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>>86150850

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>>86150865

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>>86150883

1 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84774616/
2 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84847594/
3 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84864673/
4 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84877899/
5 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84890048/
6 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84918731/
7 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84930206/
8 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84943450/
9 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84963046/
10 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/84990296/
11 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85001905/
12 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85025361/
13 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85034498/
14 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85074457/
15 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85181021/
15#2 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85273765/
16 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85357735/
17 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85442583/
17#2 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85499731/
18 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85554910/
21 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85580942/
22 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85686282/
23 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85775039/
24 - https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85865971/

Someone archive the 25th one.

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Timeline for now.

25 is already archived:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/85981957/

The trick is that you got to save the link before the troll has a chance to add the thread to suptg, then downvoted it off the suptg search window in hopes we won't be able to find it and link to it

I already archived 26 as well: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2022/86150840/

Have we agreed on the alignment axis?

>>86151870
We could just go for a DnD Chaos/Law and Good/Evil. Another option that was talked about in the other thread is Isolationist/Expansionist.

>>86151252
Thanks.

>>86152360
I like the Expansionist-Isolationist and Authoritarian-Libertarian axis. We should place every nation/faction on the axis and then go about drawing them

So do we have any idea of how the banners and flags of the big empires should be?

>>86154188
Azan should be a yellow Eastern dragon on a tyrian purple background. Avangar should be a black helmet surrounded by flames.

>>86152837
Seconded

>>86152837
I think it would be better as maybe 3 scales, from cooperative to belligerent, outward focused to inward focused, and authoritarian to libertarian. Theres a big difference between a conquering empire and a nation establishing diplomatic relations will all its neighbors, and I don't think expansionist would encompass everything that isolationist does not.

>>86154188
Changrila could have an orange sun setting beneath the red ground set in front of either the purple or yellow sky, with the purple version being used by the royal court and for very formal occasions.

>>86151252
>still talking about grundiddy poster
NGMI

>>86157839
To clarify, this could be organized with outward focused/inward focused being used for the grid itself, with cooperative to belligerent determining the color of the background. While this would mean that one aspect of it isn't organized, it would allow for more options. While I would make it myself, I lack the artistic ability and the knowledge about the setting.

So any good idea for a fantasy domestic animal?

>>86160082
I was thinking about a very sturdy, hairy donkey species which is used to traverse the mountainous southern peninsulas of Scimitaria

>>86160082
there are the giant harvest behemoths used for plowing the fieds of golden grain

>>86152360
I say we do good/evil and authoritarian/libertarian

>>86162118
What about good/evil and expansionist/isolationist?

>>86162528
I prefer this one

So would it be better to make the axis expansionist/isolationist and authoritarian/libertarian?

>>86164325
I'd say so.

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Done.

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>>86165506
Dammit, missed the mistake. Fixed.

>>86150850
>not Gnoll Gnempire

>>86165551
Why, though?

>>86165562
Gn

>>86165528
Top right should be the gnolls or the death blossom

>>86165599
Remember that the Nameless Gnoll Emperor has been trying to reel in the gnoll's expansion and violence against the empire's neighbours. In current year, they don't have near as many conflicts as they had in their heyday.

eh, I personally dont know about this alignment acess, its way too "state level" rather than actually "alignment" in terms of how the populace generally acts.

of course if it is more describing the macro nature of states thats fine, but I like the frank generality of good-evil law-chaos as general principles. though there are others.

Like you wouldnt describe someone as expansionist, but you would describe a state that way.

>>86165506
>Maximum expansionists
From top to bottom

Avangar, Gnolls, Death Blossom, Witch Elves, Vzdoruye, Drunigzar Colonists

>>86165528
Maximum isolasionists from top to bottom

>God Emperor of Sniden
>Chrysovica Cultists
>Scarred Phantoms
>SonQo Monks
>Blackstone Prison Wardens
>Hogmen

>>86165629
I think expansionist-isolationist is fine since we're talking about factions or states 99% of the time.

>>86165645
>Drunigzar Colonists

>Selling raiding ships to the gnolls? Why, whe would never do that!
>Why do you ask, though? Do you want a raiding ship?

>>86165697
I don't think the Scarred Phantoms should be maximum isolationists, sure they are not expansionist either but they're basically an assassin's guild and therefore have their own interests to serve beyond their little island. I think the Bog Witch should be there and moved up a spot

>>86165697
I feel like I've never heard about any of those and I've followed this things since the beginning.

>>86165528
I'd prefer good/evil over the iso/exp axis

>>86165645
Second level expansionists should be

>Changrila
>Azan
>Blind Bastard's Domain
>Drow city states
>Triarchy
>Hydra's Eyes

In that order

>>86165752
Most of those are small factions or cults that haven't had much lore added to them, while being old as fuck. Kinda fitting as they are small places in the world

>>86165720
Eh, agreed, I guess.

>Second to level isolationists

>Vampires
>Skeleton Priests
>Scarred Phantoms
>Nerim
>Alltaf
>Snoloths

From top to bottom

>>86165764
Who would be max evil? Bog witch, Gnolls, Witch Elves, Death Blossom, Frostlands Khelek demon, and..?

>>86165882
Not sure how evil gnolls are since they are animalistic and mostly follow their instincts. Bog witch is pretty damn evil but possibly not as evil as her father

>>86169610
Old vampires can be pretty evil.

