Ortho: Nations, Provinces, People, Places

If the were have to have a province, then I'd say give 'em #10 as it is crap, but expand it along the 'Northern Polar Region' west through Iathra and part of Heka and east to the mountains of Motmurk and give the islands of #10 to Motmurk...#7 seems to have a lot of good land so deserves a settled population...I do, however, question whether the were have the numbers to deserve a whole province...

Concerning provincial borders- They don't always have to make geographical sense...Also, many mountain defined borders make the border the crest of the mountain range and not the beginning of the mountains and/or their foothills...
Kwint

Rip suggested Athra (Iironda, Hazhkan, Keln'in and HG's continent I assume), Mot (Motmurk, Iathra and Heka & Voll's Continent I once again assume) and Thaera...I added that Gelidahl might also be considered a continent as it is only slightly smaller (on my map anyway) than Antarctica...Shouldn't matter on a map as Gelidahl would be the only province on the Gelidahl continent, but in flavor text I feel it should be mentioned... Kwint

So the New Look for Ortho and her Provinces is:

"Athra" was supposed to be the one with Iathra (I just dropped the I). The one with Iironda might be Keln.

From "Ortho: The Beginnings" pg. 4-

My assumption was that the northernmost continent was Mot due to Motmurk...If this is incorrect, which one is Mot...The Athra as Iathra minus the 'I' went right past me...
kwint

Would that then make them sea floor dwellers...Pretty limiting...Of course, 'the story' would follow biology not the other way 'round...
Kwint

Old Ghal.

Hey Primus, that's a pretty nifty pic of Old Ghal...Do you have one for Illix as well?...
Kwint

Go for it, although I may wish to add a few details to whatever you come up with, if that's okay. Or I may not; it depends on what you do, and where I decide to put my ideas. I want to put some kobold sailors somewhere.

On the Gods and Pantheons of Ortho-

So, I was down at the local Barnes & Noble reading through the Dragonlance Campaign Setting and a few thoughts floated through my mind concerning Paladine's inclusion on the list of Ortho's Planar Pantheon...First, Paladine is the god of good dragons on a Prime whose dychotomy is along the good/evil axis...Although he is LG his focus is on Good more so than Law; he is after all, the god of CG dragons as well...Therefore I'm not so sure he's a good candidate for Ortho's Planar Pantheon (especially when you keep in mind the second thing that I noticed)...Secondly, he's chosen to give up his divine status and become mortal and thus isn't a god anymore...I do think that the perfect god to be included would be ever-lawful Phlotus (not that I'm biased because I once played a bariaur priestess of Pholtus)...Anyway, thoughts...

AND

My Recommendations for Homeplanes:
LORDS OF LAW
Didairdin (LG) - Arcadia
Iathiphos (LN) - Mechanus
Rialondru (LN) - Arcadia
Alae (LG) - Mt. Celestia
Tyerusus (LE) - Mechanus
Ina (N) - Mechanus/See Below
Saeduenical (LE) - Baator
Baelae (LG) - Arcadia

LORDS OF CHAOS
Kabajij (CG) - Arborea
Lanimin (CN) - Limbo
Chal (CN) - Pandemonium
Namaneil (CE) - Abyss
Ghanalim (CE) - Abyss
Ina (N) - Limbo/See Above
Olinem (CG) - Arborea
Jislana (CG) - Arborea

I generally thought I'd stick to the planes of law and chaos and away from the planes of conflict as the pantheons are more concerned with law and chaos and less so with good and evil...Thus, although Kabajij might seem ripe for the Beastlands, I thought Arborea might be best as the BL are a Plane of Conflict...Concerning Ina, I first thought the Outlands, but to keep up the facade of being a member of each pantheon without the other knowing, I figure a realm in both Mechanus and Limbo seems apropos...

Kwint

Doesn't make too much sense to me (that's faith for ya), but if there's a source, hard to argue with that...

