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| | In the southern plains, there is rumoured to be a whole "ghost market" (ie, a caravan always on the run) standing in the wilderness of the Erenland Horse plains, selling black market wares to any freeriders it meets. | | In the southern plains, there is rumoured to be a whole "ghost market" (ie, a caravan always on the run) standing in the wilderness of the Erenland Horse plains, selling black market wares to any freeriders it meets. |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | ==Life Under the Occupation==
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| − | One hundred years of combat, disease, deprivation,
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| − | and enslavement have greatly reduced the human population
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| − | of Eredane, especially north of the Pelluria. The
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| − | Dornish population has been cut in half since the end of
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| − | the Third Age and continues to decline. The rest of
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| − | Erenland is littered with abandoned or destroyed villages.
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| − | Wind and rain have eaten away at these once vibrant communities,
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| − | turning the collected buildings into little more
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| − | than moldering piles of rock and rotting timber. Small
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| − | forests have reclaimed fields and even swallowed buildings
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| − | that once nestled in their clearings. Rich farm fields
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| − | lay fallow, full of weeds, or covered by swordgrass and
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| − | thistles. Only the winds, whistling through broken windows
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| − | and amongst the burial rings, bear witness to what
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| − | once was.
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| − | The loss of life and abandonment of countless villages
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| − | has also taken its toll on the roads, bridges, and dams
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| − | that once marked the strength and achievement of
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| − | Erenland. Even well into the south, what were once wide,
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| − | well-maintained trade roads are now little more than scattered
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| − | game trails. Bridges have collapsed or washed away, leaving
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| − | their jagged foundations to jut like fangs from the riverbanks.
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| − | Those bridges that remain are extremely hazardous and
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| − | crudely patched. In some cases, bridges have been purposefully
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| − | destroyed by insurgents to prevent easy passage by the
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| − | Shadow’s armies.
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| − | Time and the elements have not been the only causes of
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| − | widespread destruction; at the end of the Third Age, dark
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| − | magics and foully concocted diseases washed over towns and
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| − | villages that attempted to resist the Shadow’s advance. Some
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| − | sections of Eredane are completely lifeless as a result of these
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| − | attentions, the ground brittle and gray, avoided by all living
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| − | things. Some say that Izrador’s corruption has seeped into the
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| − | earth, deforming the landscape and filling all that dwell there
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| − | with hatred and malice. The most dangerous of these corrupted
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| − | holes is the Foul Bog of Eris Aman, whose fetid marshes
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| − | are riddled with sinkholes, poisonous plants, and bloated,
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| − | endlessly hungry creatures that slither through the stinking
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| − | swamps.
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| − | With the collapse of the Kingdom of Erenland and the
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| − | abandonment of much of the frontier, natural and unnatural
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| − | predators encroach on human territory to hunt both domesticated
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| − | animals and their keepers. Grass cats, owlbears, displacer
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| − | beasts, and other dangerous hunters have followed
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| − | caribou and skarpin herds south and have developed a taste
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| − | for human flesh. Domesticated animals have turned feral and
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| − | packs of savage dogs, once the protectors of the Dorns, now
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| − | attack lone travelers. Everything from simple hunger to
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| − | malign magical corruption have warped the behavior of normally
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| − | peaceful animals, turning them into savage beasts that
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| − | attack without provocation and have caused them to lose their
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| − | fear of man. The natural order is slowly being overturned, and
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| − | the hunters have become the hunted.
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| − |
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| − | ===The Loss of Knowledge===
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| − | The forces of the Shadow in the North raided and
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| − | burned, killing all who opposed them, and laid waste to the
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| − | land. They destroyed whole cities, wiped entire cultures from
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| − | the face of the earth, and plunged the world into a dark age
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| − | out of which there is little hope of crawling. The legates of the
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| − | Order of Shadow have continued to drive this descent into
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| − | darkness by outlawing literacy, writing, and science, arresting
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| − | or killing outright those found with books or teaching others
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| − | to read.