>>86150840
I just want to know where the fuck that horrific gif in the OP is from.

>>86171609
It's from a movie called Uninvited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqDxKaOz2zg

Pure gold.

It was established that Orcish culture has an influence in the Iebrum Pennisula.

Any suggestions on expanding on that?

>>86172643
>Iebrum Pennisula
Where?

>>86172715
The chunk of land sticking out of Faarowt

>>86172971
Ah, ok. I was thinking of the Iebrum River.

About orks in Faarowt, maybe some of the druidic traditions come from ork druids migrating through Giantstep? Druids do seem to travel around a lot in this setting.

>>86172643
Orc Druids sounds cool

>>86173652
>Druids do seem to travel around a lot in this setting.
Do we have druidic pilgrimage routes? Where could they go?

>>86173682
Maybe the harmony goddess' realm? Since we don't know anything else about her followers

>>86165852
Don't snoloths have to legally be at the center of every chart?

>>86174876
I don't see how Snoloths aren't max isolationist.

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Alright, so this is just the "first draft" of the 6x6 alignment axis of expansionist-isolationist and authoritarian-libertarian. any feedback is welcome, we gotta figure out the placements first before we move on to drawing

>>86175114
>Drunigzar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuP0OJOzNKA

>>86175465
>The Bog Witch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RGU0Tnr6wk

>>86175114
I cannot believe the Red Lotus isn't anywhere in the authoritarian side.

>>86175114
Solid altough I'd prefer an alignment axis

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Same nations only with good-evil instead of isolationist-expansionist

this one is kinda scuffed since there are few "good" factions since those were picked for the previous axis. also forgot about the vampires and used the trolls instead

>>86175512
I mean there are like 150 nations/factions in this setting, had to pick between them in order to choose 36, we could always expand the chart to 8x8 after we're done with this

>>86175114
I like this. Shall we get to drawing?

We need a drawfag to do a mockup of what our gnolls look like. Half hyena, half anglerfish, half antropomorphic abomination.

>>86175755
How would the Kunt look like?

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>>86176310
After a couple of tries, this was the best I got.

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Laurentian Knights could look like this but more edited

More Woodcutter cities stuff.

>Society and culture
The Woodcutter cities pride themselves in their traditions. Many of those are a mix of those from the original settlers’ nations, but many more originated within the Woodcutter regions. Each of them have different holidays and celebrations, such as the “Carnival of Animals” in Neuweisstërrloft, or the “Great Homebeer Competition” in Naffnsterrling. Many of these celebrations attract many people from the other regions, and that helps foster a sense of unity and cohesion. The most important celebration in common, though, is the “Hunt for Golden Trouts”. During summer, the glaciers within the Blue Mountains begin melting, increasing the size of the Blue Lakes at the center of the forest. This period is the time when the famous golden trout begin their reproductive cycle. This fish, usually pretty rare to find due to its intelligence and ability to avoid fishermen, will appear in their tens of thousands. Like driven by a mad desire to breed, they will ignore any danger to reach the mating areas, usually blocked by ice. This annual event attracts thousands of fishermen to the lakes, crossing the entire forest to reach the lakes, where they then will jump on their boats and try to catch the trouts. This event is also used as familiar bonding, since parents will bring their kids to see the beautiful views and teach them how to fish, rewarding their efforts with the exquisite taste of the golden trouts. Net fishing is forbidden, though, considered something unsporting and disreputable, not to mention showing lack of talent.

>>86177421
The Woodcutter cities themselves function in the shape of communal organization. The citizens swear to defend the cities from harm and to uphold their law and traditions, and in turn, they are guaranteed permission to participate in the workings of the city. Most of the ruling class come from the merchant, artisan and woodcutter guilds, with the local priesthoods having an important role as well. These groups manage the day-to-day administration of the cities, but they also have to base their rule on the traditional courts of law, who register law and tradition in written format to avoid power abuse. The ruling councils of the cities have to obey the law and traditions of each city, guaranteeing their freedoms and making sure they are not infringed in any way. However, this system is not perfect, and there is frequent political discussion and discord, with many groups either protesting or pressuring certain factions to follow their choices. Respect of their traditions also causes a lot of strange situations, such as the “Old Hat Decree of Newelglenhemm” in the Brussglofian city of Newelglenhemm. It says that an unmarried man cannot get out of the street without wearing an old hat, least their indecency make them unable to find a wife. However, this also makes them unable to get out of their homes to buy a hat in the first place. So parents give their male children old hats from the moment they are born, and are ordered to always wear it on their head. This has resulted in an enormous market for old hats, gathered from all Giantstep, where they can get a second lease on life. Wandering travelers sell and rent hats to youngsters who have lost or can’t access a hat in time, and a young maiden taking the hat off a young lad is considered a way of marriage proposal that, if blatant enough, can be binding by law. Many such laws are present in the Woodcutter cities.

>>86177428
Outside of the cities themselves, there are thousands of families living in the forest itself. Most of them live in small cottages, living off the land by hunting and chopping trees. They are essential for the Woodcutter cities economy, since they are the ones who know the forest the best. They are the one exploring the depths of the Green Oak Forest, finding new paths to traverse through the wild and to find the highest quality trees for special requests. They are also tasked to hunt down dangerous predators once they appear, such as bears or wolves. That is especially important since these animals tend to prey upon the roads used to connect the Woodcutter regions, which are vital to the region’s trade.

