Post by dmtreat on May 20, 2017 19:28:22 GMT
Hey guys! This is a small pet project I am working on at the moment. My party has plans on striking out into the ocean of my world to find undiscovered continents because I have hinted at there being some. While this campaign is a while off I have started creating the Isle of Korenth, a small continent with 4, technically 5, kingdoms on it. I am purposefully making it very low magic so when my players get there it will be a culture shock. Basically I am doing this so that when the time does come for them to wander into the seas, they will be surprised to find this entirely fleshed out world with maps included that I have been working on.
Anyway, I thought id throw up the rough draft kingdom page for the first Kingdom I started designing yesterday. My intention, once im done with all of these and the maps, is to throw it up here so any new DM, or experienced for that matter, will have a super easy to grab and concise continent they can take and build on for their own game.
So here is the Kingdom of Pricaea.
Kingdom of Pricaea
Description:
The Kingdom of Pricaea lies on the far North West corner of the Isle of Korenth. Pricaea is a land of wealth and honor. While being the smallest kingdom of the Isle of Korenth, it boasts the most powerful army. Pricaea is governed by a King from a dynastic family line known as the Argus Family. Most of Pricaea is human with a small population of Mountain Dwarves. Most of Pricaea is wrapped in thick forests of pine and aspen making for some of the best hunting lands in Korenth as well as some of the most rich deposits of gold anywhere else in the "world".
People:
Most of the population in Pricaea is made up of humans with small bands of Mountain Dwarves in servitude to the king and his mines. People in Pricaea are separated into classes.
At the lowest are Serfs. Serfs work the land and do basically all of the bidding of their Lords. They are born into it and the only way to get out of Serfdom is to buy yourself from your Lord, or be granted a boon by the King himself. Both rarely happen.
A step above the Serfs are the Tradesmen. This includes Carpenters, Weavers, Seamstresses, Masonry, etc. These men and woman live under the rule of a lord but are free to move from estate to estate. They may open a business and pay rent and taxes to the Lords Estate in order to live a life. They may also be under direct employ of a Merchantman for a trading company or ship.
Next up from the Tradesmen are the Merchantman. Merchantman are freeman with the ability to travel from estate to estate in order to trade and move merchandise. Most are contracted to a specific Lords lands but some are completely untethered with free roam all over the Kingdom; these are usually the men who buy ships and start running routes to the Brerin Kingdom. The more adventuress ones sale to the coasts of the Wastes of Jezah for exotic materials.
Lordship is the last step before Royalty. Lords own estates ranging in size from just a house and a few acres all the way to large swaths of land as far as the eye can see. Lords own the work that a serf produces and may use them for what material means they see fit. This includes farming, milling, mining, etc. Lords also hold the position of being able to visit Teargan with the king. Teargan is the word used for holding Court in Pricaea. Lords must also pay a certain amount of taxes each year dependent upon the amount of people are on their land as well as the product and how much they produce.
Shards are in a class all of their own. Known as the best fighters in all of the Isle of Korenth, the Shards derive their name from their saying. "We are that which falls from the creation of royalty." The Shards are the personal escorts and emissary of the King and Argos Family. Anyone who is on the Kings advisory staff is or at one time was a Shard. At no time is the King or the family unattended by a member of this elite group.
Royalty in Pricaea is treated as one would treat a god on earth. Their every step is feigned over and kissed by serfs around them while the other class stand in prostration. The only people allowed around them, as mentioned before, are the Shards. During Teargan the King sits upon a tall stone high above the Lords so as not to be on the same level.
Trade:
Pricaea is rich with resources of all kinds, but its three main exports are Wood, Wild game, and Gold.
-Wood: Pricaea has vast forests of pine and aspen. The people in Pricaea have found a way of steaming and curing the aspen tree in order to create very long and pliable boards perfect for making ships. The pine trees in Pricaea are the largest on the island, taking sometimes 10 men holding hands to loop around. As the trees are cut they are all replanted by enourmous amounts of serfs designated by the king himself to repopulate as they take.
-Wild Game: Due to the dense forests and undergrowth, Pricaea sports a nearly endless population of wild game including Deer, Elk, Moose, Grizzly, and a huge variety of other small games. Most of the wild game is shipped to the Wastes of Jezah at an extremely high price as the journey the lands their are unforgiving to any merchant or lord.
