African Core

[William Blackmoor]

An idea for a darklord: Maybe the wer-curse of the old darklord didn't die with her and her slayer 'inherited' it in a sense? Maybe the wife the hero took / the mother of the current king was the were-hyena's secret daughter?
She learned from her mother's mistake, that she couldn't rule the humans by brutality and build her secret might upon corruption and secrecy. In secret she developed a were-hyena sub-culture who cling to the old ways of tribal sorcery and worship dark ancient gods, fighting the new ways of Ezra from within. She planned to take full controll of the country via her son, but to her dismay discovered, that the males of the line are immune to the curse. another facet of her personal curse surfaced when she had to admit to herself, that many of her most important plots failed because what she took for careful planning was in fact cowardice. Finding that her daughter, the king's younger sister, inherited her curse she instructed her in her ways. The daughter perfected her masquerade and is revered by the populace almost as a living saint of the church of Ezra, while in truth she is a were-hyena sorceress/witch-doctor leading the underground cult and 'herding' the humans for them to become easy prey. But in the end she is as much a coward as her (now dead) mother was, always removed from true power as females cannot inherit the throne.

[vyshan]

cool ideas.

Anyways still working on the gazeteers. I did thought I would share my thoughts on the domains I came up with and the darklords. Also I haven't figured out the exact nature of all the darklord curses to the various domains.

Wolyata

The empire of Wolyata is a land that has changed from a decentralized land ruled by a weak yet infamously cruel queen to a mighty empire. The new monarchy is beloved, and church of ezra has settled in as one of the foundations of the empire. It works hand in hand with the new government. a land where cities are starting to pop up and grow into centers of power. A land where the government supports many projects from infrastructure to cultural. A land with a rising class of knights. Of course this is also a land where piety often a mask for darker intentions and much cruelty is done in the name of Ezra or the King.

Darklord: Chancellor Farid Kaigwa, also the regent. Farid was one of the main supporters of Queen Sefanit but then he found Ezra and publicly renounced evil ways and pledged his support to Araya's rebellion. In doing so he became close to Araya. Unsurprisingly he never renounced his ways, he just saw the writing on the wall and betrayed Sefanit. As a were-hyena he has always remained a savage man. However, he found that it was far easier to be brutal by being manipulative, he became the ultimate false friend. Many of the worst actions and slaughters during the war against Sefanit and now in the empire stem from him.

Kolanda

the empire of Kolanda is a vast empire on the western part of the cluster. It is by far the largest domain, with the most different people. The cities of the empire have people from all of the land mix and mingle. The land boasts the most diverse amont of landscapes from plains, to deserts to jungles. Here is the heart of the dawnflower Sarenrae's faith, with their holy city in the north. A land of riches in all its forms, from material such as gold and salt but also cultural and sciences. A land where the famous calvary and knights ride forth protecting the empire and enforcing the emperor's will.

Darklord: The darklord is Emperor Ekon Aliyu himself. The man is a powerful man who rules the vast empire. He is respected, admired and above all feared. For while the emperor is a patron of the arts and sciences and seeks to be the ideal emperor, he is infamous for his paranoia. People say that the close you are to the emperor the close you are to death. Anyone he views as a threat, tends to be dealt with in the harshest manner; even his family is not safe. Unfortunatly for him, what he desires most is for his family to be safe and for those he care for to return the favor, rather hard when he keeps seeing them as threats and killing or exiling them. Anyone he happens to care for, he tends to start to slowly see as plotting against him.

Wukari

The kingdom of Wukari stands strong against the empire of Kolanda; they are bitter enemies, as Kolanda has tried several times in vain to conquer Wukari. The empire is famed for their legions, particularly their all female regiments. They are the center of the worship of the Orishas. The kingdom is centered upon their grand city called Wukari, the kingdom takes its name from their grand city. The Wukarians are proud warriors, and proud of their culture. Their craftsman are famous throughout the cluster for their intricrate masks they make.

Darklord: Queen Izegbe Zinsou. The wukarians are of two minds on their queen. On one hand, she is beloved, she has stood against the empire of Kolanda, and at times personally lead her soldiers to victory. Her works to turn Wukari into a powerful kingdom that people can be proud of is something many admire. On the other hand, she is infamously brutal and cruel. One of the most famous legends tell about how Izegbe, met with the Kolandan ambassador who refused to give her a chair to sit on; Izegbe then made a servant crawl on all fours and used him as a chair, once the meeting was over, she slit his throat and said "The Queen of Wukari does not use the same chair twice".

Tamaan Coast

The Tamaan coast is not a single nation. It is filled with numerous city states and nearly every type of goverment can be found here. You have ezrite and Sarenrite theocracies, republics of various forms, princely states and more. A few city states stand out above the rest, the most powerful being the island republic of Zavala. Other important states is the republic of Kasulu, the kingdom of Mwanza, and Iringa(an Sarenrite theocracy). Of course who has power changes rapidly and what state may be near Zavala's power can quickly fall as another becomes more successful.

