Amuan

The Elder Continent

Amuan is a homebrewed version of the Primeval Thule setting, which is (c) Sasquatch Game Studio.

It is a land of deep jungles and golden seas, mysterious and unexplored. It is a land of knife-edged mountains and endless forests, trackless and forbidding. It is a land where mortalkind is newly arisen on an ancient and monster-haunted continent. Mighty cities and sprawling empires rise and fall, weaving a tale of great deeds and epic tragedies that will be lost and forgotten by the peoples who came later. Even the land itself seems fated to fall beneath the numbing cloak of eons, burying the triumphs and defeats of this vanished age beneath centuries of time.
But for this glittering moment in the slow dream of time, Amuan lives—and it is a fierce, cruel, splendid, and marvelous place indeed.
Given the many dangers and dark secrets of Amuan’s wilderness, one would doubtless deem it wise to remain well within the shelter of the continent’s civilized regions. Unfortunately, Amuan’s cities are all too often wicked places indeed. Decadence, cruelty, tyranny, corruption, slavery, oppression... the ills of civilization are too many to easily number. At best, Amuan’s cities are hard, heartless places where the poor lead lives of desperation and want. More often, cities are built on oppression, injustice, and wanton cruelty, celebrating social evils of one sort or another.
Warfare is commonplace—most city-states are intense rivals, and open fighting is never far from breaking out. The sheer distances involved and the difficulty of marching through Thule’s wilderness means that conflicts tend to devolve into years of raiding and counter-raiding, with relatively few decisive battles. No great conquering power has arisen to take the place of Atlantis, destroyed centuries ago, although cities such as Katagia and Lomar harbor aspirations of conquest. Amuan’s cities are also beset by numerous barbarian tribes that resent the city’s efforts to control territory they regard as their own, or that see the people of the cities as rich, soft, and ripe for plunder.
While cities are rife with intrigue and murder, they also offer individuals with ambition and talent the opportunity to go far indeed. Politics and power are in constant play in most Amuanian cities; one’s station is determined by personal wealth and influence, not the accident of high birth. Many high lords and merchant princes began their days as slaves or street thieves—and more than a few monarchs were once wandering sellswords.

Religions of Amuan

There are many gods in Amuan: Protectors of cities, patrons of merchants, spirits of forests or beasts, and dark things remembered only by a few savage tribes or vile cults. This is a superstitious age, and humankind is surrounded by mysterious powers. In such a world, people naturally seek to understand the forces around them by giving them names and seeking to win their favor or avert their displeasure. Whether the gods take note of such things or not, few indeed could say, for the gods of Amuan are inscrutable.
Gods and other divine entities of this land fall into one of three broad groups: The Nine Powers, a pantheon of mythological figures who are the gods of the civilized peoples; the Forest Gods, myriad spirits of beast, wood, and weather that are worshiped by many of the savage and barbarian tribes; and the Great Old Ones, dreadful prehuman entities that are venerated only by the most degenerate cultists and tribes.

Asura

Goddess of Dawn, Messenger of the Gods, Flame of Atlantis
Symbol: A crown or tiara with rays of sunlight behind
Alignment: Neutral good
Portfolio: Dawn, fire, beginnings, inspiration
Prime Deity: Thera
Favored Weapon: Spear
The goddess of dawn, Asura is said to begin each new day by kindling the sun with divine fire. She is a figure of glory and hope, dispelling darkness and driving away evil things with her coming. Her holy texts teach that people are meant to live free of oppression and realize their potential, doing good works and aiding those less fortunate than they. She was once considered the special patron of Atlantis, and her radiant glory symbolized the progress and enlightenment of Atlantean civilization.

Temples of Asura commonly greet each sunrise with ringing gongs, and keep a sacred fire burning at the altar all year round. The priests of Asura lost a great deal of wealth and influence when Atlantis was destroyed, but after centuries of decline, Asura’s faith is now gaining strength again as her priests champion the cause of Amuan’s lower classes. The priests of Asura oppose the worst excesses of the slave trade, calling for laws to ensure that slaves are treated well, and a few of the most radical even go so far as to call for the abolition of slavery altogether—a position that puts them at odds with the elites of Amuan’s cities.

Herum

Lord of Beasts, the Ape-God
Symbol: Broken bones
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Portfolio: Beasts, savagery, rage, destruction
Prime Deity: Gaia
Favored Weapon: Greatclub
An old and brutal god, Herum represents the violence and bloodthirstiness that lurks inside the human heart. He was one of the first gods of humankind, a suitable deity for naked savages who were barely more advanced than apes themselves. Herum teaches that humans are no more than beasts that can think, and that the true man is one who rids himself of his delusions and false morals, giving himself over to the beast that lurks within.