-Gold: Gold was discovered under the forests of Pricaea long ago and it never seems to stop coming. Mines have been hollowed out throughout the forest creating a network of tunnels that continues forever. A dark and dangerous place, the Mines of Pricaea connect, drop, end, and weave all throughout the lands. A serf may see the sun the day they are born and never again as they are brought into the mines to work.
Military:
The Shards are the main point of the military in Pricaea. Though their numbers are barely half that of their neighboring Mork Lands, a meer 2,000 give or take, Pricaea has fought off envasion time and again with their overzealous training. A Shard is brought in at the age of 10 and trained for 13 years. At the end of their training they, and 3 others, are dropped off by ship in the Wastes of Jezah to make their way back through the Mork Lands to their training grounds. Average of two survive these excursions.
Other than the Shards, Lords and Merchants commonly Train or Hire their own small bands of warriors. These bands range in size from 3 to 100 men or more depending on the status of the Lord or Merchant. All bands, however, must answer to the call of the King at any time they are summoned.
Magic:
Magic in The Kingdom of Pricaea is extremely uncommon, as well as in all of Korenth. While it is a bit more common in Brerin, doing magic in front anyone lower than a merchantman would be like taking a cellphone to the 1400s. Not only that, The Shards are always on the lookout for someone with the gift. If it is used anywhere within their kingdom, they will find out and obtain the person for questioning at all costs.
The Shards treat magic as an ultimate weapon and in a way keep it from the Royal Family. The Royal Family views magic as somewhat of a toy, at best. The Shards keep them in blissfull ignorance of the power of Magic.
History:
Pricaea is a Kingdom born of conquest. King Phillip Argus, the first of the lineage, was a member of the High Council in the Brerin Kingdom 500 years past. He was a man with big dreams and the ability and wealth to pursue them. Phillip brought along with him 300 of his own men as well as an alottment of 500 given to him by the then King of the Brerins, King Kerdlal the II.
After a 10 year conquest into the the Mork lands, invading by ship from the northern coast, Pihillip Argus declared dominance and sliced a peice of land out for his kingdom, taking it from the Barbarian hordes of the Mork Lands.
Since The Taking War, as it came to be known, the Pricaean kings have held their lands against many onslaughts of the Barbarian Tribes, as well as not a small number of attacks by the Giants of The Steps of Yarvish. As it stands their have been eight Kings of Pricaea. The current ruler is Augustus Argos the II, a heavy handed ruler with pencent for the finest, and most mind numbing, things in life.
Anyway, I thought id throw up the rough draft kingdom page for the first Kingdom I started designing yesterday. My intention, once im done with all of these and the maps, is to throw it up here so any new DM, or experienced for that matter, will have a super easy to grab and concise continent they can take and build on for their own game.
So here is the Kingdom of Pricaea.
Kingdom of Pricaea
Description:
The Kingdom of Pricaea lies on the far North West corner of the Isle of Korenth. Pricaea is a land of wealth and honor. While being the smallest kingdom of the Isle of Korenth, it boasts the most powerful army. Pricaea is governed by a King from a dynastic family line known as the Argus Family. Most of Pricaea is human with a small population of Mountain Dwarves. Most of Pricaea is wrapped in thick forests of pine and aspen making for some of the best hunting lands in Korenth as well as some of the most rich deposits of gold anywhere else in the "world".
People:
Most of the population in Pricaea is made up of humans with small bands of Mountain Dwarves in servitude to the king and his mines. People in Pricaea are separated into classes.
At the lowest are Serfs. Serfs work the land and do basically all of the bidding of their Lords. They are born into it and the only way to get out of Serfdom is to buy yourself from your Lord, or be granted a boon by the King himself. Both rarely happen.
A step above the Serfs are the Tradesmen. This includes Carpenters, Weavers, Seamstresses, Masonry, etc. These men and woman live under the rule of a lord but are free to move from estate to estate. They may open a business and pay rent and taxes to the Lords Estate in order to live a life. They may also be under direct employ of a Merchantman for a trading company or ship.
Next up from the Tradesmen are the Merchantman. Merchantman are freeman with the ability to travel from estate to estate in order to trade and move merchandise. Most are contracted to a specific Lords lands but some are completely untethered with free roam all over the Kingdom; these are usually the men who buy ships and start running routes to the Brerin Kingdom. The more adventuress ones sale to the coasts of the Wastes of Jezah for exotic materials.
