Ortho: Nations, Provinces, People, Places

I dunno if I want to jump feet first into a whole province, but I do have an idea for that distant island way off the southwest coast of #2. Details should be online within the next few days, and anyone who wants to elaborate in the meantime should feel free.

A few thoughts on just how much space and such we have for Ortho:

- The map is depicted at 1024 pixels in width and 469 pixels high. Assuming that Ortho's roughly the size of the Earth (24,900 mile circumference), a single pixel of territory covers about 24 miles on a side.
- Ortho is presumably a globe, not a flat surface - there's room for skew. This is an opportunity rather than a flaw - it allows a bit of fudging in distances and landmass areas, arguing that inherent limitations on topology is why the map looks so much different than verbal descriptions. It's probably a good idea for the moment to assume that Ortho's equator runs straight down the center of the map, though.
- The map's 1024 pixels wide, but only 469 pixels high - a gap of some 86 pixels on both top and bottom. This is basically extreme polar regions; the poles are some 1000-odd miles past anything that appears on the main map.
- Weather and climate bands may be useful things to doodle on a larger map. The northern and southern map edges, frex, are probably along about the 80-degree point - something to keep in mind when judging how places like provinces 6 and 10 work out. OTOH, large-scale magic or Universal Harmony can moderate things quite a bit (and probably did, for at least the elven homelands - that, or in they lived in a subarctic taiga...)

Assuming the inhospitable "arctic" regions are off the map, would the climate zones look something like this?

I was actually assuming that the northern and southern edges were more like 60 or 70 degrees. What does everyone else think?

*shrug* Climate zones are open to discussion, but if Ortho's roughly spherical and 1024 pixels around at the equator, then there's 512 pixels between the north pole and the south pole. We see 469 of those on the uncropped map. There's maybe about twenty pixels of distance between the top edge of the map and the north pole.

This doesn't mean that the edges of the map aren't cold-but-livable - Ortho could have more temperate climate bands all around due to a more active carbon cycle, or simply closer to its sun (though that last means the equator is super-hot and possibly nonlivable). But it's worth keeping in mind for mapping efforts and world design.

Right.

Personally, I think either 8 should be extended to contain the top part of 7. I don't really know why. Otherwise, it works for me.

I have more silly collections of Syllables if we need them.

I've also got a bit of Ortho-inspired art for uploading when I get back into Scanner range.

I had an idea for the Prehistory of the Beholders. A great Beholder War over the land as the Eye Tyrants spent the centuries trying to eradicate each other as Beholders are won't to do.And then the other abberratins came, up from the depths, up from the dark places beneath the world, and the Eye Tyrants found something worth overcoming their differences. At first they warred singlely, but as the great Aberration Lords and their Mind Flayer lieutenants marched up out of the darkness, the beholders found that they had to band together or be subjugated.

As a unified force the Beholders developed powerful enchantments, binding the arcane power of multiple beholders. They were a race chained together by common arcane might and blood and torn apart by madness and it took a greater madness from without to force them to reconnect the great bonds of the Beholder Nation.

Together they banded, pushing the mad lords back and destroying them utterly. It was the loss of the grell that rang the death knell of the Abberant Horde.

The grell were called from beyond the shadows and bound to the will of the Mad Lords by ancient compact. They worked hard, creating powerful arcanoalchemical items to aid the great war effort. It was a Beholder Mage by the name of Old Khan who, casting a spell of strange import, redirected the epic bindings of the grell, not dismissing them nor breaking them (an impossible feat) but redirecting them to transfer the leash from the hands of the Mad Lords and into the waiting jaws of the Beholder Nation. And with this defeat, the war was over. The mind flayers fled, the tsochar crumpled inwards.

And this is how the Beholder Nation of Keln'in saved the world of Ortho without the other races even knowing, and how the grell artificers came to be the servant class of the Eye Tyrants in the land of mountains and caverns where, until recently, no mortal would dare to tread..

Nod. I was currently figuring the Beholder social and political system like THIS:

The Beholders have, since the days of the Great Victory (Beholders do not speak of wars, only victories yet to come), had a democratic form of government. The original beholder legislature (as minimal as their population was after years of warring) consisted of all of the beholders in each "state" coming together to make decisions. Majority rules, everyone obeys the dictates of the full legislature. (I imagine this like the big scenes in the Star Wrs prequels before the Galactic Senate; but with Eye Tyrants instead of ETs).