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| − | With the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of
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| − | centuries and the brutal punishment of anyone caught pursuing
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| − | such knowledge, the Order of Shadow has forced the
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| − | human lands into a pit of ignorance and sealed it over with
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| − | fear, suspicion, and hate. Trade routes have been broken and
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| − | the flow of information severed along with the flow of goods.
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| − | Without the natural exchange of ideas and knowledge, the
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| − | human lands have fragmented into isolated pockets of mistrust
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| − | and prejudice. Art has ceased to exist and only the basest
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| − | of necessary crafts continue. The common tongue, once
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| − | widespread, is fragmenting into incomprehensible regional
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| − | dialects, further alienating humans from each other. The sciences
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| − | of alchemy, healing, and metalworking stagnate and
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| − | slowly revert to more primitive forms.
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| − | Now, even if the fey were free to openly walk the land,
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| − | they would find nothing but fear and prejudice awaiting them
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| − | in the human lands. Suspicious peasants and fearful city
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| − | dwellers alike would hand them over to the legates’ spies,
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| − | with no respect for the memory that their peoples once stood
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| − | together against the Shadow.
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| − | Even in the lands of elves and dwarves, where books
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| − | and literacy are cherished legacies, there has been an
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| − | inevitable academic decline. Under the reign of the Shadow,
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| − | trade with the fey is punishable by death and therefore only
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| − | vital goods are smuggled into their lands. Unfortunately, little
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| − | science or philosophy comes with them. As one by one
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| − | settlements near the borders of their lands fall to the Night
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| − | Kings’ raids, great thinkers are murdered and libraries of irreplaceable
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| − | tomes are burned. One idea, one thought, one story,
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| − | or one scroll at a time, the collective enlightenment of the
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| − | world is falling prey to the fire and hate of the Shadow.
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| − |
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| − | ====Occupied Erenland====
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| − | The Shadow has divided Erenland into 22 districts, creating
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| − | a system of regional viceroys that have their own troops
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| − | to enforce the laws, root out resistance groups, and ensure the
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| − | smooth flow of supplies, slaves, and sacrifices. The viceroys
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| − | are responsible for vast areas, much of which is sparsely populated
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| − | and not easily accessible. The major communities all
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| − | have permanent garrisons and the old trade roads and navigable
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| − | rivers are well patrolled, with fortified guard posts at fairly
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| − | regular intervals. Minor roads, game trails, and lesser
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| − | rivers and streams are rarely patrolled, however, due mostly
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| − | to the sheer scope of each garrison’s patrol zone and the limited
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| − | returns to be gained. Indeed, the vast distances between
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| − | population centers and major roads, especially in the Dornish
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| − | north, are the major reason why the resistance has survived
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| − | for a century against overwhelming odds.
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| − | Not all humans are enemies of Izrador; many are active
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| − | collaborators. The Order of Shadow, for instance, is almost
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| − | exclusively human. In addition, thousands of humans serve in
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| − | the Night King Jahzir’s armies or as guards for legates, as
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| − | loyal retainers of the traitor princes and false sussars, and in
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| − | mercenary units. While each racial group accuses the others
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| − | of providing the greatest percentage of traitors, the truth is
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| − | that Dorns, Erenlanders, and Sarcosans have all turned willingly
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| − | to the service of the dark god. Many of these are not evil
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| − | warlords or malevolent rogues, but rather simple craftsmen,
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| − | farmers, and woodsmen who betray their friends and neighbors
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| − | out of fear or desperation. Collaborators can appear anywhere
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| − | and in any guise. The old healer that acts as the local
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| − | midwife is the same woman that identifies children who bear
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| − | the spark of magic to the local legate. The neighbor that has
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| − | shared bread for years reports blasphemies against Izrador to
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| − | see former friends hung. The fear that anyone could secretly
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| − | worship or serve the dark god has sapped the will of most of
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| − | the subjugated people of Eredane to resist the Shadow.
