Barking Alien Challenge day8: Local People & Culture

 

This is tricky as mostly its generic faux pan European mostly. It was kind of the point to tack in moduleas and content i liked. 

But the third empire remnants were just quashed and the rebel states now have uncontested sovereignty and are rebuilding. Many were depopulated by the civil war and abandoned frontier regions. Everywhere is now feudal rather than part of an imperial republic turned despotic. Still, even though the first and second empires feel like foreign lands, the continent has 3000 years of shared civilisation.

Everywhere, civilisation is bustling, not just for weapons and resources for war anymore, but for building new settlements, wagons, ships, and luxury items. Business is thriving and the lords in their castles and city palaces want to reclaim control of frontiers and rural wilds. The church to has had to change. The fall of the empire has made the church look bad and the former capital state is now under the control of the church of Light Templars who invaded from the west. The older gods of the second empire have been more popular and appealing to everyman craftmen and working folk. The much older gods of nature and elements which existed in the wild people and barbarian,s have arisen again into civilised areas. The gods of light included some of these older gods but Protar the lord of light was the favourite and his mother, Solaria the wife of the Sun God. The fire and hearth gods are given some respect with shrines.  

Since Chagrinspire and the war a thousand years ago most of the gods stopped visiting the world. Avatars were killed but also imprisoned and used for energy to power their universe nullification device. They also summoned demons and gods from beyond the void and destroyed them utterly. In recent years, more summonings and cults have been observed and petty godlings have been roaming the world again on this continent now it is safe for them. Bogrump the turnip god has thrived in the wastes of Chagrinspire and been officially accepted as a minor approved farm god by the church of light. Chagrinspire at its peak at the end of the second empire was advanced and this magic spread to the allied kingdoms. Since then this technology has been shunned by churches. Blackpowder exists but is uncommon and pricey and requires skills to be operational without risk. The warring kingdoms and city states of the east lands are the largest users of guns and seek to reclaim the secret of smokeless powder and cartridge-based firearms. 

The great waste of the southern centre are barbarian and nomadic kingdoms that notoriously hate wizards, gods and literacy. A grudge since they destroyed the monster kingdoms. There are many beast folk tribes in the wilds also and they have more in common with each other and orc tribes than with civilisation. 

Kingdoms of the Continent
Mordnar - currently thriving and optomistic with new bardic schools thriving in a new age of idealism for knights. Many of the old estates abide by older rules or may even be fairy touched or cursed. Many young knights go to the borders of Auldwood for adventure in the endless forest trails, villages and decaying knightly manors of the old orders.

Lamnutainia - the former emperor's kingdom, now shattered and occupied. Many know they were duped and are helping exterminate the old order. Some old guard wish the old empire to return. Some hope to hijack the church and start a crusade. Commoners are rebuilding an now more mobile and able to travel. Some are optomistic a new ruler acceptable to the Light Templars will be anointed and keep the peace. People are sick of war and crusades and the church of the deified emperor. Some people want the Templars gone. A land of conflict and troubles after the civil war.

Dormund - The Light Templar Kingdom with castles and church estates with some private knight domains sworn to the church and given land in return like a king. People are proud of ending the Empire by superior virtue and divine favour. They feel increasingly zealous against cults and other faiths.

Kastria - prosperous knightly domains and castles of various orders. They prefer the more humanistic gods of civilisation but many aristocrats give lip service to the Church of Light. Some orders and knights seem to have fallen to dangerous cults. Frontier farms and villages are often as being cictims of awful abominations. 

Aeostra - Fully restoring the old nature gods and allowing barbarians to settle. They hate the church of light for the massacres during the occupation. These mobilised the population to reject modern religion, yet keep their modern feudalism.

Tulan - This moody mountainous kingdom is built on the prehistoric ruins of troll civilisation from when they were civilised wonder workers. Locals have to deal with trolls and all participate in millitary drills and carry arms. People are harsher, meloncholic and more pessimistic. They also tolerate the inbred aristocrats. They worship the civilised gods and the old gods especialy sky and weather and death gods. They drink alchemist distilled spirits and have made progress with armour, weapons and tactics. Famous for crossbow and halberd mercenaries. Their adjacent kingdoms are fearful of the future of Tulan. 

Valadran - a failed country run by robber barons, slavers and bandit warlords. Ocasionaly a king holds the land together a few years. Commoners are wretched and poor and revolts are brutally oppressed. Kingdom was heavily involved in the global slave trade and their troubles from adventurers have bankrupted them. Some revolts have succeeded or are being waged against robber knights and bandit warlords. Many commoners and escaped slaves have fled the land too. This is the only land whose population is shrinking.

Zorda - People of Zorda love wizards and dragons who rule them. Most of the land is ruled by wizard lords and about 10% are ruled by dragons. Draconic abhumans, draconic templars and shapeshifting dragons may be employed by dragons. Some sorcerers draw power from dragon shapeshifter ancestors. There are draconic changelings who switch from small dragons tohuman agents. They have many remnants of ancient Exilon including civic buildings, ziggerats and caselations on their forts. Many wizard traditions thrive here and spread to other lands. Nobility of Zorda are perfumed, wear makeup, wigs and dye their beards to look more god-like. Commoners here are aided my magical constructs and charmed monsters. Bandits and wandering monsters are rarer here and criminals are fed to dragons or given to wizards to experiment on. Continental peoples dislike the flashy ways and arrogance of this land and claim they are soft without wizards and dragons. They in the past had flying ships that helped armies cross the world to die at Chagrinspire a thousand years ago. Zorda has remained for 5000 years without regime change.

I might do some domain tables. My exilon barbarian tables might be fine still.
More Con report stuff too
Maybe a d100 magic bugs