The Known World

The world in which the campaign setting resides is known by many names. Most common among these is Tarakis, in the Athalish tongue. To the best knowledge of any sage on the planet, the world is flat, and theoretically infinite. Sages speculate that in other reaches of the world, the races common to the known regions of the world are utterly absent and other beings have their own civilizations.

Climates on a Flat Planet

Climates and regions within the world are governed primarily by elemental sympathies. Thus, a region aligned with the Plane of Fire will be hotter, a region aligned with Earth will tend to be mountainous, oceans are linked with the Plane of Water, and a fertile region will usually be sympathetically linked to the Positive Energy Plane. Thus, the world has at least two known arctic regions of air/water elemental sympathy. These are not polar. There are also numerous tropical zones which are non-equatorial. These effects are often spread out over a wide range, lending fairly homogenous climate to entire nations. However, sometimes elemental influences are much more localized. A notable example is can be seen where strong sympathies toward earth and fire coexist, which often create small portals to the paraelemental Plane of Magma. Such sites typically form towering volcanoes, as is the case with the infamous Tusk Mountain.

The Heavens

The sky's of the world are a source of much wonderment as few phenomena in the heavens have been even remotely explained by the learned. A popular theory holds that the sun is a mile-wide portal to a paraelemental realm between the elemental Plane of Fire and the Positive Energy Plane. The world’s two moons, Latonin and Vost, are similarly mysterious. Athalish sages suspect that the two are actually massive spheres of stone. Half the surface of each is obsidian, while the other half is granite or some other grey stone. This seems the simplest explanation for their appearance and movements; however, the means by which they reappear across the sky every night remains a subject of much debate. Less developed cultures often understand the moons to be a projection of the eyes of one deity or another. Stars are universally understood by those with a background in planar lore to be some form of reflection of portals that make up the planescape of the astral plane. Magical attempts to explore these phenomena generally find that an utterly impenetrable barrier hangs ten miles above the surface of the world. In this barrier, magic ceases to function correctly, and mundane flight quickly becomes impossible. At such heights, the cold is unbearable, breathing is difficult, and the void sucks the very life energy from its inhabitants at an alarming rate.

The Planes

The known world is part of a cluster of planes, demiplanes, and divine realms. Some sages posit that the planes form a great ring where the full gamut of ideologies are expressed in material form. Some of the known planes include:
Tyrian The grand mountain home of Ashaneron
Yinluin A fabled paradise of two facing wilderness lands. Yinluin was the birthplace of gnomes but no-one has been able to travel to the plane for over two millenia.
The Twin Hells Battlefield of an eternal war between Demons and Devils, occasional home to the dragon god Tusk
Ataras' Courts Home to numerous deities including Valalique, Ataras, and Odenthor
Artyf a realm of clockwork wrought by the Athalish God Mechalus
Golour The realm of unending strife, home to Goloas
Undirdas Endless tunnels home to the realms of various subterenean deities including the infinite webs of the drow goddess Shadowsilk
Nocturne Home of the forsaken dead, Redoubt of Ludimar

Each plane is coterminous with their own Ethereal and Shadow planes

The Elemental Planes are typically conceived as forming the outer regions of the known multiverse, beyond which is the unshaped realm of Chaos.

FlatWorldMapNew.jpg

Regions

Athalin

Meithannon Type: Empire Alignment Base: NG

A great northern kingdom formed primarily of elves. This kingdom has been in existence for roughly four thousand years, although it is now a fraction of its former size. The elves are somewhat distant towards newcomers and are not especially welcoming towards immigrants or visitors. However, they have a strong alliance with Meridian. Meithannon is very sparsely populated due, in part, to the very slow lifecycle of the elven population. The armies of Meithannon suffered greatly in the Tusk War over a century ago, and its military strength, based around veteran troops, has been tarnished greatly. Until new recruits are trained and outfitted to the standard of the former guard (a process taking multiple centuries), the military strength of this nation, formidable though it may be, is spread far too thin for comfort.
Demonym:
Racial Makeup: Elves 98%, Other 2%
Capital: Isilee Meithannon
Real World Parallels: Ancient Greece
Languages spoken: Elven