You got me there...

I'm not so sure that the rivalry is between the deities so much as between the followers in the Flanaess (Oerth)...You know how provincial those clueless berks can be...Perhaps the rivalry on the Planes, an infinite place, would be a little more friendly, one in which the two faiths compete to see who can bring more folk into the Harmonium Way...I also think he fulfills the requirements stated for inclusion into the pantheon, he fulfills a niche- God of sun(s), moon(s) and time; a sort of Saturn to Didairdin's Jupiter, perhaps he could be 'mythed' into the pantheon as D's father...
Kwint

Father/Daddy, Foster Father, Step Father, Cousin, Uncle, whatever...It's just that for foreign deities to become members of a pantheon, historically/athropologically they usually have a myth spun up around them and their relationship to the existing members of the pantheon and, whala, myth becomes truth/propaganda/rationalization and the new god's in... Kwint

But are Pre-Industrial people really that dangerous to the enivornment? I'm not so sure.

Oh man, I missed an entire tech interaction fighting an uphill batlle for Pholtus and Pantheon Integration :x...My two cents- if there's steam engines in the east they should be accessable everywhere...Steam engines would be useful in any province the size of sub-continents...Otherwise there would be a sense of superiority/inferiority and that would be rather less-than-Harmonic...I do like the idea of alchemical plants, although I think there's be just a few on Ortho; established at the beginning of colonial expansion...Newer ones would be off-world on the colonies (at least in the crystal spheres where that sort of chemical activity was allowed)...
Kwint

I had been writing "Orthoan," but "Orthoran" sounds better.

Ok...How 'bout instead of the Knights naming their government The Harmonium, the name it The Orthority :shock: ...
Kwint

On the Human Colonists of Xaric

The humans of Ulfrheim and eastern Xaric were originally colonists from the city-states of Omospondia, and share their tawny skin and narrow eyes. The eight colonies were Ethano, Theron, Drakon, Terapten, Veron, Anselm, Syphlo, and Equus. They eventually grew much larger and populous than the Omospondian city-states that spawned them.

Each human colony is based on a different animal theme: Ethano is the owl, Theron is the wolf, Drakon is the Wyvern, Terapten is the horned eagle and crested turtle, Veron is the mouse, Anselm is the lion, Equus is the horse, and Syphlo is the sylph, harpy, and undine.

The colonists faced threats from many sides: orcish pogroms, harsh Omospondian tarrifs, fierce wyverns and other beasts. They did find trading partners in the native dwarves and kobolds, although there were clans among both races who sided with the orcs and opposed them.

The handsome Adrihanus, a perfumed courtesan of Queen Herehlita of Alaens, was seduced by a visiting Colonial envoy, Princess Talihida of Ethano, put into an enchanted sleep and brought back with her across the Iron Sea. Princess became a folk hero of sorts, the most powerful enchanter the colonies would ever know.

With the city-states of Omospondia long jealous of the colonies’ growing wealth, it took no more excuse than that to plunge the Wolfen Strait and the Iron Sea into war.

For a generation, Talihida used her magic to prevent the Omospondian ships from landing, and then she died of pnemonia after a particularly harsh winter. Before she did, she prophecied that one who had been born that season would be known as Sarin, and lead the colonies to victory. Herehlita ordered the deaths of every rebel infant under one year of age, and the dream of Sarin died unrealized.

The Xaric colonies seemed to be winning anyway for a time, but they made one fatal mistake: they organized a blockade against Hazhkan ginger, enraging the kobold kingdoms, which had grown dependent on it.

Kobolds from Xaric came into their own during that war, becoming successful sailors and merchants in the North. With their aid, the rebel colonists were put down and remained under Omospondian dominance for many more years until the Harmonium offered them a way out. The Xarician humans eventually allied with the Knights of Harmony to conquer Omospondia.

The state of Terapten is where the Convent of the Rest is located.

