The current head of the Barony of Khomaes is Aldra Ap Iaggio. The Iaggio family has ruled the Barony for 8 generations now, stretching back almost 200 years. Although the family, as with most of the significant families, is only interested in politics and the situation in the city of Khomaes (simply called "The City" within the Barony, but sometimes derisively referred to as the Drop or the Rift, because of Dancer's Rift. It is also common for poets to refer to it as the Spire or the Spike, for Dancer's Spike).
The population of the city is approximately 22,000, but it has been a while since a general census has been called for. The local economy, which is based primarily on local agriculture for the lower classes, and on a combination of industrial trade (amberstone and other materials coming down out of the Aghanz Hills), trade with the nearby Baronies, and the pilgrim and traveler trade. The pilgrims and travelers have ample reason to come to The City, and hence the City itself flourishes, and creates additional demand on the surrounding areas, affecting the whole Barony. The pilgrims coming are for the two cathedrals in the city, and also for the School of Charm. The cathedrals are Appuco Fast, and it's twin Ramee Tower. Appuco Fast is dedicated to St. Norena. Ramee Tower is dedicated to the followers of St. Ellain. Both churches draw a large amount of pilgrim traffic, and the business that pilgrims draw, to the Barony.
Westron is spoken commonly in this Barony, as with most of the Baronies. But because it is so far north, there is also a wide understanding of Destrikking. All written transactions, however, use Westschrift.
The surrounding towns are (see the map):
A. Truend - Pop 2,200 - Walled against the large mammals of the Darkearth Plains, and also against the Shagmen out of the Aghanz Hills. A small elite corps of the town guard are called the Truend Rangers, and they travel the local area, looking for traveling groups of Shagmen, and breaking them up before they can get too close to Truend, or local farm villages.
B. Khoben Vale - Population 1,800 - There is a small section of dense trees that grows on either side of a minor river called Bruuka Wash. Carved out of that is enough space for Khoben Vale, all within the trees, and partially on a rocky island in the middle of Bruuka Wash, the rest on either bank. There are sturdy stone bridges connecting the whole affair, and stone walls and towers inside the forest, to protect the town. Outside the little forest, there are single and small groups of trees, all of which attract the giant lynx common to the area. In fact, sometimes the lynx is called the Khoben Cat.
C. Sagio Mill - Population 2,800 - This is an open town, without a city wall. There are, however, several concentric rings of watch towers extending out, 20 miles in all directions around the town. Most of the farms, and other holdings, relying on the town, are within that set of rings. The town gets it's name from a very large stone mill, built next to a rather impressive mill pond. There is no river feeding this pond, but the water in it constantly rotates (due to magic means), providing motion for the very large grinding wheel.
D. Iffel - Population 2,200 - This is a town built around a small castle (D'Mosh Castle), with a curtain wall around the core town. It is, however, built right next to the King's Highway. The curtain wall of the town backs up to and connects with the mound of the King's Highway, and within the walls of the town, there is a curious large tower, that has in it's central area, four very, very large platforms (like rafts, made of large logs lashed together), big enough for a large wagon and team. Each of these platforms are actually elevators, up to a stone connecting ramp over to the King's Highway. The elevators are powered by partially trained Mammoths, captured from the wilds of the Darkearth Plains. This access to the King's Highway means that Iffel is quite wealthy as a trade location. There is a similar elevator tower - obviously built by the Old Ones - on the south side of the King's Highway at this same point, but nobody bothers to maintain or man it.
E. Cyclot - Population 2,400 - This town has a massive wooden great hall at the center of it, lots of professional buildings (mostly of a half timber variety), and massive palisade walls made of very large shaped logs driven into the earth. There are two concentric walls, one only 2 miles across, in a rough oval, only 1 mile across the narrow axis. The second concentric wall is all of five miles across, roughly circular. Inside the first wall is the "inner town" - which is for the wealthiest families, and prestigious buildings. The second wall contains the "outer town" which are most of the minor nobility, lesser professionals, and more important land owners, who own grazing and planting estates outside the town. Outside the walls exists a small community of Elves, mostly Wood Elves (about 400), but a few traveling Gray Elves are always present, also. The residents of Cyclot, and the Elves, refer to this community as Duar Village. These Wood Elves have strong ties to the Harp Woods. Much of the industry in the town is either from the surrounding forest products (charcoal burning, and carpentry rate very highly), but also a very strong wool market is present. The sheep, a curious three horned variety, called the Odelle Sheep, produces very valuable wool. The flocks that graze in open pasture outside the city are protected by shepherds. Cyclot shepherds are known to be very competent, and dangerous, mostly due to the high number of dire wolves in the area.