>>86173652
The Orcinian Script began when orcs created druidic magic using sigils based on the Khenemornic Writing system.

as they migrated northwest they carried the script into the peninsula , which is why the languages of that region are written uses Orcinian script.

This migration kept moving west until several waves of migrants began the Orcish Kingdoms which lasted until the Bog Witch rose.

Gonna expand on the Mumak tomorrow

>>86176608
send him into one of those ai machines

>>86175755
Is avanger really that evil?

>>86175881
YES! We can always change this and that or just expand the chart

>>86176250
Ain't that just the Gnolls from the DnD monster manual? I'm more interested in the gnollmaggots and gnollhounds personally.

>>86176250
Go ask in the drawthread

>>86183056
do they handle requests?

>>86183319
you have to fill out 3 forms for HR first

More like /tg/ makes a seething, gurpity Gromplos

>>86184363
Do we have any hellish bureaucracy in the setting? Something like this?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtEkUmYecnk

>>86186329
Probably in Changrila ,aybe in the Khenomeric empire before the gnolls ate them

>>86186329
Avangar has a form of clerical bureaucracy

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Mumak Mahudom

>History
The past of the Mumak is clouded in mystery, since written records of their history are not commonly found. Oral stories and traditions vary between clan to clan, but most agree that the Mumak hail from the plateaus, deserts and canyons to the west, migrating to the area around the Cuprum Hills. The Mumak have been living alongside their northern, coastal neighbors of Aruanda, of whom they rarely clashed with, due to their lack of interest in their territories. Instead, wars were always common between the numerous lords – known better as Mahûds – who were vying for control of their various territories and chiefdoms, as well with the various Orcish clans that inhabit the northern portions of the Cuprum hills.
Almost a thousand years ago, the Mumak were united under a Mahamahûd –meaning “Great Mahûd”- who rules over all the other Mahûds. The city of Ifghazar was built around the Cuprum Hills, and due to its rough terrain, when the various Mahûds had to ascend the city for a council, they had to do so without their prized elephants, facing each other as equals. However, the Mumak were united only in name. In reality, the Mumak society and government were always very decentralized, with the Mahamahûd usually being more like a figurehead of the Mahûdom, and less of an authoritative ruler. Whenever a Mahamahûd or another Mahûd got too powerful, most of the other feudal lords joined forces to counter their advances.

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>>86187287
A few years ago, the Mumak called a great council, facing threat of invasion after Renne, the exiled Queen, landed on the northern coast of the peninsula and seized the Aruandan port of Moridan. This council was held in the capital city of Ifghazar, and every Mahûd, as well as the Mahamahûd attended. After two weeks of debating, the council came to the conclusion that in order to combat this army of foreign pirates and mercenaries, they’d have to not only stay united, but also seek the aid of outsiders. Envoys were sent to the escaped Aruandan slaves of Nosso Lar, the members of the four Orcish clans that weren’t allied with Renne and for the first time in centuries, a Mumak crossed the Sea of Fog, seeking the assistance of the elusive Misty People.
Although all the Orcish lands were integrated into the Blind Bastard’s realm, some high ranking Orcs rallied their loyal troops to the Mumak’s cause, and together with the Aruandans, formed a defensive alliance against the Blind Bastard’s Domain. Although Renne’s men have continued raiding and plundering, no efforts have been made to further their advances south so far, and the region is still uneasy about the prospect of all-out war.

>>86187309
>Government
The Mahûdom is currently ruled by Umbar Hurakim, the Mahamahûd. The lesser Mahûds pay tribute to him, although like always, they and their own vassals have a great say in the country’s external relations, since their armies amount to more than eighty percent of the Mumak’s troops. For that reason, the title of Mahamahûd is not that coveted. Each individual Mahûdom is ruled by a clan, and many clans in history have rose from nothing to greatness and to nothingness again. Whenever an issue troubles the Mumak, they hold a great council in the city of the Mahamahûd, Ifghazar. Although the title of Mahamahûd is hereditary, whenever a Mahamahûd dies with no heir, the rest of the Mahûds vote for another lord to take his place, often choosing a ruler with little military power, as to not endanger their own position in the future.

>Geography
The middle of the Mumak’s lands is hilly, in a region known as the Cuprum hills, on which the capital city of Ifghazar is built. Ifghazar is known as “the city of ceremonies”, and a relatively small population lives there and the surrounding mountain villages. That’s because the Mumak have historically inhabited the surrounding grasslands, forests, savannahs and arid shrublands, where their sacred elephants thrive and are able to roam with ease. Apart from Ifghazar, most of the big cities are built on the banks of the Death River – appropriately named because of the huge amount of battles that have occurred around its shores – thanks to the fertile lands that surround it. For that reason, the Death River has been an object of contention and a major strategic point for most wars fought in the Mumak lands. There are very few coastal towns, thanks to the Mumak’s aversion of large bodies of water, a fear which stems from the Sea of Fog’s unnatural mist that looms over it at all times.