On the Convent of the Rest
A convent filled with brilliant warriors rendered useless when there is no more war, but who are not trusted to be permitted on other planes for fear of alien contamination. The convent is called the Rest.

At the dawn of the First Harmony, the Harmonium decided that a certain kind of terrible warrior that had been used often during the Expansion was not suited for the new, more civilized, age. The warriors were rounded up and taken to the Rest. For several generations they trained in isolation, interacting with no one outside their fortress home.

During the Schism they were once again brought out to do their atrocious work, and afterwards they were again put away.

They saw use once more in the War of Iron. Though this was far from the last military action the Harmonium would undertake, the Octave and the Council agreed that it was too much of a risk to bring them out ever again. Outsiders might not understand, and they could not risk their perfect warriors becoming contaminated by alien ideas.

The warriors of the Rest are not entirely human, nor are they entirely mortal. They’re chimeras of a sort, both living and undead, unaging and capable of surviving decapitations, but still breathing, with hearts that still beat. The Harmonium is terrified of what might happen if other factions managed to convert one. For now, then, they remain in the Rest.

On the Kobolds of Xaric

Harmonium culture has affected the kobolds adversely in one way: the introduction of paternal rights. Never before had kobolds bothered to keep track of their fathers (or, to any great degree, their mothers), relying on brood watchers to raise the young. Harmonium records demanded that both of a citizen’s parents be recorded, however, often requiring expensive divinations to determine the paternity of a kobold wyrmling. Though kobolds claimed this was unnecessarily burdensome, no exceptions would be made.

In all other ways, kobolds have become a thriving, accepted part of Orthoran culture. Though they do not have the numbers of orcs, humans, beholders, or dwarves, they have a work ethic and ambitious nature that often puts the other races to shame. Their squat, dragon-prowed ships are seen in every port on the Iron Sea and the Wolfen Strait, from Alaens to Threerivers, even as far as Hazhkan but seldom beyond that.

On the orcs of Motmurk

On the Hierarchs and the Fortress of Nine Claws
The influence of the baatezu inspired a great love of learning to the orcs of Motmurk, bringing literacy to the culture for the first time. Though the erinyes tried to suppress their new-found curiosity, it actually worked to their advantage as the orcish mage-priests penned long tracts on magical theory and practice, raising the science of magic among them to new heights.

The orcs soon dominated the northern half of the continent of Mot. The Scarab, Mantis, and Scorpion clan dwarves fell under their influence, the dwarven hive mothers pledging allegiance to the orcish Hierarchs and the Lords of the Nine. It wasn’t until after the Schism that the dwarves regained their independence from the Fortress of Nine Claws.

The Hierarchs forcibly conscripted humans and kobolds into their armies, requiring perfectly obedient service in exchange for the lives of their loved ones. The human colonists complained to the Omospondian queens, but the motherland cared little as long as they received their taxes.

The Fortress of Nine Claws was the capital of the diabolic orcish Hierarchs, created where nine roads met in the center of the northern mountains. Most of it is intact today, although since the Schism it is uninhabited except by ghosts. One of the nine watchtowers is rubble, destroyed by the Seven-Fingered Palm.

On the Seven-Fingered Palm
The Monastery of the Seven-Fingered Palm is in the orcish lands near Theron, the northernmost of the eight human colonies. Its inhabitants are orcish worshippers of the Seven, gentle monks who allied with the Xarician human colonists against their brutal kin. Quicker than sight, the monks were never caught by the minions of the Hierarchs. Centuries later the Palm allied with the Knights of Harmony, agreeing to forget their ancient differences with their kin in order to help defeat the Flame of the North. During the Schism tensions rose once again, but by then many of the other orc clans in Motmurk had been converted to the Palm’s gentle philosophy.