Over time, with the stopping of their self-genocide, the beholders have been forced to modify their system. While each beholder feels that it is important that He be heard, logistical concerns of course bely this. Now, seperate beholder regions elect a representative and (only after giving him a lack of ears full of their opinions) send their representatives off to a Great Congress.

Let's say 100 Representatives and 1 Grand Mediator. Officially, the Mediator has no vote, unofficially, a strong Mediator can shape the policies of the Beholder Nation.

The current Mediator is known as the Benevolent Eye to mortals, but Illix to its friends. Illix is a kind soul with a kind tongue but a shrewd negotiator and orator. It is largely due to his guidance that the beholders have become a powerful force in the Harmonium rather than silent partners primarily concerned with their own problems. Diplomats and others who visit the Mediator expecting an uncouth beast are surprised to discover a well-spoken, polite, and inquisitive ceature with a love of games of strategy and logic puzzles.

The grell have no representation in official beholder government. According to ancient compact, the grell serve the beholders faithfully and, for the most part, are treated as respected servants by their masters. No grell can ever harm a beholder through action or inaction, and none owuld even think to do so. It is with the help of the grell that the beholders have created many of the strange magic items that they are known for around Ortho. In addition, grell fleshweavers have designed a number of "Beholder-kin" worker beasts, similarly bound into the mystical shackles.

(PLOT HOOK* - beholder mystics have determined that the grell contract is nearing its end and must find a way to renew or renegotiate it before they BEST CASE lose their labor force WORST CASE have a host of angry unbound grell to deal with.)

A typical Beholder Warren (their form of a "village") is a cavern complex carved into the summit of a mountain. Each one contains from 1 to 6 adult beholders and between 2 and 8 juvenile beholders who follow their singular parent until reaching full maturity. It also contains up to 50 grell who have their own dens in the topmost layers of the Warren. Increasingly, small settlements (Hamlet-sized) of mortals have begun arising above the primary entrances to some of the more tolerant beholder warrens, in a show of cooperation suggested by Illix himself.

I imagine Illix being LG (LN-G at the furthest). I like him as a truly Nice character. True, he has agendas, but they aren't evil ones like many of the Octavo members think. I'm a little tired of good-seeming people being evil, let's flip it! (Not to say we can't have good-looking evildoers about, just not in Kiln'in.

However, the beholder representative to the rest of the Harmonium is an entirely different matter. Old Ghal (LE) is a warmongering old monster, notable for the two adamantine tusks he's had surgically attached to his own jaw by his grell servitors. He speaks with a strange speech impediment from the massive mauling implements, but even those who cannot properly hear his words know that he is suggesting the bloodiest and most straightforward plan possible to end any given situation.

He thinks Illix is a weak pansy while Illix finds Ghal a threat to the true cause of Harmony. Neither was particularly supportive of the election of the other.

Eh. I'm wary of having a beholderkin in such a position. In my mind there is no reason a standard beholder can't be good-ish and intellectual and I find it hard to see the entirety of Beholderdom taking any sorts of advice from a mere beholderkin.

My proposed addition to the history of Ortho:

Begin quote from "A Brief Summary of The Fraternity of Order's Guide to the History of Ortho":

"The Confederacy of Pan Theara[1] is especially interesting from a sociological perspective. The region is surprisingly heavily populated by Tieflings, due to the nature of the fall of the Thearan Empire, and was, before the Harmonium, a center of piracy, which still has influences on the government of the region...

"The many spices that grow in the region, being very valuable, are prime targets for piracy; trade between Theara proper and either Iathra or Motmurk also had to go through the region, also encouraging piracy. Kingdoms that serviced, or were run by, Pirates (known as the Pirate Kingdoms) were to be found throughout the region, and the successor states of the old Pirate Kingdoms are among the members of the Confederacy.