F. Nowak - Population 2,200 - Another woodland related town, this one with a nearby Gnome community, of about 600 Gnomes, mostly underground. The community is called Cheddom Tower, but the tower is a minor part of the underground Gnome village. Together, the carpenters and craftsmen of Nowak and the Gnomes of Cheddom build some of the most intricate, and fabulous working artifacts (such as cuckoo clocks). There is a strong tradition of hunting amongst the wealthy and young from Nowak, in the Harp Woods.
G. Acron Trade - Population 2,400 - This is another walled town, built around a core of a castle (Bekno Keep), and surrounded by stone palisade walls. It is built next to the King's Highway, and the Old Ones had constructed a curious platform settlement right next to the mound. The platform is large enough for multiple buildings, and serves as a location for the main market of Acron Trade. Approaches to the platform were built with a very long, shallowly sloping ramp up, so that animal and walking traffic have no trouble climbing it. Stairs have been constructed, that are much steeper, but provide quicker access up out of the walled town of Acron Trade. There is not a similar platform, nor an access ramp, on the south side of the King's Highway. Although there is a thriving agricultural community of farms and villages surrounding Acron Trade, it is from trade that it makes its economy.
Note, this is part two of a two part article on the Barony of Khomaes. Part 1 is located here.
Showing posts with label gnomes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gnomes. Show all posts
Jun 28, 2012
Jun 8, 2012
Bright Iron Fastness - River Jarl Steading (3)
The current Jarl of Bright Iron is called Garret Fingolsson. His name is a curious one for a Storm King barbarian - since it includes a Westroner first name, but it was the name his father (Fingol the Just) gave him.
Old Fingol Olavson (called Trollbane in his youth) was visited by wandering priests of the Order of Brother Rudiger. It was in his youth, shortly after his father, Olav, died. In order to secure the Steading, young Fingol had to fight and kill his father's brothers (one of which was nicknamed Ymir the Troll, which is where Fingol's nickname of Trollbane came from).
After this family feud was over, however, a traveling Brother of the Order of Brother Rudiger had come out of the Shadow Woods to the east. Single handedly, the traveling priest had crossed the Blood Veldt, surviving the Sword People, and had come to Bright Iron to preach the virtues of hearth safety and home protection for the poor and down trodden. The message resonated with Fingol, and he converted from the faith of his fathers (reverence for the Storm King), to this new strange religion of the Three Goddesses. In so doing, he also began to mimic Westroner culture and Westroner ways.
Fingol waged war on his neighbors who sought to wipe out his ways, and his people that abandoned the old culture. In this he was not only relentless, but also quite successful. His smaller but persistent fleet had waged war on the many trading vessels from Seawyrm, an he also raided the Orc Clans to the south east of Bright Iron. He held an uneasy peace for many years with the woman warriors from the steading of the River Raven. The money and treasure that his successful campaigns won him were spent on building a large, fine castle of pure white stone, brought from far south on barges up the Greywater river. This castle, in stone, is unlike the steadings of the other River Jarls, and more closely resembles a fine stone castle of a wealthy Westroner barony. Naming it Bright Iron Fastness, it his spiry towers toped with sharp peaks made of the curious Bright Iron, or star metal, that is found in some of the quarries in the area.
This is the world that Garret Fingolsson was born into, and now rules over. His is a curious mix of traditional Storm King culture, with some of the behaviors, values, and trappings of more typical Westroner culture. Officially, his "court" speaks Westron, and writes all official documents in Westschrift. Unofficially, many of the common people (and some higher up on the social scale) speak Destrikking. Few remain, however, who can read and write the Ainark Runes.
Garret actually tries to foster the home and hearth life style that is common to the Order of Brother Rudiger, which means supporting agriculture and homesteading more than blood feuds and viking raids. He has a strong fyrd, however, with a loyal corps of huscarls, that are constantly engaged in warfare against the Orc Clans, and occasional freebooters from the other Storm King steadings.