Meridian Type: Monarchy Alignment Base: LG

Meridian was, in ancient times, an elven city of the Meithannon Empire, which, after the rise of the great red wyrm Tusk, was all but abandoned. In the shadow of the great dragon, humanity is thought to have had its humble beginnings in this region around eight hundred years ago. After many generations, a hero among them rose to challenge the beast. Kora of Donlin banished Tusk to the Abyss for four hundred years, ushering in a golden age for humankind. She resurrected the city of Meridian as a thriving province and ruled it as part of the greater nation of Donlin. Donlin City was destroyed utterly when the dragon returned, ushering in the short but terrible Tusk War. After the dragon’s final defeat at the hands of a group of adventurers, a new nation was formed with Meridian as both its capital and namesake. Meridian has been much swifter than Meithannon in recovering from the horrors of the war and is now a significant power in the world, particularly due to a recent influx of population from Athalin, remainders from their long imposed caste system. Meridianites have a number of euphemisms to refer to various deities; they consider it unwise to voice the names of deities unless calling on them directly.
Demonym: Meridianite
Racial Makeup: Humans 85%, Dwarves 10%, Halflings 2%, Gnomes 2%, Other 1%
Capital: Meridian City
Real World Parallels: Medieval England.
Languages spoken: Dollite

Dallaros Type: Republic Alignment Base: CG

Dallaros is an arid nation populated by halflings and gnomes. In many ways, Dallaros is one of the few places truly home to the gnomes who were relative newcomers to the prime material plane after immigrating en masse six hundred years ago from Bytopia. The nation, after a disastrous period of monarchy, is now ruled by seven elected officials that represent cities and districts. Dallaros is on good terms with Meridian, but is just shy of open hostility toward the empire of Athalin, which is renowned for its persecution of gnomes under the caste system.
Demonym: Dallish
Racial Makeup: Halflings 65%, Gnomes 25%, Humans 5%, Dwarves 3%, Other 2%
Capital: Dallan
Languages spoken: Dollite, Halfling

Lothis Breck Type: Monarchy Alignment Base: LG

The mighty dwarven city of Lothis Breck was recently reclaimed from the duergar by the hill dwarves in the region, who had for many centuries lived in exile in the nation of Donlin (now Meridian). In many respects the two nations still have a symbiotic bond, though they are formally distinct entities. Relations between the dwarves of Lothis Breck and the humans of Meridian are unquestionably strong.
Demonym:
Racial Makeup: Dwarves 98%, Other 2%
Languages spoken: Dollite, Dwarven

The Beastlands Type: Wilderness Alignment Base: NE

The Beastlands are an area of rough terrain that separates Athalin from Meridian. This terrain is well-known for producing tribal warlords among the tribes of more rugged humanoids. Some sages speculate that there may be ruins here of an empire founded before the elves of Meithannon reached these shores.
Racial Makeup: Human 20%, Orc 20%, Goblinoid 40%, Giant 16%, Other 4%
Capital: N/A

The Athalish Empire Type: Empire Alignment Base: LN

The Athalish Empire is a powerful nation of the eastern coast. It was once a province of Meithannon but broke away shortly before the coming of Tusk. Immensely populous and possessed of significant natural resources, it has become something of a melting pot for peoples of all different races. The nation is ruled by an oligarchy of elves overseen by Empress Dorenesi. The realm is experiencing a significant expansion of its human population, which troubles the elves who view men as being unstable and a potential threat to their power. Last century, in response to this growing concern, they instituted a caste system wherein every individual is valued so long as he or she fills a racially predetermined role in the mechanism of society. Dorenesi, like her father before her, keeps order in the face of ongoing concerns of overpopulation and civil unrest by ensuring a high rate of emigration, most recently to the Escher coast and Meridian. Her father, Emperor Redorf III, had forcefully exiled dissidents. This policy proved disastrous for the nation. A century ago, in the time shortly after the Tusk War, an army of exiles, led by the archmage Voxaminer and supplemented with countless dragons both metallic and chromatic, returned to Athalin to try to reclaim their homes. Redorf was killed in the ensuing conflict, and the nation of Athalin was almost overrun. This fate was avoided only by virtue of some internal intrigue in the exile ranks culminating in Voxaminer’s complete disappearance. The exiles were then forced to return to Karalon permanently. The term Westerner refers to individuals who have ancestry in Athalin. This includes the descendants of the exiles and the settlers on the Escher coast.
Racial Makeup: Elves 10%, Humans 40%, Dwarves 25%, Halflings 15%, Gnomes 7%, Other 3%
Demonym: Athalish
Capital: Athal City
Languages spoken: Athalish
Real World Parallels: The Roman Empire

The Orc's Teeth Islands

The Orc’s Teeth Islands Type: Wilderness Alignment Base: CN

This large archipelago spread across the sea between Athalin and Karalon is home to a savage society of humans and orcs who are known for both their artistic ingenuity and also their acts of unthinkable brutality and mutilation in their frequent intertribal wars. The Orc’s Teeth Islands are greatly unstable but are one of the world’s best known sources of diamonds, causing them to be of great interest to spellcasters and entrepreneurs alike.
Demonym: Schenthian
Racial Makeup: Orcs 47%, Humans 33%, Other 20%
Languages spoken: Orc, Thausic, Athalish, Dwarven

