The Shattered Continent

The Shattered Continent is a landmass which has been shaped by titanic forces and powerful magic. Once a single massive contiguous piece of land, the backlash from the failed serpentfolk ritual known as The Cataclysm shattered the continent, leaving it in six major pieces, with a massive crater at the epicenter which quickly became The Crater Sea. Today, the shattered continent has been divided up into many nations, often defined by the hard borders created by it's shattering,

Geography and climate

The Shattered Continent covers a massive area, around 1800 miles in each direction at it's widest points, although a significant portion of the western half of that area is ocean. It encompasses nearly every type of terrain and climate imaginable; mountains, grasslands, inland seas, swamps, jungles, deserts and frozen tundra, to name just a few.

Main Regions

The Shattered Continent is commonly divided up into ten primary regions, arrayed around The Crater Sea

Climate

The climate of the Shattered Continent varies tremendously and seemingly without logic, a legacy of the tremendous uncontrolled arcane energies that formed the continent into it's current shape. Frozen tundra is seperated from rolling grasslands by nothing but a small stretch of mountains, and tropical island climates transition into temperate ones as soon as shore is reached, without any significant change in latitude.

History

The known history of the shattered continent essentially starts with the reign of the serpentfolk, up until the cataclysm cut that short. There are only fragments of known history before it, as even for the long lived races, the time before the dominance of the serpentfolk has fallen into myth and legend.

Before The Serpentfolk

Nearly all information about this period has been lost, only the very end of is has anything but fragments known about it, particularly since the few cultures which survived with their histories intact were the major powers of this time. The elves were the dominant power prior to the rise of the serpentfolk, controlling an empire that spanned a significant portion of the continent while the dwarfish kingdoms were waning but still powerful. Others such as the orcs and hobgoblins had kingdoms of their own but were smaller and unable to challenge the larger elfish empire. Humans mostly lived in small tribes in border regions or in larger settlements inside of the elvish kingdoms with the elves acting as mentors for the younger race.

Reign of The Serpentfolk

The serpentfolk swept across the continent at incredible speed, conquering and enslaving all who stood before them. The isolation of the dwarven kingdoms worked against them and they either fell or were forced to retreat into their holds and seal the entrances, the elven empire was slowly torn apart, and everyone else either ran and hid or were conquered. By the time that the orcish kingdoms made a final last stand and the last of the elvish kingdoms fell or went into hiding, the serpentfolk had more or less uncontested control of the entire continent.

With their empire at its peak, the serpentfolk devised a ritual which they claimed would guarantee their complete domination of the world, cementing their position and ensuring serpentfolk supremacy would be eternal. Little is known about this ritual other than the fact that it blended arcane and divine energies, involved mass sacrifices of sentient beings, and required ritual sites across the continent, all funneling power to a single central location in the heart of their empire.

When its energies were at their peak, the ritual backfired catastrophically, utterly obliterating each of the ritual sites, particularly the central nexus, and unleashing a magical backlash which utterly obliterated the serpentfolk, rendering their bodies into dust and continuing on to do the same to nearly every reptilian creature it contacted.

The Continent itself was sundered by the force of the backlash, breaking it into pieces centered around the massive crater that was once the capital city of the serpentfolk and the nexus of the ritual. The seas rushed in, obliterating everything that stood in front of their onrushing water, flooding the newly exposed sections of The Deep Paths and creating new straits and seas. By the time the onrushing waters had settled, the entire continent had been entirely reshaped, untold numbers of beings were dead, and much of the legacy of the serpentfolk had been wiped from the face of the continent.

After The Cataclysm

When the Serpentfolk abruptly vanished in The Cataclysm, they left a massive power vacuum, and into that vacuum the Humans rushed. While the older races sat in their fortified or hidden cities, trying to figure out what had just happened and what they should do about it, the humans did what humans do best; expand, explore, and multiply.

The humans quickly spread across nearly every inch of the newly shattered continent, rapidly moving from villages to cities to kingdoms and working to exert their dominance over their domains. The older races numbers had been greatly reduced during the reign of the serpentfolk, and by the time that they began their own expansions, they found that the humans outnumbered them and already occupied nearly every inch of the continent... and weren't particularly interested in sharing.

As the various kingdoms expanded enough that borders collided, conflict inevitably ensued. The inital era of epansion transitioned into one of conflict and conquest, with more powerful kingdoms absorbing their smaller neighbors and engaging in wars with their larger ones. Boundries were redrawn constantly, and the older races retreated back to their ancient cities, unwilling to engage in the sort of constant warfare that their new neighbors were.

Modern Times

Today, the various nations have matured, boundries have been settled, and trade has replaced open warfare as the activity of choice. Despite the apparent peace, the main venue for conflict has simply changed from warfare to trade. While somewhat tempered by the existance of the powerful Crater Sea Trading Company, piracy and smuggling are rampant, and accusations of sponsorship of privateers fly regularly between the major powers.

Demographics

By far the largest single demographic in the Shattered Continent are Humans, who have spread out across the entirety of the continent and developed many distinct cultures. Dwarves tend to be the second most common, as despite their tendency to live in their remote holds, most holds engage in trade for items that they don't produce themselves. Elves are uncommon, most sticking to the immediate areas around their secluded cities, but Half-Elves are a much more common sight. Halflings aren't uncommon, although the wandering variety are the type most likely to be encountered unless one wanders into a halfling village. Half-Orcs are more common in areas bordering less tamed wilderness areas, and Ratfolk can be found existing on the periphery of nearly any settlement of reasonable size. Vanara are most common in the shattered sea, but can be found in small numbers nearly anywhere.

Relations with the rest of the world

As the nations of The Shattered Continent have transitioned from warfare to trade, eyes have turned east, to the mysterious continentand its strange residents and exotic spices and trade goods. A number of enterprising captains have made the trip already, returning with holds full of extremely valuable spices, silks, and art, and various nations have sent diplomatic representatives to establish relations with the powers of that region.