"The Confederacy actually dates back to before the founding of the Harmonium, interestingly. The great Pirate King Renaldo Zee (a figure with a surprisingly positive reputation among Harmonium historians[2]) sought a pact to stabilize the region (intermittent warfare having been the state of affairs since the fall of the Thearan Empire some six hundred years before, preventing both legitimate and illegitimate business from flourishing). The treaty that was eventually agreed to, while flawed in that it contained many concessions to the Pirate Kingdoms, was a surprisingly stabilizing document, in that it kept piracy and other conflict on the waters of the Thearan Ocean to what were considered "acceptable" levels.

"Among the provisions the treaty called for was a Court of the Seas, to arbitrate matters that might otherwise lead to war, and to agree to punishment for those Kingdoms that went outside the "Code of the Seas". Around this court evolved a system of agreements that eventually lead to the founding of a confederation for mutual protection.

"Note that during the High Age of the Confederacy, while piracy and open warfare between members of the Confederacy was not as common as it was in former times, Pan Theara remained a very dangerous place for an outsider, and piracy and limited warfare were frequent occurrences.

"When the Harmonium gained control of the region, they chose to maintain a suitably modified version of the Confederation as the regional government..."

[1] "Also known as the Empire of Pan Theara, both because it was a part of the Thearan Empire before said Empire's collapse, and because many of the languages of Ortho historically had no word for Confederation."
[2] "Yes, he was a killer and a thief, but he wanted to create an order that benefited everyone, and he created something of benefit to everybody that lasted (if in a different form) until today" is the reasoning behind the way most Harmonium historians view him. He's talked of as someone who was fundamentally misguided, but still closer to the right track than almost anybody else at that point in time.

How's that?

Thanks
Luc "Spot the hidden injoke" French

Nod, chuckle.

Other beholder stuff I've been coming up with:

Beholders reproduce asexually (I'm using the LoM biology for the 'holders and not the 'Eye Tyrant' one) creating clones identical to themselves save for random genetic mutation (which is surprisinly high in beholder populations - possibly an adaptation to help fight the weaknesses inherent in parthenogenesis). In any case, there are a number (I'm saying 27) different beholder clans each with slightly different in terms of carapace shape, color, eye stalk length, etc. These clans stem from the genetic bottleneck caused by the decimations of the Great Victory.

The beholder capital of Coldash is located inside an extinct volcano. A caldera lake sits in the long dead mouth of the volcano and a large gleaming city of humans, dwarves, and gnomes has built itself up around the lip of the lake. Beneath this city lies the true city center of the beholder nation.

Sites in Coldash
- The Great Council
A massive cavern capable of holding thousands of beholders, this is the main legilative chamber for all beholderdom.
- The Library of Xuuni
One of the great knowledge repositories of Ortho, the library of Xunni is a massive cavern complex containing books penned by the great minds of the world (it is said that there are even some books written by the grell in its shelves, though these tomes remain competely incrompehensible). But those who visit the libary must be wary. for it is built for beholders and it is only through magical levitation or other such means that mortals can traverse its shelves. In addition, Xunni still roams the halls, safeguarding his tomes against those who would defile them... an amazing feat since the great sage died fourteen hundred years ago. Its the only library on Ortho where the penalty for a late return is being haunted by a spectral beholder.

Grell Feeding Habits

The grell are known on other worlds as "The Eaters" and the grell of Ortho are no different. Because of their domination, no grell would think to eat a beholder or beholderkin, but al other creatures are fair game. Recently the Great Congress voted to declare humanoids off of the menu of their grell servants (without provocation). While most beholders follow the will of the Congress (and the grell follow the will of the ebholders unquestioningly), some isolated warrens have been slow to implement this change -- mostly due to being complete bastards.

Here's some work I put together on a big-picture view of one of Ortho's provinces - Iironda, #2 on the big map. Opinions and responses are welcome - this idea just seemed to leap out at me. Any thoughts on how well this meshes with what people are thinking of for neighboring regions?

The province of Iironda is a spacious land, stretching along the western coastline of the largest continent of Ortho. Running nearly a full four thousand miles from north to south and nearly a third of that distance from the western shore to the province's eastern borders, Iironda is one of the ancient centers of civilization on Ortho and a valued bastion of the Harmonium.

