Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Galethorn" data-source="post: 2803413" data-attributes="member: 7888">I voted 'Medieval Europe' but only because it's the closest approximation.You see, in the 'normal' part of the setting, it's a fairly europe-like range of climate and geography, and it has a level of magic fairly similar to the real world, at least as far as 99.99% of the population are concerned. If you want to choose a particular part of the middle ages, I'd say...late 12th century; the rise of plate armor to fortify mail, hand-and-a-half swords, and crossbows.In this region--Aaldor--there are a handful of kingdoms, each with its own specific flavor, but all sharing certain features. For example, all of the kingdoms have a feudal structure of some kind; a king at the top, ruling over barons, who in turn rule over dukes, who in turn rule over earls, who own most of the land, and have most of the knights. Peasents do all of the work, but most aren't in the state of near-starvation that some anachronistic sources would have you believe. Guilds control commerce, religion acts as the source of--and solution to--much strife, and the wilderness is still by and large unconquered.Outside of Aaldor, things vary a bit. For example, to the south, the Jangovian 'empire' is in a constant state of flux, always seeming to be at war with itself. The people live by a strict caste system, where the slaves and craftsmen toil, the warriors fight, the priests gaze at stars, and the nobles scheme.Even further south, the Chandakhi people live in a huge, warm river basin. The region is divided into city-states that have made a loose alliance against the Jangovians. Most of the city-states themselves are ruled by egalitarian theocracies that support themselves with trade; there are few Chandakhi farmers, and many merchants and craftsmen. Oh, and they're fairly accustomed to seeing simple magic on a regular basis, at least when coming from their priest-kings in the form of healing, smiting, and bringing the yearly rains.Across the moutains cutting the continent in half is a wide, grassy steppe-land, populated by hundreds of nomad tribes known collectively as the Rhúrs. Some of these Rhúrish tribes are peaceful horse-farmers, and others live only on plunder, but all Rhúrs worship a single god; a god of life and death.North of the Rhurlands is a rough, forested land ruled by the Dalsk, a people who long ago fled a particularly warlike Rhúrish conqueror, and went on to model themselves on the Aaldoric monarchies. However, the Dalsk are new arrivals in their land, so they haven't built up the same level of wealth as the Aaldorans, meaning a somewhat lower level of technology and civilization; their knights wear mail hauberks, and carry short cutting swords and broad axes, and they ride the shaggy descendants of the steppe horses their ancestors brought north.So, there's a certain amount of variability. Overall, though, most of the cultures are chauvanistic monarchies of one kind or another, where the common man has to work a lord's land for his entire life, and then pass on the same way of life to his children. Theft is punished by branding, cutting off hands, and so forth. Woman-warriors are unheard of (except for among the Chandakhi), and seldom given much respect. Nobles are considered 'better' than the rest of the population, except perhaps for a few, but they're usually smart enough to keep quiet.My players enjoy playing in the setting, and I enjoy GMing in the setting, so I figure I did something right.</blockquote>

Verification