Edafos

Edafos is a large island surrounded on all sides by a wide expanse of dangerous oceans. Travel to Edafos from other continents is a risky venture, and as such is only attempted by the very confident, the foolhardy, the greedy, or the desperate. No one makes such a perilous trip on a whim. The island was originally inhabited by a civilization long since vanished and forgotten. Many ruins from those long gone beings yet remain. The civilization and its eventual fate are shrouded in mystery, and the subject of much debate amongst the current denizens. Those current denizens include a single largely human nation, a large drow stronghold, an elven enclave, a dwarven mountain, a lawless city of pirates, a bustling coastal halfling society, several independent cities of varying peoples, and a ranging nomadic society of orcs. Teiflings, half-elves, and a handful of other races are also present on the island, but in much smaller numbers.   One of the mysteries of Edafos is the peculiarity of the local gods. Clerics and paladins from other lands find that upon arrival, their gods become distant and their divine powers much diminished. Rarely some of these divinely powered individuals are visited by a new god, whichever of the local deities finds them most appealing. They may then pledge to serve this new god and regain their abilities (or sometimes acquire new powers). There are nine gods of Edafos, but only six are worshiped openly.   The climate of Edafos ranges from temperate to tropical, with a large desert on the eastern side of the mountain range. There is a large variety of wildlife, ranging from benign to quite dangerous. Heavy storms sweep in from the northern oceans regularly. Winter is usually mild, with mild to moderate snowfall in the northern parts of the island and infrequent, mild snowfall in the south. The eastern desert is harsh and inhospitable. Those who venture into it very rarely return, so little is known about the region.   The largest political entity on the island is Emeis, the human nation. Emeis is ruled by a hereditary Governor of the Katsaros family, whose title is a holdover from when it was a small colony of a larger nation across the sea in Faerûn. That parent nation has long since been swallowed by its neighbours, rendering Emeis independent by default. The capital city is Oropedios, which is situated on the Plousia Ypsi plateau. The country is protected by the Governor’s Guard, and by the personal retainers of the landed nobles. Nobles are referred to as Lord and Lady, but have no other title. Cities are ruled by Governor-appointed mayors, and each mayor has an elected advisory council. The country’s wealth is founded on silver mining and trade. Every ten years a great fleet of ships makes the ocean crossing from Faerûn, its safety as guaranteed as possible with the large number of wizards and druids contracted to keep the weather calm and the beasts at bay. It brings with it gold, precious gems, fine books, and news of other lands, and its arrival is greatly anticipated and much celebrated.   Both the drow and elven city-states are the remnants of a great naval battle between the two. The surviving ships of the conflict were lost in a storm, and made landfall on Edafos several hundred years before the first human ships ever arrived. None of the survivors were shipwrights and their gods offered no guidance, so an uneasy truce was brokered between the two groups and they parted ways to build their own societies. The elves had halfling allies on their ships who went their own way, but they still keep close ties and trade regularly. The drow had allies of their own, but much fewer in number. The tieflings mostly returned to their nomadic roots, but some of them remain with the drow. The dwarves arrived on Edafos with the very first trade fleet, a large group who had been cast out of their kingdom and stripped of their names. These clanless dwarves have since built a mighty city in a mountain, and trade regularly with Emeis and occasionally with their neighbours.