Immediately southeast of Bright Iron, just on the outskirts of the tended agricultural lands under the protection of Jarl Garret's fyrdmen, lay the lands of the Stone Houses. The Stone Houses are curious round structures, long since out of use by their original inhuman builders, made of stacked stones. The are similar to a Broch, or round house, that is built by some of the distant Storm King barbarians, however the roofs are all long since rotted off, and some of the stone walls are crumbling. What is curious about the structures, is that they are built for giant beings. Larger than an ogre, whomever it was that first peopled these stone houses must have been of a great stature, perhaps 15 feet tall? The typical stone house (as pictured below) has a first story that is partially underground, and then usually two more stories above that, and a peaked roof. Sometimes the roofs are present (when they were made out of slate or other stone) and sometimes they are long gone (when they were made out of material that would have rotted with age, such as wood or thatch). The typical structure is approximately 70 tall (at the peak of the roof), and about 80' across the base, at ground level. Of course, there is variation, so some exist that are taller or shorter, and either bigger or smaller around.
For a long time, back before the Elves retreated to the Seely realms, the early humans in this region would commune with the spirits that haunt the stone houses, learning much from them. Then they began using the stone houses as hallowed places of the honored dead - depositing chieftains, warriors and shamans among the stone buildings, and decorating them with fine implements and ornaments made of all types of fine metals. The number of ghosts and spirits in the area grew and grew. For generations, however, it has been avoided by most people, reputed to be a place of horrible fetches and liches, and other undead beings.
During the reign of Fingol, those in the steading that were stubborn about giving up the reverence of the Storm King and his court were slowly identified and either forced to adopt the religion of the Church (of the Three Goddesses), or they were driving out of the steading. A large number of traditional skalds (bards) and priests of the Storm King (even joined by worshipers of Helgor, the Black Chieftain) sought refuge and shelter among the Stone Houses. Some of these were infected by the otherworldly beings living there, and became a particularly ghastly type of undead being known as a Helgorfiend. These beings are enraged when confronted by living people (human or otherwise), and will attack viciously (even suicidally) on sight. They will attempt to bite the poor victims, and in so doing have a chance to convert them to Helgorfiend as well. Stats will come in a future posting.
This Steading is very close to the area, in the Sildur Reaches, known as The Scorch, and it has some ties to the men of this holding. Very important ties.
Old Fingol Olavson (called Trollbane in his youth) was visited by wandering priests of the Order of Brother Rudiger. It was in his youth, shortly after his father, Olav, died. In order to secure the Steading, young Fingol had to fight and kill his father's brothers (one of which was nicknamed Ymir the Troll, which is where Fingol's nickname of Trollbane came from).
After this family feud was over, however, a traveling Brother of the Order of Brother Rudiger had come out of the Shadow Woods to the east. Single handedly, the traveling priest had crossed the Blood Veldt, surviving the Sword People, and had come to Bright Iron to preach the virtues of hearth safety and home protection for the poor and down trodden. The message resonated with Fingol, and he converted from the faith of his fathers (reverence for the Storm King), to this new strange religion of the Three Goddesses. In so doing, he also began to mimic Westroner culture and Westroner ways.
Fingol waged war on his neighbors who sought to wipe out his ways, and his people that abandoned the old culture. In this he was not only relentless, but also quite successful. His smaller but persistent fleet had waged war on the many trading vessels from Seawyrm, an he also raided the Orc Clans to the south east of Bright Iron. He held an uneasy peace for many years with the woman warriors from the steading of the River Raven. The money and treasure that his successful campaigns won him were spent on building a large, fine castle of pure white stone, brought from far south on barges up the Greywater river. This castle, in stone, is unlike the steadings of the other River Jarls, and more closely resembles a fine stone castle of a wealthy Westroner barony. Naming it Bright Iron Fastness, it his spiry towers toped with sharp peaks made of the curious Bright Iron, or star metal, that is found in some of the quarries in the area.
 | |
| Bright Iron Fastness - with its towers skytopped in star metal. |
Garret actually tries to foster the home and hearth life style that is common to the Order of Brother Rudiger, which means supporting agriculture and homesteading more than blood feuds and viking raids. He has a strong fyrd, however, with a loyal corps of huscarls, that are constantly engaged in warfare against the Orc Clans, and occasional freebooters from the other Storm King steadings.
Immediately southeast of Bright Iron, just on the outskirts of the tended agricultural lands under the protection of Jarl Garret's fyrdmen, lay the lands of the Stone Houses. The Stone Houses are curious round structures, long since out of use by their original inhuman builders, made of stacked stones. The are similar to a Broch, or round house, that is built by some of the distant Storm King barbarians, however the roofs are all long since rotted off, and some of the stone walls are crumbling. What is curious about the structures, is that they are built for giant beings. Larger than an ogre, whomever it was that first peopled these stone houses must have been of a great stature, perhaps 15 feet tall? The typical stone house (as pictured below) has a first story that is partially underground, and then usually two more stories above that, and a peaked roof. Sometimes the roofs are present (when they were made out of slate or other stone) and sometimes they are long gone (when they were made out of material that would have rotted with age, such as wood or thatch). The typical structure is approximately 70 tall (at the peak of the roof), and about 80' across the base, at ground level. Of course, there is variation, so some exist that are taller or shorter, and either bigger or smaller around.
