Norcambria

Quaint little place, if not for the murderous bands of monsters.

Created by OrphRedHair

Rolling green plains, covered in flowers of myriad colors. Quaint little villages, with dirt roads and lazy windmills. High stone walls, with low built stone castles; if one doesn't immediately think of Norcambria, one must be sick in the head. Norcambria is the embodiment of a nice, comfortable life on the countryside; or it would be, if not for one teensy, tiny, pesky little detail....
See, while most unfamiliar with Norcambria would believe that the place is beautiful and perpetually peaceful, in reality it is swarmed by all manner of terrible beasts and teeth gnashing monsters; Griffons terrorizing the skies, Gnolls raiding sheep corals and countless villages, and Minotaur hordes roving the plains, pillaging until content with their slaughter. The rolling plains of Norcambria are absolutely teeming with pests; and heroes trying to exterminate them. Of course, the heroes are almost as problematically destructive as the roving hordes they fight against. Barbaric loot hungry brutes, the lot of them all.
Of course, the Circle of the Round is quite adamant that these neusances be erradicated to maintain the peace and quiet, and so heroes are in high demand; unfortunately, heroes are known to cause nearly as much mess as the monsters, unless given adequate amounts of alcohol and a sturdy mop to placate them. You're not some smelly Adventuring pest, are you?

Geography

Norcambria is a place of simple beauty; it's vast plains of evergreen grass, dotted with sleepy forests, and the occasional low hill, are contrasted quite nicely against the ever-blue sky. The endless lands of sunny greens and fields of wild flowers are criss-crossed by various rivers topped with quaint stone bridges, and old dirt roads lazily winding through the pleasant scenery, linking each village and castle to the next.
Nestled all over Norcambria are countless villages, hammlets, and lone farmhouses- with the occasional stone walled castle. Windmills and thatch rooves are emblematic of Norcambria's simple architecture; the people live simple lives, and therefore need only simple homes. While not extravagant, even the smallest of Norcambria's communities feel incredibly homely, with soft trails of chimney smoke lazily rolling to the sky- and the smells of fresh pies and baking bread pleasantly filling the air. With the roads connecting any one place to the next in Norcambria, one will never feel far from comfort- and it never takes more than a handful of hours to travel anywhere in Norcambria as a consequence.
The low-walled castles are pitiful when compared to the grand stuctures of Gwydion or Tiovorun, but against the tiny huts and homes of the surrounding hamlets, the modest castles become like grandiose palaces. One could probably count on two hands the small handful of castles in Norcambria- and could probably list each of the barons or dukes inhabiting them without much effort. In times of danger, knights and heroes alike ride out from the stone walls to the nearby villages to offer aid- and often adventurers travel to the small fortresses in order to accept quests from the local dukes.
Of course when night falls, Norcambria can sometimes... Change. Instead of the normal sleepy calm, fires and smoke instead contrast against the darkness- villages, burnt and razed as the various pests of Norcambria pillage and raid as they pleased. It is on nights like these that the quiet paradise of the countryside becomes a small hell. The people of Norcambria have fortunately dealt with this time and time again- and will continue to do so, simply because that's how things are. Village brunt to the ground? Build it back- not like you've much else to do anyway.
Norcambria borders the gloomy Gwydion to the west, and Tylwannod to the south. The hills give rise to Tiovorunn to the North, and supposedly if one travels far enough north, they will find the rumoured mountain, Dondhala.

Fauna & Flora

Norcambria has about what you'd expect of a land filled to the brim with sleepy farmlands and homely little villages; pens of pigs and sheep abound, barns of cows and hens adozen. Farm animals are numerous in Norcambria, and despite the constant raids for them, always seem to be in abundance. There's even quite a few horses, though oxen and rams are more common among the peasantry.
When it comes to the wild animals, hares and foxes are practically everywhere. Owls and mice, birds and worms, cats and dogs. One need not explain how such animals interract, or one should hope. Norcambria's selection of animals is rather mundane; at least, so long as you ignore the Griffons, the Gnolls, the Minotaurs, and even the occasional Dragon that often terrorizes the townsfolk. Time and time again such things raid the little hamlets, burn them to the ground, wait for them to be rebuilt- and do it all over again. Fortunately, the Dukes often hire wandering adventurers to go out and take care of such problems- at least, for a time. Nobody really knows where the hordes come from after all, it's just said that they wander the plains.
The various local pillagers of the plains have no qualms cutting eachother's throats either. The Minotaurs and Gnolls have been locked in a bloody conflict for terrirory ever since the two discovered the other existed. Often the Minotaurs will slaughter the Gnolls in the several dozens just for the joy of it, while Gnolls will team up in packs to slaughter handfuls of Minotaurs and take their loot. It's a vicious cycle. Griffons are a pest to everyone, and are actively hunted by everything in Norcambria; while Dragons remain a myth, whispered to exist in the sleepiest groves, sitting upon lost piles of Gnoll gold. Nobody really knows where one would find a Dragon, but they're surely out there. Somewhere.

Natural Resources

Norcambria is abundant in wood, grain, and livestock, as logging camps and farms dot the landscape. The occasional shephard is common within Norcambria, and often sell their wool alongside vibrant dyes, made from the wild flowers. While Norcambria's main resource for trade is perhaps it's covetted dyes, it is perhaps best known for it's food; no matter who you are, or where you come from, one will always feel at home when eating genuine Norcambrian cooking, whether it be Griffon meat stew, roasted hogshead, or even the simple myriad pies found in each hamlet- every settlement in Norcambria has it's own unique pie recipe, after all. One could go on a noble quest to eat them all, a task few have fully accomplished.
Of course, it is rumoured that Norcambria is hiding so much lost gold it could make any Wyrmling in the world jealous enough to die of intense screaming at the mere thought. The common belief is that so many Gnoll treasures have been lost to the wilderness by uninterested Minotaurs, or lie lost to the mythical Dragons that supposedly hide across the plains. The Gold is there, probably- one just has to look for it.

Type

Plain