Initial Regional Setting for Campaign Launch

A BORDER LAND

Our campaign story line will be starting at an inland region of the Andra Penninsula, in a frontier border land where there is a blend (and sometimes clash) of cultures between the more technologically advanced, more complexly governed coastal communities of the Yuoric (YOR-ik) people of Jeres (JARE-es) and the more rural, traditional, sometimes barbaric Dannein (dan-NAY-in) people of the Danneinkiff hinterlands. Those two sub-races (Yuoric and Dannein) would be the most common picks for the campaign setting, at least initially.

TWO PRIMARY LOCAL CULTURES

The Yuorics and the Danneins collectively have been in an interaction of cultures between one another over the last 150 - 250 years (depending on exact location within the Marke Lands). The Yuorics originate from the westernmost continent of Nadril and arrived on the Andra Peninsula by boat. They sailed from across the expansive Moctura Sea, island hopping through the straits of the Gaeirmund archipelago. The Nadrilian westerners have gradually established a foothold of Yuoric culture in what was to them a foreign land of the east. They came initially for the lure of exploration and trade. They quickly decided to establish permanent settlements to mine iron and copper, log dense timberlands, and farm the rich Andran soil.

The interchange between the Yuorics and Danneins started as a "clash of civilizations" but has ever so gradually trended towards a "blend of cultures", with the more dominant Yuoric culture enjoying the heavier part of the blend largely because of its higher developed culture and technology. That being said, there are still lapses back towards the clash scenario. Several factions on each side even strive for more confrontation, though many others call for peace and cooperation.

Along with obvious technological and economic disparity between the Yourics and Danneins, religious differences could be argued as one of the most volatile points of contention between them. The Yuoric people generally have only one religion (though not all are true followers of it by any means) in the veneration of Gellir, whom they think of as a deity over the entire earth and a sponsor of mankind as a whole. In practicality, Gellir is thought to favor the Yuoric people and their highly developed culture. The Church of Gellir is highly integrated into Yuoric culture and government.

The Danneins recognize a wider and more diverse pantheon of nature-oriented deities. Some of the deities are benign, a few are aloof and indifferent, and others are quite vicious. The Danneins call this deity set the First Gods. Non-Danneins most often call them the Land Gods, the Dannein Gods, or even the Savage Gods. The largest point of contestation is that one or more of the Dannein gods call for, or at least allow for, human sacrifice, a practice that is completely intolerable to the Church of Gellir and a sign of true savagery in the eyes of the Yuoric people.

Perhaps strangely, perhaps not, the Danneins have extremely similar physical characteristics as their encroaching Yuoric neighbors. A few bold sages of the Yuoric cities suggest that the two people were related in a more distant past, sharing ancestors who separated one from another in an early, pre-historic time. Most reject this theory, though the physical similarities remain undeniable, at least in general trends.

THE STARTING POINT

Though our story will be starting in a border region occupied primarily by the Yuorics of Jeres and the Danneins, they are not the only people in the area. Travelers from other lands do pass through this region, mostly for trade and to seek work either in the Jeresian mines or in the construction of Jeresian roads and fortifications. Some foreign-born even set up temporary or permanent residence in the border region.

Near the region where our story begins, a mighty wall is being built, a project initiated over 40 years ago by the Jeresian King Darian I. It is intended to eventually stretch over 400 miles, and already covers a span of more than 60 miles. It is intended to block a large valley region often used by the more brutal and warlike Dannein clans as an avenue of approach to invade the southern and eastern Jeresian farmlands, mining communities, and ports.

The labor required for the speed at which "Darian’s Wall" is being constructed has surpassed the labor supply possible by Jeresians alone. Some of the more peaceful Dannein clans, those who have largely merged with the Jeresian culture, have also become laborers in building the wall. Other foreigners have moved into the region as well, lured by the meager but steady pay of being on a construction team. Jeresian leadership thinks of foreign laborers as a financial benefit because they will work for cheaper pay than most Jeresians, who can make a better living farming and mining in the southern lands.

Other foreigners travel into the Danneinkiff border region for trade. The well-traveled and wide Naas River is the western-most waterway in the large Dannein-populated region called The Five River Valley. Sizeable boats can enter the river from the Drakkenmire Delta near the port of Poyam on the Alornic Sea. Traveling merchants transport trade goods from the other Yuoric Markelands of Talance and Korvar, and from the relatively close non-Yuoric ports of Kortella, Pylos, Esosan, and even from the Jbailians ports in the east which serve as a junction point to trade from the East Dessert Passage to Sarcera, Otessa, Nuuth Seeta, and beyond.

More detail of the border regions in which the campaign begins can be found in the Maps Forum Thread.