>>86187352
>Economy

The Mahûdom’s economy is primarily agricultural and pastoral. Wheat and barley are cultivated over large areas, as are pulses, sugarcane, and oilseeds. Wool and textile production plays a big part in the economy of Mumakia, with Mumak carpets and tapestries fetching a high price in foreign markets. The Elephants of Mumakia are unique in the regard that they have four tusks instead of the usual two, and for that reason they provide a solid source of ivory. Harvesting ivory is only allowed from the bodies of dead elephants, and doing so otherwise is punishable by death. However, that doesn’t stop the occasional poacher or greedy Mahûd from illegally killing elephants in order to peddle their ivory tusks to Drunig merchants.

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>Warfare
Although the Mumak utilize spear and falchion wielding infantrymen, deadly archers as well as horse riding cavalrymen, the Mumak’s armies are famed throughout Giantstep for their use of the Muamar Elephant –possibly the largest species of Elephant- in combat, using them to charge towards the enemy and instill fear into their hearts. They even strap towers to their backs, garrisoned by Mumak archers and spearmen.
In certain cases, the Mumak use a form of shamanistic magic in order to tame Muamar Tigers for use in combat. These beasts are few in number and are so large and ferocious that only the most skilled Saer Quans –Mumak word for Beastmaster- are able to tame them. The Beastmasters usually train a tiger so it enters into a rampage whenever it detects a certain bright colour or a specific shape, usually the one pictured in the enemy’s banners.

>Culture
The Mumak are a tall, dark skinned people, with black hair and black eyes. Mumak men cover their chests and backs with tattoos and body paint, while also decorating themselves with several golden and ivory ornaments like collars, earrings, and nose rings. These decorations vary from area to area, and are usually an indication of an individual’s caste or allegiance towards a clan.
Elephants play a large part in the culture of the Mumak, and are almost considered sacred, so much that the word for “elephant rider” in the Mumak language has become synonym to the word “ruler”- Mahûd. The sons of noble birth usually grow up with an elephant, which eventually becomes their mount when both reach the appropriate age. The Mumak elephants are also covered in the same ornaments as their masters, and are generally considered more like companions and less like tools. Common colours used in body paint and banners are scarlet, crimson, black and sierra. The Mumak have an aversion towards the sea and for that reason they are poor sailors and fishermen.

>>86187950
..this is due to their fear of the sea, an aversion they developed thanks to the unnatural mist that covers much of the Sea of Fog. This has been the subject of many Mumak superstitions and folk stories.

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>>86187287
>>86187309
Damn, now I'm more intrigued about indian-MENA themed orcs

>>86188312
I thought the Orks were Irish/English as a gag. InGurLand and Orc'eire

>>86188434
there are also orcs in the blind bastard's domain and the mumak mahudom

> The odd Journey of Ilya Antonya Zapalovidakuvna to land of the gods

Getting to the land of stomach or the land of the muscle are journeys demanding of one more than mere skill in adventuring or exploration.

The islands personally owned by the divine, their playgrounds in this very step are somewhere you have to be invited... ordinarily. The god of streangth and muscle seems to have very much so have a vendetta against the goddess of calm and peace trough extensive research I have found future victims which the great muscle-bound hand will grab and drag back to his island. Now the problem was a disguise to fool the divine itself!

I spent my life savings (give or take a few loans) to get a disguise imbued with magic and went to replace Sister Tanya in her quarters, just as expected the great muscled hand wisked me away. It truly was as magnificent and unnerving as described. Even the fingers had vein-covered muscles.

I woke up in a great coliseum of sorts. One would expect more excitement from a divine realm, but demigods of pure muscle merely forced us to work out 8 hours, eat 6 hours (only meat) and sleep 10 hours. Maybe spurred on by the divine power, but I grew in size so much I would squash my own father.

This was mearly the beginning though soon we the demigods of muscle kicked us out into the wild. There were no animals, but there were beings of trial. Headless giants which would offer you flesh from their back if you threw a ball further than them, elephants offering golden nectar from their tusks if you managed to push them over. This was the 'ecosystem' of this place and these odd beings engaged each other in their odd contests as well. There was no plants.

Most of the 'locals' had become wanderers, wandering alone honing their strength. Strength here does not fade with age, a gentleman I met was a Khenomeric soldier with a scar left over from the war with the Azanese millenia ago.

>>86187950
>>86187309
What's the mumaks' perspective and opinion on the Star People?

>>86188590
Is this about the island of Nes and Fitt?

>The Ten Titans of Essakor

The Ten Titans of Essakor are ten giant statues carved into the Essakor butte, each of a founder of an Azaneese Dynasty. From a distance, the city seems to be literally held on their shoulders.

>Azan
The Grand Statue of Azan‘s construction is lost to history, but it was allegedly built sometime in the first dynasty by the semi-mythical Jakar, Who is Made Lord Agong. The largest of the Titans, Azan was known for overlooking the trade road leading up the butte to Essakor proper.

>Cemak I
The statue of Cemak I was carved into the butte under the reign of The First Amir, Who is Made Lord Agong. The Second Dynasty was declining in influence due to their waning magical power and a public work showing their ancestor as an “equal” to Azan was an attempt to bolster support. Some of the more faithful saw it as idolatry to compare the two and the statue took two decades to fund and carve.

