Strealis Regions
Before the emergence of man:
Before the Dessication there were two great Dwarven nations—Dol’gar, and Bak’gar. Separated by the Spine Range the sister nations traded freely through small mountain passes. Gol’gar was a nation founded on bread—it’s wheat a commodity sought after by the elves to the north, Bak’gar to the west, the Gnomes of Mitään to the northwest, and even the goliath tribes to the south. Its fields were golden and stretched from the Spine to The Waters of Ellincour. Bak’gar spread through the lowlands, around its many lakes and bisected the Eagle and Hawk mountains.
Intro to the human kingdoms:
The Torwith empire stretches from the Straights of Colimar to the Hawk’s Divide and shares borders with Araxis, Steria, Gebet, and the Shadow forest. It is the greatest human kingdom on Strealis. Castle Torwith stands where man first laid foot on the continent and was the foothold for Humanity’s conquest across the lowlands five-hundred years ago. Dwarves once inhabited these rolling hills and open fields while Elves warred in their forested mountains—each peak fighting, tooth and claw on their wyverns, for superiority. Humanity pushed the Dwarves through the shadow forest and into the Spine Range, where the founded Duri’ak—Dragon’s Roar in the human tongue.
The Destruction of Mitään and the Ashlands:
The Elves of Avalade were dying. They couldn’t grow enough food to feed the people. In their hubris they believed that the spirits of the wild were a constant and would always heed the call of savage magic. As the Elves’ numbers swelled, their magic dwindled, and raw nature was nurtured into everlasting complacency and tamed. The ancient druidic circle-turned council sent out tendrils into the world to search for the wild spirits, and they found them—in Mitään. The Gnomes populating the country mainly lived underground near dormant volcanoes and left the surface forests mostly untouched. Knowing this, the council of druids devised a way to capture nature spirits in obsidian obelisks and return them to Avalade. This process took years and many elves died, but they eventually brought savage magic back to their land and saved their people, at the expense of Mitään. The country de-stabilized, volcanoes erupted, and orc-kin flowed from the ground and began warring against each other and the Gnomes living there. The area became known as The Ashlands.
The Dessication of Dol’gar:
Years later the Council of Avalade was faced with a similar situation that led to the destruction of Mitään, and they sought to solve the problem the same way. However, they could not afford the time it would take to individually capture each nature spirit. A gnome named Valtix Ulain Pinkleton, after renouncing his homeland and species, proposed a solution that could use the power of the spirits already captured to trap all the spirits of a nation into one obelisk. The council accepted his proposal and finished the preparations in under a year. The entire original circle came together to wield the weather magic necessary to create a spirit vortex, but they were betrayed, and the spell backfired. It did suck all the spirits from Dol’gar, but the obelisk couldn’t contain them all, and by gnomish design sprouted cancerous life. The circle was swallowed by a tide of roots, teeth, scales, and leaves. The Mass spread across Avalade, toppling elven cities in its wake. Eventually, the entire region became covered in roots and inhabited by tireless killing abominations. At the heart of the mass lies the towering obelisk, living out its quasi-sentient existence in solitude, making pockets of paradise within the root labyrinth. Dol’gar was left barren, and lifeless. The spell lingered and continues to rip emerging spirits away into the obelisk before they can heal the land. The Dwarves were forced into the Spine where they joined their brothers in Duri’ak.
The year 25 A.A. (After Alliance):
The Kingdoms Araxis, Steria, and Torwith formed an alliance and signed the treaty at Burmstone in the Torwith Empire—each beginning a new calendar to show their commitment. However, twenty-five years later Steria appears to have broken the alliance and attacked a small Torwith village called Nardwitch. Agents have also spread a mysterious and magical disease called Stonescale amongst the villagers in Nardwitch. That same year a group of three children– Barry, Dill, and Salteen from the village stumble upon an ancient Dwarven ruin and narrowly escape with their lives carrying a sealed clay urn. These children carry a message of war to Dornwitch after their village is destroyed. However, they discover the man they were supposed to deliver it to is a crooked priest with a passion for children’s shoes. Deciding not to trust him they make the harrowing journey to Haverdeen. In an inn on the way they meet man from Talwitch infected with Stonescale and his daughter. The man turns rabid and strikes out at all who get close, including his daughter. After putting the man down, they act quickly to convince the girl (Remmy) that her only chance of survival is to amputate the arm before it can infect her whole body. After coming to grips with the loss of her arm, she forces the boys to take her with them, and they slog through wolves, bandits, and bears to Haverdeen together.
Haverdeen is the largest town in Torwith without being considered a city. With a population of five thousand it serves as a hub for traders going to the outlying witches and northern fortresses. The boys encounter Wizard Mallard Buckshot Who is a Member of The Ancient and Truly Original Sages of the Unbroken Circle currently the Chair of Indefinite Studies*, an incredibly obese Wizard who doesn't believe he's fat (going as far as to misinterpret any reference to "his condition" as mentioning his overactive sweat glands). He sees potential in the boys and sends them on a journey to the Ruins of Ak'shante to find the Tome of irreverence. They don't make it—they were ambushed by undead halfway there and Salteen dies. After the battle, Dill tearfully opens the sealed jar in the hope that it could contain something that would revive his friend. However, the Dwarves had imprisoned the soul of a powerful Elvish sorcerer in the jar, and using the dark energy of the skeletons and the fresh corpse of Salteen, the Lich posessed his body. Vetinari* Elluin the Defiler rose on fat legs and left for the Hawks Divide, nearly killing Dill in the process.
*-Lovingly ripped from Terry Pratchett, my favorite author, for use in my DnD game.
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