The Campaign world is still in beta, but here’s a general idea of where everything is, and what cultures are present.
Geographical Location:
Barovia is located in an area known presently as the Ravenlost Vale. The Ravenloft Vale sits between two prominent mountain ranges, the Blackmounts and the Plaguewall, and is apart of the larger territory of the continent known as Tsarovia.
Note: There's nothing terribly great about the contient where the campaign takes place. Just your typical scholarly arrogance at work.
North West
Tsarovia occupies the northwestern portion of the continent, and is home to two distinct groups of people: Tsarovians and Varangars. Tsarovians tend to be a tall, pale, and dour lot, but this is excusable given how many undead invasions they’ve protected everyone else from in the last few centuries. By contrast, the Varangar are shorter, stockier, and tend to have a more merry-making prone life out on the coast. Tsarovian culture closely mirrors Slavic Culture, right down the orthodoxy of the their religious views. Varangars, are more likened to Nordic and Viking culture, and tend to have a bit more of a liberal view on religion and duty to the homeland (read: very adventurer prone).
Technically, Tsarovia encompasses a third area and corresponding group of people, the Khasgarans. However, suggesting to a Tsarovian or a Varangar that they bear any likeness to a Khasgaran is a great way to get hurt. The fall the Khasgaran thrones to vampirism and its mage circles to necromancy have since left its people with few allies, to the point that that most Tsarovian and Varangar factions won’t even accept refugees from Khasgaran lands. The subsequent plagues and undead invasions, some of them penetrating even into the Rivvenmarches, have not helped to improve this images.
Mid West
To south of Tsarovia an area known as the Rivvenmarchs (Old Common for River Marches), a multitude of kingdoms, city states, and fiefdoms connected by a winding array of rivers. Culturally, the Rivvenmarchs mirror Anglo-Germanic cultures. As you may have guessed, the “Marches” also refers to the fact that these factions also tend to quarrel with each other quite often.
Right now, the largest of these factions is the Kingdom of Orn, which occupies about seven city-states and other territories. From the outside, the Kingdom of Orn is treated wearily, as the last four of its monarchs have all made names for themselves by adding territory. Internally, there is a power struggle that may threaten to plunge the entire Kingdom into civil war. The previous monarch died in battle a couple of months ago, and her heir is too young to assume control. Thus, there is a bitter political struggle between the man who would be the acting regent and the charismatic general of the royal army.
South West
By contract, the temperament in the Southwest is one of enlightenment, Renaissance, and the exploration of “new” territories on an island across the southern seas. Unlike their dour and grim cousins to the north, south-westerners are taking up a new way of seeing things, and new ideas are beginning to flourish. Ideas like humanism, republicanism, and capital. Culturally, these peoples correspond to early renaissance Italy and Spain.
Western Sea
The Shards, a flotilla of thousands of icebergs loose ice-shelves makes this area almost impossible to navigate, though some of the Varangar tribes maintain small military and fishing outposts in the area. In the south, numerous island chains have yielded both ancient relics and new spices to eager Southwestern adventurers.
Middle Region
The center of the great continent opens up from the Rivvenmarchs first into sprawling hills and open plains. Here, the Tarkhani, people said to be born in the saddle, live in close knit communes. Head south, and the lush plains begin to turn into rocky and barren lands of the Sian. Even further south and across the Medi Sea lies vast desserts.
North East:
Here, in the twilight of endless forests resides the few remaining elven courts.
The Central East
Sharing a tight border with the Tarkhani are the seemingly endless badlands that are home to the Hordekin (goblinoids, ogres, and orcs), who, for years, terrorized all they could reach. Yet, recent deific power swings might put an end to all that. Pushing further east and out towards the sea brings one to the lands of the Xsion-Xsu, horseman comparable to the Tarkhani, who integrated with immigrants from the Far Eastern Continent many centuries ago.
South East
Refugees from the Far Easter Content populate this area. Lead by a powerful Shogunate and philosopher priests, the practices of these people are quite confusing the more historically rooted peoples of The Great ContientStatistics: Posted by Mr_Praetorian — Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:21 pm
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