Adventures in the Distal Provinces: Gazetteer

[Back to Main Page]

Clans of the Khokhorraasokq Orc

Driven out centuries ago as vermin by the Empire, they are back to reclaim their birthright

• Capital: Keliyeb (renamed by Orcs: "Princess-Mother Tläqqekh's Triumph")
  • This was once ruled by Matan, but conquered by the current Orc princess's mom decades back.​
• Conquered city from Moundan: "Station West" (renamed by Orcs: "Human's Folly")
  • Station West was a prosperous trading town ruled by the Imperial Governor in Moundan until 5 years ago. It stood at the 3-way border of Moundan, Matan, and Loshiria. The Regent of Matan was trying to negotiate a peace settlement with the invading Orcs and suggested to all the parties involved to have a conference in this town were three Imperial factions bordered. The Orc Princess said, "Sure!" and marched her armies to the town, conquering pieces of Moundan, Matan, and Loshiria in the process. Then she said, "Let's negotiate!". The Orc clans felt insulted when the human states all cancelled their plans, so they renamed the town. Now Moundan no longer even borders on Matan, and all parties blame Matan for encouraging Orc depredations.​

Puny humans from the east wiped out the clans long ago and drove the survivors into the cold, harsh, northern plains. But now the Orcs have been united under a single Princess and they will no longer be divided and conquered by lesser men. The Princess is young, fierce and determined to make the Imperials bow to her demands. She seeks to take back all their lost lands and then some. If she gets her way, the Orcs will rule from the arctic to the sea. The Orcs will gladly put those who bravely oppose them to the sword. But if the humans surrender like cowards, that’s fine too. The Orc clans need workers, farmers, laborers, and camp followers to support their armies. And humans aren’t much good for anything else, right?

Many Orcs can be found in the human lands. Some are minor clan offspring who are going out solo to gain fame and fortune to start a new clan (if female) or marry into a more prestigious clan (if male). Some too, are outcasts, but if they can gain a reputation for glory, they could gain acceptance once again in the clans.

Less than five years ago, the Orcs carved off a big chunk of the Distal Province of Moundan and some of the northern parts of the Oceanic Republic of Loshiria. If the humans could get their act together, perhaps they might keep the Orc clans at bay.

Cult of Vavu

Originally a colony meant to “civilize” the native humans, the settlers embraced the local’s beliefs and seek to export their faith

Many Imperial commoners and freed slaves were given free land south of the Elf territories to establish a hold there and surround the Elves. The land was already occupied of course, and the new settlers were told they had to subdue or eliminated the current Autochthonous Human Populations to take title of the land. Didn’t quite work out that way. The damp forests of the south had different land and climate than the dryer forests and grasslands to the north. The settler colonies didn’t fare well at first. But coming into contact with the local peoples, the Imperial settlers learn of new magics and strange beliefs that contradicted the official stories of the Empire. Those who abandoned the ways of the Empire and embraced the locals’ worldview thrived. Now they see themselves as a better alternative to the Empire and they are eager to spread their cult.

The locals were initially glad to see the invading Imperial settlers could learn the wisdom of their ways. But now the descendants of these settlers seem too eager to take over the ways of the locals and too eager to proselytize to the rest of the world. Maybe by surrendering to the ways of the locals, the Imperial settlers conquered them after all?

Distal Province of Moundan

Last holdout of the Empire in this faraway land

• Capital: Western Distal Provincial Capital ("WDPC" or "Moundan Town" for short)
• Inland City: Imperial Portal Station (or Portal for short) This is the starting point for the land journey back to the Empire.
  • The Empire wasn't too creative with its names for the initial new settlements. These were meant to be "functional" places to enrich the Empire. The colonists were expected to consider the Imperial Core as their true homeland and not get sentimentally attached to this outland.

The Imperial Province of Moudan claims to be the sole legitimate government here. But since they're beset by invading Orcs while wanting to reconquer the breakaway provinces, they've had to accept all the help they can get. So the Governor will turn a blind eye to Orcs in the military, Dwarves in the crafter's guilds, and wizards whose orthodoxy is questionable--as long as they pay lip service in their loyalty to the Emperor. A variety of people will show up here seeking opportunities. Plus, this is the starting point for the road to the Empire--and is the first place to receive what little imports trickle in from the east.

The is the rump state that remains of the Empire’s prize in the west. The Governor tries to simply maintain control and prevent territorial losses, but the newly arrived Imperial representative wants him to be more proactive and retake the lost territory. This place is the starting point for the route back to the Empire. Officially this is territory for Imperial citizens and their descendants, but time has caused the populations to mix, and even the Provincial Imperial garrisons will have non-human recruits. (This fact makes the Imperial representative livid.)

The capital is walled city built upon the ruins of an even greater metropolis, probably of the Lizard Folk due to the weird reptile and dragon carvings that are occasionally unearthed. Mysterious tombs are still being found beneath the old city’s foundations.

Moundan still has access to the sea, but local ship have to contend with harassment, taxation, and outright piracy from Republic of Loshiria (see below), the Elves, and the Lizard Folk.

Dwarven Settlements

These small underground fortresses are all that remains of a people who once lived in mighty cities beneath the earth

The Dwarves once had vast underground cities supported by endless tracts of farmland on the surface. The combined attacks of Orcs and the Empire devastated their crops, which starved the Dwarf holds, and wiped out the largest of them. The later rebellion of the Unorthodox Sorcerers resulted in powerful wizards taking over some of these abandoned underground fortresses and conquering more of the smaller ones. Most of these were sealed by the Imperial legions, but a determined adventurer can find their way in if clever enough.

