) or the Great Kingdom (now collapsed and divided among several successor states). Touv (think: Africans) from the tropical island continent of Hepmonaland are more common here than in other parts of the Flanaess; some were among the founding families, while others arrived later as traders or mercenaries.
When profitable diamond and obsidian deposits were discovered in the region, gnomes and dwarves from the Sheldomar Valley (Keoland and environs) flocked to Cauldron, and halflings came with them, at first mostly as cooks and washers. Later, gnomes, dwarves, and halfling became established as merchants and master artisans in the City.
Elves, half-elves, and half-orcs are relatively uncommon in Cauldron, and often are visitors from Sasserine.
The city proper has about 7500 adults, making a medium-sized city by medieval standards. The outlying areas -- mostly plantations but some smaller towns for freemen like the mining community of Redgorge and the waystation between Cauldron and Sasserine at the Lucky Monkey Inn -- have perhaps twice again that population.
The slaves who work the plantations that provide Cauldron's wealth were captured generations ago in the Amedio Jungle -- they are Amedi (Suel tribesmen who degenerated to a Stone Age culture after fleeing the fall of the Suel Imperium) and Olman (think: Aztec) tribesmen, whose jungle city-states mostly crumbled long ago. The lowland plantations around Sasserine and in the river valley in between grow sugarcane (which is processed into rum), bananas, and rice (mostly for local consumption, but also exported in bulk, mostly to the City of Greyhawk). The highland plantations around Cauldron grow coffee, cacao (for chocolate), and durian fruit.
The climate in the Cauldron region is humid and tropical, and the jungles and lowlands are plagued by malaria, dysentary, and wild animals including lions, tigers, and even dinosaurs. For this reason, few slaves attempt escape into the jungle, but those who have -- mostly Amedi -- have formed "hill folk" tribes that occassionally waylay travellers or even raid a settlement.
The city-dwellers, on their mountain top, escape the oppressive heat, disease, and other dangers of the jungles, and their water, from the caldera's lake, is magically kept free of disease. Slaves are not allowed in the city proper.
The major religions in Cauldron are Kord (Suloise god of strength), Wee Jas (Suloise goddess of magic and death, former patroness of the Suel Imperium), St. Cuthbert (Oeridian god of common sense and righteousness), and Pelor (Oeridian god of the sun and healing). The Church of Kord, arguing might makes right, loudly supports slavery, while the Church of Wee Jas quietly argues that the civilizing tradition of the "peculiar institution" is misunderstood by the outsiders who condemn it. The Churches of St. Cuthbert and Pelor discourage their members from owning slaves, but have a "gradualist" approach, calling for slaveowners to do manumission in their wills, or to declare the children of slaves to be born free. Worshippers of Fharlanghn (Oeridian god of travel and the open road), who are mostly elves or half-elves, call for immediate abolition and are rumored to be involved in helping escaped slaves make it out of the region. For that reason, the clergy of Fharlanghn has been denied permission to build a temple.
The local cuisine is primarly rice and beans plus sweet potatoes for the lower classes, with pork and chicken -- particularly satay, cooked on sticks with spicy peanut sauce -- as a treat for the poor and a staple for the middle class. The rich of Cauldron prefer seafood imported from Sasserine, the exotic sweets that Cauldron exports in bulk (chocolate, bananas, and durian), and food imported from Keoland or other overseas locales, like wine and cheese.
Cauldron is ruled by a mayor, who is chosen by consensus among the local nobles. As in the Hold of Sea Princes, nobility in Cauldron is more matter of being rich -- typically by owning plantations -- rather than inheritance and subservience to a liege lord. Feudalism does not exist here.
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Sasserine was founded in CY -124 by a group of pilgrims led by a priestess of Wee Jas named Sasserine, who was inspired to found the town after receiving a vision. After her death, the town gradually grew and expanded until it encompassed not merely the area inside the city walls, but a number of plantations lying on the outskirts. The success of the city made it a target for raids from pirates as well as attempts of subversion by the Scarlet Brotherhood, who first raided the city in CY 30.
After a time, a family named Teraknian, descended from Sasserine's lover, came to rule the city as lord mayors, taking advice from the clergy of Wee Jas and Kord. In CY 480, Orren Teraknian, the last of the lord mayors, began a reign of terror and launched a persecution of the church of Wee Jas in the city. Orren was deposed soon after after the city was conquered by the Sea Princes, who also conquered neighboring Cauldron. The Sea Princes kept the existence of Sasserine and Cauldron a secret from the rest of the Flanaess to guard their monopoly trades in chocolate and tropical fruit. The subjugation would last for a century, until the Sea Princes were forced to abandon Sasserine and Cauldron due to internal turmoil in their own lands as a result of the invasion by the Scarlet Brotherhood. The city-states are still recovering from its century-long domination and isolation.
