Toward resolution

-Political organization of Saen:  I want it to be along feudal lines in general, but not of uniform nature.  For example, I thought about having duchies, or principalities - but why not have both?  I also have decided there would be kings, of the north and the south.  But there is also an imperial idea, that is not limited by either time or space.  This is, however, inactive to an extent, until it is resurrected by the time of the wars in the Verial campaign.  The Dark Imperium is an offshoot of this idea.

-The Black Syndicate is a mercantile concern outwardly, but inwardly it has much more sinister motives, as Verial learned.  The leader Arksham is a dark priest, affiliated to some degree by way of religious views, with the Dark Imperium, and sympathizes with them to an extent.  However, it is not clear that his goals are actually entirely in line with them.  His alliance with the Guardian Spirit Koros, who is not known to be of affiliation with DI, may be indicative of other ideas despite some common goals.  Nonetheless, the Black Syndicate acts to subvert the order in the south.  It is based for a time in Kriegsburg, because despite that city's status as only a Barony-level territory, it is one of the most important cities of the south.  This owes to its diverse economy, strong military base and the control of the trade route to Port Varas.

There is indication that the BS was involved in the subversion of the order in Port Varas, and that this is what first brought Verial's activities to their attention.  Furthermore, the poisoning of the old Lord Anteras and the disappearance of his heir may also be the handiwork of the BS.  This does weaken the current order yet further for the northern aggression.

Also worth exploring is the question of the Violet Syndicate.  This group seemed to be similar in some ways to the BS but was run out of the Lordship of Anteras relatively early and did not figure again.  This group deserves more explanation pursuant to a reappearance, since they were never destroyed, only divested for a time.

-The town labeled 'Hell on Earth' refers to Coroldon, a city that was once a shining example of all of the south's most precious ideals and the most important southwestern port.  But all of this changed with ongoing dynastic wars, and the arrival of nasty newcomers.  This is why Port Varas became such an important trade route, despite being shabbier and smaller.

-New hero:  Jedon of House Medeines.  He is a young soldier with high ideals but dissolute habits, who comes of age in a difficult time.  He will be the main character of the upcoming campaign.  Physically, he is a man of average height and build, but good looks, keen mind and strong physis.  He has blond hair and emerald-green eyes, with tanned skin.

Further questions to be resolved

-There are 3 commonly spoken languages in the lands of Saen, one of which was brought from farther south in the imperial days, one of which is native farther north and perhaps has some commonality with the indigenous tongues of Jadus, and a third category which has made ingress from farther east.  This last category may be actually more than one family.

-The lands of Saen are fairly urbanized but some areas of hinterland remain even in the later campaigns.

-Technology:  It's hard to determine just where to place the tech level of the later campaigns.  It probably is, realistically, pre-industrial.  This should have been resolved.  It could have some degree of FF style technology which wouldn't have a place in medieval campaigns, but not full on industry.

-The men of Saen might realistically be compared to the Caucasian race in general, and the same is also true of some of the other areas.  In particular it has strong elements of the Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean races - though probably the former two are dominant in Saen.

-The whole continent is loosely unified behind the Imperial idea from ages past, but unity has been traditionally hard to come by.  I'm thinking of developing Kingdoms and Leagues more specifically, and soon.  The later campaigns saw the rise of the Dark Imperium, and this is a topic in itself worthy of further explanation.

-Is there some kind of colonial situation going on?  Best develop the localities before addressing this altogether.

-The status of the demihumans and humanoids and the rest of the less natural denizens has likewise to be addressed in a more satisfactory way.

-All of this owes to the problems of whimsy that come from youthful exuberance.  It was started as a DND campaign but it evolved beyond that rather quickly, in ways that don't quite make sense in retrospect.  It doesn't have to be too rigidly answered, but some improvement is certainly desirable.

Geography notes

Geography of Saen

It seems that it is longer on the axis N-S than E-W.  The Western part seems to be more mountainous and rugged, while the Eastern is not fully mapped out.  Perhaps I will make this marshier, delta-land type of environment.

Around Ironforge I think we could put about 3 different major chains.  And I'm thinking that just east of there would be another chain with arc shape.  From here would originate two major rivers, which would enclose a fertile land.  This would be some kind of middle kingdom, of Men, but not of Saen.