>Adrian I
The statue of Adrian I was the first of the Titans to be constructed under the reign of their models. Adrian styled themself as both a Drow Chief and a Tiefling Lord. As part of this, they openly declared themselves “The Second Azan” and the founder of the Third Dynasty. (Even though, by Cemak I’s precedent, that would have been Nur, the Marble Flame.) The original statue was noticeable gaudy with gold, jewels, and a two-headed horse mounted by the Emperor. It was vandalized at the start of the Fourth Dynasty and its reconstruction under the Fifth was far more humble.

>>86187950
>>86187309
What's the mumaks' perspective and opinion on the Grundiddy i gromplos and nomadic kopwunrias?

>>86188590
His muscles had become so grand that he only could get food from other humans for all the 'wildlife' would fear him.

I unlike him did not intend to stay here indefinitely. My goal was the land of food, the stomach of the divine and let's hope my assumption that it is easier to cross over from one divine realm to another is easier than from the mortal world to one is true.

For that I began touring the various Villages that had sprung out. Or how the demigods called them 'hovels of failures' for the villages were comprised of those who had given up on the challenges and instead traded with wanderers for food.

These villages felt surprisingly normal, one could think you are back on the mainland in some primitive village.The materials it was made from were odd though.

None knew of a way to the domain of food, but apparently there was a way of off this island. One would have to hide among the raiders from the island of the Volcano god. That island is mostly forgotten by theo utside world, but apparently once per year their divine opens up a path for them to raid the lands of Fit, Nes and even gluttony. As such if I spent a year among the volcano worshippers I could get to food island.

I need to remember to remove this from the final draft. This is not a secret which should be spread far and wide.

>>86188649
>Thea I
The fourth dynasty rose in a human-led backlash against magic and elven influences. The statues of Cemak I and Adrian I were partially destroyed when Thea took the Marble Throne (and renamed it the Azure Throne). Despite public protests against idolatry, Thea was publicly declared “The Savior” by the revolutionaries, and the debris from the attempts to destroy the second and third titans was used to construct her statue, far shorter than the others. Thea spun this as piety but the truth was the funds and technology for large stoneworks had been lost to time at this point.

>Sophia I
When Sophia Diogene overthrew her aunt and became Sophia I, she was more focused on rebuilding her crumbling empire than fiddling about with statues. Her Titan wouldn't be carved until Emperor Basilius V built a massive statue of his ancestor as part of his beautification programs. The Statues of Cemak I and Adrian I were repaired at the same time with edits so that none would be as tall as Azan’s. This precedent continues to this day.

> Hēnare I
Hēnare’s titan was carved in the wave of propaganda launched by her successor, Chairman High Protector Asin II. He consolidated power by deifying the heroes of the revolution as holy martyrs, and Hēnare’s statue shows several signs of Neo-Adrianite design favored by the Church.

>>86150850
gilgemash needs some lore

>>86188676
>Li the Hardy
Li’s titan was the second to be modeled after someone who never ruled the Empire, the first to be carved of a commoner, the first to be older than the model of the previous titan, and the first to be carved by an Emperor, not of the following dynasty. House Bellcius was focused on war and rebuilding from The Southern Rebellion so the titans of Li the Hardy and Lord Cassian of Cico were carved in tandem under Emperor Enanikos II of Cico. “The Twin Titans” became a name for both these two statues and the Seventh and Eight Dynasties as a whole. Because the House of Bellicus was originally of common stock, there was some debate as to who the founder of the dynasty actually was, especially since a canonical list of the emperors who lead The Southern Rebellion wouldn't be locked down until the present day. As a matter of dodging the question, Li, the semi-mythical ancestor of all Antaran Warriors (Several of whom fought in the Rebellion) was chosen.
>Lord Cassian of Cico
For the vast majority of the Seventh and Eighth Dynasties, the Titans were seen as a luxury of a bygone age. It wasn’t until the end of the Scimtarian Conquest that the wealth and stability the Eighth Dynasty would be known for allowed the titans of Li and Cassian to be completed. Cassian is technically called the third person who never ruled to get a titan, but in truth, his and Li’s titans were carved together.
>Gerald V
Gerald’s titan was carved near the end of the ninth dynasty, as the Empire was broke and dealing with rebellions for much of that time period. (Carting the stone from the new capital of Nannikor didn’t help either.) It’s the smallest of the Titans leading to the phrase “short as Gerry.”
>Thea II
Recently constructed in honor of the Tenth Dynasty's centennial, the design was rushed to meet the deadline. Money ran out halfway through, leading to Thea’s head being a noticeably different color than her body.

>>86188641
(I plan to write a little bit about nes&Fit, Volcano God island and Food island, mostly food island though)

>>86188666 (satans trips)
Getting to the eastern shore I hid in a supply depot among piles of meat. Some other's wishing to get of off this island did same. This explains to me now how the starved volcano dwellers manage to raid an island full of men which would rip trough fully armored knights with their bare hands.

The denizens of Fit and Nes get rid of all the wildlife on the eastern shore. they prepare ample rations and tie up some criminals meant for execution. All this is considered no more than payment for a ride off the island for those hiding among the supplies. Survival on volcano island is supposed to be hard as such I smuggled out a juvenile Muneyek with me. It's a being which rewards you with cheese if you defeat it in a kicking contest, an easy win if you kick it in the balls. (redact last sentence, and rewrite to extenuate my great kicking skills).
Perfect to grill over some lava.