Here is a land were money is king and you can buy everything you want; slaves, spices, gold, salt, gems, armies, navies, anything is available among the markets along the Taaman coast. The city states are in direct competition with one another for not just the resources and trade but to be the most powerful city state, Prestige and grand games of one upmanship are common amongst the city states. More conflicts are started over claims of being better then over wealth. This is a land where intrigues are common as the gold that flows through the land.

Darklord: The darklord is the ruler of the republic of Zavala, Lady Zahria Ghasia. To most she is a beloved leader who has secured Zavala its wealth, prestige and power. She is a jealous woman whom ruins the lives of others along the coast if they are better or she thinks are trying to be better then her. Cruel and Vindictive and while she could buy anything, the one thing she can't buy is love, the thing she desperately wants.

Azande

The southern most realm, and second largest after Kolanda, is officially the Viceroy of Azande, a colony of the Holy Empire. The land is a vast jungle colony, with the exeption of the southern most part of the colony. A land with a vast amount of natural resources, resources which the Holy Empire has been exploiting at the cost of the native people. Two major events changed the land forever.

the first was the conquest of the kingdom of Katanga by the Holy Empire. This transformed the kingdom into a colony, the people were enslaved in all but name and forced to work to bring the riches of the land back to the empire. The viceroy became hated by the native people, but she held the power and broke no dissension.

The second is when the mists cut the empire off from the empire. The trade started to dry up, though they did discover the tamaan states which helped keep the trade and economy for the invaders. Because they solved the trade, it also meant that the quotas for various resources that the natives had to deal with never were removed but only became worse. It was during this time, Viceroy Francisca became more determined to transform the colony into her personal kingdom, even if she offically claims to still be under the rule of the holy empire.

Darklord: Francisca de Velasco rules the land as both the Viceroy of Azande, and its first queen. She is a harsh ruler, infamously cruel. She rules Azande as her personal kingdom, and has set out into changing the land into mirroring the empire, even if she states she is subservient to the emperor and empress. Yet for all of this, she has little respect among her subjects. She desires to be admired, to be respected, to be viewed as one of the best things to happen, and so she responds by being more brutal. The people fear her, but few among

[alhoon]

All good and nice.
The cluster just seems ... big. I don't mind it since I use big Ravenloft domains, but any idea about the scales there? Is that cluster the size of the Core (Switzerland-sized)? Bigger? Half as big as Africa?

[vyshan]

All good and nice.
The cluster just seems ... big. I don't mind it since I use big Ravenloft domains, but any idea about the scales there? Is that cluster the size of the Core (Switzerland-sized)? Bigger? Half as big as Africa?

Well everyone has their own prefered size of the Core, I have seen the Core being the size of the 13 colonies, the size of europe, the size of a city, and everything in between.

If I had to give a size, assuming say the core is the size of the 13 colonies, then this cluster should be about double the size. Of course I am leaving it a little bit vague with notes in the dm's section on size. Since the feeling of size is more important then the actual size.

For instance in the empire of Kolanda, one should be able to have the great wide vastness of the sahel and the northern desert. The cities that do exist should feel like they are far away from each other. THe empire is a huge realm, and it should feel that way to players, regardless if it is the size of Switzerland or the size of africa. It should feel like "we entered a massive empire of massiveness"

Contrast this with the Tamaan coast. Where it is much smaller and all these city states are next to each other competing with one another, and often people compete within the city states themselves.

fun fact, I used the term for 'lust' Tamaa, as the name of the Tamaan coast

[alhoon]

Nice.
So you take the usual Ravenloft approach then. "The empire is big!" "how big?" "Whatever is big in your table friend!"

I would just like to say though, that in order to have about 12 competing city-states, you need something along the size of Invidia but with a greater population.
From there, we work upwards. Wukari and Woyata could be the size of Barovia (but more populate), Azanda could be the size of Falkovnia+Richemulot (but way less populate) and Kolata could be the size of Nova Vaasa.

Are those 'sizes' right? I have my own sizes for those domains. I just want to know the relations.

[vyshan]

Nice.
So you take the usual Ravenloft approach then. "The empire is big!" "how big?" "Whatever is big in your table friend!"

I would just like to say though, that in order to have about 12 competing city-states, you need something along the size of Invidia but with a greater population.
From there, we work upwards. Wukari and Woyata could be the size of Barovia (but more populate), Azanda could be the size of Falkovnia+Richemulot (but way less populate) and Kolata could be the size of Nova Vaasa.

Are those 'sizes' right? I have my own sizes for those domains. I just want to know the relations.

Yup, the usual apporach.

Those are all right. Though the thing to keep in mind with the Tamaan states is that it is long and thin with a number of tiny islands. But that is all about right.

