DM stuff

[Rudolf]

@Thramzorean here you go…

[Thramzorean]

The Scene

In all the world there was perhaps no greater traffic that passed along a land-based trade route. Certainly not one of such length, the many dozens and dozens of long leagues that separated the kingdoms and diverse lands of the north and south of the continent. Merchant caravans of every sort, carting every manner of goods imaginable, travelers of every ilk - all used either the Mountain or the Ice Road. So they were aptly named, the two long threads that all had to choose which way they would take.

Such was the nature of the geography of the region where impassable mountain ranges and the vast unnatural ice plateau left only one gap which could be traversed between north and south. In the middle of the gap was hundreds of square leagues of fetid swamp fed by the cold melt waters of the ice, leaving only a ribbon of land either side where a road could run.

The Mountain Road, or the Ice Road. Every year after winter released its grip the choice would be made by guilds and tradesmen, factols and wagontrain operators, which way to go.

To take the Mountain Road meant the central part of the journey passed along a route patrolled by the independent kingdom of Lillian... whose rapacious tolls were as carefully set on a yearly basis as the decisions of the guildmasters. It was a balancing act. The merchants had to consider the cost of the tolls versus the cost of the guards they would have to employ anyway, the protection of Lillian was never fullproof, that was impossible with the swamp bordering the road for hundreds of miles.

To take the Ice Road was perilous. Jammed between the swamp and ice plateau the Ice Road was at the mercy of whatever chose to attack those travelling on it. A caravan was guaranteed numerous violent assaults from swamp predators to bandits to frost giants descending from the plateau. Only the most well equipped and militaristic convoys of wagons could consider that route. Yet as the Lillian tolls grew so did the cooperatives of merchants that would band together to take the Ice Road and so it went. 

All manner of tactics fair and foul have been employed over the years by the merchants, by the kingdoms and realms that abutt the region, by aspiring lordlings, by bandits and every conceivable hoarding monster to garner the wealth of the trade to themselves. Mercenaries serve as guards one year, and sponsored robbers the next. Elite agents and disguised guild enforcers watch then act, and so it continues. Purchase yourself the protection of one of the well known experienced professional guard units, and all wonder what it is they are to protect. This is trade at its most ruthless... where all parties play for keeps.

In recent years the relative numbers taking the Ice Road had increased. The road to the north of the Kingdom of Lillian beyond the reach of its usual patrols had grown more dangerous, raiding orcs and a pair of black dragons the chief culprits, while the tolls had remained high. This year the merchants had decided to force the Kingdom's hand by coordinating two enormous caravans at the beginning of the trading season. One to head south, the other north along the Ice Road. Lillian would either have to arrange a small army to sweep northwards, or lower its tolls.

Then, disaster. Both caravans vanished, incredibly disappearing without trace or sign of survivors. Such a thing had not happened since a migrating tribe of ogre magi had annihilated an Empire of Light sponsored wagon train a decade ago.

The Lillian tolls had immediately doubled at the news.

The merchant masters were distraught to the point of considering petitioning war against the Kingdom, but there was little appetite for that, the burned hand was not forgotten. With the Lillians entrenched in their high mountain fortresses you might as well try and conquer a dwarf realm. Other methods had to found... and that meant discovering just what had happened to the vanished caravans.

Edited March 23 by Thramzorean (see edit history)

[Thramzorean]

 

The ice plateau has many names in many languages. For as long as history records this anomalous feature has been part of the world. Interplanar rifts are hardly common, yet it is the only explanation to date for this strange ice land as large as many combined kingdoms in the midst of what would otherwise be a temperate region. On its edges it crumples up into rugged sharp mountains of ice, with small ice hills occasionally trailing off. There is a famous location on the Ice Road through such, the Narrows, where the ice presses on both sides of the road and the watch redoubled. 

 

The Swamp. A incredibly large area of mist covered boggy fens, stunted tree growth and dank tangled vegetation. Within it primeval reptilian creatures breed, eat and hunt, while those sentient beings that can survive in such a setting make settlements either on the periphery, on hidden land mounds, or islands of floating reeds. Half-frozen in winter, its many inhabitants prowl and feed on each other and the abundant wildlife. Food both vegetable or meat is easy to obtain, being the predator rather than the prey another matter.

The Swamp is either road's constant companion. Sometimes near, sometimes far. Cries and roars of gigantic beasts can be heard at any time, yet worse is the evenings when the clammy swamp fog drifts out and over the road, the silence of the stalking night descends, and every watchman shivers in fear.

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The city of Rodenhall. Not so much a city as a vast sprawl across the open steppe of stables and warehouses, of smithies and inns, where every possible service from spellcasting to saunas is available. Ranches of pack mules, stockyards jammed with exotic beasts of burden, training halls of guardsmen, and even larger halls of scribes and financiers. This is a trade center to make all other trade centers appear like a road-side stall. It is located at the southern joining of the Mountain Road and the Ice Road. The northern side is not nearly well defined, the roads branching into the more disparate realms of the north. Here, at this southern junction, all roads run together, and it is here in Rodenhall that the major policies and decision making by the Unified (and not so unified) Guilds take place.

In itself Rodenhall is a hotbed of deadly activity. Theives, rogues and scoundrels of all stripes attempt to establish themselves here, where the Empire of Light's laws are in abeyance. The Unified Guilds have the right to rule in Rodenhall as they choose, where arbitrary execution can befall any criminal at the whim of the Guilds.

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The Kingdom of Lillian has a long history tied intimately with the history of humans on this continent. The Lillians are what are traditionally considered the original stock of the people who inhabited these lands, who chose to be pushed to the corners of the vast Empire rather than be assimilated. While not blood enemies, Lillians have been unfriends of the other countries that have grown and fallen around this tiny hold-out state, for not one of their neighbours has ever passed up the opportunity to attempt to conquer the Kingdom. Fiercely independent, self sufficient and loyal to their own, they are a stoic proud people who do not bow.

 

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Edited March 23 by Thramzorean (see edit history)

[Thramzorean]

This is a bulk standard D&D world, where all gods may be accessed, power levels more in tune with 10+ levels as being reasonably heavy hitters but higher stuff is about. Humans are dominant only here in this particular continent and many other races are found in numbers. Alignments are grey to a fair degree. Gestalt characters are not the norm, however people with at least some characters levels are more common than many settings. [/I]