And farther east is the land of Zheridus.  I am not sure just what the character of this land will be yet.  Although it is certainly, judging from the notes, a Kingdom of the Dark rather than of the Light.  It is supposedly either directly ruled by dark magicians, or behind-the-scenes.

I will develop this a bit more in due time.  I think due to the position of the continent globally, it would fall into the Subtropical or, in some places, the transition between Subtropical and Temperate.  Where the campaign was set would probably be something like the American South, although the area around Kriegsburg is a bit drier, being as it is on the leeward side of a mountain range.  Perhaps Port Varas and the Western Coast has sort of a chaparral, Mediterranean feel.

More to come

PS there is a way to map but this is time consuming, but it's in the plans anyway.

Ideas to develop

Great Northern Empire
-and relation of said to Saga of Aceries

Character of ages:
Aceries takes place in Age of Heroism
Verial takes place in Age of Apogee and Beginning Decline
Vampiro takes place in Age of Darkness

Saen
-North vs South.
-If it had to be described it is something like a Carolingian system, that is, a kingdom whose RW parallel would be something of a Latin-Germanic synthesis.

Nature of international knowledge
-It seems that in these campaigns there was knowledge of international travel and trade, possibly more pronounced in later campaigns than earlier ... or perhaps reaching a peak at Verial and once again declining

What about minor characters
-The campaign of Seigneur Blaze comes to mind...  This was forgotten in the first overview - and perhaps there were others also?

Racial traits of the peoples of Arkon

What about Demihumans?  Common in earlier campaigns, seemingly fading by later.  More must be said...

Rather updated view at old school characters from Arkon

Characters from the old days Arkon

Verial Kithamnos

-Hard-minded aristocrat and main character of the second saga.  He was named for a long-deceased hero.  He is a descendant of the famous Kithamnos clan which has its territories in eastern Saen.

Appearance:  6’2”, 210 lbs, dark brown hair, dark green eyes, tanned complexion

Sirine

-Verial’s loyal wife and a priestess of the fire goddess

Appearance:  5’8”, 140 lbs, auburn hair, blue-green eyes, pale complexion

Arxam

-Dark priest and leader of the black syndicate, a main antagonist of the saga

Appearance:  6’, 230 lbs, black hair, black eyes, tanned complexion

Dyerus

-Mysterious ancient human warrior made immortal after being infused with the Godsblood (apparently none of the other Rune Knights survived the experimentation that was done on them), in some ways the main antagonist of the first part of the saga.  Later he becomes a comrade of Vampyro and a Quadrarch.

Appearance:  6’3”, 195 lbs, black hair, green eyes, light tan complexion

Strohb

-Cocky and humorous thief, ally of Verial

Appearance:  5’11”, 170 lbs, brown hair, hazel eyes, light complexion

Meric Vellman

-General in the Shadow War, later assassinated by Verial

Appearance:  6’4”, 180 lbs, platinum hair, pale grey eyes, light complexion

Beldhecat

-Old, seasoned adventurer

Appearance:  6’, 170 lbs, black hair and beard, black eyes, light tan complexion

Allerus

-Informant and researcher, ally of Verial

Appearance:  6’1”, 160 lbs, blond hair, green eyes, light complexion

Count Savyle

-Evil magician, antagonist

Appearance:  6’3”, 180 lbs, black hair and beard, brown eyes, light complexion

Maroh (the Magus)

-Vampyro’s ally, a mysterious mage from an ancient civilization, and one of the Quadrarchs

Appearance:  6’2”, 195 lbs, silver hair, red-violet eyes, pale complexion

“Slick”

-One of the Archmagi in Jadus, later part of the Quadrarchy set up by Vampyro

Lord Ulfred Krieg

-Duke of the Kriegsland Duchy and Lord of Kriegsburg.

Appearance:  6’6”, 265 lbs, brown hair and beard, brown eyes

Galan Vostok

-A character mentioned in adventures set in Jadus, this tyrant is the descendent of the famous Rath Vostok who drove the yrch from the area around Home after the local aristocrats, the Folcners, lost to them and fled.  He rules the city his ancestor founded, Vostok City north and east of Home.