Sasserine lays on the coast of the Amedio Jungle, close to the Hellfurnaces mountain range, and about 20 miles north of Cauldron. Its nearest neighbor across Jeklea Bay is the Hold of the Sea Princes. Sasserine is built on a series of islands which make water travel through the town a vital link for intra-city trade (like Venice).
Sasserine's economy is primarily based on sea trade, but some of the nobles own lowland plantations much like those of Cauldron, producing sugarcane and rice. The sea trade involves exporting rum, chocolate, and tropical fruits (bananas and durian) across the Azure Sea, and importing finished goods like clothing and arms & armor from more temperate lands, such as Keoland, the Wild Coast, Nyrond, and Ahlissa (the most important successor kingdom in the southern part of what was once the Great Kingdom). Piracy by ships of the Scarlet Brotherhood, their allies the Lordship of the Isles, and freebooters from the Hold, the Wild Coast, and Onnwall is a serious problem for Sasserine, but payoffs to Onnwall and the Holders, and occassional anti-piracy patrols by Keoland and to a lesser extent Nyrond and Ahlissa, keep the problem from shutting down the lucrative port.
The climate is generally tropical, with high temperatures and high humidity. Sea breezes attenuate the oppressive climate to some extent.
The city of Sasserine’s population is 15,650, with over three-quarters of the population being human. There is a small but sizable population of half-elves and halflings, with the rest of the population composed of minor amounts of dwarves, gnomes, elves, and other races.
Each districts of the city has a different patron deity: Wee Jas in the Noble District, Kord in the Champion's District, Saint Cuthbert in the Cudgel District, Fharlanghn in the Merchant's District, Olidammara (under an alias) in Shadowshore, and a syncretic religion composed of the worshippers of sea gods Procan, Xerbo, and Osprem in the Azure District. Religious toleration is prevalent throughout the city, although the churches of Wee Jas and Kord are in a state of cold war that has persisted since the persecution of the Jasadin by Orrin Teraknian.
The governance of Sasserine is a mix of oligarchy and direct democracy. The people are allowed to originate proposals and vote on them in great public meetings. Any resolutions passed by the people are sent to the seven-member Dawn Council, an oligarchy of noble aristocrats, which then decides whether or not to enact them. Law and order are for the most part relaxed in the town (partly in reaction against the somewhat harsh rule of the Sea Princes), and only the more egregious crimes such as murder and theft are actively pursued. Prostitution and the sale of exotic and potentially dangerous substances or creatures goes on more or less legally within the city limits (although the exact lassitude varies from district to district).
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The Hold of the Sea Princes is a realm south of Keoland. The region that would become the Hold of the Sea Princes was heavily settled by Suel during the Great Migrations. Eventually it came under the control of the Kingdom of Keoland. In the mid-fifth century CY, a pirate captain of noble Keoish blood led a rebellion against the Throne of the Lion. Distracted as they were by their northern wars, the Keoish could do little to prevent them from conquering the isles off the coast. In CY 453, King Tavish III of Keoland led an army through the hot, diseased Hool Marsh and to the city of Westkeep, where they lay siege. In the conflict that followed, Tavish III died, and his legendary family sword, Vilharian, was lost.
After the pirates lost (somewhat indecisively) the Battle of Jetsom Island to Keoland in CY 464, the pirate captains decided to settle down and be princes rather than brigands. The Hold of the Sea Princes began to flourish, with an economy based on vast plantations and the trade of slaves captured from the Amedio Jungle to the south.
More recently, however, Jeon II became the ruling prince of the land (in CY 577). Jeon II, along with the rulers of the Duchy of Berghof and Sybarate, began campaigning for slavery to be outlawed within the land. Perhaps their efforts would have met with some success if the Hold of the Sea Princes were not invaded by the Scarlet Brotherhood shortly thereafter.
In CY 584, an ambassador from the "Kingdom of Shar," resplendent in his red-hooded robe, arrived at the court of Jeon II, and demanded the Sea Princes submit to his government or be destroyed. When the assembled lords mocked him, he presented them with a list of 30 petty nobles, who were all (save three) assassinated before the following morning. Within a fortnight, the Hold of the Sea Princes belonged to the Great and Hidden Empire of the Scarlet Brotherhood, as red sailed galleys unloaded the cargos of Amedi, Olman, Touv, and humanoid slave-warriors up and down the coast.
However, the rule of the Scarlet Brotherhood has always been unstable, as discord among its own ranks and revolts by slaves, slave-warriors, and former freemen and nobles of the Hold sprang up everywhere. Sasserine and Cauldron took advantage of the chaos to quickly seize their own independence before the Scarlet Brotherhood even arrived as these secret colonies of the Hold.
Today the Hold of the Sea Princes is in chaos, ruled by a number of petty warlords and savage tribal leaders drawn from the ranks of escaped slaves. The Scarlet Brotherhood still controls the capital of Monmurg, as well as the islands of Flotsom, Jetsom, and Fairwind, but most of the mainland has slipped through its grasping fingers.