For a long time, back before the Elves retreated to the Seely realms, the early humans in this region would commune with the spirits that haunt the stone houses, learning much from them. Then they began using the stone houses as hallowed places of the honored dead - depositing chieftains, warriors and shamans among the stone buildings, and decorating them with fine implements and ornaments made of all types of fine metals. The number of ghosts and spirits in the area grew and grew. For generations, however, it has been avoided by most people, reputed to be a place of horrible fetches and liches, and other undead beings.
 | |
| Cutaway of a Stone House - for scale, consider the inhabitants to be 15' feet tall. |
This Steading is very close to the area, in the Sildur Reaches, known as The Scorch, and it has some ties to the men of this holding. Very important ties.
Jan 6, 2011
Modern Languages
Many characters in a game will have access to multiple languages, and I think it is only fair to enumerate them for the setting.
Far and away, the most common language for Humans (and those dwelling with them) in the Valley is Westron. This language is a modern variant of the original language spoken by the Human settlers who came into the Valley from the west. The language has changed over the past 1500 years quite a bit, and when written word and documents are encountered written in the original form, it is referred to as Old Westron (generally not understandable by speakers of the modern language - like old english, there may be a few word similarities, but no fluency could be expected). There is a written form that is very similar to our roman letters, called Westschrift.
Destrikking - This is the language of the Storm King tribes, although it is frequently called the "Northern Tongue". The written form is in runes called the Ainark Runes. Following a storyline of something written in Ainark would be difficult, but it is perfectly suited for recording spells and also associating great deeds with the names of heroes.
Holab - This is the language of the tribes of the Sun King, in its basic form. There are two very different dialects, which we will call Eastern Holab, and Western Holab. Details on the Sun King tribes will be coming soon, but for now just remember that those speaking Eastern Holab want to kill you and remove your organs for sacrifice. Those peaking Western Holab want to kill you and eat strips of your flesh in order to capture your magic. Clearly a travelogue, with lots of cheerful drawings and translation of common phrases would increase tourism in the area. While both languages are mutually exclusive in spoken form, they share the same written language, which is very simple and not capable of conveying any nuance. Sun King tribal wizards and shamans will usually employ some complex method of recording magical spells that involves complex knotted strings with hollowed out stones of different colors on the mesh the strings form.
Elves have a traveling language that they employ exclusively (when not speaking a Human tongue) while in the Valley, at least Wood Elves and High Elves. They call it Eldarin and it differs from the language of Faery that they speak while in the Seelie Realms. In an effort to mark their departure from Seelie culture entirely, the Gray Elves have their own tongue, which is completely different, it is called Elanarif. Both of these have their own written form. It is considered highly heretical for an Elf to use the language of the Seelie Realm on this side of their portals.
The Dark Elves have their own language, as well, called Mortiggo it incorporates some languages of Goblyn (see below), and any words it has for surface geographical features (such as Tree, Mountain, Grass, etc) come from Eldarin. The Dark Elves have a complex runic written form, called Mortine Runes.
The Dwarves have a language of their own, which they call Ardspeke. It is written as Ardrunes. Gnomes have a different spoken language, known as Kurakka Kurad, but it borrows the Dwarven runes for its written form.
The Goblyn races (Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, Hobgoblins, etc) each have their own racial tongue, although there is a simple lingua franca used amongst them that is simply called Goblyn Speech, or sometimes referred to as the Black Tongue. It exists in a very crude runic form, called Goblyn Runes.
Forest Folk usually will speak Westron, as will Halflings.
Giants will speak a confused mashup of Westron and Goblyn Speech, except for Frost Giants, which speak the Northern tongue exclusively.
Dragons do not speak modern languages.
The Saurian Races (Lizard Men, Kobolds, Yuan Ti, Turtle Folk, etc.) speak a language called Saurial (it is difficult for mammalian mouths to pronounce). Their written language is mostly a simple script of horizontal and vertical scratches. Much of their knowledge (as it is) is transmitted by unspoken low frequency sounds, and the same is true for spell casters of this race. They will record spells by committing the instructional form of them to memory as a simple song played on a drum or flute, and accompanied by what sounds like a guttural humming or moaning. This is repeated when a saurian spell caster needs to re-memorize a spell, or teach it to another.
