Lands Around Liminal

Rinhony

The continent upon which Liminal sits is called Rinhony.

Agrannmar

After generations of raiding from the orcs of Rademar, the lands south of the Ilandor Mountains knew a large population of half-orcs. Since these peoples were often somewhat outcasts, they tended to band together. Nearly a hundred years ago, Agrannmar, a great half-orc prophet rose, foretelling the rise of a great half-orc nation. He traveled through the Southerlands, drawing a large body of half-orc followers as he traveled east, finally settling in the lands northwest of Raedmar, lands often thought too close to the orcish empire to risk raiding. The prophet and his powerful followers built and defended their lands, giving birth to a great half-orcish nation named after its founder.

Almanni

An insular and reclusive nation to Liminal's north, Almanni is a parliamentary monarchy. In the last two centuries, theocratic zealots seized control of the parliament. Now the nation's king must do everything in his power to maintain a strict adherence to the nation's orthodoxy. The parliament is also in command of a bureaucratic order who constantly test the peoples of Almanni for the presence of heresy - this inquisitional force is, in many ways, the true power in the nation of Almanni.

• The Almanni Theocracy: The offices of the Theocracy are divided by the functions of the gods. They include: the Offices of the Lord Theocrat (Aevo), the Hearth-Keepers of Almanni (Edyma), the Almanni Inquisition (Makoryn).

Aumas

The Aumasi are a fiercely independent people. Though both Delvion and Litora lay claim to ownership over these hilly lands, the people of Aumas want nothing with either of them. The Aumasi are divided into clans along familial lines, and the clan-heads are fractious and prone to feuding. The spiritual guides of the clan-heads are known as the "wisdoms," magicians in touch with the Primal Powers of the hinterlands.

The Badlands

A broad, wind-swepped steppe to the west and north of Liminal, the Badlands are widely considered unsettle-able. The soil is poor and water is scarce, to say nothing of the many tribes who wander its hills.

The Delannwood

The greatest forest on Rinhony, the Delannwood is a long, snaking expanse of old growth forest to the south and east of Liminal. In some areas, the woods are so thick that the canopy is almost impossible to see through to the sky above. The Delannwood is home to a number of peoples and nations, including:

• The Delann Elves: X
• Shifter Tribes: X
• The Tanglewood Orcs: X

Delvion

An old kingdom, Delvion has long been at war with their neighboring nation of Litora over the lands of Aumas. Delvion has a large navy, and a long-established military tradition.

Empire of the Nine

Once nine separate kingdoms ruled by sorcerer-kings, the Empire of the Nine (to Liminal's northeast) was founded by Taldiress, the First Adhalmagus, a cultural hero who formed joined all the sorcerer-kings into a single House. In the days since, the Nine Kingdoms have remained functionally separate, each ruled by an arcane sovereign, as in the old days, with one exception - all such sovereigns come from House Taldiress, and all bow to the Adhalmagus, the Emperor-Mage. Powerful magicians in the Empire are usually married or adopted into House Taldiress, while lesser magicians are given spots in the various orders and organizations of the Empire. What they are not permitted to do is not be affiliated with the House of the Adhalmagus.

The Frostfells

A frozen wastelands, the Frostfells are a savage and untamed place. There is very little reason for most folk to go to such a place - there are no settlements, and only the occasional wandering tribes, human and otherwise.

Holandi City-States

A collection of city-states united by a peaceful gathering of leaders who formed the Holandi Compact. A bastion of the Merchant Guilds in the Southerlands.

• Sudmunar: A city-state ruled by a theocratic priest-king of Makoryn.

Ilandor Mountains

A dense and tall range of mountains, the Ilandor are well-known to be unnavigable. The most reliable method for reaching them is the low valley between the Ilandor Mountains and the Thundering Range, a port city ruled by Tamous. These mountains are populated by all manner of terrors. Unlike most of the mountain ranges of Rinhony, no known dwarven ruins have been found among them.

Iodan Islands

Small fishing villages, with one or two larger towns, the Iodan Islands were once a nearly unpopulated island chain of fishermen who could only flee when signs of Raedmar raiding ships appeared on the horizon. Two hundred years ago, however, a number of boats appeared on the western horizon - dragonborn ships from out of Iokha. These refugees fled some political fall-out or another (the exact details of which they keep very private), but in the time since, about half the populace of the Iodan Islands are dragonborn.