There were at least three sagas:

-First was the Saga of Aceries, a strange story of an adventurer who was originally aligned with evil forces, but later forsook that path and found his way to the light.  The action took place mainly on the continent of Jadus, the first campaign land.  Aceries eventually completed his adventures and ascended to demigodhood.

-The second saga, longest of all in all likelihood, was the Saga of Verial.  This was a complicated story that involved many parts including the great struggles between the dark-aligned powers and the light-aligned powers.  The action took place mainly on the continent of Cairen, on the subcontinent of Saen.

-The third saga was the Saga of Vampyro, the tale of an assassin who capitalizes on the coming of the shadow and orchestrates the rise of a tyrannical oligarchy.  This Saga takes place in Saen, probably about 30 years after the events of the Saga of Verial ended.

Arkon Characters Expanded, from 2006

Daron Arvidson

-Paladin of the Order of the White Horse, an errant of the faith and foe of Vampyro

Gunnar fon Esken

-Master of the Order of the White Horse

Hanwulf Kayllor

-Paladin of the OotWH

Cadarin Lenweck

-Lady knight of House Lenweck

Rendell Ellabar

-Mage of the Pale Fire Brotherhood

Dhimitri Jinnerov

-Agent of House Mordaine

Altus Bari

Ghazey Tarikits

Voelyrn

Raule Lenord

Yuliana

Theresion

Vance Goltenmark

Eilla Serenus

Raniya

Reschel

Desmonde Deverin

Dinara

Harald Torinson

Marek Slyhand

Serges Adnor

-General of Caltan

Anton Vilan

-Infamous bandit-adventurer

Green Aric

-A druid and world-wanderer who is reluctant to take part in the goings-on of the realms

tbc

Notes about the geographical regions of Arkon

The Arkon Campaign Setting Notes

-This document is entitled notes because, while the ACS is old and has been used, it has never been systematized and this new form of it is in early stages.

Geographical Gazetteer

-Luckily I was able to dig up a folder that had an old drawing about Arkon.  This is for all practical purposes the only such map in existence.  While it’s not perfect, it’s an important start.  Therefore I intend to revise it, and to give a gazetteer for it as well.  This is a good place to start.

-Here is the list of places labeled:

Continents with one name:

Oram

Amaxeotl (or Amazeotl)

Alamar

Jadus

Kadnus (or Kadeon)

Caltan

Shai-Tang (or Lo Dien)

Asara

Nordmeir

Lenea Island

Continents with more than one name depending on region:

Long Continent (Goureyn):  Thoren, Agerus, Dalus, Crystalan, Fayus

South/Tropics Continent (Nuriel):  Kairst, Barak Mir, Firanth

Mid-Latitude Continent (Brynn or Cairan):  Saen, Ironforge, Zheridus

Other Mid-Latitude Continent:  Kingor, Shadeus, Daruk

So, now it is up to me to figure out what these are to mean depending on what is listed for them and what I want for my campaign as possibilities.

There are some notes on what these particular continents and regions mean, but these are incomplete as they were written at a time when I was considerably less focused.  Nevertheless, I’ll sketch it out.  This is very much subject to change.

Jadus: Temperate continent, center of the first campaign.  The notes say ‘modern’ but this aspect of the campaign is being abandoned in favor of a more LMA/Renaissance feel.  I was thinking that this could be something similar to NA except colonized by Europeans earlier, but also home to other races.  Perhaps there’s a bit of a Scandinavian influence here too, sort of like the Vinland concept of NA as opposed to the Anglo and Iberian American rw.

Asara:  This is a smaller continent, apparently inspired by Ancient Middle Eastern peoples.  Strangely, it is placed rather far north for that, but perhaps we can look into this.

Amaxeotl:  This is clearly meant to be based on the high cultures of the Mesoamerican region.

Kadeon/Kadnus:  The notes mysteriously say ‘like medieval age’.  I don’t know what to make of this.  Maybe we will make this an Iberian type land with ties to the priest and merchant run land of Caltan.

Caltan:  It is supposedly a priest-run nation.  Perhaps this is an Italic type land.

Barak Mir:  This is a dwarf run nation.

Firanth:  This land is supposed to be similar to India.