On the dwarves of Xaric

On the chitinous clans
The Mantis, Scarab, Aphid, Locust, and Scorpion clans of dwarves each base their culture on a different totem animal, decorating their armor and homes accordingly. All of them are ruled by matriarchs they call Hive Mothers; beholder influence has been suggested, though the beholders themselves have not had hive mothers within historical memory. The society of these dwarves is extremly rigid and inflexible, each caste - worker, soldier, mother, and consort - born into their status and unable to leave it without being exiled into the wilds. Exiled dwarves of the chitinous clans seldom survived long traditionally, although since the rise of the Harmonium they have been able to get work in the towns and cities to the south or in the new cities across the seas.

The Bones of the Earth
Dwarves have always had a powerful reverence for their ancestors. Even more than reverence of the gods, this is perhaps the true dwarven religion. It is a truism that among dwarves, tombs are the most luxurious palaces, while the living live as austerely as the meanest peasant. This is true across cultural lines, as true for the Mantis and Scarab dwarves as it is for the scions of Thorkhold. The philosophy of the dwarves who call themselves the Bones of the Earth, on the other hand, takes this much further than any others. The Bones of the Earth teach that Ortho, the world itself, is dead. It died the day the moon did. Their goal is to build for it a proper tomb.

For uncounted centuries, the Bones of the Earth have worked to construct a network of catacombs that would be worthy of the entire world. It seemed a futile task - such a structure would have to fill the entire interior of the planet. Yet they preservered, for the ancestor of all life deserves the sacrifice of countless lives to honor it.

Recently, since spelljamming was introduced from Ortho’s colony of Integril, a new theory has emerged among the Bones. Why not turn the entire crystal sphere into a tomb? The Bones of the Earth have begun to carve a vessal from the rock capable of leaving the planet. The Bones of the Stars, as they call themselves, intend to carve the sky itself as a fitting memorial to that which lies in state within it.

The Chaos Dwarves
The Thorkhold clan of dwarves rejected the ways of their servile Mantis, Scarab, and Scorpion kin and resisted the Hierarchs and their ways. They allied themselves with the human colonists, arguing that dwarves had a tradition of honoring the sovereign rights of individuals and clans that others of their kind had forgotten or deliberately ignored. To protect themselves and their friends, they constructed a city-sized mechanical contrivance which they called Bardolpho’s Engine, empowered by Chaos itself. It was a hideously complex thing, impossible to look at directly without getting watery eyes and breaking into a chill sweat. The Thorkhold dwarves, leather-clad ranger types by and large, were twisted by it, their tanned skin turning blue-pale, their fingers long and spidery thin, their bodies emaciated and physically distorted with unpredictable angles. Still they spoke to one another and their human friends with utmost courtesy and respect, they shared their all their worldly goods with those in need, they fought the proverbial good fight.

Bardolpho’s Engine was destroyed by a surprise strike by Scorpion saboteurs. The Thorkhold civilization vanished in a flash, leaving an oddly shaped crater where the very rock had vaporized.

Those Thorkhold dwarves who had been out hunting for food, or visiting the humans, or raiding Scorpion and Scarab settlements, survived. A few thousand at most, out of a city of two hundred thousand. Some settled among the humans permanently, while others were taken in by the Bones of the Earth, whose ideology they embraced with a newfound fervor. The resistance of the Thorkhold chaos dwarves was ended.

Xaric in the Age of Harmony

The Xaric states are all loyal to the Harmonium cause, but their hatred of the Hierarchs of Motmurk and the cities of Omospondia has been the cause of unlawful tension in the past, beginning with unprovoked crimes against the orcs and cumulating in the Midwinter Rebellion when three citizens of Omospondia became members of the Octave at once; this was too much for many in the eight states to handle; led by Haran Firebeard, a dwarf descended from the vanished Torkhold clan, they declared independence from Ortho’s government. The Harmonium had difficulty defeating them for a time, until troops were brought in from Integril to squash the revolt. Shortly thereafter the War of Iron began with the aim of stopping such unrest from without.