Far and away, the most common language for Humans (and those dwelling with them) in the Valley is Westron. This language is a modern variant of the original language spoken by the Human settlers who came into the Valley from the west. The language has changed over the past 1500 years quite a bit, and when written word and documents are encountered written in the original form, it is referred to as Old Westron (generally not understandable by speakers of the modern language - like old english, there may be a few word similarities, but no fluency could be expected). There is a written form that is very similar to our roman letters, called Westschrift.
Destrikking - This is the language of the Storm King tribes, although it is frequently called the "Northern Tongue". The written form is in runes called the Ainark Runes. Following a storyline of something written in Ainark would be difficult, but it is perfectly suited for recording spells and also associating great deeds with the names of heroes.
Holab - This is the language of the tribes of the Sun King, in its basic form. There are two very different dialects, which we will call Eastern Holab, and Western Holab. Details on the Sun King tribes will be coming soon, but for now just remember that those speaking Eastern Holab want to kill you and remove your organs for sacrifice. Those peaking Western Holab want to kill you and eat strips of your flesh in order to capture your magic. Clearly a travelogue, with lots of cheerful drawings and translation of common phrases would increase tourism in the area. While both languages are mutually exclusive in spoken form, they share the same written language, which is very simple and not capable of conveying any nuance. Sun King tribal wizards and shamans will usually employ some complex method of recording magical spells that involves complex knotted strings with hollowed out stones of different colors on the mesh the strings form.
Elves have a traveling language that they employ exclusively (when not speaking a Human tongue) while in the Valley, at least Wood Elves and High Elves. They call it Eldarin and it differs from the language of Faery that they speak while in the Seelie Realms. In an effort to mark their departure from Seelie culture entirely, the Gray Elves have their own tongue, which is completely different, it is called Elanarif. Both of these have their own written form. It is considered highly heretical for an Elf to use the language of the Seelie Realm on this side of their portals.
The Dark Elves have their own language, as well, called Mortiggo it incorporates some languages of Goblyn (see below), and any words it has for surface geographical features (such as Tree, Mountain, Grass, etc) come from Eldarin. The Dark Elves have a complex runic written form, called Mortine Runes.
The Dwarves have a language of their own, which they call Ardspeke. It is written as Ardrunes. Gnomes have a different spoken language, known as Kurakka Kurad, but it borrows the Dwarven runes for its written form.
The Goblyn races (Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, Hobgoblins, etc) each have their own racial tongue, although there is a simple lingua franca used amongst them that is simply called Goblyn Speech, or sometimes referred to as the Black Tongue. It exists in a very crude runic form, called Goblyn Runes.
Forest Folk usually will speak Westron, as will Halflings.
Giants will speak a confused mashup of Westron and Goblyn Speech, except for Frost Giants, which speak the Northern tongue exclusively.
Dragons do not speak modern languages.
The Saurian Races (Lizard Men, Kobolds, Yuan Ti, Turtle Folk, etc.) speak a language called Saurial (it is difficult for mammalian mouths to pronounce). Their written language is mostly a simple script of horizontal and vertical scratches. Much of their knowledge (as it is) is transmitted by unspoken low frequency sounds, and the same is true for spell casters of this race. They will record spells by committing the instructional form of them to memory as a simple song played on a drum or flute, and accompanied by what sounds like a guttural humming or moaning. This is repeated when a saurian spell caster needs to re-memorize a spell, or teach it to another.
Jan 4, 2011
The Earthy Peoples
The Dwarves and Gnomes are among the oldest races to live in the Valley. Their presence dates back to before the cataclysm that sundered the Seely Realms from the world. It is unclear why they are separate from the rest of Faery, but it is so. For a while, before the establishment of the Old Ones, the Dwarves and Gnomes were the only peoples living. The Father deity of the Dwarves, known simply as The Krung, was responsible for building the framework of the world - it's mountains. Out of the rocks of the mountains, the Dwarves were originally formed. The shield bearer of The Krung, who is simply referred to as Mika, smoothed the land between the mountain spines and the flat plains by forming hills. Out of these came the Gnomes.
The Halflings, on the other hand, are of an unknown origin. There is no indication that they dwelt in the Valley in the time of the Old Ones. There is also no indication that they dwelt in the lands to the West, from where the Westroners came before they migrated into the Valley. Today, however, there are small settlements and communities of Halflings spread throughout the Baronies. The Halflings are not known to have any deities of their own, but rather make themselves comfortable in the Westron Church.
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