Echer

The Echer Coast Type: Colonies Alignment Base: N

This loose assortment of coastal towns was hurriedly established to remove the population burden from central Athalin. In light of growing internal turmoil, Athalin has recalled the forces serving this area and, after two human generations, most of the ties with the former homeland have been cut. The Echer Coast is like a bread baked in too hot an oven for too short a time. A thick civilized crust along the coast thrives on local fishing and rich agriculture from new soil, while inland lies a savage and unexplored frontier. Unlike those of Mazavi and Karalon, the settlers of Echer have found little in the way of pre-existing settlements, though some evidence suggests that an ancient race once dwelt here. The reason for their departure is unknown.
Demonym: Echerian
Racial Makeup: Elves: 2%, Humans 53%, Dwarves 15%, Halflings 15%, Gnomes 12%, Other 3%
Languages spoken: Athalish

Karalon

Mazavi (Southern Karalon) Type: Theocracies Alignment Base: LE/NG

Mazavi is a realm locked in a state of civil war between two vastly conflicting churches. The church of Angelique holds power inland, though its adherents are much more militant than is typical of the world church of humanity. Its opponents are servants of Ludimar, who have many strongholds on the coast. Both of these groups arrived as part of a great Athalish exile a century earlier, nearly entirely subsuming the native population upon their arrival. The exiles were united for a brief period leading up to the failed invasion of Athalin when they tried to retake their old homes under the leadership of the mage Voxaminer. Since that time, Ludimar has become a much more powerful force in the world, claiming the loyalties of most of the coastal cities along with their powerful mages’ guilds. The conflict with the nearly fanatical adherents of Angelique residing inland was inevitable. War has wracked this area with few pauses for nearly two generations. In many ways, the combatants are more alike than they would care to admit. The adherents of Angelique have taken a very hard edge, becoming sometimes over-vigilant in their quest to rid the world of Ludimar’s servants, while the Ludimarites have taken to acting in unbecoming kindness in an attempt to win more souls to their unholy crusade.
Demonym: Mazavian
Racial Makeup: Human 50%, Dwarves 10%, Halflings 15%, Gnomes 15%, Elves 5%, Other 5%
Capitasl:
Coastal (Ludimar): Gorost
Eastern (Valalique): Kamest
Languages spoken: Athalish
Real world Parallels: Brazil

Central Karalon Type: Varies Alignment Base: N

This region was the receiving site for a smaller number of exiles from Athalin than Mazavi. These humans fought to find a place for themselves, partially displacing the native Gaelic society in the region. A druid council guides the actions of the natives, whereas a crude republic in the city of Middlefort handles the affairs of the dispersed townships of exiles and their descendants. National tensions run very high here, particularly given the unfortunate role the people of this region played in the Exilic Wars one hundred years previous. Most of the bonds forged in the “alliance of treachery”, as it has been called, now have been sundered to be replaced by bitterness and mistrust, but seldom has open warfare erupted between natives and westerners.
Demonym:
Racial Makeup: Humans 60%, Dwarves 10%, Halflings 10%, Elves 10%, Gnomes 5%, Other 5%
Capital: None / Middlefort
Languages spoken: Lonic / Athalish
Real World Parallels: Celtic Europe

Aire Type: Tribal Alignment Base: N

This island is a relatively untouched example of the Gaelic natives of Karalon prior to the Athalish exile. The island has numerous tribes and small settlements where the traditional ways of life are upheld. Aire has had little involvement with the intrigues of the past century and is home to some peculiar societies, including a village of skulks and a formidable grove of ents ruled by a mighty warrior queen. The island, like mainland Karalon, has well entrenched tribes of native humans. It is very unclear as to how these tribes came to be, as humans are thought to originate in Donlin. Some evidence suggests that the native humans of Aire may predate humans in the west by many centuries, although the complete lack of a written history makes the matter difficult to investigate.
Demonym:
Racial Makeup: Humans 60%, Orcs 15%, Elves 10%, Gangrel 8%, Other 7%
Languages spoken: Lonic
Real World Parallels: Celtic Britain

Deepinghome Type: Monarchy Alignment Base: LG

The Deepinghome is an ancient dwarven city-state built under the mountain range that separates north from south Karalon. The Deepinghome has had a long history of warfare with drow and goblinoids in its subterranean home and, some years ago, the emptied halls received a new vitality from an influx of gnomish exiles from Athalin. The Deepinghome has become a hybrid culture where gnomes and dwarves work in harmony even if they do experience small frictions from time to time. The balance of power is held by King and Queen Farik, the king a gnome, and the queen a dwarf. By the laws of the land, the queen (who married after being crowned) is the true ruler of the realm, but given the depth of her bond with her husband, the fair and equitable treatment of both races has remained a considerable priority of their reign. The Deepinghome has a loose alliance with the church of Angelique in Mazavi against the agents of Ludimar massed in Mazavi.
Demonym:
Racial Makeup: Dwarves 58%, Gnomes 40%, Other 2%.
Languages spoken: Dwarven, Gnomish, Athalish

The Valley of The Dragons Type: Unknown Alignment Base: ??

