Valerick Nation State Primer/Overview
This document is to give you a brief little idea of the various nations, not much detail, but an idea of sorts of peoples and cultures, so you can get an idea where your characters are from, where they've been, or visited, or where you think makes sense they've been raised/grew up.
The Nine Countries of Valerick
Suranth, the Tundra Realms: Known as the Bastion of the Northlands, the Shield of Valerick, this nation is a hard land, but one of great adventure and offering many strange and unexplored regions to be discovered, with untold treasures, wealth, and tales lost within. Vast mountain ranges, glacial highlands and tundra lowlands and fens dominate its landscape, broken up with a healthy and fair share of thick boreal forests. A nation forged by the great dwarven clans of Valerick, built on iron and stone, this cold and hard land is also the home of some of the most successful science and technological advancements of the modern age, not the least of which is the biggest claim to fame, the birthplace of locomotion.
Capital City: Geata-Iarainn
Depenwood, the Endless Boreal Bordering Suranth to the northeast, the Nor'westor Sea to the northwest, the Sea of Sails to the southwest, and Raechin to the southeast, Depenwood sits in an enviable position amongst the northlands for trade and commerce. However it is so much more. The endless boreal is a place of surreal beauty, a veritable garden of sorts, this temperate woodland region highlighted by hilly riverlands and swamps along its northern edges, bordering the Steppes. The endless woodlands seem a garden, and in many aspects are, as those whom live here embrace a culture of nature and industry side by side, and work to almost 'garden' their home, favoring food trees, and others such as maple, trees that are more valuable for the food they continue to produce than they are chopped down. They balance this near roads and settlements, which insures abundant food access. Apple, pear, cherry, walnut, chestnut, and more, these are your most common sorts of trees near any road or town or village. Berry bushes of all kind seem to dominate the undergrowth, and one will be shocked with the wide variety of seemingly 'wild' fruits, vegetables and herbs that grow here. However this is near those veins of civilization, and one would do well to remember that. Off those well travelled routes, the Depen is a dark, beautiful, but dangerous place holding many secrets, many opportunities for adventure, and a great many dangers.
Capital City: Kelethan
Raechin, The Highland Home: Raechin sits at the most southeastern regions of the continent of Durol. To the east, its coasts lie along the Shimmering Sea, to its south lies the Sea of Sails. To the southwest it shares a border with Depenwood, and to the north is its largest border, with Suranth. With rich fields dominating its southeastern regions, fed by the waters from the marshy lands around Serpent Tail Lake. Dominated by the Steppes in its northern regions, and the Bearwood to its west and south, it is a place of variety and a strong internalized industry.
Capital City: Longreach
Rohara, the Grassland Sea: A land of fertile plains and rolling hills, the land of horse and field, the grassland sea. Rohara is oft referred to, and justly so, as the breadbasket of the north. These lands are dominated by vast plains and farmland. The most populous of the four northern nations, by virtue of this, one of the safest to travel overland through, though do not confuse this as meaning without danger entirely. Bordering Valewyr to its south and east, and having coastline running along the Norwestor Sea and the Central Ocean, it is a climate well suited to food production, better than any other in the northern parts of Valerick.
Capital City Adra
Valewyr, the Sky Forest: Dominated by the Sky-sword Mountains, the cloud forests of this region feed down into fertile river valleys, with dry highland steppes dominating its eastern regions. Bordering Rohara to its north and west, and Susma to its south, the nation of Valewyr only has a relatively short but vital piece of coastline on its western edge upon the Sea of Sails. The cloud forests which give way to a more tropical sort of climate within them in the southern regions, hold many secrets within their tangled growth, and the highlands are home to many strange denizens and secrets.