Daruk:  This is supposedly similar to England, though again the geography is a bit of a question mark.

Saen:  Though this was not listed in the original list, it was the setting for two main characters and I can say with confidence that it had sort of a central European feel, with both German and French elements.

Zheridus:  This is supposedly a realm run by evil mages.  Perhaps there could be a Slavic feel to this area?

Thoren:  This land is apparently relatively arid (though given its geography this isn’t clear), and is yet another magocracy – seemingly neutral ones (though unsure).

There are no other notes so all of the other regions are completely without explanation.

It’s important to consider what is wanted here.  Are elf, hin, gnome, or other nations called for here?  What about other human nations?  I can think of many that weren’t represented above.  NA Indians and SA Indians (since I like to call Mesoamerica MA), various types of South Asians (i.e. Austroasiatics, Tai-Kadai, Austronesians, etc), Melanesians/Papuans/Austro-Aborigines, Africans of any sort, more modern Near Easterners, Steppe peoples (Turkic, Mongol, etc), etc etc.

Keeping track of campaign settings

New Ideas For Campaigns

Last night, as I was drifting off, I came up with a great idea for my next campaign but it has been lost since I didn’t write it down and assured myself I could remember in the morning.  This wasn’t the case.  I’m not interesting in making this same mistake again, so from now on this is where inspired ideas will go pending review and development.

It seems to me that the idea had something to do with my old campaign, which I have resurrected to some extent in a new and improved form (or that is at any rate the idea), and I will try to remember what it was.

Campaigns for consideration:

-Shadowrun (with slightly altered timeline)

-WoD

-FR/Faerun

-Mystara

-Archon*

*Archon is my own campaign world which dates back to the mid-90s and was first inaugurated in the fall of 1996 after my time spent that summer on Realms (which is apparently still around despite near-0 activity).  It was also connected to a wider sphere of worlds.  It remains on my agenda to develop this a bit more.  It’s not the worst place for a starting point, since it has something of a foundation to build on.

-The new and unnamed campaign world which was inspired by George RR Martin’s works (sort of), and which I conceived first in the summer of 2013 during my trip to Queensland, Australia.  The “sort of” refers more to a general renewed interest in an intrigue/politics based setting than any direct inspiration.  In addition to GRRM’s focus on political movements, I was also inspired by his innovative approach to world-building.  But the work in its entirety is still my own.

-Others (there are no shortage of these but I can expand on this later)

updated version of campaign ideas

Ideas for new campaign

-1 continent for western Europe, another few continents for other inspired cultures.

-6 major culture areas in the western continent, with subareas for each:  Medania, Annoria, Callania, Enthalia, Nordenia, and Ilenia.  These would correspond roughly to Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Italy.  So there would be the Four Kingdoms of Medania, the Eight Kingdoms of Annoria, the Kingdom of Callania, the Grand Imperium of Entalia, the Three Kingdoms of Nordenia and the Principalities of Ilenia.

-Demihumans exist but their settlements on the western continent are small, so they are rare in the west.  They do not generally like to live around men for various reasons.

-The races will be somewhat simple.  The Northmen are the people of most of Annoria, Entalia and Nordenia, as well as part of the other three kingdoms.  The Southmen are the people of most of Medania, Ilenia, and Callania.  The Southmen do not generally live in the North, even though the Northmen have moved in some numbers to the south.  The Southmen are more mixed as they also have mixed with the Desert Men of the continent to the south. 

-History:  There were once two great empires of men on this continent.  The Stone Men in the North and the Cavern Men in the south.  However, these bronze age civilizations were lost and no one knows how to read their writing, so not much is known about them – except for the fact that they are probably the predecessors to the modern Northmen and Southmen respectively.  To further complicate things, another population known as the High Men came from the east after the ancient empires fell and set up other empires.  The northern one split into warring groups and eventually fell, while the south became more and more powerful.  It eventually conquered much of the continent, as well as lands on the continents to the east and south, ruling over the Desert Men and the Civilized East.  However, they eventually were more or less assimilated into the local populace and in an ill understood period of chaos the empire collapsed.  Some people have attributed this to invasions from warlords originating in Entalia and Nordenia, but this is only part of the story and may not have been decisive in the collapse whatsoever.  Nevertheless, it seems clear that many modern aristocratic houses descend from either Northern warlords or High Men of the last age.