Few civilized folk still worship Herum. His message of primitive rage and brutal impulse repels the more advanced cultures of Amuan, and his temples sit forgotten (or shunned) in the older quarters of Amuan’s ancient cities. But here and there Herum’s crude altars stand in the wild places of the world in jungle clearings or on windswept hilltops, stained with the blood of the sacrifices the ape-god demands from his worshipers. His worshipers include the most savage warriors, murderers, and lycanthropes.

Ishtar

Goddess of Love, Luck, and War
Symbol: Eight-pointed star
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Portfolio: Love, beauty, art, fortune, passion
Prime Deity: Fatima
Favored Weapon: Scimitar
Ishtar is the goddess of love and beauty. She is legendary for fickleness and fits of jealous rage, but this same passionate nature also drives her to fight fearlessly to protect those she loves and boldly confront foes. Ishtar therefore possesses an important aspect as a goddess of war. While Nergal is the god of warmaking and conquest and Tarhun is the god of battle, Ishtar represents war as the ultimate expression of unchecked emotion. Her dogma can be reduced to one simple idea: Live passionately, in all senses of the expression.

Ishtar is one of the most widely worshiped of the Nine, and her temples can be found in almost every city. Consequently her priestesses tend to be rich, powerful, and influential. Many of the rites and festivals associated with Ishtar’s temple are orgies of one kind or another, which goes a long way toward explaining Ishtar’s popularity with the masses. Clerics of Ishtar are also seekers of beauty, defenders of art, and protectors of their cities.

Kishar

Goddess of Grain, Mother of Rivers, Queen of the Gods
Symbol: A sheaf of grain
Alignment: Lawful neutral
Portfolio: Agriculture, the earth, rivers, motherhood
Prime Deity: Gaia
Favored Weapon: Light flail
Goddess of agriculture and growing things, Kishar is the consort of Mithra and the mother figure among the Nine. She is the mother of Tarhun, and held in some reverence by followers of that faith as well as her own. Kishar teaches that all things come in their own season, and that people should give thanks for the bounty of the earth.

Few temples are dedicated specifically to Kishar. She is more commonly worshiped in conjunction with Mithra, and in many places the highest-ranking priestess in a temple of Mithra also serves as the city’s high priestess of Kishar. Kishar’s clerics observe the seasons of the year, declaring the times for planting and harvest and seeking Kishar’s blessings of rain and sunshine in good measure.

Mithra

God of the Sun, Lord of the Sky, King of the Gods
Symbol: A sunburst and eagle
Alignment: Lawful good
Portfolio: Sun, justice, sky, rulership, and dominion
Prime Deity: Thera
Favored Weapon: Heavy mace
The ruler of the Nine, Mithra is the god of the sun and sky. Kishar is his consort, and headstrong Tarhun is his son. He is a just and benevolent king, ordering all things so that his followers can enjoy justice and prosperity in their lives. Mithra is also a stern and vigilant judge who checks the wicked ambitions of gods such as Set, Nergal, and Tiamat, ensuring that they fulfill their role in the scheme of things without exceeding their lawful authority. He teaches that order and justice are the instruments by which the most good can be done for the most people.

Mithra’s temples are often the grandest and most powerful in a city, and his priesthood is rich and influential. They are usually strongly aligned with the city’s monarch, and the support of Mithra’s priests is often one of the chief pillars on which a city’s king or queen bases his or her rule. Few rulers can keep their thrones for long if Mithra’s priests determine that Mithra no longer blesses the monarch’s reign.

Nergal

God of the Underworld, Lord of War, King of the Dead
Symbol: A black lion with a mane of flames
Alignment: Neutral evil
Portfolio: War, death, avarice, the underworld
Prime Deity: Oros
Favored Weapon: Longsword
A grim and implacable figure, Nergal is the god of the underworld, war, and death. He represents war as the drive for power, dominion, and triumph, the desire to subjugate enemies and claim what is theirs. Nergal is also the stern and final judge of the dead, sentencing souls deserving of punishment to ages of penance in his hell of black flames. Nergal’s philosophy teaches that the strong rule over the weak, and people are meant to seize the things they want in life—a creed that often casts the lord of the underworld as a sullen and resentful being who believes Mithra’s place as the ruler of the pantheon belongs to him.

While Nergal is a dark and demanding deity, his temples are found in many cities and are firmly established in Amuan’s civic life. War comes to all lands sooner or later, and warriors seek Nergal’s favor in the struggles they face. His priesthood urges a strong hand in dealing with the wretched masses and rival cities, and they also sponsor spectacular (and bloody) games to celebrate the anniversaries of triumphs and conquests from past wars.