The volcano dweller arrived just in time. We could easily hear them celebrating on deck and feasting. Upon arrival it was time to get out me and the other muscle heads rushed out and beat up the full volcano men. I said goodbye to everyone and flexed my muscles. They flexed theirs back and swam into the ocean; their divine bodies ready to carry them back home better than any ship.

Spent the last months among other muscle-monsters I had not noticed how my body had changed. I was near 3 heads taller than before and if still in Zapalovach would have become a prized mercenary by virtue of my sculpted body itself, or a prized concubine for some oligarch with a weird fetish.

The island of the volcano god was a barren place. Those living here did so for millenia. I had become an object of constant hunt not just because I was a heretic and outsider, but because the muneyek was the only real source of food beyond fish on here.

>>86188791
Nice. The description of the realms of the gods are better described by this chronicles. Just remember that the description of the god of action is closer to a sugar addicted kid than an actual god of war. He just wants to see cool shit happen, even if, by any mortal perspective, the stuff he makes them do is absolutely life threatening and terrifying. Those who end up surviving and loving that livestyle are the ones blessed by the god of action's blessings.
Also, the god of action is probably something akin to the Goddess of Harmony's little brother, and he enjoys picking on her followers.

Where's the lore map? Is Poker the last big country without lore in Littlestep ?

>>86188791
I had spent my days in a cave near the coast. It was hot and humid. The ocean water would flood it in the morning cooling it, but covering it in mist and would retreat in the evening when the volcano would heat the cave once more.

It was uncomfortable, but it was just a year. I kept up the training regime from the land of the muscle in case I needed to fight the locals, but they were mostly too preoccupied with survival and lets say the few incidents that did occur were transformed into Mossovy looking death-altars to scare off those too confident in themselves.

The locals possessed a unique blessing of being able to handle the golden lava of the volcano akin to water as well as transpose their blood into it at will. As such most of the buildings on the island were made by scooping up lava with your arms and piling it up like mud as it cooled and solidified.

A highly valued material locally was obsydian. IBlind men without teeth would look for lava as clear as water and then would swallow it and blowing out bubbles of it which would soon harden to obsydian vases, pots and decorations. I have also observed that the prized obsydian daggers the locals use is what the glass blowers poop out after making the utensils.

Considering some oligarchs loved to use them as kitchen knives the expression 'shiteating grin' takes on a new meaning.

I also had observed their burial rituals which is just throwing dead people in the volcano and saying prayers and their festivals which is the same, but the people are alive. In general this was a rather drab and boring place full of tribes to poor to even squabble much.

>>86188858
I went for the what if a /fit/ poster was a god feel and then the 'action' aspect comes from the challenges from the wildlife. I did not write any of the 3 nations originally so if there is an OP or someone with a better idea feel free to rewrite.

>>86188879
Finally I managed to leave this pit-stop of a divine realm to get to food island. By any measures I should have left Igor (name of Muneyek) behind, but he grew on me and and I grew on him too. Guess that happens if we only had each other for a year.

From the old chronicles of the survivors of this island, it traps one with it's abundance. Each of the sub-realms is abundant in food, but food that lacks certain things. To keep one's flesh from deteriorating one needs to constantly move from realm to realm.

Landing in the north, were grand mountains of cheese. Igor seemed rather bothered by those as it made him feel inadequate I think, but hey the kiddo picked up how to make his blood into golden magma from the volcano cultists so while there was much cheese he was the only one producing grilled cheese. On a sad not though he had learned to defend his crotch. (rewrite too, honed his martial arts skills beyond my expectations).

Each time it rained here it would rain sour milk filling the area with a nasty stench, but growing the mountains a bit. There were no animals in the mountains, but there were planty of plants, normal ones. Possibly invasive brought over from the mainland. Mostly resilient pest plants, the same kind of plant can grow out of cheese as out of very barren soil. Nothing useful was identified.

The humans of this moved around by bounding between the mountains of-off the stretchy cheese. Their round bodies allowing them to bounce between the sharp peaks. They provided the balance to the sour milk rains and kept the mountains from growing infinitely.

Waste products such as feces, pee and even whole corpses would quickly sink into the island preserving it's 'purity'.

>>86188988
I wrote the original Nes and Fit stuff. The island changes at the whim of the God of Action. So at one time it can have dark jungles filled with predators, then at the next it can have sprawling deserts full of raiders, then suddenly start apprearing dinosaurs out of nowhere, and suddenly they explode, and so on. The most over the top version of action and danger you could think of, it's going to appear in there.

People randomly taken there either think it's hell and try to escape at all costs, or they end up loving it.

>>86188988
If a corps were laid on the ground no matter the 'soil' be it chocolate, pudding, rock candy or cheese it would instantly turn into something akin to quicksand swallowing it and no amount of digging would bring it back.

After bribing a local with some grilled cheese we would be shown the path island. We are the follow the whistling sound and then follow the wind trough the whistling caves. Going south at the border of the Gruyero peaks would be the whistling mountains. Mountains of cheese with grand holes and tunnels in them. The holes did not seem dug rather as if there were giant air bubbles in the mountains. Some of the cave systems were partially flooded by liquid cheese a worthwhile exchange for the waterfalls they would form while flowing trough. After a while our path would diverge from cheese-flow and the caves would become more overgrown the salads growing in the calves slightly silencing the incessant whistling coming from the wind passing trough.

