The White Kingdoms

The White Kingdoms is set in a world of good against evil and law against chaos. This is a world of humans and orcs battle on the ice tundra, and the horselords of Sudovia and Selonia gallop down the plains and follow their Code of Honor. This is world lit by Saule, the sun goddess and at night by Mēness, the moon god. And it’s a world where knights and dames fight the forces of evil, and where the elves and gnomes are a strange but lovely sight to see by mortal eyes. This is a world that was created during the Dreaming, which still keeps on going during mens and womens’ dreams at night. And this is a world where the wendigo stalks at night in the icy snow, leaving cold footprints and stalking their prey…   The White Kingdoms, or as they are sometimes called - the Balzak Kingdoms, are set in the very cold north of the world, next to the equally cold waters of the White Sea. To the north of the White Kingdoms, beyond the Border Mountains lie the Orclands, where the Northern Orcs live, as well as the evil Ice Kingdom of Lhûs, where the great city Leduspils stands. As the campaign begins, the White Kingdoms are emerging from a difficult, dark time characterized by the pillaging of orcs and barbarians of the north. This happened after the great Garoman Empire fell to the hordes of barbarians and orcs in the south around five hundred years ago. Things are getting better again, however recently another great kingdom called the Kingdom of Lietuva ruled by King Mindaugas of the Golden Hall or “of the Golden Hoard” has disintegrated into the three Grand Duchies due to civil war and the death of the first and last king of Lietuva - King Mindaugas. This area of the White Kingdoms is primarily where the detail goes to.   In the middle of the White Kingdoms, though below the Border Mountains lies the great Alfwood, where the elves and gnomes live, specifically, the gnomes live in the Golden Hills within the Alfwood, whereas the elves live in the dark forest. The gnomes and elves are rarely seen by mortal men and women, and tales have grown up around them, some dark, some light, but either way these tales all say one thing - the elves and gnomes are not to be trusted. These races are often called the fey or fairies by the common folk and in the human tales and it is said that the elves and gnomes are semi-divine, or totally divine and are related to the lesser Mother (māte) and Father (tēvs) gods and that those gods live amongst the elves and the gnomes in the Alfwood. Most of the time, the elves and gnomes that come out of the Alfwood are half-elves, quarter-elves, or even eighth-elves, not true-blooded elves, though to common folk those part-elves are called elves. Occasionally, however, full-blooded elves do come out of the Alfwood into the wide world, these elves are usually more human like and can relate more to humans than the other elves.   The great Border Mountains are where the cities of the dwarves lie. Dwarves, unlike elves and gnomes, talk and relate more often with the human kingdoms, and there are many dwarves actually living in human cities and kingdoms. Human dwarfs intermingle a lot of the time with “actual” dwarves so that they don’t have to face the same prejudices against them as do human dwarfs. This way, there are many half-human half-dwarf people out there, though they really look the same as normal dwarves since their human parent is almost always a human dwarf. Still, dwarves get differentiate between half-dwarves and true-blooded dwarves on close examination. The Border Mountains also host a number of human cities, especially at the point where the Border Mountains start to be called the Livonian Mountains in the northeast. One of the most famous of all the human towns in the Border Mountains is Last Haven, which is said to be the town farthest out into the mountains and the Orclands and the other wild regions of the north.   Then there are the halflings who live down in the south in a small land called Burtonshire. The shire is almost totally surrounded by a forest sometimes called the Burtonswood, or even the Alfwood (since the Alfwood stretches into Burtonshire). But most often the forest is just called by the name of the place it’s in - Burtonshire, or the forest of Burtonshire or something like that, nothing very specific. On maps, the forest in Burtonshire is often not named, and this is a controversy among the cartographers of the White Kingdoms. Halflings enjoy an almost utopic but rustic but peaceful lifestyle there, all at the same time. Most of them are woodcutters, farmers, or gardeners. Or they have another “low-class” or menial job like bakers and smiths and jewellers, etc. A very wealthy few don’t have any jobs, but they often spend their time giving money and gifts and such to other people, throwing parties for whole villages, and sometimes even helping out with the work. Most halflings, during their free time, go to the local tavern and sing songs and play instruments or read or compose poems and stories. This is the reason why very few halflings ever want to leave their comfortable homes since there is no reason to. However, a very few halflings have gone out into the world, and have become great heroes sung in deeds and legends by bards. Even so, over the years, enough halflings have gone out into the world and have never gone back that there are now sizable minorities of “city halflings” in many towns and villages and cities of the world.   There are two types of orcs, there are the southern orcs, who live in the Orc Kingdom of Rhûn, and aren’t much apart of the White Kingdoms setting rather than the outside world. And then there are the northern orcs, who live in the Orclands and in the Ice Kingdom of Lhûs. The northern orcs are white-skinned but have brown to blond fur all over them to protect them from the cold, this way, the orcs don’t have as much clothing on them as a human would in such a cold, tundra setting, and often wear as little clothes as the southern orcs do. The northern orcs also have tusks like elephants (though smaller), and they have little blood-red eyes. The northern orcs are mostly tribal, but they do have a couple cities like Lôrv, Nâgl, Krûsh, and Nârsh, but these are small cities compared to human ones, at most their large towns. Northern orcs are huge, towering at the tallest ten-feet tall and at the lowest six-feet tall, the average being eight feet tall. Females are smaller, usually four to five feet tall, sometimes even three feet, and their tusks are smaller too. Even so, it is only female orcs who can practice magic, even though they are weaker in strength. Southern orcs are black-skinned and smaller and weaker than northern orcs, usually around four to six feet tall. They too have red eyes, but don’t have tusks. Some say that the reasons for these differences is due to the southern orcs having interbred with goblins. Both northern and southern orcs are just as intelligent as humans, and though a large porportion of them are evil, many of them are good just like humans are. However, since there has been an ongoing battle between orcs and humans over the centuries, humans and dwarves and halflings often portray orcs as inherintly evil. Even so, orcs are more easily controlled by greed, envy, and other such evil feelings so orcs in evil kingdoms like the Ice Kingdom of Lhûs are almost always evil.   Humans are the main kingdom-builders of the the White Kingdoms, and are the race that pushes the world further into new ages.