Set

God of Night, the Great Serpent
Symbol: Twin serpents
Alignment: Lawful evil
Portfolio: Night, secrets, treachery, poison, snakes
Prime Deity: Oros
Favored Weapon: Sword sword
Set is ancient beyond measure. According to some stories, the lord of snakes actually arose during the long ages when serpentmen ruled over Amuan and was first worshiped as a god by that ancient and wicked race. He is the eternal enemy of Mithra, and a bitter rival to Nergal and Tiamat. Set teaches that free will is illusion, and that the only path to understanding is to surrender oneself to him in body, soul, and mind.

While the worship of Set is unwelcome in many cities, none can deny the power and influence of his temples. As much as the priests of Mithra and Asura rail against the sinister machinations of Set’s priests, few would dare to move openly to ban Set’s worship or desecrate his altars. Over the years, zealous crusaders have tried to do just that in cities such as Katagia and Quodeth, but sudden mysterious deaths and various other disasters invariably ensue, bringing these ill-considered campaigns to an end. Set’s worshipers consist largely of the downtrodden and the defeated, people who think so little of themselves that they surrender their all to the Lord of Night in the hope that he will reward faithful devotion with the comforts and power that have eluded them. Many other people simply hope to propitiate the Lord of Serpents and avert the misfortunes and catastrophes at his command.

Terhun

God of Storms, Lord of Battle
Symbol: A three-forked lightning bolt
Alignment: Chaotic good
Portfolio: Storms, sky, battle
Prime Deity: Fatima
Favored Weapon: Battle axe
Brash and headstrong, Tarhun is a god who confronts his foes and tries his strength against them without hesitation. The son of Mithra and Kishar, Tarhun is a warrior-hero, a figure that battles scores of dreadful monsters in various myths and tales. He celebrates battle as the true test of manhood (or womanhood), the strife in which a warrior can show his or her true merit, and teaches that people with courage and honor can make the world a better place by challenging wickedness and crushing it underfoot.

Tarhun’s temples are common in the more martial cities of Amuan, especially Lomar, Katagia, and Nim. He is increasingly seen as a god of strength and valor, a war deity who rewards courage (unlike Nergal, who rewards only triumph). Many warriors take Tarhun as their patron and seek his favor before battle. Tarhun’s priests frequently sponsor athletic games, tournaments, and gladiatorial contests to celebrate the virtues of physical hardiness and valor.

Tiamat

Mother of Dragons, Goddess of the Sea, Queen of Chaos
Symbol: A dragon skull with five horns
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Portfolio: Chaos, destruction, monsters, vengeance, the sea
Prime Deity: Ludz
Favored Weapon: Morningstar
Goddess of the sea, Tiamat is a capricious and wrathful deity that supposedly gave birth to many of the more terrible monsters plaguing the world today. Long ago she warred against the other gods and was subdued only with the greatest of difficulty, and she still hates all the others to this day. Tiamat teaches that the world is without order, and that those who serve chaos and beseech her favor will be rewarded with power and riches.

While temples dedicated to Set and Nergal can be found in many Amuanian cities, Tiamat’s worship is not quite as common. At best, those who have to hazard life and livelihood on the seas—fishermen, sailors, and merchants—are careful to pay their respects to the dragon goddess, hoping to avert her wrath with suitable offerings. People who feel they have been wronged also have been known to seek out Tiamat’s shrines and pray for disaster to befall their enemies. Tiamat’s priests often seek out monsters wherever they lurk, providing them with treasures and sacrifice to honor the “children of the Queen.”

The Forest Gods

The idea of gods with humanoid representations and concerns is relatively new to the people of Amuan. Before the time of Atlantis, no one knew of gods such as Mithra or Asura. Even the old, primal deities—Herum, Set, and perhaps Tiamat—had no priests or houses of worship. In those years, humans worshiped only the unseen spirits of hill and field, beast and tree. The people of the cities may have forgotten their names, but the tribes of the jungles and the plains remember the Forest Gods, and they still pay homage to them.

Those who worship the Forest Gods are not priests or clerics. They are druids, shamans, or totem warriors of one kind or another. Their magic is derived from the spirits of nature, not the power of faith or the divine intercession of the gods. In fact, tribal people are mystified by the rites and doctrines of the city gods; to the typical barbarian, gods don’t want anything from humankind—they just are. Honoring the natural spirits is simply good sense, since angering the spirit of the deer by failing to express gratitude for a successful hunt might lead the spirit to keep game away from the hunter in the future, while angering the spirit of the mammoth is a good way to get oneself killed.

Civilized travelers are sometimes inclined to treat druids and shamans with skepticism—after all, they have their own explanations for the mysteries of nature and do not look at the world in the same way more primitive peoples do. But there is no doubt that shamans and other practitioners of nature magic deal with powers every bit as real and capable as the mystic forces harnessed by a wizard’s spells or a cleric’s prayers. It seems that for the wilderness tribes, believing is seeing. They perceive a world where every animal, every tree, every rock, and every stream possesses its own living spirit, and for them, it is so.