Little is known about this remote region. Few have ever ventured to this realm, and those who have tell tales of skies darkened by dragons beyond number. Legends hold that a fearsome council of dragons orchestrates the affairs of the entire draconic race from a citadel deep within this territory. If the realm is indeed home to many dragons then it was likely affected by the exilic wars, which pressed hundreds of dragons into service under Voxaminer.
Demonym: Dragondalian
Racial Makeup: Human 20%, Elf 18%, Kobold 12%, Various Half Dragon 30%, Other 20% (all numbers are estimates; some accounts would place true dragons at 10-15% of the total population of this realm)
Languages spoken: Draconic

Jiptala Type: Monarchy Alignment Base: LG

Jiptala is a curious society built along the Lina River in southern Karalon in the middle of an ancient desert. This is a cursed land where water is scarce and where the river dictates all aspects of life. The land is ruled by a pharaonic court, and in the flat desert terrain those involved have mastered the arts of chariot warfare. Jiptala has some trading relationships with eastern Mazavi to a point where it tolerates missionaries of Angelique within its borders.
Demonym: Jiptalian
Racial Makeup: Humans 80%, Halflings 15%, Other 5%
Languages spoken: Jyptic
Real World Parallels: Ancient Egypt

Auldelia Type: Former Empire, City States Alignment Base: N

Auldelia is an ancient and mysterious land what was once home to a formidable arcane empire of humans. Followers of Ashaneron overtook the mages and were themselves destroyed by an unknown cataclysm. The lands are filled with unusual, often magical phenomenon, and considered haunted by most natives of Karalon. The lands have been largely uninhabited for centuries, save for pockets of Audelan survivors, many of whom have taken on surprising traits, but refugees from Mazavi and the Deepinghome have established settlements here over the last 80 years.
Demonym: Auldelian, Auldelan
Racial Makeup: Human 40%, Dwarf 15%, Halfing 10% Gnome %9, Gangrel %7 Drughu %6, Volent 5%, Other %8
Languages spoken: Athalish/ Lonic /Auldelan(almost extinct)

Jotenar

Jotenar Type: Wilderness? Alignment Base: ?

Jotenar is a far flung realm of the north, which a generation ago was opened to exploration when Ashaneron attacked the stygian floes which had for most of know history seperated the realm from the Athalin and the more southerly continents.
Jotenar is a savage realm, inhabited principally by giants and fey. Small clans of heavy set humans eke out a existence here, their bold warriors ready to defend their kin from even the greatest of giants.
Demonym: ?
Racial Makeup: ?
Languages spoken: ?
Real World Parallels: Mythical Scandinavia

Major Bodies of Water

History

Brief Timeline

By Meithannon Reckoning

  • ≈4000 MR Elven Empire of Meithannon established
  • ≈7200 MR Height of the Empire of Meithannon
  • ≈6000 MR Height of the Auldelan Empire
  • 7313 MR Athalin breaks ties with Meithannon, forming a separate empire
  • 7334 MR The arrival of the great dragon Tusk from lands far to the East; Tusk conquers the province of Meridian from the elven empire
  • 7389 MR Earliest records of human civilization in the Meridian region
  • ≈7600 MR Cataclysm destroys the Auldelan Empire
  • 7626 MR Modern Athalish Calendar Adopted
  • 7714 MR (0 DR) Kora slays Tusk and establishes the nation of Donlin near Merridian
  • 7730 MR Kora disappears
  • 8012 MR Redorf III takes the throne of Athalin
  • 8091 MR (Tusk Mountain Campaign begins)
  • 8093 MR (379 DR) Tusk returns, resulting in the destruction of Donlin; Tusk is then slain, and Meridian is established
  • 8102 MR Athalish exile to Mazavi begins
  • 8118 MR (Karalon Campaign begins)
  • 8121 MR Exilic War, disappearance of Voxaminer
  • ≈8121 MR Rise of Ludimar the God-Lich
  • 8123 MR Beginning of the civil war in Mazavi
  • 8133 MR Athalish colonies established on the Echer Coast
  • 8150 MR Athalin abandons colonies on the Echer Coast, sending emigrants to Meridian instead
  • 8220 MR (World Runner Campaign begins)
  • 8221 MR Ludimarite Conquest of Tayoun and Esher
  • 8222 MR Ludimarite Conquest of Athalin ends abruptly
  • 8256-8261 MR (Dargos Campaign)
  • 8273 MR (Pirates of the Orc's Teeth Campaign begins)
  • 8273 MR (Aegis Campaign begins)
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