Capital City: Valewood
Susma, the Desert of Riches: The desert nation of Susma, dominated by savannah and hilly salt flats to its north, giving way to true desert to its south and west, is a land of connection. A land built on trade dominance, which in many ways, due to the economic rivalry between Waston and Suranth, the industrial superpowers of the continent, and its continued neutrality, that it still has. This desert holds many buried secrets, and in recent times, one of them that was uncovered and reclaimed has reshaped the geopolitics of Valerick massively. The return of Gromdallaz, the ancient long lost dwarven kingdom. Its reclaimation over the last two hundred years has seen the deserts of Susma shrink back to encompass only its more south and western regions, as it should, as the massive manna gem mines of Gromdallaz flow open once again, feeding the land around it, bringing back the fertile wetlands and glades that once dominated the eastern regions of this land in time long forgotten, with the thin mountain range, the Pale Spires, dominating the edge of this region at its western edge. Gromdallaz, the tenth nation of Valerick, though reborn, is still in the process of truly re-establishing its full borders and control, and Susma has taken upon herself, as the neutral party, to proclaim its alliance and partnership, and intent to protect this fledgling nation from any outside interference at their request if needed. After all it is just the proper neighborly thing to do.
Capital City: Tiate.
Kang-Chorath, The Ever Glades: This nation of swamps, fens, glades and marshes, is a maze to those whom don't know it. Rivers act as roads here, but of course, navigating river systems is a very different beast than road maps, and as such, takes a unique skill set. This land is a mire, a true strange land of all manner of denizen beyond the borders of civilization, and one that even the environment is quite dangerous. One wrong step could see you sucked down into the muck, mud and water, never seen again, if you confuse solid ground with a swampy patch. Yet admist all this, you will find cities, towns and villages, as people do live here, seeing the abundance of water and the wide variety of flora and fauna, along with the interconnectivity the massive river systems of the region offer as a great boon.
Capital City: Haramir
Mora, the 'Free Trader' Republic: This tropical jungle and coastal lowlands are a strange and unique place, where the environment and denizens may not be the biggest factor to ones travelling safety. The seas off her coastlines, which are vast, along with her many rivers and roads, are open and legally plyed by all manner of 'toll collecter' or 'free traders' as they are called. Pirates, brigands and highwaymen. However the peoples here are known for being the best and most competent boat and shipbuilders on the entire continent, and have other rare resources within their borders many wish to trade for, so despite this risk of taxation via robbery, many choose to enter and travel through Mora.
Capital City: Tortuga
Waston, birthplace of Smokepowder: The hilly and mountainous jungles of Waston are known most famously for its peoples invention and refinement of the technological wonder that is Smokepowder, as well they should be. But in truth, this strange jungle land, large swaths of it hold many secrets, monuments of long lost societies, some tales even say perhaps the remains of settlements from before the Sundering, remains of the Primordials long forgotten kingdom, which many believe would be full of strange wonders like the world has never seen. However the misty jungles of Waston have a reputation for guarding their secrets feverishly, the very land itself a maze if one strays to far from roads, rails and river routes.
Capital City: Rydan
The Nine Countries of Valerick
Suranth, the Tundra Realms: Known as the Bastion of the Northlands, the Shield of Valerick, this nation is a hard land, but one of great adventure and offering many strange and unexplored regions to be discovered, with untold treasures, wealth, and tales lost within. Vast mountain ranges, glacial highlands and tundra lowlands and fens dominate its landscape, broken up with a healthy and fair share of thick boreal forests. A nation forged by the great dwarven clans of Valerick, built on iron and stone, this cold and hard land is also the home of some of the most successful science and technological advancements of the modern age, not the least of which is the biggest claim to fame, the birthplace of locomotion.
Capital City: Geata-Iarainn
"There are only three things that any visitor needs to know about the Suranthi. The first is simple. They are tougher than you. Do not doubt this, do not hesitate with the concept. They are tougher than you. Because where they live, and thrive? They have to be. The second is also quite simple. They've long memories. Do not slight them for they will hold a grudge, and grudges always eventually get repaid. The third? The two statements above are true of everyone living in this harsh land, not just the dwarves whom forged this nation, carving it out of the ice, stone and snow. Man or Halfing, Elf or Tantur, hell even Gnomes, the rare one you may meet, it doesn't matter. They are all like this, they've all culturally inherited these traits and behaviors. You may as well just call them weird shaped and sized dwarves. Actually on second thought, that's rule four. Don't do that. You will very likely get knocked out, or if unlucky, something far worse." Sage diplomatic advice on dealing with Suranth and her peoples that anyone with any experience with the Suranthi would pass along.