Lordship is the last step before Royalty. Lords own estates ranging in size from just a house and a few acres all the way to large swaths of land as far as the eye can see. Lords own the work that a serf produces and may use them for what material means they see fit. This includes farming, milling, mining, etc. Lords also hold the position of being able to visit Teargan with the king. Teargan is the word used for holding Court in Pricaea. Lords must also pay a certain amount of taxes each year dependent upon the amount of people are on their land as well as the product and how much they produce.
Shards are in a class all of their own. Known as the best fighters in all of the Isle of Korenth, the Shards derive their name from their saying. "We are that which falls from the creation of royalty." The Shards are the personal escorts and emissary of the King and Argos Family. Anyone who is on the Kings advisory staff is or at one time was a Shard. At no time is the King or the family unattended by a member of this elite group.
Royalty in Pricaea is treated as one would treat a god on earth. Their every step is feigned over and kissed by serfs around them while the other class stand in prostration. The only people allowed around them, as mentioned before, are the Shards. During Teargan the King sits upon a tall stone high above the Lords so as not to be on the same level.
Trade:
Pricaea is rich with resources of all kinds, but its three main exports are Wood, Wild game, and Gold.
-Wood: Pricaea has vast forests of pine and aspen. The people in Pricaea have found a way of steaming and curing the aspen tree in order to create very long and pliable boards perfect for making ships. The pine trees in Pricaea are the largest on the island, taking sometimes 10 men holding hands to loop around. As the trees are cut they are all replanted by enourmous amounts of serfs designated by the king himself to repopulate as they take.
-Wild Game: Due to the dense forests and undergrowth, Pricaea sports a nearly endless population of wild game including Deer, Elk, Moose, Grizzly, and a huge variety of other small games. Most of the wild game is shipped to the Wastes of Jezah at an extremely high price as the journey the lands their are unforgiving to any merchant or lord.
-Gold: Gold was discovered under the forests of Pricaea long ago and it never seems to stop coming. Mines have been hollowed out throughout the forest creating a network of tunnels that continues forever. A dark and dangerous place, the Mines of Pricaea connect, drop, end, and weave all throughout the lands. A serf may see the sun the day they are born and never again as they are brought into the mines to work.
Military:
The Shards are the main point of the military in Pricaea. Though their numbers are barely half that of their neighboring Mork Lands, a meer 2,000 give or take, Pricaea has fought off envasion time and again with their overzealous training. A Shard is brought in at the age of 10 and trained for 13 years. At the end of their training they, and 3 others, are dropped off by ship in the Wastes of Jezah to make their way back through the Mork Lands to their training grounds. Average of two survive these excursions.
Other than the Shards, Lords and Merchants commonly Train or Hire their own small bands of warriors. These bands range in size from 3 to 100 men or more depending on the status of the Lord or Merchant. All bands, however, must answer to the call of the King at any time they are summoned.
Magic:
Magic in The Kingdom of Pricaea is extremely uncommon, as well as in all of Korenth. While it is a bit more common in Brerin, doing magic in front anyone lower than a merchantman would be like taking a cellphone to the 1400s. Not only that, The Shards are always on the lookout for someone with the gift. If it is used anywhere within their kingdom, they will find out and obtain the person for questioning at all costs.
The Shards treat magic as an ultimate weapon and in a way keep it from the Royal Family. The Royal Family views magic as somewhat of a toy, at best. The Shards keep them in blissfull ignorance of the power of Magic.
History:
Pricaea is a Kingdom born of conquest. King Phillip Argus, the first of the lineage, was a member of the High Council in the Brerin Kingdom 500 years past. He was a man with big dreams and the ability and wealth to pursue them. Phillip brought along with him 300 of his own men as well as an alottment of 500 given to him by the then King of the Brerins, King Kerdlal the II.
After a 10 year conquest into the the Mork lands, invading by ship from the northern coast, Pihillip Argus declared dominance and sliced a peice of land out for his kingdom, taking it from the Barbarian hordes of the Mork Lands.
Since The Taking War, as it came to be known, the Pricaean kings have held their lands against many onslaughts of the Barbarian Tribes, as well as not a small number of attacks by the Giants of The Steps of Yarvish. As it stands their have been eight Kings of Pricaea. The current ruler is Augustus Argos the II, a heavy handed ruler with pencent for the finest, and most mind numbing, things in life.