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| − |
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| − | ====Northern Erenland====
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| − | While all of the traditionally Dornish lands have been
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| − | ravaged and plundered over the last 100 years, there remain
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| − | vast distances in which to avoid the gaze of the Shadow or the
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| − | wrath of his legions. Much of this area has been raped of what
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| − | resources it has to offer, however, and is cursed by foul
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| − | weather, the restless souls of the Lost, or dangerous creatures
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| − | that have followed the orc hordes down from the north. The
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| − | region north and east of Bastion, though covered in tall sword
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| − | grass and subject to the full fury of the winter storms from the
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| − | north, has few orc garrisons, and those are tied to key villages
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| − | and old Fortress Wall keeps. In the barren wilds north of Steel
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| − | Hill, nearly feral Dorn tribes subsist on wild boro herds and
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| − | scavenge what wild roots and edible vegetation they can
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| − | gather, and may never see an orc legion. While marginally
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| − | free, the Dorns of these areas live such miserable and harsh
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| − | existences that one might question whether slavery would be
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| − | better.
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| − | Farther south, in the more fertile lands, most of the
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| − | Dornish villages are under the Shadow’s control. A few, isolated
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| − | by dense forests or extremely rugged terrain, have
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| − | escaped the Shadow’s notice. The only other free areas in
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| − | which the Dorns cower are along the eaves of Erethor and in
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| − | the foothills of the Kaladruns. There, with sanctuaries close at
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| − | hand, the Dorns can mount raids and hide refugees, building
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| − | villages in isolated clearings or forgotten valleys.
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| − |
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| − | ====Central Erenland====
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| − | Along the Pelluria, in the heartland of the shattered
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| − | Kingdom of Erenland, the Shadow’s grip is absolute. From
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| − | orc infested Fallport in the west past Highwall, Port Esben,
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| − | and Davindale, and even to the fearsomely garrisoned town
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| − | of Chandering, the Shadow dominates all facets of life. Only
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| − | the few fishing villages built in marshy areas or without easily
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| − | accessible landing spots can avoid the tithe and therefore
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| − | live with marginally less fear. Along the southern coast, the
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| − | Shadow’s grip loosens. Free human and elven villages still
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| − | dot the coastline in the Green March, but with the ongoing
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| − | Shadow offensive in Erethor their days are numbered. Farther
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| − | east, rumors persist that the leaders of House Baden escaped
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| − | the fall of the city and still fight a hidden battle against those
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| − | who occupy their city, trying to provide some protection from
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| − | the worst abuses of the occupation. The once numerous villages
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| − | that farmed the rich land around Baden’s Bluff are now
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| − | ruined ghost towns, inhabited by those too afraid or too weak
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| − | to leave. The only other city on the southern shore, Erenhead,
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| − | is controlled by the orcs, who use the human population as
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| − | slaves to offload supplies for the wars. The plains around
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| − | Erenhead are covered in slave-worked farms and pastures to
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| − | provide for the growing garrison and the massive numbers of
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| − | orcs who pass through the city.
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| − |
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| − | ====Southern Erenland====
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| − | Life in the Sarcosan lands is far freer than in the north,
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| − | as the densely populated major cities have smaller mixed orc
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| − | and human garrisons that are nominally under the command
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| − | of the false sussars. Alvedara and Sharuun still have vibrant
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| − | markets, and the people don’t have the lean and hungry look
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| − | so prevalent in Dornish lands. Most of the great plains are
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| − | still the realm of the daring freeriders and the pitifully few
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| − | remaining bands of nomadic halflings. Small sailing vessels
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| − | and hundreds of smaller fishing boats still sail the Gulf of
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| − | Sorshef and the Pale Ocean. Some boats risk crossing the
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| − | churning waters and the Shadow’s naval patrols to reach
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| − | Stormhold and Asmadar. The one blight on the landscape is
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| − | the city of Cambrial, home to the Night King Sunulael.
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| − | Cambrial is a city of the dead, where the living stay close to
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| − | their homes, shutter their windows, and pray that the unliving
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| − | are well fed by their master. Travel within 50 miles of the city
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| − | is extremely dangerous and only fools or the truly desperate
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| − | go anywhere near it.
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| − | While the Shadow’s armies occupy much of Eredane,
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| − | the war against the fey and the human resistance continues.