Depenwood, the Endless Boreal Bordering Suranth to the northeast, the Nor'westor Sea to the northwest, the Sea of Sails to the southwest, and Raechin to the southeast, Depenwood sits in an enviable position amongst the northlands for trade and commerce. However it is so much more. The endless boreal is a place of surreal beauty, a veritable garden of sorts, this temperate woodland region highlighted by hilly riverlands and swamps along its northern edges, bordering the Steppes. The endless woodlands seem a garden, and in many aspects are, as those whom live here embrace a culture of nature and industry side by side, and work to almost 'garden' their home, favoring food trees, and others such as maple, trees that are more valuable for the food they continue to produce than they are chopped down. They balance this near roads and settlements, which insures abundant food access. Apple, pear, cherry, walnut, chestnut, and more, these are your most common sorts of trees near any road or town or village. Berry bushes of all kind seem to dominate the undergrowth, and one will be shocked with the wide variety of seemingly 'wild' fruits, vegetables and herbs that grow here. However this is near those veins of civilization, and one would do well to remember that. Off those well travelled routes, the Depen is a dark, beautiful, but dangerous place holding many secrets, many opportunities for adventure, and a great many dangers.
Capital City: Kelethan
"Of course, one should take great care as to their behavior in these lands, especially when foraging for things as simple as firewood. You would be ill advised to chop down or take limb from any fruit or nut bearing tree that yet lives and may bear food in the coming autumn. For you have arrived in the Depen, and are now in land soverign to the Depenwood Conclave. Their word is law, and when it comes to harming the great garden that is the Depen, they enforce that law with barbed arrow shafts. And they are not known for missing or giving warnings" Common advice given to merchants, travellers and want to be Exemplari alike about travel within the borders of Depenwood.
Raechin, The Highland Home: Raechin sits at the most southeastern regions of the continent of Durol. To the east, its coasts lie along the Shimmering Sea, to its south lies the Sea of Sails. To the southwest it shares a border with Depenwood, and to the north is its largest border, with Suranth. With rich fields dominating its southeastern regions, fed by the waters from the marshy lands around Serpent Tail Lake. Dominated by the Steppes in its northern regions, and the Bearwood to its west and south, it is a place of variety and a strong internalized industry.
Capital City: Longreach
A place where wild and civilization truly cross, the northern most 'non frontier' land in they eyes of most travelers, mercantile or otherwise. A true center of trade, commerce and culture mixing. Yet a landscape holding a great deal of promise and temptation for those so inclined to explore beyond the comforts and confines of civilization's walls, rails, and roads.
Rohara, the Grassland Sea: A land of fertile plains and rolling hills, the land of horse and field, the grassland sea. Rohara is oft referred to, and justly so, as the breadbasket of the north. These lands are dominated by vast plains and farmland. The most populous of the four northern nations, by virtue of this, one of the safest to travel overland through, though do not confuse this as meaning without danger entirely. Bordering Valewyr to its south and east, and having coastline running along the Norwestor Sea and the Central Ocean, it is a climate well suited to food production, better than any other in the northern parts of Valerick.
Capital City Adra
It may look like a sea, aye, oft it is refered to as the Grassland Sea. A land of plenty, the breadbasket of the northlands. A good place to be for autumn, for if nothing else, it means good food, better drink, and even fairer prices. Opinion of a dwarf merchant about making autumn runs through Rohara.
