Drakthirr

Drakthirr is a continent of Alendia and is located in the northwest of the The New World. It is home to most of the Orcs, to some tribes of dryads, and other wild tribes like minotaurs, and centaurs.

Geography

The borders of Drakthirr haven't been well defined. Nowadays, the Drakthirr is restricted to the east by the so-called 'Front of the West' and the Rippling Creek, a river in the mountain ranges of Ephea, bordering its neighbor, Ephea. Roughly, it's all the territory of the northwestern island of The New World controlled by the Orcs.
Drakthirr measures about 290.000 square miles and is therefore about twice as small as its neighbor Ephea. The Mutton-Head island in the west of the mainland is part of the continent as well.

Climate

Drakthirr mainly lies in the temperate climate zone. The southern parts of the continent, especially the Ripped Peninsula can reach a warmer and drier, subtropic climate.
Due to the magic of the Orcs and deforestation, a large part of the continent transformed into wastelands. Despite the moderate precipitation, larger forests are only able to grow in selected places, supported by the natural magic of the dryads.

Vegetation

As mentioned, the flora of Drakthirr is very sparse. Large forests can only be found in the center of the continent, due to the sylvan influence, on the Mutton-Head Island and around Skull Lake. The fauna, however, is surprisingly versatile and diverse. Since large parts of the continents are uncivilized and wilderness, a lot of rare creatures and animals can be found, which might only exist on Drakthirr. Especially predators like wyverns can often be found in Drakthirr.

Demographics and Culture

Population

The current population of Drakthirr is estimated to be around 18 million sentient creatures, most of them living in the orcish cities or sylvan tribes. Drakthirr is one of the most sparse settled continents in The New World.

Ethnic groups

Drakthirr contains two major dominating ethnic groups: The Orcs and the sylvan tribes in the woods. The population of orcs numbers about 6 million different creatures and the sylvan dryads make half a million. The missing 10 million creatures are goblins and goblinoids, which are part of the ethnic group of orcs. Both of these groups live in conflict, however, the mutual aggression is very restricted. With the dryads occupying large areas of the forest, the orcs settle and control the flatlands, and since either race doesn't feel too comfortable inside the foe's territory, they just rarely meet.
A last ethnic group is a group of minorities, which contains all creatures which are not orcs or sylvans. Often, creatures from this group try to integrate either with dryads or orcs, but since the natural hostility of both races, such integration can be rather complicated. Creatures from the minority group are mostly singular Dwarves, Humans, or dragonborn. Minotaurs, centaurs, and other monster-like sentient creatures are included in the group too.

Religion

Orcs and goblins as well as dryads do not believe in The Pantheon of the Twelve-Gods and even actively reject it. Many of them believe in a version of Nature spirits. The most common belief among orcs and goblins, however, is the orc pantheon. It is very simple and contains just a handful of orc dieties, especially based on war, death, and strength:

• Gruumsh One-eye, a greater god of storms and war, and of orcs. He is the leader of the orc deities.
• Luthic, lesser goddess of fertility, medicine, and orc females; the consort of Gruumsh.
• Ilneval, lesser god of war strategy, orc cross-breeds, and destruction.
• Bahgtru, god of brute strength.
• Shargaas, god of darkness and night, stealth, thieves, and undead.
• Yurtrus, a feared god of death and disease.

Politics

Orcs live in different tribes, also often called hordes. Although all orcs see Humans as a common enemy, it is very typical, that conflicts erupt between different orc tribes. In total, there are six different orc tribes, which also delimit geographically. For details look up the article about Orcs.
Dryads and other sylvans live in tribes too, however, those creatures do not fight each other unless it's a personal conflict between two or small groups of individuals. Dryads cooperate with each other and defend the forests in central Drakthirr from an invasion or deforestation from either Orcs or Dwarves.

Region: The New World
Area: 290.000 sq-miles
Population: 17 million
Population density: 58 per sq-mile Religion:

• Orc pantheon (94%)
• Nature spirits (50%)
• Other (1%)

Countries: 6 orc tribes, the forest of dryads
Languages: Orc, sylvan, common, draconic, primordial
Largest Cities: [WIP]

Type

Continent