Extras, Maps and Glossary
Here’s a grab bag of random extras to do with the Split Sea. Detail might be a bit light in places, until I can work something out that respects spoilers.
On the flip side, if there’s a lot of detail, it’s likely I was dumping my brain at 2am with a glass of whisky. If you’d like to ask questions/ask for clarifications, please get in touch!
A Brief Tour of the Landed Ring
The Landed Ring is a lonely continent surrounded by the Split Sea. If there are any other continents, they are unreachable, as the vortex current circles faster the further one gets from the shore. Trading fleets and raiders ride these waters clockwise in an endless circle, each spreading wealth in their own particular way.
The Split Sea gets its name from the Split, which is a tempestuous channel that separates the Northlands from the rest of the continent. The people living on this island keep themselves isolated by choice, but wouldn’t even have that if not for the Long Path, a mysterious and ancient crossing that winds across the deadly waters.
From beyond the vortex current, spirits called the Tar-Agran float closer to the shore. Each region deals with them differently, scrambling for ways to defend themselves from these fickle and hungry creatures.
The Roaming Watch
Most of the continent is claimed by a military group called the Roaming Watch. Little is known about them, but they seek stability at all times, allowing monarchs or armies to hold or seize power as long as any conflict is swift and their taxes are paid. Watchmen are arrogant and peerless fighters, and they are often accused of using taxation to deliberately suppress technological advances.
The most infamous of their edicts is the triple-tax: food, gold and flesh. The last of these is how they keep their hold on the continent. The smartest or strongest children are chosen by the drafters and taken to the heart of the Landed Ring, where the Watch are said to have their stronghold city. If a parent sees their child again after that, they will be wearing burgandy robes and chainmail, carrying a spear or sword, and their unwavering loyalty will be to a watchboss.
The worst weapons of the Watch are kept away under lock and key, awaiting the worst threats. A quartermiss or quartermaster will decide if their particular tools of war need to be handed out. Of these, blacksand rifles are the most commonly known and feared. A blacksand bullet tears through flesh and leaves rot in its wake. They were originally invented in the Northlands, before a draft patrol took everyone involved south, burning their workshops to the ground.
The Northlands
- A cold and wet island, with untamed forests and impassable mountains leading to the north shore.
- Stubborn, traditionalist and isolated.
- Powerful cities untroubled by magical threats.
The Northlands are hostile soil for all forms of spirit and magic. The people that live there choose to shun what happens beyond the Long Path and keep to themselves, with rich cities that have slowly propspered in the relentless damp and cold. It would seem like a harsh land, but it is also one which is hard to conquer. The Long Path is too narrow a passage to assault. The waters of the Split can only be survived, and offer no hospitable shore.
The Roaming Watch keep several patrols in the Northlands at all times, and keep labour camps at the height of the Northern Mountains. Each city is a fife, taxing the villages in its orbit, and the Watch permits power struggles between them as it has rarely blunted the island’s ability to pay taxes. It is a region of special interest to them. Anyone looking to conquer the Northlands would first have to gamble that they wouldn’t be meeting a Watch blockade on the Long Path, disgruntled that someone is coming to upset the flow of trade.
The Northlands were briefly united under the rule of the King Garradus, the King of Coin who ruled with mad brilliance on the southern shore of the Split. His inventiveness was both lucrative and cruel. After driving himself to insanity, the King comitted suicide and the Northlands then rejected the Golden Throne for hundreds of years. This worked out fine, because no one on the south shore had the stomach for another king like Garradus, either.
Cities hold power in the Northlands, and they do so with the permission of the Watch.
Branera
The proudest, richest city of the Northlands. The most hospitable soil - tough and gritty as it is - was kept for farming, so the city which controls those lands was built on mud and slop. Despite this, Branera is a tall city, with towering, teetering buildings that elevate the aristocracy out of the mud. Wealth of all sorts is crammed into every nook and cranny of the creaking city.
Its high pathways are called boardwalks, which form a web of commerce where each rooftop mansion controls the flow of goods and rumours over its connecting pathways. The lofty peaks of the city are for moving gold, rare gadgets and knowledge, staffed by the rich and snobbish, and protected by the stair guards. Most of the city militia found it more lucrative to be employed privately than serve the city. The leaders of Branera are elected and called Ministers, but mostly weild power consumate to the personal wealth that got them elected.
The lower sections of the city are commonly referred to as the Low Ends, or simply the mud. Some attempts at paving or improving key roads were made, allowing wagons and and carts to move goods around the city, but often the most direct route would involve a fair amount of wading. Some city scholars claim that the climate has changed since Branera was built, causing the ground to deteriorate. There is little evidence of this, since the Roaming Watch are known to periodically burn records and draft historians south.
Branera’s villages give a clue as to why it is perceived as the best destination for southern traders who come up over the Long Path. Its forests are full of useful timber, and most notably Norther Oak - a tree which resists fire and can only be worked in the cold. Mountain soil can be used to grow cold crops, plants with an astonishingly wide range of healing properties. Since most honest Northers don’t hold with any stories of magic or spirits, these unnatural trade goods are harvested and sold with a mild sense of annoyance and embarassment.
Cerc Reno
A militant city which holds villages and lands near the Split. They are famed for their elaborate facial hair, viciously sharp etiquette, and curved swords. Reno’s are jealous of anyone from Branera, a city with which they’ve had a long history of warfare. They can’t understand why traders coming north over the Long Path pass them by and head on to the more pliable and welcoming markets of Branera, and they resent it.
The colours of Cerc Reno are grey and silver, and their leaders are referred to as Militants. It’s a toss up as to whether the scribes or Militants have the most power. An excessive amount of paperwork and contracts are encouraged for any business in Cerc Reno, and that business is often violent.
Other Cities
Other notable cities include Daren Dunn and Dunford, which tax forest villages on the west and east of the island. Peculiar beasts roam these dense, snowy forests, and gales from the vortex current scour through them to create what are known as howling groves. Specialities of these regions tend to be mapmaking equipment, survival tools and eccentric weapons.
Despite there being a lot of Northern Oak (or Norwood, as its sometimes called) around their villages, much of that industry is located closer to Branera, where woodsmen have a better chance of survival. The Duns are isolated settlements on an isolated island, and pride themselves in possessing the warm kind of hospitality which grew out from huddling behind tall walls around a fire, while savage beasts claw at the gate.
The Long Path
This is a fortified white path which winds back and forth across the Split. No one knows how old it is, or who built it, but its stones aren’t worn by the violent waters it bridges. Statues decorate the length of the path’s tall walls, and they’re said to whisper secrets to worthy people. As such, the Long Path became a holy site as well as a trade route, which various factions taking up residence in the towers along its length. Some provide shelter, some provide protection, and some are a refuge of last resort for branded outcasts who are exiled from the Northlands.
Goldway
Coming soon…
The Third Country
Coming soon…
High Verdant
Coming soon…
Great Tannacia
Coming soon…
Cove
Coming soon…
Glossary
Coming soon…
Characters
Coming soon…
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