-Races:  High Men (mostly assimilated but some aristocratic houses are relatively unmixed), Northmen, Southmen, Hillmen (uncivilized tribes of the south), Clansmen (uncivilized tribes of the north), Men of the Holy Realm (northern Civilized East), Men of the Great Cult lands (southern Civilized East), Nomads of the Steppes and Wastes (East), Desert Men, White Eyes (Far North peoples on western and eastern continent), etc.

-Organization:  Each realm has its own traditions of rule, and these can be quite different from one another. 

In Annore, since the Keirlans of Waldaine (in Callania) united the formerly warring petty kingdoms, the feudal nobility is powerful with the Dukes (formerly Kings) being like to rulers in their own right.  This owes to the compromise that Richard Keirlan made early on in order to keep the kingdom he had built cohesive.  Yet few of the Dukes, despite their power, will openly rebel against the Crown unless given good reason.  It is currently ruled by House Lynnethe, descendants of House Keirlan’s maternal line, with their paternal line deriving from Angelon in Callania.

In Callania, the system has developed to have a strong king, whose power comes at the expense of the nobility.  In earlier times, Callania was very fragmented, but over the years, House Cassian has consolidated its power and established a strong and centralized rule.  The Cassian Kings, like the Tescelin Kings before them, are the main force that keeps an otherwise fractious land well in order.  Unlike in Annore, where the Kings rely on the support of regional Dukes that are rival noble families, the Callanian Kings choose Dukes from their own family whenever possible and try to put down the power of local nobles.  However, some of the old nobility are still quite powerful and resist the King’s agenda, such as the Counts of Chamelon.

Enthalia is called the Grand Imperium but this is a misleading name in most respects.  While the area has been more or less unified in the past, it has always had a powerful local nobility.  And in the past centuries the decentralization has increased.  Though there is an Emperor, who is nominally the ruler of the country, in reality he depends for most things on the nobility and is only as powerful as his allies – who will vary depending on his personal charisma.  The country is dominated by local nobles, powerful merchant cartels, and the clergy. 

Nordenia has the shortests tradition of Kingship.  Formerly it was a land of warring Jarls, but in the last few centuries it has become more and more ‘civilized’ though it still seems like a rough frontier land to the men from more cultured regions.  The nobility is powerful here, although Kings have been able to maintain order.  Slowly the area has coalesced into three major Kingdoms and a few minor states as well.

Medania is broken into Four Kingdoms, but the Kings here have forged a cohesive agreement with local nobility and priests to the extent that they are quite strong and independent units.  There is less distinction between these three estates than there may be elsewhere, and this is a land of strong, and some may even say fanatical, religious faith.

-Notes concerning the families:

-House Keirlan originated from Nordenian raiders who settled in the Waldaine region of Callania.  The old Duke of Waldaine, Aldous I, had a highborn wife Yda who was unfortunately sterile.  He took a mistress, Hermesent, who was the daughter of a townsman in his family’s seat of Roche Verte.  She was a comely woman, and fertile, and gave him two sons, Richard and Theobald, and a daughter, Hugolina.  He was forced to break off the liaison and married her to a close friend.  But his sons ended up taking advantage of the long wars plaguing Annore at the time.  Richard, who grew to be a man of vast personal charisma and great military and administrative brilliance, managed to enter the land that had never before unified and conquer it in one long campaign.  There was only one rebellion, not long after he won, which he put down with ruthless efficiency.  But Richard craved conquest and he wanted to hunt an old firedrake that was said to live in the northern mountains, and his entourage took him there.  He never returned.  As conquest was his one true love, and since his bastard birth had made him reluctant to father any baseborn children, he died without issue.  His brother, Theobald, who had been by his side in the conquests and who was more cautious and measured, became King.  He ended up marrying Adelina of Valandor, who gave him 11 children.  Though his eldest son, Aldous, should have been legal heir to all the possessions, his father did not favor him and he was only given Waldaine, which led to discord.  Eventually, one of his brothers, Hildebrand I, defeated him and incorporated his realm into the Kingdom of Annore.