We had arrived to the Salad glade, a place on food island which allows one to live long and healthily, but slowly turns one into a living skeleton as there was no gram of protein as far as the eye could reach

>>86188879
https://crumbling-giantstep.fandom.com/wiki/Island_of_the_Volcano_God?so=search

I don't think the depiction of the inhabitants of the volcano god island is accurate. They seem more akin to primitive vikings fighting for the few areas close to lava that aren't completely frozen. They don't seem to be magical, or be able to handle lava in any unnatural way.

>>86188877
I went ahead and erased the nations that have had comprehensive lore written about them to avoid any possible confusion. Nations circled in orange have had extra lore written about them, yet are not "completed" (dunno about the Gnoll, I just followed the previous version of this map).

I might have missed a few.

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>>86189178
pic rel. also, keep in mind that not every nation needs lore written. how much more can you write about castle athassel or the crag that hasn't been written already?

>>86189226
Okhost is pretty much done, it should be taken from there.
The Gnoll Empire, I imagine, only lacks a description of government and administration.

is the guy who wrote kentogorod here? if so, are kentogorodians basically a mix of hyperboreans/snow elves/zemylanders or a distinct race of humans? what is their religion?

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Finished the Changrila map. Added the provinces and capitals.

>>86189078
This place could as such be considered a spot to mitigate the effects of the overabundance of fat and sugars found elsewheare. It is a place in many ways abbandoned by the god of food, for it is not the kind of food he likes.

From here I would travel to the pepper steppe. Pepper is here abundant as sand and no men live here. I had to make a simple mask to traverse this land and it would still be only possible in the rare hours with no wind due to the burning in my eyes. Among the pepper steppes paprikas would grow among them most desired would be the black blood parika. Said to be so spicy it kills instantly whether tasted or applied via cut. Great caravans would trudge their way trough the pepper looking for the black paprika for it was the only true 'weapon' of the land. Said caravans would pick up other spices as well for trade in other parts of the island.

The monks of the Salad Glade and the Klein-Könige of the Sausage Forrests long vied over the control of the pepper and paprika.

Going down to the Sausage tree forest we find men with big pot bellies, but also much muscle. They would pride themselves in their strength, but drown themselves in beer and stuff themselves with sausages. A jolly, but harsh lot. They managed to establish the most civilized realm in these parts vaguely united by the Hoch-König.

>>86189245
yeah Okhost is pretty much done. If I were to list the top 10 nations in need of lore I'd say

>Blesire States
>Gnolls (?)
>Kingdom of Tarot
>Nerim/Corteau Canyon
>Lorient/Lemon Kingdom
>Blind Bastard's Domain
>Misty Isle
>Nosso Lar
>Laurentian Crusade
>Felovik

Also, shit like the land of storms should be removed. And I think that the palm grove was expanded upon.

>>86189127
I mean none of the lava-handling contradicts that. Mostly an extra bit added on top.

>>86189050
hmm, I guess whatever the explorer saw was the temporary form the island took while she visited, if I remember I'll add in the rewrite maybe the locals talking about how the island changes

>>86189292
Don't forget the Gokmavi. They are as big as the Gnoll empire, and have very little lore.

>>86189306
Fair enough, they living so close to lava all the time might give them a general resistance, and if the sacrifices are worthy, and even bigger resistance. But I can see that, without good sacrifices, they lose that blessing and have to fight for the decreasing liveable spaces on the island.

>>86189355
Also, how did a stranger go through the volcano island without being caught and thrown into the volcano?

>>86189315
Ι completely forgot about them and most of the central nations lol. Anyways, I think we should focus either on nations that have had some lore written about them (orange border) or others that are in areas where all other nations have been completed (blesire states)

>>86189226
I don't think that Kentogorod should be considered as "finished". I think there are still some aspects about it (government, religion, demographics mostly) that could be expanded upon.

>>86189454
The only thing of what you said that's not in Kentgorod is government. Demographics and religion were explained a couple of threads ago. It's in the wiki.

>>86189292
I'd also love to see the city of Aquilea (?) expanded upon, I liked the demon hunter vibes it gave me even though it was last brought up like 24 threads ago

>>86189475
Am I dumb or am I not seeing that? All I see is stuff about the white whale, the underground tunnels, the monster hunters and the "lost town in the north" which is basically a summary/history of the town.

>>86189577
>Kentgorod is one of the oldest inhabited places in all Zemyland. And further from it being a nation that has grown in power and prestige over the millennia, Kentgorod stays as modest and inward as it has always been. We do not know when was that strip of land inhabited for the first time or why, and not even the strange ruins around the town shed any light about this matter, but it does not bother the locals. It is said that many people who want to leave their lives behind and never go back march towards Kentgorod.

And the White Whale stuff is their religion.
>After so many failed attempts, the population began worshiping the White Whale as a great deity, the Spirit of the Sea itself. Ivory sculpts of the being decorate the insides of every kentgorodian home, and paintings of the White Whale are added to every ship in cinder and soot. That doesn’t mean the kentgorodians won’t try to hunt the creature, however. Now more than ever, the kentgorodians search all corners of the Sea of Wraiths for a clue of where the White Whale will appear next

>>86189602
>It is said that many people who want to leave their lives behind and never go back march towards Kentgorod
So, the inhabitants are a mix of most ethnicities living in Zemyland? And is the town so old that whatever race/ethnicity first built is kinda forgotten, even to the oldest natives?