Also since I prefer other systems for Ravenloft beyond dnd, such as BRP/Call of Cthulhu and Ubiquity/Regime Dioblique, I will try to keep it as rules light as possible, since well I do not tend to use dnd being that I prefer other systems.

[alhoon]

Yeah, I got it from the description that it's a coast. I didn't mean their shape, I meant their size.

Speaking for myself only, I don't mind the lack of rules. I'm more interested in the culture and a depiction of the "way of life" in those places. Architecture pointers (perhaps some open art too?) would be very helpful.
To breath life into these exotic places I know nothing about.
What they do in their free time, what they eat, what are their festivals, their traditions, what's important for them and what's not... that kind of thing. But personally, I would prefer all this info squeezed in a couple of pages so I won't be lost. Does that even make sense?

Except the colonial domain. That's I could do in my sleep. Jungles, the "traditional" viewpoint of the Africans in small stone-age tribes etc. I've seen movies, I've seen pictures, I have how it is for them in my mind.
But for the rest? No idea.
For the city states all I know is about our city states (Greece) and the way of life was very different than the African coast. For starters, we didn't have to worry about piracy and we were more phalanx-warfare rather than cloak-and-dagger / covert-takeover / kingmaker types.

[vyshan]

Yeah, I got it from the description that it's a coast. I didn't mean their shape, I meant their size.

Speaking for myself only, I don't mind the lack of rules. I'm more interested in the culture and a depiction of the "way of life" in those places. Architecture pointers (perhaps some open art too?) would be very helpful.
To breath life into these exotic places I know nothing about.
What they do in their free time, what they eat, what are their festivals, their traditions, what's important for them and what's not... that kind of thing. But personally, I would prefer all this info squeezed in a couple of pages so I won't be lost. Does that even make sense?

Defently, and that is the sort of thing I am focusing on.I enjoy learning about cultures and history. I am also trying to present it in such a way that it is not 'exotic'. As I want people to be able to play in this cluster without going to the Core so all of that is important in order to play one. Of course adventures can easily span between the core and the cluster easily.

Also in regards to art, I found medieval people of color's tumblr which is cool and has lots of artwork that might be useable to some degree.

Except the colonial domain. That's I could do in my sleep. Jungles, the "traditional" viewpoint of the Africans in small stone-age tribes etc. I've seen movies, I've seen pictures, I have how it is for them in my mind.

Actually they aren't stone age, more like iron and classical. Katanga during its power was kingdom, that culture was a classical age. The kingdom ruled with an iron fist, though it did encourage learning and was taming the jungle. They based themselves in a good spot within the Jungle and upon the Azande river. But for all their might, and fear they struck into their people, the holy empire's armies were too much for them.

Ironically, Many villages and tribes look fondly on the Katangan kingdom now even if they despised them during their reign. Since they hate the current government of Queen/Viceroy Francisca so they look fondly on the past when they were not so brutalized.

But for the rest? No idea.
For the city states all I know is about our city states (Greece) and the way of life was very different than the African coast. For starters, we didn't have to worry about piracy and we were more phalanx-warfare rather than cloak-and-dagger / covert-takeover / kingmaker types.

yea, the Swahili city states are rather similar to the italian city states though, most tend to be kingdoms along the Swahili coast. the Kilwa sultante's rulers had a tendency to die a lot and rulership could last a year to 40 years and everything in between. Heck one ruler died upon leaving a mosque by conspirators, one got behaded by the people, many were killed by other nobles and court officals. That sort of intrigue is what I am using as a basis for the Tamaan coast.

[Jester of the FoS]

For a while I was pushing a crowdsourcing cluster project known as the Hub:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... f=1&t=8270

Having it on Mistipedia didn't work out so well, as contributors seemed wary of the Wiki format.
I've been considering a push using Google Docs instead.

Similarly, that might be an avenue for people to pursue an African core: creating a Google Docs that people can add to whenever creativity strikes.

OR

I could combine the two, and add a larger landmass to the south of the Hub and make one big document, that's part African core and part the Hub.

Thoughts?

[Bluebomber4evr]

The only issue I have is that you only have one monster darklord. I think you can slip in a wereleopard and Terkow (African vampire) in there for the others.

[vyshan]

The only issue I have is that you only have one monster darklord. I think you can slip in a wereleopard and Terkow (African vampire) in there for the others.

hmm, the only question is which darklord should be a monster then.

[alhoon]

Don't forget there can be pocket domains too...

And the monster can be that guy on the small island just off the coast? The one you haven't mentioned yet?

[vyshan]

So here is the first draft of my Gazeteer covering the Empire of Wolyata. It is just a draft. So I need help in spelling, as well as perhaps mentioning idea seeds to populate, and just making sure it is good.

[vyshan]

feedback/thoughts?

[alhoon]

I didn't have the time to read it personally. Just skim it. I like the "Everyday" stuff in it. Helpful.

The very low population troubles me a bit. The land sounds too fertile and too prosperous to have just 15K people. It also has 3 cities... May I suggest you triple the population?