-Geography:

Apart from the isle of Annore in the west and some isles in the south and east, there is the large mainland continent of Lorene.  Another continent, Maurwen, is not far beyond the eastern isles, and it is much larger.  Similarly, there is a continent to the north which is almost at the poles, and the continent of Khine beyond Maurwen farther east.  There are also the continents of Tazarene and Soundia further south.

Lorene is divided fairly well by the Titanspine mountains which run north to south through the center of the continent.  Four smaller ranges radiate out from it, forming aa rough dual-k formation.  Thus there are five realms:  Callania in the west, Nordenia across the north, Enthalia in the east, Ilenia in the southeast, and Medania in the southwest. 

-History of Annore:

The pattern of settlement is similar to that found in other parts of Lorene, but with its own variations.  First were the Rock Men, who wandered and never settled.  Then came the Flint Men, who farmed and lived in villages.  It was in the age of the Bronze Men that the first civilization arose here, the great Stonebuilder culture.  Although these people were literate to some extent, no one has deciphered their writing.  They were the first people to establish the town of Fenne on an island in the mighty Layne river.  The Iron Men came later.  It was said that this was a violent conquest, but whether that is true is far from certain.  These iron men built fortresses and were not altogether dissimilar to those who had come before.  They became the ancestors of the Clansmen.  After this came the High Men, or Steel Men, who established the Northern Empire here.  However, it eventually fragmented and its weakened remnants were destroyed in the era of the Darkwatch.  However, it was ruled again for a time by High Men from the Southern Empire which had survived the Darkwatch and put an end to the Kingdom of Ebonfire.  But the cost of this was the death of both Empires’ trueborn lines and the Southern Empire was not able to hold together after their Priest-Kings had been lost.  A period of chaos ensued.  Only one brief period of stability was to be had for centuries, when the Annorean warlord Aron the Conqueror established a kingdom and eventually conquered much of the old Southern Empire lands as well.  Unfortunately this did not long outlast his death and the realm fell prey to the invasions of migrating Northmen.  Not too long after this, the Fisher Northmen, as they were called, adopted the Imperial Cult as their religion and established numerous small kingdoms in Annore.  They were occasionally disrupted by invasions from Frostsea Northmen.  This was the state of affairs that more or less persisted until the Unification of Annore by Richard and Theobald Kaerlan, at which point the petty kingdoms became Duchies and the invasions from the Frostsea Northmen began to fade away.

Places in Annore:

Crown Duchy of Fenne

Duchy of Percia (largest and oldest apart from Fenne)

Duchy of Lakelands

Duchy of Athelmark

Duchy of Cairnheath

Important Families in Annore:

House Lynnethe, the Angelon Norians and Kings of Annore

House Corcelle

House Maubrey

House Brynwell

House Athereon

ideas for new campaign

-1 continent for western Europe, another few continents for other inspired cultures.

-6 major culture areas in the western continent, with subareas for each:  Medania, Annoria, Callania, Entalia, Nordenia, and Ilenia.  These would correspond roughly to Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Italy.  So there would be the Four Kingdoms of Medania, the Eight Kingdoms of Annoria, the Kingdom of Callania, the Grand Imperium of Entalia, the Three Kingdoms of Nordenia and the Principalities of Ilenia.

-Demihumans exist but their settlements on the western continent are small, so they are rare in the west.  They do not generally like to live around men for various reasons.

-The races will be somewhat simple.  The Northmen are the people of most of Annoria, Entalia and Nordenia, as well as part of the other three kingdoms.  The Southmen are the people of most of Medania, Ilenia, and Callania.  The Southmen do not generally live in the North, even though the Northmen have moved in some numbers to the south.  The Southmen are more mixed as they also have mixed with the Desert Men of the continent to the south. 

-History:  There were once two great empires of men on this continent.  The Stone Men in the North and the Cavern Men in the south.  However, these bronze age civilizations were lost and no one knows how to read their writing, so not much is known about them – except for the fact that they are probably the predecessors to the modern Northmen and Southmen respectively.  To further complicate things, another population known as the High Men came from the east after the ancient empires fell and set up other empires.  The northern one split into warring groups and eventually fell, while the south became more and more powerful.  It eventually conquered much of the continent, as well as lands on the continents to the east and south, ruling over the Desert Men and the Civilized East.  However, they eventually were more or less assimilated into the local populace and in an ill understood period of chaos the empire collapsed.  Some people have attributed this to invasions from warlords originating in Entalia and Nordenia, but this is only part of the story and may not have been decisive in the collapse whatsoever.  Nevertheless, it seems clear that many modern aristocratic houses descend from either Northern warlords or High Men of the last age.