Geography

To find deadly adventure, all a native of Amuan need do is strike out into the continent’s untamed wilderness. Civilization clings to the edges of the continent in tiny pockets and footholds surrounded by vast unexplored lands. The great majority of Amuan is unsettled, and roads or trails are few and far between. A few old Atlantean highways link some of the larger cities in and around the Inner Sea, and swift merchant galleys create tenuous lines of communication across these uncharted waters, but most of Amuan’s civilized folk never leave the safety of their cities. Even the hardiest barbarian tribes are hesitant to wander far from their familiar territory.
The sheer ruggedness of Amuan’s wild landscape is a daunting obstacle in its own right. The coasts are ringed by towering mountain ranges with few passes. The interior is a steaming basin of jungles and swamps, trackless and home to countless dangerous beasts. And the northern marches of this primeval land are under assault by a deadly and terrible foe, the implacable glacier that every year creeps closer to the verdant jungles and opulent cities of Amuan’s heartland. Already a quarter of the continent's north lies in the grasp of unending winter, and an ever-widening band of dying forest and windswept tundra marks the malevolent influence of the merciless ice. Mountains, jungles, swamps, tundra, glaciers—these are hard and dangerous lands, and they swallow many a traveler without a trace.
Terrain and weather are certainly dangerous enough, but the true peril of Amuan’s wilderness lies in the savagery and bloodthirstiness of the beasts and monsters that roam the wild. Many terrible creatures long since vanished from the gentler lands of the world still linger in Amuan: saber-tooth cats, huge vipers, hulking mammoths, and ill-tempered giant sloths. In Amuan, nature is most definitely red in tooth and claw...and if savage beasts were not enough, the wilderness is also home to many warlike barbarian tribes. Outside the dubious safety of the city walls, a traveler can expect to find the hands of all other men and women turned against him—along with the fangs and claws of ferocious beasts, ancient horrors, and degenerate half-human savages.
Because Amuan is both ancient and largely unexplored, many strange and forgotten things lie hidden in the depths of its wilderness. Dozens of cities have risen in its green hills or deep valleys, flourished and prospered, then fallen into ruin through ages of decay or sudden horrible catastrophe. Remote jungles or isolated mountain valleys are home to all sorts of wonders—and evils—whose existence is not even guessed at in the wider world. A stretch of trackless jungle might be home to terrible beasts such as chimeras, hydras, or lamias that are supposed to exist only in legends and fables; an unscaled plateau might harbor the ruins of a city whose people died in a plague of vampirism; a forbidden gorge might be the homeland of a degenerate tribe of cannibals ruled over by the bloated spawn of Tsathoggua.
Most Thuleans are happy to let lost cities remain lost, but every now and then a bold barbarian or arrogant sorcerer stumbles across fantastic wealth in the depths of black peril. Treasuries filled with ancient gold, scrolls holding secrets of power, artifacts of magical might—many such things have been recovered from the world’s forgotten lands. The most adventurous heroes seek out these places, risking life, limb, and sanity for the chance to strike it rich.
Newcomers visiting Amuan for the first time soon learn that this is one of the most rugged and inaccessible lands in the world. Steep mountains virtually ring the island continent, creating a daunting barrier against travel to the interior. The great central plain of Thule is much flatter than the mountains and highlands of the coast, but it presents an even more difficult obstacle: Dense, trackless jungles and swamps that are home to countless large, hungry predators.

Landscapes

Fjordlands

The first part of Amuan that greets new arrivals are its spectacular fjordlands. The great majority of the continent’s coastline is mountainous, plunging steeply to meet the sea in a veritable maze of narrow inlets and steep-sided islets. Some of these inlets stretch more than a hundred miles into the interior, ringed by ever-higher peaks. Fjordlands teem with life. The steep slopes are covered with light forest where game animals abound, while the cold, deep waters are home to dense shoals of fish and beds of shellfish. Fjordlands also offer easy travel by sea, since these waterways and inlets comprise the best roads one could hope for. On the other hand, moving overland from one fjord to another is often impossible. Sometimes two villages on the same island or cape may only be four or five miles apart as the crow flies, but sailing fifty miles around the point is a much easier and faster way to travel from one to the other than trying to climb the mountain ridge separating them.
Given their moderate climate and access to the sea, fjordlands would seem to be ideal for settlement, but they generally lack arable ground. Fjordlands are anything but flat, and only a few ideal spots can support towns or cities of any size.