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| − | To support the war, an almost constant stream of orcs, goblinkin,
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| − | and the foul spawn of the breeding pits flows from the
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| − | frozen north into the northern Kaladruns, through the
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| − | Highhorns into the Veradeen, or down the Ishensa River and
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| − | across the Pelluria to join the Fey Killer’s armies in southern
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| − | Erenland. Outside the Ishensa River valley, the ports on the
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| − | Pelluria, and the northern Eren Plains, orcs are far less
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| − | numerous and less involved in hunting down resistance
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| − | groups.
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| − |
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| − | ==The Steep Cost of Freedom==
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| − | The blood of the fey pays for what little freedom the
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| − | humans still enjoy. The war in Erethor and under the
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| − | Kaladrun Mountains has drawn away over half a million orcs
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| − | that could be occupying Erenland. In Erethor, the war extends
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| − | from the freezing bogs and evergreens of the Veradeen, along
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| − | the borders of the elven heartlands of the Gamaril River
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| − | Valley, Green March, and the Caraheen, and finally into the
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| − | dismal Druid’s Swamp of the Aruun. The elves fight a desperate
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| − | battle, giving ground foot by foot and watching as axe
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| − | and fire consume their ancient homeland.
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| − | Those that live free still suffer from the ongoing war
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| − | and the Shadow’s occupation of much of Erenland. Izrador’s
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| − | armies control the most fertile and easily accessible lands.
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| − | The free settlers have to struggle to survive, coaxing crops
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| − | out of barren, rock-strewn land and scrounging for fodder for
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| − | their declining herds. Clean water is a luxury in some areas
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| − | and its lack has led to famine and disease. The hard, thin soil
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| − | of these barren lands has forced most of the free people to
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| − | become nomads, moving from one pastureland to another.
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| − | The constant movement provides some protection from goblinkin
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| − | slavers that sweep ever farther into the wildlands
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| − | searching for fresh slaves. Villages and nomad camps are
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| − | forced to be on constant guard, setting pickets to scan the
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| − | horizon for sign of this scourge.
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| − | Strongholds of the
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| − | Resistance
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| − |
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| − | ====Erethor====
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| − | The demands of war reach into the very depths of
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| − | Erethor. No village is untouched, as the Witch Queen has
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| − | called every warrior that can wield a blade or notch an arrow
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| − | to bowstring to join the armies fighting along the Burning
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| − | Line. Only the very young or the infirm remain, left to tend
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| − | the groves and harvest Erethor’s bounty. Many villages, some
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| − | thousands of years old, have been abandoned because the
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| − | Witch Queen can not spare warriors to defend them. The orcs
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| − | are not the only danger to the residents of the wood; horrid
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| − | beasts created by the Sundering or roused from slumber by
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| − | Izrador stalk the darkest recesses of the wood. Demonic spirits
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| − | from the Aruun range farther north each year as the skilled
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| − | Danisil demon hunters fall one by one to their otherworldly
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| − | foes. Even the remote coastal villages of the Miransil are not
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| − | free from the conflict, as the dark god corrupts the great
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| − | beasts of the sea to his cause and the Witch Queen summons
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| − | troop levies from among the once peaceful coastal dwellers.
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| − |
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| − | ====The Kaladruns====
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| − | Unlike the war against the elves, in which orc armies
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| − | march en masse and the smoke and fire from the Burning
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| − | Line can be seen as a never-ending stain on the horizon, the
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| − | war against the dwarves is largely unseen. The orcs move
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| − | directly from the frozen north through the Icewall Mountains
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| − | and into the subterranean labyrinths of the Kaladruns. The
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| − | under-mountain rings with the clash of vardatch and spear
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| − | against axe and shield. Individual dwarven clans fight desperate
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| − | but hopeless holding actions against the uncountable
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| − | Shadow hordes. Some dwarven clans have survived by collapsing
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| − | every tunnel into their clanholds and praying to their
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| − | ancestors that the Shadow will pass them by.