Valewyr, the Sky Forest: Dominated by the Sky-sword Mountains, the cloud forests of this region feed down into fertile river valleys, with dry highland steppes dominating its eastern regions. Bordering Rohara to its north and west, and Susma to its south, the nation of Valewyr only has a relatively short but vital piece of coastline on its western edge upon the Sea of Sails. The cloud forests which give way to a more tropical sort of climate within them in the southern regions, hold many secrets within their tangled growth, and the highlands are home to many strange denizens and secrets.
Capital City: Valewood
Some truly strange things call the deepest regions of that fog shrouded land home. Things dangerous and spectacular. Things most minds could scarce imagine.
Susma, the Desert of Riches: The desert nation of Susma, dominated by savannah and hilly salt flats to its north, giving way to true desert to its south and west, is a land of connection. A land built on trade dominance, which in many ways, due to the economic rivalry between Waston and Suranth, the industrial superpowers of the continent, and its continued neutrality, that it still has. This desert holds many buried secrets, and in recent times, one of them that was uncovered and reclaimed has reshaped the geopolitics of Valerick massively. The return of Gromdallaz, the ancient long lost dwarven kingdom. Its reclaimation over the last two hundred years has seen the deserts of Susma shrink back to encompass only its more south and western regions, as it should, as the massive manna gem mines of Gromdallaz flow open once again, feeding the land around it, bringing back the fertile wetlands and glades that once dominated the eastern regions of this land in time long forgotten, with the thin mountain range, the Pale Spires, dominating the edge of this region at its western edge. Gromdallaz, the tenth nation of Valerick, though reborn, is still in the process of truly re-establishing its full borders and control, and Susma has taken upon herself, as the neutral party, to proclaim its alliance and partnership, and intent to protect this fledgling nation from any outside interference at their request if needed. After all it is just the proper neighborly thing to do.
Capital City: Tiate.
A jewel of trade and commerce, it is always worth visiting the cities of Susma. One never knows all of what they will find, only that the variety of goods within the region are well worth the trip. Though one best hire numerous and competent escorts. The desert and its denizens are....unforgiving
Kang-Chorath, The Ever Glades: This nation of swamps, fens, glades and marshes, is a maze to those whom don't know it. Rivers act as roads here, but of course, navigating river systems is a very different beast than road maps, and as such, takes a unique skill set. This land is a mire, a true strange land of all manner of denizen beyond the borders of civilization, and one that even the environment is quite dangerous. One wrong step could see you sucked down into the muck, mud and water, never seen again, if you confuse solid ground with a swampy patch. Yet admist all this, you will find cities, towns and villages, as people do live here, seeing the abundance of water and the wide variety of flora and fauna, along with the interconnectivity the massive river systems of the region offer as a great boon.
Capital City: Haramir
You should travel very carefully here. One wrong step you can disappear, without a trace, swallowed by the Glades forever more.
Mora, the 'Free Trader' Republic: This tropical jungle and coastal lowlands are a strange and unique place, where the environment and denizens may not be the biggest factor to ones travelling safety. The seas off her coastlines, which are vast, along with her many rivers and roads, are open and legally plyed by all manner of 'toll collecter' or 'free traders' as they are called. Pirates, brigands and highwaymen. However the peoples here are known for being the best and most competent boat and shipbuilders on the entire continent, and have other rare resources within their borders many wish to trade for, so despite this risk of taxation via robbery, many choose to enter and travel through Mora.
Capital City: Tortuga
Robbery, taxation, its all a manner of perspective really.
Waston, birthplace of Smokepowder: The hilly and mountainous jungles of Waston are known most famously for its peoples invention and refinement of the technological wonder that is Smokepowder, as well they should be. But in truth, this strange jungle land, large swaths of it hold many secrets, monuments of long lost societies, some tales even say perhaps the remains of settlements from before the Sundering, remains of the Primordials long forgotten kingdom, which many believe would be full of strange wonders like the world has never seen. However the misty jungles of Waston have a reputation for guarding their secrets feverishly, the very land itself a maze if one strays to far from roads, rails and river routes.
Capital City: Rydan
A land famous for its inventiveness, yet infamous for its mystery. Of smokepowder, mist and mystery.
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