Forests

Between the sweltering jungles of the interior and the bare shoulders of Amuan’s mountains lie magnificent broadleaf forests. These mixed woodlands are dominated by ancient oaks, beech groves, maples, and silver-trunked birch trees. As one travels north, the beech and oak forests give way to taiga—the pine forests of the northern continent, vast and desolate.
Like the fjordlands of the outer coast, the forests are among Amuan’s kinder climes, rich with game and forage for those who know them well. The woodlands are also home to a variety of large and aggressive beasts—Amuan’s forests are dangerous places to wander carelessly. Worse yet, they are the hunting grounds of barbarian tribes, some of which are quite fierce. These hardy folk have little use for intruders and are prone to defend their territory with sudden violence. In the wilderness, one should assume that all other people are enemies until proven otherwise.

Inland Sea

The central lowlands of Amuan are dominated by a chain of vast freshwater lakes. The largest of these is known as the Kalayan Sea, and it stretches almost seven hundred miles from end to end. The Kalayan is often called Kalayan the Golden, or simply “the Golden Sea,” for the striking hues of its surface during the long northern dawn and dusk. The inland seas of Amuan offer the best means of traveling any distance across the rugged landscape, but they are far from safe. Storms on the Kalayan can raise waves every bit as large and dangerous as those of the Atlantean Ocean, it is said, and many ships have been wrecked in these waters by sudden squalls. Corsair galleys lurk in the Kalayan’s jagged coasts, eager for the opportunity to fall on a passing merchantman. Finally, large and hungry predators swim these waters—the Kalayan (and other sizable lakes) are home to freshwater crocodiles, giant gars and pike, vicious eels, and a few atavistic survivors such as plesiosaurs and mosasaurs. It’s not a good idea to swim unarmed.

Jungle

The jungle is in many ways the single defining landscape of Amuan. Dark, deadly, mysterious, and impenetrable, it forms a vast green world within a world, a place where savage beasts and feral barbarian tribes struggle against one another in a never-ending battle for survival. While the Amuanian map might show discrete jungles and forests, these are merely the densest and most well-known sections of an unending expanse, and in most cases the open spaces on the map should also be considered to be covered in jungle foliage. Here the illusions and pretenses of civilization are stripped away, leaving raw and fierce nature as the ultimate arbiter of whether one lives or dies. Death lurks only a few heartbeats away, ready to claim the careless or unlucky.
True rainforest actually has relatively little undergrowth. However, Amuan’s rugged topography provides lots of hillsides where dense understory growth can develop—the jungles of this primeval land are usually jungle, not just canopy forest. A fecund collection of life in all forms thrives in this lush environment, including an unbelievable number of venomous or predatory beasts that can kill humans. In fact, Amuan’s jungles are often home to creatures that died out ages ago in other parts of the world; more than a few dinosaurs still lurk in these verdant retreats, it is said.
Naturally, there are no human cities or civilizations to be found in the interior jungles of Amuan. There aren’t all that many barbarians or savages, for that matter; most people look for less hostile places to make their homes. But the tribes that dwell in this fearsome environment are some of the toughest and most fierce warriors in Amuan.

Giant Caves

In addition to its spectacular vistas of ice-capped mountains and vast forests, Amuan is also home to a number of caves and caverns of tremendous extent. The vast interior basin of the island-continent combines limestone hills with heavy rainfall—the perfect recipe for the formation of truly gigantic cavern systems. The hilly reaches in the Lands of the Long Shadow are likewise riddled with caves—even if these regions are now too cold and dry for huge caves to form, they were tropical until just a few centuries ago.
There is no true “underworld” system of continent-spanning caves miles below the surface in Amuan any longer, but the natural caverns accessible from the surface are quite impressive in their own right. Some of these include huge chambers hundreds of feet across, while others are sprawling networks of passages and chambers dozens of miles in extent. Strange ecologies of cave-dwelling creatures develop in the larger cave systems—and some hold hidden strongholds of monstrous beings, or dark temples dedicated to the worship of forbidden gods. Unspeakable powers such as Great Cthulhu, Shub-Niggurath, or Yga-Ygo were once strong in these lands, and many of their followers—or possibly the Great Old Ones themselves—may lie dormant in the deepest of these caves.