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| − | Above the surface, the often impassable terrain has
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| − | allowed the Kurgun dwarves and their human allies to avoid
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| − | the worst ravages of the war. In the heights above Low Rock,
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| − | Dorn and Erenlander refugees have been able to carve homes
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| − | from the cliff sides, surviving thanks to their herds of boro
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| − | and goats. They watch in fear as the Night King Jahzir forms
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| − | a new army to strike at the dwarven clans from the south and
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| − | deny any hope to the former dwarven capital of Calador. The
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| − | southern Kaladruns and the foothills along the White Desert
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| − | have so far been mostly spared from the fighting. The clanholds
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| − | there are few, however, and have been so secluded that
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| − | they are unlikely to learn the lesson from their northern kin:
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| − | that uniting as one is the only hope in facing the orcs, who
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| − | gather even now near Drumlen.
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| − |
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| − | ====Raiders and Freeriders====
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| − | Even under the Shadow there is life and some small
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| − | degree of hope. North of the Pelluria, sheltered in the eaves
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| − | of the great forest and roaming free upon the Plains of Eris
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| − | Aman, House Redgard still fights for its people. With the help
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| − | of the Caransil and supposedly led by Roland, prince of
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| − | House Redgard, these insurgents have brought thousands of
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| − | refugees into the forest. While in some cases a burden to the
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| − | elves, these refugees have also assisted the war effort by
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| − | occupying elven villages that had to be abandoned when the
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| − | Witch Queen ran out of troops with which to defend them.
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| − | The raiders exist in a nest of uneasy freedom that is buffered
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| − | on the south by the Foul Bog of Eris Aman and to the northeast
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| − | by the ruins of Cale. With the Shadow focusing it efforts
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| − | well to the south and so many troublesome obstacles in the
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| − | way, only the orc garrisons of Fallport and Steel Hill remain
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| − | to harry the Redgards.
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| − | Meanwhile, many true heirs of Southern Erenland are
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| − | said to lead camps of freeriders south of the Ardune. While
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| − | the Shadow’s control here is absolute, the enemy has grown
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| − | complacent. There are no battle lines, something that the
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| − | clever insurgents use to their advantage. These noble princes
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| − | raid caravans, free slaves, and keep the traditions and tales of
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| − | their people alive while their usurpers lounge in palaces and
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| − | let the great Sarcosan cities fall into decadence and ruin.
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| − |
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| − | ====Wilds of Erenland====
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| − | Outside the more densely populated regions of
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| − | Eredane, in the vast wildlands, one of the greatest dangers is
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| − | the roving bands of goblinkin slavers. The slavers have free
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| − | reign to take as many humans as they can from villages not
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| − | under the Shadow’s dominion. The goblinkin have access to
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| − | many ready markets, all hungry for slaves: Steel Hill requires
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| − | miners, farms and cities alike need heavy laborers, the orcs
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| − | require occasional fresh meat to temper their hunger, and of
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| − | course the dark god’s priests require sacrifices. The slavers
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| − | especially prize young children that can be sold to legates or
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| − | collaborators to be raised and trained as loyal servants of
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| − | Izrador. Mercenary bands often purchase Dornish boys as servants,
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| − | later training them as soldiers to replace losses in their
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| − | ranks.
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| − | Slavers are not the only dangers in the wildlands. Poor
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| − | soil, lack of water, and limited game result in malnutrition or
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| − | even starvation. In the harsh winters in the north and the searing
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| − | heat of summer in the southern plains, many die each year
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| − | from exposure. The bleached bones of humans are a common
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| − | sight in the wastes of the White Desert or the cold tundras on
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| − | the northern coasts of the Endless Ocean. The harsh weather
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| − | is just one of the dangers. Animals turned feral and creatures
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| − | warped by the Sundering or maliciously altered by the
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| − | Shadow roam the wastes, competing for scarce food. In these
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| − | desperate times, even humans turn against each other: bandits
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| − | prey upon the weak and even fellow refugees may attack to
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| − | drive others away from areas with water and food.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | <br>
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| − | ----
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| − | [[Midnight: North & South Portal|PORTAL]] | [[Midnight RPG - THE SOUTHIES|THE SOUTHIES]]
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| | | | |
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| Line 400: |
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| | ---- | | ---- |
| − | [[Midnight: North & South Portal]] | + | [[Midnight: the SHADOW KILLERS]] |
