Ticonderos

Ticonderos is a Shard World, a continent that was once part of a larger world the rest of which has been lost to the Void, now snared in the web of the Waybetween, and it plays host to a wide variety of cultures both old and new. In ancient times, legend was etched into a Granite Record which stated that one day, perhaps millennia ago, a hideous, dangerously hostile power foreign to the world and corrupting to mortal lives cracked the night sky asunder and made its horrible claim upon the soil of the Predecessors. There were ages of woe and ages of war, but eventually, Light and hope prevailed. The alien power was sealed deep within the heart of Ticonderos and its energies have spent millennia seeping and bubbling up to the surface having the effect of birthing all sorts of magic and monsters.
A race of humanoids seemingly evolved from moles who call themselves Dhogem (both singular and plural) dwell underground in The Deeps and have battled such monsters below the surface as long as their recorded history. Much of their culture, goods, crafts, artwork, even cuisine is based around the harvest and consumption of these dangerous creatures. The dhogem also traded with and even taught their trades freely with those human settlements that dwelled in valleys and hillsides nearest to caves and mines where they might naturally encounter the molepeople.
While the dhogem were a hardy people, strongly resistant to the corrupting effects that infused the monsters’ bodies they so liberally worked with, over time, those human communities that had spent generations mingling their traditions with the dhogem became afflicted with unpredictable mutations that could cripple an entire village’s livelihood or grant wild, supernatural powers.
One such “gifted” human came to be known as the Dragonlord and by sheer dumb luck (or perhaps inscrutable, alien design?) developed inhuman strength the match of ten men, bones of iron, and fireproof skin. He was cruel and ambitious and with his gifts he managed to subdue the great Fire Wyrm that roosted in the volcano near the western shore of Ticonderos and, through torture and brute force, bent it to his will. With that dragon’s might, the Dragonlord led a bloody campaign across the surface of the land, warring for decades against man and even the elusive Oreiads dwelling high upon the mountaintops, claiming five more dragons in his conquest and all of the kingdoms of men as well.
The Dragonlord would eventually reject the ways of the dhogem who had by happenstance granted him the very strength he’d needed to subjugate mankind, and he drove them back underground, both fearful of what gifts future generations might obtain from their practices, but also “saving” the citizenry from the plague of mutations these “filthy” creatures threatened them with. Now in possession of the six most powerful dragons on the continent, the Dragonlord also rooted out and killed all remaining dragons on Ticonderos, an insult and sin the Oreiad will not soon forgive.
The Dragonlord enjoyed a magically endowed long life notable for its immodest opulence, immeasurable wealth, and ruthless decimation of all who opposed him. But eventually, as all things in time must, he fell, as one by one his dragons died, more from mistreatment than age, and war erupted across the surface of Ticonderos once again. When the dust settled, six separate kingdoms emerged from the ashes of the Dragonlord’s once conquered territories, and after the sack and ruin of the Dragonlord’s seat of power was complete, a sort of neutral territory was installed there with Lordships given to a handful of advisors tasked with helping to maintain an uneasy peace between the six kingdoms and facilitating negotiations amongst those who have come to call themselves the Dragonscarred.
The dhogem, though driven underground by the Dragonlord decades ago, and loathe to deal with humans again, find themselves facing disaster. A surge of malevolence seems to have taken place somewhere in the bowels of the earth and horrors like they’ve never seen ravage their lands. In the Great Chasm where the powerful Rock Wyrm once reigned, new apex predators clash constantly for supremacy. Perhaps worse, a quickly growing number of the dhogem themselves have become corrupted, changed into servants to an unseen power that seeks freedom from its prison, vengeance on its captors, and domination over everything else. And so, dhogem pour to the surface by the thousands seeking refuge from this fresh hell.
For their part, the Oreiad mostly stayed out of the affairs of the lower folk, but when the haughty Dragonlord thought he would debase the majestic Wyrms that lived high in the mountains, the Oreiads would punish him for his arrogance. Other than the Fire Wyrm already under his thrall, and the Rock Wyrm that lived underground, the other four Great Wyrms had dwelt undisturbed within Oreiad lands for thousands of years. Though the Oreiad armies were better trained, better disciplined, better armed, and in far greater number than the Dragonlord’s forces, he commanded a dragon, and the Oreiads only defended them. He did not have to fight their superior armies head on, all he needed was to subvert one other dragon and he could seal his victory. That first war lasted years and the Dragonlord suffered heavy losses, but eventually he got what he came for, and though the Oreiads could have routed his troops, they knew there was no standing against two dragons in battle. Some especially zealous armies continued to fight against the Dragonlord as he continued to take the other Great Wyrms and kill the remaining dragons, but, in an official capacity the Oreiad Empire retreated once again into their mountaintop cities, exiling those that would defy the orders of their Empress, and took no further part in the affairs of men.
The Oreiad Empire is an ancient, matriarchal society governed by covens of powerful witches, the most powerful among them holding the vast empire together through a line of Empresses. Only those witches able to control their magical powers are given roles in government, and roles in government are only given to witches and their families. During the war with the Dragonlord, a famous Oreiad warrior who had loved an outcast witch who was unable to control her magic was slain in battle as he led forces trying their best to stop the Dragonlord from claiming the Dragon of the Moon. The outcast Oreiad witch had loved the knight as well, he’d served her faithfully as though she was the Empress herself, and in desperation, she attempted to return him to life, but instead she gave “life” to rotten flesh, severed sinews, and broken bones filled with rage, hatred, and a need for vengeance. The witch and her undead knight fled far into the north, where the true Oreiad Empress rules from a palace of ice, where they were never seen again. However, the council at Kingspeace has heard reports of dead men walking out of the river flowing from the northern tundras, and there are whispers going around the northern settlements of men that the Empress has been killed.

Geography

Mostly the coasts are lowlands at sea level while the majority of the continent, especially in the center, is dominated by harsh mountain systems. There are rare plains and a few forests of decent size and in the far north there is a vast, flat tundra.
However, there is a huge, lively underground region with incredible chasms, fungal "forests," and tunnels all with their own flora, fauna, and even weather systems.

Type

Continent

Included Locations

• The Deeps
• The Dragonlands
• The Mountain Peaks