Mountains

The story of Amuan's mountains is written in fire and ice. Mountain ranges in the northerly portions of the continent are desolate, inhospitable places mantled in mighty glaciers and snowfields. Huge icefields fill the valleys and choke the passes, rendering travel nearly impossible. The mighty Starcrowns of Amuan’s southern coast are so lofty that they, too, have fallen into the grip of endless winter, even though they are many hundreds of miles south of the creeping glaciation that is conquering the northern lands. But the ranges in eastern Amuan smolder and smoke with their own subterranean fires, creating a barrier of volcanic heat against the encroaching ice. Lush and verdant compared to the icy ramparts of the other ranges, they are only marginally less impassable—frequent eruptions, constant tremors, and deadly fumes can close off passes with no warning whatsoever.
Between glaciers, volcanoes, or sheer elevation, the mountain ranges of Amuan form a nearly impassable barrier blocking travel between the coastal fjords and the interior jungles. As one might expect, few people live in these regions. A few hardy tribes of human barbarians make their homes in these high vales, fortifying the narrow passes against intruders, and the Zinandar Mountains are home to the city of Kal-Zinan, where the dwarven masters guard the secrets of iron and steel.
There is one thing more that must be said about Amuan's mountains: There are many places in the high peaks where men should not go. Black temples buried in the snows and terrible ruins of prehuman monsters are often found on the higher slopes, and not all of these are abandoned. Star-things and gugs lurk in the remote heights, blasphemous survivors from an earlier age.

Swamps

The coastal plains of Amuan's inland seas are home to dense, tangled swamps—huge stretches of flooded forest that can stretch for dozens or hundreds of miles. Gigantic cypress trees mantled with hanging moss loom over the shadowed waterways, and the rare patches of dry ground are overgrown with underbrush covering every hummock or islet. Countless meandering creeks, lakes, and sloughs further impede travel on foot; swamps are almost impossible to navigate without a local guide or an uncanny sense of direction.
Much like jungles, swamps teem with a vast number of large and dangerous beasts. Huge reptiles such as giant vipers, crocodiles, pythons, and monitor lizards seem especially common in these humid areas, and a few dinosaurs that should have gone extinct millions of years ago still lurk in some places. Worse yet, the tribes of the swamps are some of the most primitive and degenerate people to be found anywhere in Amuan. The vile headhunters of Phoor are perhaps the best example; masters of stealth, ambush, and poison, these murderous savages are fanatically devoted to the worship of terrible prehuman gods and regard all other humans as potential sacrifices.

Tundra

As one travels farther north, the trees grow sparser and more stunted until finally they give out altogether. This is the tundra, a vast arctic plain that lies between the taiga and the advancing glaciers. Sometimes referred to as the Lands of the Long Shadow, the tundra plains of northern Amuan are a harsh and forbidding environment—but in summer and fall, they teem with big game. This is the domain of the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the muskox, and the caribou. Vast herds roam these lands, migrating with the seasons.
Like the taiga forests, the tundra is home to tribes of nomadic hunters who follow the great herds. Hunting mammoths or rhinos is no small feat; these giant beasts have thick hides and fight aggressively, trampling any hunter that gets too close. Taking down a mammoth is a long and dangerous game of luring the beast into charge after charge by hunters who show themselves and suddenly retreat, while dozens of arrows and thrown spears slowly wear down the mighty animal until it can be goaded into a reckless charge against a thicket of grounded spears or lured over a cliff.

Glaciers

A grim and implacable enemy is at the gates of the northern world. Year by year, the summers grow shorter and the northern glaciers creep steadily closer to the lands of mortalkind. In the mountainous spines of Amuan, new glaciers are marching on the surrounding lands. Already the glacier known as Kang the Pale Death holds the northeast of the continent in its icy grasp, and lesser icefields are slowly spreading too.
Amuan’s glaciers are cold and inhospitable. Nothing grows here, and few animals can find food on the ice. Without grazing or game, there is nothing to eat unless one is near enough to the sea to get by with sealing or fishing. Even that meager existence is impossible during the months when the seas are frozen over. In addition to the lack of food and the bone-chilling cold, glaciers are treacherous terrain to cross. Crevasses, sometimes hundreds of feet deep, can be completely concealed by a thin crust of snow that gives way when an unfortunate traveler unwittingly walks over it. Avalanches, toppling ice boulders, or outbreaks of meltwater can also threaten life and limb. A few bold caravans cross an arm of a glacier when necessary, but no one lingers in these desolate places.
Worst of all, Amuan’s glaciers seem to possess an active and malign intelligence. They sometimes exhibit supernatural powers, surging forward to cut off the retreat of trespassers or changing course to climb over and crush towns that should be out of their reach. Some cold and hateful spirit animates these titanic masses of ice, willing them onward to crush the lands of civilization and blanket the world in never-ending winter.

