Vestraten: Ecology & History

[Joel P.]

Prominent rivers, check. I added a range of mountains below the inland sea, as well.

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[Joel P.]

This thread seems to be quieter than both the others, so I'll post this now. This is the full map of the world in which the stories will be set. Obviously, we'll be writing in Vestraten; but we need other countries for them to interact with as well. So, we need names, systems of government, and full or partial histories for all these other countries. The northernmost two I've already take care of (obviously, details of these descriptions will be changed depending on various things, but you get the idea):

Aurpria is, by and large, a peaceful nation. It is at peace with its neighbor to the south, as well as Amara to the west, and has a strong trading relationship with both. Aurpria’s forces are divided more or less even between naval and land, with a clear emphasis on technology.
Aurpria’s navy is designed as a defensive force against the northern Shadow kingdom and the once-frequent privations of pirates. The army, likewise, is a defensive force. Most soldiers, guardsmen, and Knights receive combat training along the northern border in skirmishes against highlanders and the occasional bunch of Orc raiders.
Aurpria is currently under a form of constitutional monarchy. A king or queen has the last word in law, but is advised by a Hall of Lords, Wizards, and Freeholders. With a sufficient consensus, the Hall can overrule the monarch.

Amara was founded far back in the mists of time (before 10 LY). Though their records are the most complete of any nation, even they are not sure of when their land was founded. Amara has become a kingdom of wizards, ruled by a Council of the wisest wizards, and defended by magical contraptions. They are neutral to all the high races and kingdoms (except the kingdoms of Shadow), and have close trading relationships with the two kingdoms closest to them.
Most wizards of other lands go to Citadel, capital of Amara, to study under the venerated teachers and wizards of the Council. Citadel has the largest library in existence, and thus is a prime destination for all scholars.
Wizards of the Council: Beryl of Water, Randalf of Atmosphere, Elaya of Botany, Tristam of Mentalics, Goyorkunur of Earth, Korlan of Energy.

All the rest should be taken care of by all the rest of you!

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[Joel P.]

Hello? Are you still there? Anyone?

[stormiel]

Hey Joel,

I'm still in. I kinda lost direction of where the plot was heading for a while. At this point I think its about time to jump in and start writing (once we have characters).

[rjj7]

Sorry, I rearranged my schedule recently, and dropped off the face of the map (I do that a lot, in case anyone hadn't noticed; sorry, it makes me a rather poor collaborator ).

Catching up on what's happened on the boards.

[This Baron of Mora]

Well here is some...whatever you want to call it,

To the lands north of Vestraten lie vast lands rather sparsely inhabited, foremost is are the lands taken up by the Desert of Hieron. The shallow-lands of the coast to its North are spared from its desolate sands by ranges of hills and it is here that the cities of the Hieron Coast lie. Nowhere on earth is there such a concentration of piracy, for the independent city states here thrive largely on this alone, though legal trade is common as well especially from the large deposits of amber found throughout the coast and for which many wars erupt between cities.
Of the Desert little can be said but that it spreads its sands out unmecifully and it is still said throughout the Hieron Coast on the street corners where story tellers weave their wares that once great cities lie in its depths.
The greatest city on the Hieron Coast is called Deince and it is known thoroughout the world for having turned its back on the old ways of piracy through the aged King Demmet and its trade fleets plow the waters across the world having established various trading colonies and cities throughout the coasts and isles of the world. This has served as a power base allowing them to gain a powerful navy, however the other "Hieron Pirates" are rumoured to be gathering together in a coalition against Deince.

[Joel P.]

Thank you, Baron. Sounds like an excellent side quest to me! And it lends some additional fun to the misty stories - do the pirates notice the mist? Get eaten by it? Partner with the wizard who controls it?

Anyway, thanks again. I'll add Deince (DYNE-chee?) to the map.

[This Baron of Mora]

De-in-see is how I think of it.

[rjj7]

Not much good at coming up with cool nation ideas, but I wish to continue lending my support to those who are continuing to work on this aspect. Great work, Baron. That sounds really cool.

As a head's up, one of the reasons I'm quite a bit slower of late is that one of my real-world projects is accelerating a bit, and consuming more of my time. I'm gonna try to be more regular than I have been these last couple weeks.

[Joel P.]

Who needs real-world projects? My fantasy worlds are more than involved enough.

Anyway, it's not a problem, Randy. Help as you can.

[rjj7]

Do we have any information on Tsortea yet?

Here's an idea: There used to be a vast empire that spanned hundreds of islands across the ocean (perhaps break up the Tsortean islands a bit, along with that one just to the north?). It was the preeminent naval power in the world, and controlled all of the trade from Vestraten's continent to the Western one (with Amara and Aupria). They were wealthy and fat, the most powerful empire in the world, and pretty happy, all things considered. But the fact that pirates still plagued international trade rankled. One day, one of their kings decided that he would take their navy, and head north and destroy the pirates based along the Hieron coast (by conquering all the cities, of course).

Assembling the vast majority of his warships, they sailed north. But long story short, the fleet was destroyed almost in its entirety. Why, I'm not quite sure. Probably a combination of weather, unfamiliar waters, and perhaps an unexpected greek-fire type weapon used by enemy ships/fortifications? In any event, it shocked the world, not just the Tsorteans.

Anyway, this created a vast power vacuum. Immediately, dozens of the minor lords on little islands began asserting their independence from their overlords, forming coalitions of their own. The Tsortean monarchy, without a fleet, was able to do nothing to quell the insurrections. Foreign nations began taking advantage of this to "help" the various factions in exchange for concessions and land grants [the large island off of Vestraten's east coast, for example, could be something ceded to them by the Tsortean monarch in exchange for military aid]

At the end of it all, Tsortea was vastly reduced, and a good chunk of its empire carved up and given to other nations or perhaps new, independent countries [that little blurb to the north with no name? Could be a piece that broke off and got aid from Amara]. The war officially ended about five years ago, although towards the later years, many of the contested regions enjoyed relative peace as the contestants wore themselves out and suffered increasing difficulties transporting troops and materials.


This is really more of a backdrop for the story than a genuine nation idea, but hey, as long as it makes little squiggles on the map, it's a good thing, right?

[Joel P.]

That sounds good as a little 'micro history'. Maybe we'll have a famous historian named Ydnar write a book about it...

[rjj7]

I see a few potential advantages:

1. We can have warfare and all its ugliness be a part of our character's backstories.
2. We can have elevated nationalistic/racial prejudices that arose from bad blood (like during WWII).
3. We could actually have a more 'mixed' population, as a result not only of captives but also conquered regions having their population displaced. A bit of social anarchy as people of different nations and races get shuffled around.

[Joel P.]

Right, I missed a bit of your point there - actually, I thought you were getting at Tsortea and Enthorië being the same empire. I was going to insert some islands between them to make the previous link more obvious.

Did you think Tsortea should be divided further? Or is it good as it is?

BTW, I've gotten the first 800 or so words done on the first story today. I'll be writing another few hundred through Tuesday, at which point I'll send it to you. Could you msg me your email?

[rjj7]

At this point, I'm rather indifferent as to how exactly the map is sliced up. I'd say probably dice things up a bit in the middle to make more, but smaller, islands, but I don't think it's essential.