For the past five hundred years, the rolling hills of Avendyne,
at the western end of the Aequeterran continent, have been ruled
more-or-less peacefully by the kings (and now queen) seated on
Adelmar's Throne in the city of Lynesse. The green hills are renowned
for the quality of their beer and sheep, but ambitious townsmen
have an eye towards more than farming. Where once raw wool was
sent to Chernieve and the Aretzan cities for dyeing, spinning
and weaving, rural gentry are more often sending their fleece
to the creaking waterwheels which seem to be present on every
river. Limited in land, Avendyne has been increasing its sea power
for several years, sending her sons overseas in search of new
riches, trading partners, and perhaps lands to colonize. Her Majesty
the Queen has the full cooperation of Lord Herrinbine's parliament
in building a bigger navy and an Avendyne empire overseas.
A mountainous province of Avendyne encompasing the extreme northwest
corner of the continent. Until five hundred years ago, Cullinclyde
was a collection of independent, feuding clans, but it was progressively
subjugated by Elred II and his son Elfred I. Since that time,
it has seen periodic revolts and even periods of quasi-independence,
but Avendyne has always regained its grasp. Nevertheless, secret
brotherhoods still hold midnight meetings (speaking the rarely-heard
ancient tongue of Old Clyde instead of good Avendynish) formenting
new uprisings.
Grande Chernieve occupies nearly half of Aequeter and holds the
fertile plains of the center and southern coast. With her mild
climate and fine soil, Chernieve is the continent's greatest producer
of grain, and its wines are drunk from An Callach to Hemmerstadt.
For those who speak Chernievese, her poetry is the height of modern
literature, and wandering minstrels who want to give an air of
sophistication will claim to have studied in one of Chernieve's
conservatories. Despite the nation's great wealth, her armies
have never been able to push across the hills of southeastern
Avendyne, so now Chernieve's ruler, the fiendishly clever Raubert
VII, has moved to match Avendyne's naval policy. While her ships
are not as finely built nor her crews as well trained, Chernieve
has managed to build a navy larger than Avendyne's in a very short
time. Incomprehensibly complex diplomacy, including a standing
offer of marriage by Raubert to Brianna, have kept the two countries
at peace, but skirmishes are not unheard of.
The eastern end of the Aequeterran continent is divided by numerous
rivers and mountain ranges into small, fertile plains and valleys
surrounded by rugged natural barriers. Villages and towns grew
up in those small places, with cities growing up in the largest
spaces. Where Avendyne's wealth it in its flocks and Chernieve's
in its fields, the east's wealth is in its mines and crafts. The
eastern mountains are the source of much of the continent's iron
and finest metalwork. In recent years, the east has also seen
the application of waterwheels to ore-crushing, sawing, and many
other operations. The Ostlander cities have a long tradition of
independence and no ruler has succeeded in taking more than a
few by force. However, the Stadtskompanie of Hemmerstadt, the
ruling council of the east's second largest city, may be close
to uniting the east by diplomacy. The merchants of eighteen of
the east's richer towns have gathered together in a league for
mutual protection. So far, the league's actions have been confined
to legal and diplomatic, but the league could become quite formidable
if it could mobilize some of the members' well-armed militias.
When the heartland of the Aretzan empire became the Aretzan Sea,
a few points of land remained above the water. Several of these
new islands held people, and a few even held the shattered remnants
of some of the great Aretzan cities. The ruined cities have slowly
been rebuilt, and each claims to be the rightful heir of sunken
Aretzo. While largely isolated and poor in resources, the Aretzans
were the first to begin exploring the reshaped world, and they
retain a wealth of ancient wisdom preserved in the remains of
ancient libraries. Proud of their heritage, the Aretzans still
speak a form of the Aretzan tongue, although it is noticably different
from the classical version, and they are probably the best-educated
of the peoples of the Aequeterran continent.
The first explorers leaving the shores of Aequeter and the Aretzan
islands for other continents found most of their landings ruled
by the Uttuk. A few centuries ago, the Uttuk were an unruly horde
of barbarians riding from the unknown plains of the eastern continent
(called "Ouitustan" in most of the west; Aretzan sources recorded
no eastern land mass). Decimating whatever struggling civilizations
they found, they settled down to rule an area perhaps as vast
as the old Arezan empire. The palaces of the Uttuk governors,
or "pashas," are unbelievably opulent, filled with the pasha's
many wives and heavily armed eunuch-slaves. Since the formation
of the empire, the pashas have become less willing to follow the
rule of their emperor, or "sultan," and many rule semi-independently.
While the Uttuk are decadent, they are still feared by their subjects
because of their harsh rule.
Once the name of the southern region of the Aretzan empire, this
is the name given to the continent to the south of the Aretzan
sea. Stretches of the northern coast are ruled by Uttuk sultans,
but the far western regions, inhabited by fierce nomadic tribes,
have not been subjugated, both because of the strength of their
resistance and internal dissention among the Uttuk sultans.
Western knowledge of other lands is largely limited to the coasts,
but the names of more distant places have filtered through to
western years. Khamet is an empire more ancient than Aretzo, thought
to be south of Gaihana. If that land did not sink in the Great
Quake, Khamet may still exist. Myanmathi, Dhulustan, and Chan-Tun
are kingdoms, or perhaps even empires, far to the east beyond
the Uttuk borders. Little is known of them, but a few cargoes
of unknown spices and fine but exotic goods have reached western
ports.