Fauna & Flora

Mortals are a young and brash species; the oldest human civilizations rose in Amuan only a few thousand years ago. But some civilizations in Amuan are vastly older, predating man’s appearance on the planet. Before the first humans found their way to Amuan’s shores, rude kingdoms of cyclopes and beastmen sprawled over the wild continent, perpetually at war with each other and with the decadent realms of the elves. They in turn found empires of cold-blooded serpentmen and cruel rakshasas dominating much of the continent when they arrived. Before the time of the serpentmen and the rakshasas, primordial races such as elder things, mi-go, moonbeasts, and the monstrous Great Old Ones reigned over this ancient land. Each of these inhuman, sometimes alien, cultures left their own abandoned cities or forgotten strongholds for human scholars to puzzle over in later years.
In general, these survivors of ancient civilizations are slowly passing from the world. The prehuman races are in decline, withdrawing to deeper and more remote sanctuaries or dreaming away the ages in deathlike slumber. They often resent the presence of humankind in their old places of power, and a few (the rakshasas and serpentmen especially) scheme to bring ruin to the human race by whatever means are necessary. Even those that are unconcerned with human encroachment in Amuan represent an age-old baleful influence that still poisons the world today, leaving behind terrible ruins haunted by creatures older and stronger than humankind, dreadful secrets of magic and power that harbor the potential for untold destruction, and vile cults worshiping things that should not be.
Perhaps the single most salient feature of Amuan is the brooding, primal wilderness that virtually covers the continent. Even the most urban and domesticated city-states lie no more than an easy day’s walk from true wilderness where terrifying beasts and hostile tribes of savages hold sway. The civilized folk of Amuan fear the wilderness and do their best to wall it out, huddling within well-defended cities or fortified towns. Barbarians do not fear the jungles and forests the way civilized people do, but they certainly hold a healthy respect for the dangers that surround them, and learn at an early age to remain keenly aware of their surroundings at all times.

Natural Resources

People unfamiliar with the wilderness assume that death in a dozen different forms waits to pounce the instant one leaves the narrow belt of relative safety around a town or city. Like many fears, this is based more on imagination and inexperience than actual threat. Amuan’s wilderness harbors many dangers but it is also lush, rich with game and forage, and in many cases spectacularly beautiful. Travelers who exercise some very basic precautions—for example, choosing campsites carefully or hiring experienced guides—rarely run into trouble they can’t handle. The problem is that, from time to time, disaster can strike even the largest and best-prepared expeditions. In Amuan’s wilderness, help is rarely close at hand.
As long as one avoids the glaciated regions of the continent, there are few landscapes in Amuan that are innately hostile to life; there are no deserts, climates are moderate, and food and water can usually be found. But the terrain of Amuan is extremely rugged—forbidding mountains, knife-edged ridges, and sheer gorges seem to conspire to delay and divert travel on foot. Physical exhaustion from marching up and down steep hillsides can leave inexperienced travelers too tired to guard themselves properly against hungry beasts or hostile tribes. Only a fool strikes out into Amuan’s jungles or mountains without a trail to follow or a very knowledgeable guide. Getting lost in the forest is no mere inconvenience—it is a situation with potentially lethal consequences. The wild lands of Amuan are literally trackless, offering travelers few landmarks or references once a party leaves a known trail.
Amuan’s terrain is rarely lethal, but its animals, on the other hand, pose a very significant danger to travelers. The forests and tundra are home to countless large and aggressive beasts, many of which are dangerous to humans. Predators such as dire wolves, cave bears, crested eagles, and saber-tooth cats are obviously threats to life and limb, but many of Amuan’s herbivores are equally dangerous. The foul-tempered ground sloth is a monstrous beast the size of an elephant with foot-long claws that can rip a warrior in half, while the Amuanian elk sports antlers that stretch a dozen feet tip to tip. Many of Amuan’s creatures are simply the most gigantic and fierce examples of their kind to be found in any age, and by quirks of history or climate they happen to be native to this land at this time.
While Amuan’s giant beasts are impressive, one creature is still indisputably the most dangerous alive: Man. The wilderness is home to tribes of fierce barbarians and bloodthirsty savages who spend their days in a constant state of war against all other people. Blundering into the territory of a hostile tribe is quite often a fatal mistake. Warnings are rare—usually the first sign of impending attack is a volley of poisoned arrows from the shadows, or a wave of screaming berserkers bursting out of the brush. Worse yet, tribes found in especially remote regions are often cannibals, headhunters, or fanatics dedicated to the worship of monstrous or demonic gods. Swift death in battle would be far preferable to the sort of torments that would follow after capture by such degenerates.

Maps

• 

  Amuan

Type

Continent

Included Organizations

• Atlantean Pantheon

Contested By

• Solarian Alliance

The Seven Qualities of Amuan

The world of Amuan is home to a distinctive set of cities, dungeons, monsters, and tribes. Its landmarks and history tell a vivid story of a world full of riveting adventure and deadly danger. But, more importantly, Amuan also possesses its own unique characteristics or personality that sets it apart from the other continents on Torar.