Today, only six underground Dwarf settlements remain, and they are far removed from the glory of their ancestors’ caverns. The Dwarf holdings today are technically under the rule of whatever state surrounds them. But these remaining Dwarf holds are the most well-defended and most inaccessible ones left, so they are de facto independent. Yet they still dependent on trade with the humans for some food--and even with Orcs when desperate.

Isles of the Lizardfolk

Mysterious dwellers of the islands who have become rather good sailors, traders--and pirates

hey are possibly the oldest peoples in this region--and the ancient ruins on the mainland certainly show recurring lizard or dragon motifs. Today they live on the islands in the gulf away from human hostilities. They build elaborate settlements with underground complexes of unknown utility. They are reminiscent of the ancient mainland ruins--though much, much smaller.

Since their exile from the mainland, the Lizard Folk have become experts at sailing and many a Lizard ship can be found in the ports of the Oceanic Republic. And many a Lizard pirate ship can be found lurking in the bays all over the coast.

Lands of the Herenni Elves

Once lived all over this land, now confined to the perimeters--but they are growing in resurgent strength

• Capital: Thudattin
• Inland City: Shummarin

Long ago, the Elves possessed magic and crafts that equaled or surpassed the Empire’s. But they were divided and busy battling rival Dwarf kingdoms, Orc hordes, and local human pirates and raiders. Too late they realized the danger the Imperial legions posed, and now they exist at the fringes of their once-great forests along the coasts.

The Elves today are split in two territories: the Herenni in the east where the deep forests still retain some of their potent magic, and the less-powerful Yobinna in the west. The western Yobinna have made a temporary peace with the aristocrats of Matan since both are being pressed by the invading Orcs of the north. This pleases neither the Province of Moudan (who doesn’t like treating Elves as equals), nor does it please the eastern Herenni (who would be happy to see the Orcs overrun the Imperial invaders--even if their Elf-brethren were wiped out as well).

Elves of both regions can now be found in human-ruled territories. Some are exiles, some are explorers and adventurers, and some might be spies for the Elf lords who see weakness in the human states today.

Oceanic Republic of Loshiria

Wealthy ship captains who threw off the yoke of the absentee Emperor

• Capital: Siggog-upon-the-Sea (or just "Siggog")

The Oceanic Republic of Loshira has given up any pretense of being part of the Empire and view Matan and Moudan as collapsing relics. They are sea-facing, so get a lot of visitors by ship from all over the Distal Provinces and even places off the map. Plus they are the buffer between Matan and Moudan, so they get a lot traffic that way, especially since the Orcs are taking control of the northern roads that used to connect the Aristocrats with the Governor.

The first colonists weren’t sailors, but the vast crooked coastline provided wealth and opportunities to those willing to learn sailing from the locals, Elves, and Lizard Folk. Soon the successful ship captains grew tired of paying taxes to the faraway emperor and decided to tell the Provincial Governor to go hang and create their own country. After years of ignoring the seacoast settlements, now the Governor wants to drag these rebels back under the Emperor’s rule. Too bad he’s got other pressing problems.

The sea route! Why can’t they sail back to the Imperial Core? They can! But sailing south around the vast continent that stretches past the equator would take nearly as long as the overland route. Plus, in the far south are a tangle of archipelagos where the Orangutan Kingdoms are waging war against the Gibbon Principalities. A human ship is likely to get attacked/captured/press-ganged by either side unless you’re clever enough to talk your way through a dozen warring sea states. And then there are the southern hemisphere’s own human pirates to contend with.

Principality of Matan

A breakaway province of aristocrats who claim to be the legitimate heirs of the Empire

• Capital: Angbaria
• Inland City: Attarun
• Southern Coastal City: Sijayat

The Principality of Matan acts as a sort of neutral ground for representatives of the other breakaway provinces. The aristocrats don't really want to encourage the other provinces becoming more independent, but if they can get the other provinces to look to the Prince of Matan as a solver of problems, that weakens the legitimacy of the Governor in the Imperial Province of Moundan. So, a mixed group of differing nationalities are not exactly out of place, despite the Principality's Aristocratic pretension.

The aristocrats who settled the Distal Provinces centuries ago assumed they would eventually rule with privilege like their cousins in the Proximal Provinces and Imperial Core. The “Provincial Governor” was supposed to be a temporary, transitional government. But their demands for their rightful, ancestral rule kept getting put off. They decided to take matters in their own hands, and claim themselves an Aristocratic Province like back home. They even found an aristocratic family with a dubious claim of blood relation to some previous emperor, and they've set this fellow up as a puppet prince who allegedly rules in the name of the Emperor. Now they wait for formal acknowledgement from the true Emperor himself which will surely be coming soon. Right?

The aristocratic families are trying to get the Imperial representative to travel to their lands and convince him to declare the aristocrats as the true rulers of the Distal Provinces. (This will be unlikely.)

Now the Orcs are chopping away at their territory in the north creating aristocratic refugees who live off the good will of their cousins by the coast. This state of affairs has caused some noble families to secretly contact the Governor in Moundan and propose an alliance of convenience. Other noble families have been making overtures to their hated enemy, the Oceanic Republic of Loshiria, with the same offers. So embarrassing to beg help from your social inferiors, isn’t it?

Yobinna Elves

Once lived all over this land, now confined to the perimeters--but they are growing in resurgent strength