-Races:  High Men (mostly assimilated but some aristocratic houses are relatively unmixed), Northmen, Southmen, Hillmen (uncivilized tribes of the south), Clansmen (uncivilized tribes of the north), Men of the Holy Realm (northern Civilized East), Men of the Great Cult lands (southern Civilized East), Nomads of the Steppes and Wastes (East), Desert Men, White Eyes (Far North peoples on western and eastern continent), etc.

new setting

Actually it is based on the old setting of Arkon in the old days, although I may come up with a new name.

Places

The current setting is the continent of Beron, which is the main continent.  It can be imagined as sort of a fantastic version of Europe.

Kingdom of Ennore
-Influenced by Great Britain, this country is an island kingdom and a constitutional monarchy with a powerful mercantile and industrial class that rules from behind the scenes; while the monarchy is not entirely without power, they do not assert their strength much and prefer to live an easy lifestyle and let others govern.

Heiligenreich
-The center of the Beron civilization for more than 1000 years, since the rise of the great lord Runo (successor to the Eleustrian Emperor Tescelin).  This realm has gone throug many permutations over the years.  Most recently, before PEregrine, it had been a collection of loosely organized states with no overarching rule.  After the reorganization that followed, it slowly moved toward unification, finally doing so after its leading kingdom defeated Angelin in a war.

Republic of Angelin (formerly Kingdom of Eleustria; Empire of Peregrine)
-This country was once, with Heiligenreich, the heart of Beron.  Its monarchy was overthrown in a violent revolution and a republic led by the Benite sect took over.  It proved too unstable to provide rule in the face of attacks by outlying realms afraid of its ambitions, which paved the way for the warlord Peregrine to seize power and attempt to totally conquer the other realms.  This attempt failed, and the country has seesawed between Imperial and Republican rule ever since.

Kingdom of Sacia
-This realm has a long and distinguished history.  It was once the heart of the Mesciel Empire, which once ruled large swathes of land both in and beyond Beron proper.  It also was, later on, a collection of powerful mercantile states under no centralized rule.  The city of Mesciel remained notable after the fall of its Empire, thanks to the institution of the Church.  The Great Father of the Church of Holy Light resides in this city.  However, after the schisms of several hundred years ago, the Church lost central power.  Then, around the same time, other kingdoms had set up an independent trade structure which led the states in Sacia to decline.  It is a constitutional monarchy, with strong differentiation between the north and south regions.

Empire of Aravos
-This realm was once a Tsardom that was the great bastion of the Eastern CoHL, which broke off from the Western long ago.  But it was overthrown in a revolution by an alliance between the peasantry and the Arogenian Order, who decided that together they could seize power from the declining lords.  Since then it has become powerful, but also increasingly bellicose and volatile.

Ideas

The setting is somewhat like postwar Europe but with a fantastic turn.  In some respects technology is similar to modernity, but there are also areas in which it is farther advanced due to the magic of the setting.  This setting might have some similarities to a mage ascension type setting, except that it represents more of a third position between technocracy and mythic than that setting did, which had the two very much in dualistic opposition.  Also, because of various reasons, religion did not decline in this setting to the extent it has in the real world, and religious sects wield great power as a consequence.

The countries were once united by a religion called the Church of the Holy Light.  This religion began to have internal problems which led to violent schisms several centuries prior.  However, it stayed a robust and powerful faith throughout challenges.  It was opposed by a heretical sect with some similarities known as the Arogenian Order which was once nearly wiped out, but began to gain in power after the schismatic period.  Another powerful sect arose during the great turmoil in Eleustria.  The Benite sect, a complete repudiation of the Holy Light religion, took control of the revolution there. However, it was unable to completely eradicate the power of the Holy Light and eventually was forced to come to a compromise with them after the fall of Peregrine.