Amuan is Barbaric

Mortals are newcomers, and civilization is not well established. Many people live in tribal societies close to nature—and its dangers. Even within the walls of the city-states, life is often violent and unforgiving. The so-called civilized peoples entertain themselves with bloody arena fights, and practices such as robbery, dueling, and assassinations are commonplace. Life is all too often nasty, brutish, and short, whether one lives in a jungle village or an opulent palace. Engineering, knowledge, and technology are likewise not very advanced. Writing is known only to sages, scribes, and those few people wealthy enough to afford an education. Arms and armor are usually made of copper or bronze. The great temples and monuments of the cities are raised by hordes of laborers using the simplest of tools and techniques.

The Wilderness is Savage

Leave the city and you’re taking your life in your hands. There are few roads, and the jungles are teeming with bloodthirsty predators. The flora and fauna of Amuan belong to a crueler and more primitive age. This is the time of the giant predators, beasts such as cave bears, giant vipers, and saber-tooth cats. Even the herbivores are huge and short-tempered—mammoths and giant sloths can be every bit as dangerous to humans as the big predators. The tribal peoples of the wilderness are just as savage as the beasts whose home they share. The best are simply warlike and territorial. The worst tribes are unspeakably vicious and bloodthirsty—headhunters, cannibals, or degenerate primitives who worship inhuman monsters and eagerly torture or sacrifice any who fall into their hands.

Cities Are Wicked Places

The wilderness is dangerous, but civilization is little better. The city-states are dens of greed, crime, and callousness. Powerful thieves’ guilds dominate many of Amuan's cities and struggle endlessly with rival guilds for territory and influence. Slavery is widespread, and secretive cults dedicated to forbidden gods lurk in the shadows. The rich and powerful constantly pursue intrigues to move closer to the throne, while the underclass simmers in unrest and resentment. Heavy-handed oppression is the typical response from the civic authorities.

The Continent is Mysterious

Amuan and its neighboring islands are largely unexplored. Vast jungles and forbidding mountains and glaciers deter all but the hardiest and most determined travelers. Consequently, people don’t know what is more than a few days’ travel from their homes. The stark mountains and brooding jungles hide many secrets: Abandoned cities, the strongholds of inhuman powers, foul temples, degenerate tribes, and hidden lands ruled by obscene monstrosities. Any of these dangers might be waiting in the next valley over. Many of these places are unique and unrecorded—cities belonging to peoples that no one else knows about, ruins whose builders are lost to history, terrors that exist nowhere else in the world. One should be ready for anything in the wilderness of Amuan.

Magic Is a Secret Man Was Not Meant to Know

Mortals dabble in supernatural powers at their peril. Occult learning is fantastically ancient, predating the rise of humankind; arcane lore comes from prehuman civilizations. This ancient lore is dangerous in the extreme, and the most likely outcome of taking up arcane studies is a horrible and grisly doom. Few wizards die of old age. Priestly magic is not quite as dangerous, but it is still rare. Most priests and acolytes have no magical training at all and master only the doctrines and everyday prayers of their faiths. Priests initiated into the secrets of their god’s magic are rare individuals who belong to a secretive and mysterious cabal. The gods are inscrutable, and priests jealously guard access to their power. Because magic is such a dark and esoteric field of study, users of magic are rare. Even the largest cities are home to no more than a handful of adepts, and those individuals are feared and whispered about far and wide. Enchanted swords and magical treasures are similarly rare—the great majority of Amuanians have never seen a magic item and would likely fear and shun anyone they knew to possess one.

Ancient Evils Threaten Mortalkind

The reign of humanity is new and fragile; older races such as serpentmen, rakshasas, or troglodytes lurk in many places. Their realms and kingdoms have fallen into ruin, but these ancient creatures dream of reclaiming what was once theirs. They hate and resent humankind. Worse yet, the old races were not the first to inhabit Amuan. The further back one travels, the more horrible and aberrant the ruling powers of the world become. Before the serpentmen and the demonic rakshasas, the world was dominated by horrible monstrosities such as moon-beasts, star-things, and mi-go. A handful of Great Old Ones—entities as old as the world itself, or even older—lie dormant or imprisoned in the desolate places of the world. Some of these prehuman beings are utterly indifferent to the existence of humans, but others crave human minions and worship. Human tribes and cities that stumble into contact with these ancient powers are often destroyed in horrific ways.

Freebooters, Mercenaries, Opportunists

This is an age of bold, brawling, larger-than-life heroes. Adventurers are defined by their ambitions; they hunger for gold, glory, and power. Great causes or noble crusades are all very well, but most of Amuan's itinerant adventurers are in it to get paid. If there are no rumors of treasure waiting to be found and opportunities seem thin on the ground, an Amuanian hero is likely to move on in search of brighter prospects—or concoct a scheme to win wealth from someone who isn’t worthy of it. Of course, adventurers sometimes find themselves in dangerous situations that offer no particular reward other than survival. Even the most jaded mercenary recognizes that fighting her way out of a beastman stewpot or fending off a slaver raid is necessary, even if there’s no gold to be had.