Litora

A large seafaring nation, Litora has long been at war with Delvion over the lands of Aumas. The Litorans are ruled by a parliament of noble houses, and have a reputation as pirates and demonologists.

Raedmar

A distant and savage land, Raedmar is thought to be home to a great goblin nation, a massive empire of orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and their ilk. Though they often raid in the kingdoms south of the Ilandor Mountains, most of Rinhony rarely sees any sort of interaction from these tribes.

The River Kingdoms

The stretch of plains to the west of Liminal (south of the Badlands) is criss-crossed by a number of rivers that flow out of the Badlands and the Sunset Peaks, south into the Empire of the Nine. These fertile lands are home to a handful of city-states and small kingdoms. Some of these kingdoms include:

• Astrapola: A small kingdom, at the center of which is the Citadel of the Eye, the center of the cult of the Starry Wisdoms. The foremost academy for astrologers in Rinhony, the upper echelons of the Citadel are those warlocks who have contacted the Starry Wisdoms themselves.
• Dorvaer: The so-called Farmer Ladies of Dorvaer wield great power for a simple reason: they are the bread basket of the River Kingdoms. A kingdom ruled by a small collection of agricultural nobility, Dorvaer worships the Two Mothers (Edyma and Ulandira). The rulers of the lands are all women, as well, for its people maintain that the proper functioning of a farmstead - the man tends and protects the land, while the wife nurtures and runs the household - should apply to the running of a nation as well.

The Sunset Peaks

A long range of mountains along the western edge of Rinhony on the other side of the River Kingdoms from Liminal, the Sunset Peaks were once the center of a great dwarven kingdom before the Fall of the Dwarven Kings. Now, the ancient citadels are in the control of the Merchant Guilds, with trading towns at the base of the mountains.

Tamous

South of Liminal is the military nation of Tamous, ruled by a powerful king, AEdomyr Ylrannin. Their society is distinctly feudal, backed by noble houses, knightly orders and a particularly militaristic church called the Faith of the Throne, which worships Aevo as the father of the goddesses Khoro and Sacrista (their local incarnation of the Red Lady). Tamous considers itself a civilizing influence, and they are known for their expansionist and militaristic ways. The nation was once much smaller, but has since absorbed other kingdoms around it in the last hundred and fifty years.

• Eledir City, the capital city.
• Ervidor, in western Tamous. It is a city notorious for its adventurers, many of whom use Ervidor as a base to strike out in exploration of the Thundering Range, well known for its ancient and abandoned dwarven citadels.

The Thundering Range

A wild mountain range known to possess a great many abandoned or otherwise ruined dwarven citadel spaces, the Thundering Range is home to many tribes of giants and their ilk. Its stone possesses a high iron content, which the dwarves believed drew storms in off the ocean to it, for this range sees a great many thunderstorms.

Ydalrin Peninsula

A forested peninsula, Ydalrin is home to at least two small nations of elves and eladrin, and there is at least one eladrin city known to appear in its northern borders, where the forests meet the misty peaks of the southern Ilandors.

Iokha

A continent made up of island chains across the western sea from Rinhony, Iokha is known as the Land of Dragons. It is said that dragons first came into the world there on that massive continent, and it is home to the ancient dragonborn empires. Only occasionally do traders from Iokha come to the western coast of Rinhony, usually in great dragon-shaped ships. It is known that the Iokhani worship the god Aevo in an aspect called Iov, the Father of Dragons; they may also worship other powers, who may be primal spirits, or simply gods in draconic aspects.

Kylin Garr

Called the Blasted Lands, Kylin Garr is found northeasterly of Rinhony. A sere-burnt landscape of sharp, jagged ashen rocks, deserts and salt marshes, Kylin Garr was destroyed generations ago by magical devastation. It is believed that the ancestors of the sorcerer-kings of the Empire of the Nine came across the sea to Rinhony fleeing that destruction. Little is known about the place in this age: there is nothing there the other continents want, and whatever peoples dwell there now do not seem to be interested in (or perhaps able to) leave it.

Other Continents

Sages claim that there are other continents, to the south of Rinhony, and some beyond the other known continents. But the distances are so great that they are effectively the stuff of legend.