Though Iironda itself is all one province, the land has two very different parts - the mountains and the sea. The latter consists of Iironda's fertile coast, which possesses many small rivers and good natural harbors, and is good land for both agriculture and the growth of cities, manufacturing and maritime trade. Tens of millions live in the towns and cities strung along Iironda's coast, and the region is a center of crafting and scholarship for the Harmonium in Ortho.

The region isn't perfect, of course. Any land so widespread is bound to be a melting pot of many cultures, each with its own quirks, dislikes and old grievances. Warfare on the seas has been a part of Iironda's past almost as long as sea travel itself, and ancient rivalries sometimes break out into economic disputes, legal squabbles or even outright bloodshed on occasion. Harmonium troubleshooters react as quickly as possible to smooth over such confrontations, but they can't be everywhere - and are known to quietly look with favor on independents who act decisively to preserve peace and order in the region. Of course, luckless meddlers who make matters worse with their blundering can expect no mercy whatsoever...

While the coastal areas may be prosperous, the vast majority of Iironda is different. Starting some two hundred miles inland, the flat alluvial plans begin to break sharply upwards, creating a vast range of rugged mountains and badlands that are ruled over only lightly, if at all. Though not especially steep or treacherous, these inland mountains are so rocky, sparse of vegetation and inhospitable to life as to be virtually uninhabited by civilized humans. This great sweep of interior wilderness is only lightly ruled over by the provincial government of Iironda, and is a source of great concern to the Harmonium.

Most inhabitants of the inland mountains are savages - barbarians who care nothing for the prosperity offered by Ortho's rightful rulers, outlaws and fugitives from the Harmonium's justice, and creatures such as gnolls and grimlocks who are irredeemably lost to chaos. Such inhabitants would be mere nuisances were it not for the lingering fear that escaped faeborn or demonic infiltrators might choose one day to raise an unholy host, troubling all of Iironda and possibly the lands beyond.

While no such danger has ever come to pass, the leaders of the Harmonium are ever watchful. Many rangers and wilderness scouts continually patrol the crags and highland valleys, quashing any sign of resistance before it has a chance to threaten the citizens of Iironda. Infrequent military expeditions sweep inwards, launching punitive strikes against any sign of chaotic taint and putting unbelievers to the sword. Such measures suppress dissent, but cannot stop it entirely, and the Harmonium has recently begun work to settle many dwarven clans in selected areas beneath the mountains. Such a work is slow, but likely to succeed, and within a millenium the inner reaches of Iironda may be as lawfully aligned and prosperous as the cities of its coast.

Other stuff that might be an interesting fit -
- A second orcish culture, more indrawn, mystical and xenophobic than the Tyrants of Motmurk - potentially very strong in arcane magic. These guys probably wouldn't rule an entire province, but might hold part of one. It'd make an interesting spin on the stereotypes.
- A nation of horsemen, its children born in the saddle - valued by the Harmonium of Ortho for the overland messengers and armored knights it provides, an opponent of the present planar Harmonium since so many weird things on the planes -eat- horses without a second thought. This may very well be in Voll, or one of the Iathran provinces.
- An arcane culture (possibly in one of the Thaeran provinces) that specializes in building and architecture, especially floating castles. First-time visitors often wonder why that small island with wizard's tower wasn't marked on any maps of the coast - until they realize the island's pacing them...
- A desert where the influence of elemental Fire is strong - inhabited by fire genasi, lawfully-inclined magmin and flame mephits and home to the best smiths outside the dwarven mountains. Efreet and azer visit regularly to trade and discuss business, but the area is watched constantly for fear of chaotic infiltrators.

FirstL WHat do you mean you added? Is there like some sort of document I'm not aware of?

Second: Sure, I'll stat them up. Should they have class levels or no class levels? I was probably going to have Illix with no class levels, just a high Cha and maybe give Old Ghal a few barbarian levels.

Third: Beholder PCs? Ew... that's kind of a toughy. Really, of all monsters, beholders prove most of all that some things really aren't playable. Even with the Savage Species system - at what level does FInger of Death at will become balanced? How about a permanent antimagic cone? I'll have to think on it... I'd say try to modify the Gauth but in my current conceptions Gauths are the mad degenerate beholder clan who act like ravening monsters through out the Flamedance region.