The Continent of Orn

Orn

Description

Orn is a continent bounded by large oceans on three sides, and ice facing the night. It has several mountains dividing the open areas into distinct regions, like the hilly plains on the leadwards side, the great sunwards forest, the trailing encompased mist, or the central great elevated plateau.

Relations to other continents

The cultures on Orn has had limited contact with its neighboring continents. Some expeditions of adventurous explorers have reached the shores of both Cepra, Tumanako and the leading shores of K'Shaal, but due to the dangers of sea crossings like this there is no regular travel or trade to these continents. They knew of their existance, as well as that of many others, due to old maps that survived to the present from before the Destruction of Orn. Despite this, cartographers invariably desire to validate for themselves.

In the latter decades there has been expeditions to the leadwards continent, dubbed Abora, after the name found on an old salvaged map. Unlike Cepra and K'Shaal, there are large unclaimed and uninhabited areas here, and the crossing is relatively safe. This has led to adventurous crossings made by emigrants from Mendaris, with mixed success. Many do so under the banner of the Mendarian government, and other are sponsored by private companies.

History

Orn started out as an offshoot from K'Shaal. See History of the K'Shaali Empire for the history leading up to their independence.

The modern history of Orn is defined by the Destruction of Orn, an event that happened about 809 years ago, not long after the Ordering. For a long time after this destruction, the survivors had a hard time existing on the continent, much less recording their history, so things are a bit muddled for the first decades of this new existence.

Notable locations where survivors established settlements and later restarted civilization were those in the Mistwreath, those on the Thundertop, and in Wahlminster. Of these the one from Mistwreath was the one that spread out and conquered the vast majority of the landmass. The Thundertop stayed isolated, not claiming any land beyond their plateau and the central canyon. The people in the Wahlminster/Lengfield region, the fledgling Ashen Empire, were mostly wiped out by religiously motivated military conquests done by the migrants from Mistwreath. Their survivors were converted and subsumed by the now dominant culture. Later on this conquest slipped from the rule of the theocratic Mistwreath, and the Mendarian nation emerged.

The elves have their own history that is not generally recorded by humans, so how they survived the destruction is not known. What is known is that they defend the borders to the Verdant Veil with great ferocity. Capturing, or out right murdering any intruders.

Further reading

Technology

The general level of technology on Orn is what could be called preindustrial, on the verge of larger dissemination of higher technology across the entirety of the continent. The knowledge of gunpowder and its uses are known throughout, which has resulted in firearms, explosives and siege equipment.

The reliable wind from the night, and water wheels, are reliable sources of kinetic power. This is used for pumps, bellows, mills, and much more.

In Mendaris steam power has recently seen an increase in use, mainly for industrial machinery, but also for trains and boats. This was made possible by advancements in metallurgy and engineering. Mendaris also has some advancements in alchemy, and though still highly useful, it is not at the heights of this field among Orns nations.

On the Thundertop, also known as Brienyamar, there are advancements in lightning manipulation. This is made possible by the magical talents that run in their noble bloodlines. They have also mastered the art of airship construction, and employ them to cross the central canyon as others cross a lake.

In the Fellfen there are uniquely suited environments for a large amount of useful exotic plants. That is why it is widely accepted that alchemy "originated" there with wise old folk using herbs to do all sorts of things. This tradition has persisted, and they are to this day leading in the field of alchemy field. Their trading relation with Mendaris has given them the taste for steam power, and they now regularly employ steam pumps in their agriculture, among other things.

In the Mistwreath they have taken note of Fellfen's use of alchemy, and have taken their own approach to the subject. The religious traditions they have also expresses as a limited amount of divine magic. In the terms of advanced technology, the Mistwreath has little to show, though their architects and builders are superbly adept at planning and constructing tall buildings - something the cities of the Mistwreath is well known for.

Magic

The art of magic in the arcane and divine sense is mostly lost to the inhabitants of the nations of Orn when the continent fell into chaos. This caused the survivors to learn to get by the hard way, through hard work, blood, sweat and elbow grease.

Lately some progress has been made in the field of artifice with a pinch of its own kind of magic as a result of discoveries of old artifacts found in ruins around the continent. This is expressed mostly in Mendaris by urban gnomes due to their latent affinity to magic. In addition there are organizations that proports to study arcane magic, such as The Royal Academy of Wizards as well as a myriad of dubious practitioners of everything from palmistry to angel summoning. Many of these are clear charlatans, but among them some really strange real magical practitioners can be found, practicing psychic magic and other occult arts.

On Brienyamar another kind of magic has emerged in the recent centuries. A talent for lightning generation and manipulation, but also to an extent a general selection of spells, travel in their noble bloodlines.

In the trailing region of the Mistwreath, religious traditions and practices produce and maintain a number of clerics who perform their miraculous acts in service of their faith. These are at odds with an even smaller number of pact magicians that make deals with otherworldly spirit as a way to acquire power.

Alchemy originated in the Fellfen with their wealth of exotic herbs and roots, and is one of the oldest ways of producing magical and pseudo-magical potions and ointments. It spread to most other regions and nations, and they now have their own traditions and specialties. The Mistwreath especially have taken to the practice of alchemy to suppliment their clerics, and has resulted in a strong trade relation between them and the Fellfen that is still active, despite their recent troubles

Magic items

Advanced magic items are mainly found through archeology, but simple +1 weapons and armor can reliably be made by artisans with relative ease - as per the Toilcrafter trait, or similar feats.

Artificers, alchemists and the few wizards and clerics that involve themselves can all help in creating magic items and related products. They are not common by most metrics, so magic items with special properties are not widely available. The price of the materials needed is also prohibitive to most but the wealthy. That is to say, the rarity of magically gifted individuals, and the fact that they often have better things to do, means an increased scarcity of new custom magic items.

Detecting magic items can in many cases be done by common sense. If a sword is shedding light, or if a breastplate is floating an inch above any surface it's placed down on, it is probably magical. That being said, abilities that analyzes magical properties to a greater extent removes most doubts about the details, like determining the exact schools or properties, which is useful for some items.

Note

Many of what would be magical items are also present as technological proxies. Telegrafy instead of sending stones for instance. They may even cross the stream, so to speak, where a slight magical nudge may connect a speaking set to a sending stone, or visa versa. The same limits to usage still applies in both instances.

In short there should be little practical difference. Feel free to suggest your own mid-tech conversions if you think of one.

Dangers

Orn is a continent with many dangers, from wildlife and magical beasts, to the Lords and Ladies, and even other people. Most peoples live in "harmony" with these threats. That is to say none of them pose a clear and present existential danger to humanity on the continent. This does however not mean that individual humans are safe if wandering out into the wilderness or delve too deep into the night.

Threats from within

It is said that the greatest enemy of man is himself. That is to say many threats to the various human societies on Orn come from other humans, be they of differing ideologies, or from rival nations.

In urban settings, a commoner is largely safe, but from time to time murderers arise to exploit the relative anonymity afforded by a city. Other go full out killing in a more frenzied manner, like a fox in a chicken coop. That is to say nothing about the shady dealings of those involved in rulership or politics, who deal with their own set of challenges.

Suburban and unguarded roads may also be beset by highwaymen or other bandits, making guarded caravans necessary for high value transports.

Threats from without

The fauna on Orn varies greatly. The Mendarian countryside is home to domesticated animals in and around cities and settlements, but where wilderness still exist, a large range of frightful beasts and strange monsters reign.