>>86189454
Maybe the leader of Kentogorod could be the mayor of the town, in a Night's Watch type command, where he gets elected every X years.

>>86189625
Considering how obsessed they are about hunting, it should be something akin to the Head Hunter.

>>86188547
>>86188434
>>86188312
The ones that influenced the Marqueses also speak Garifuna. I like the diverse Orc civilizations we have instead of the wild "savage" cliche

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>>86181229

>>86189383
Muscles

>>86189611
Maybe?

Ok wtf is up with scatomancy on the wiki? What kind of degenerate wastes all that time on writing that shit?

>>86194081
Anon did. Poop Hogwarts is based btw.

>>86194081
I imagine it started as a joke and then escalated into a legitimate lore development. It's still funny anyway.

is the goal for this setting to write lore for all nations and then playtest it?

>>86194610
Lore for all nations (with an appropiate history and timeline), then explaining things such as how magic, alchemy and the gods work, then create some items/characters to make the world more lively. Then playtest it.

Though someone already said that was going to playtest on his own. If you're there, anon, post how it went. It could be added to the lore.

I think there was a guy writing some lore about the Golden Knightlands. You still there?

>>86188649
>Essakor butte
Where is this?

>>86196080
isn't it in Azan?

>>86188649
>>86196630
So does this go into the Azan wiki page?

>>86187950
>Foreign Relations

Blind Bastard’s Domain
The two nations are hostile, thanks to Renne’s exile army of mercenaries and pirates that conquered large parts of the former Aruandan and Orcish lands. The Mumak, for perhaps the first time in their recent history, feel threatened by an external threat, and for that reason established defensive alliances with their neighbors against the Blind Bastard. Renne does not plan on negotiating with the Mumak, and intends to establish a powerful Empire that’ll provide her with enough manpower in order for her to be able to reclaim her rightful (at least, according to her) seat of the Azan Empire. For that reason, she plans on advancing against Nosso Lar and the Mahûdom, using her allied Orcish forces as meat shields against the mighty war elephants.

Nosso Lar
The Mumak and the seafaring Aruandans have enjoyed centuries of cordial relations. The pacifist nature of the Aruandans and the dislike of large bodies of water of the Mumak led to both of these people not having ambitions of conquest towards each other. As such, trade became common between the two, with certain Aruandan tribes establishing an alliance with various Mahûds against the Orcish clans of the northern Cuprum hills. However, since an official alliance was never sought out between the two, the Aruandans had to fend off the exile army of Renne by themselves, and quickly fell to the Blind Bastard’s sword. Some Aruandans escaped and sought refuge in the Mumak lands, and when the refugee nation of Nosso Lar was established, the Mumak vowed to protect the Aruandans from any further incursion, and as such signed a defensive pact with them. There’s still a pocket of Aruandans who have settled down in Mumakia, thinking they are safer there since Nosso Lar is more vulnerable to an attack by Renne.

>>86197834

Star People

Contact between these two is rare. Even before the arrival of the Star People around 660 years ago, the Mumak rarely ventured beyond their southern borders and into the depths of the Weariest Desert. Even though they are used to their arid lands, this desert’s lack of water makes it a particularly daunting task to move using their war elephants. As such, Mumak raids into the star people’s lands are far and few between, due to the harsh climate and terrain that makes these raids a risk that’s usually not worth taking. For that reason alone, raids usually only happen in periods of famine or drought in the neighboring Mumak clans, where they are forced to raid the star people in order to seize some of their cattle.

Misty Isle

There is not a single Mumak alive that has ever seen the Mistfolk, so all Mumak stories about them stem from hearsay, superstition and rumors. The Mumak avoid crossing the Sea of Fog like the plague and the Mistfolk’s elusive nature are one of two reasons as to why all encounters between the two so far in history are unconfirmed stories that have been watered down by myth and legend alike. It’s said that when the ancestors of the Mumak were crossing the Sea of Fog during their great southern migration, many of their sick and wounded drowned when a mysterious fog and an evil, hypnotizing song shrouded over the sea. This legendary event gave birth to many stories – true or not – about the Misty people, some of who still survive to this day.

>>86197843

Terrania Freeholds

The Mumak have occasionally roamed to the northern reaches of Terrania. Since those lands are lush are covered by thick forests and exotic plants, this makes traversing them a hard task for the war elephants and horses of the Mumak. For that reason, some southern Mumak clans had tried to cut down parts of the Terranian forests, in order to expand their own dominions. This effort, however, was countered by a woodland spirit known as “the Ent Elder”. Although the Mumak were able to take down many of the beasts and the smaller Spriggans that were under the command of this spirit, the Ent used some of its ancient magic in order to turn the war elephants and tigers of the Mumak against them. Cowering in fear, they ran with their tails between their legs back to Muamar. Since then, there have been no organized efforts to exploit much of Terrania’s resources, with the only interaction occurring being trade with their Chugaranni cousins and small scale harvesting of berries, fruits and other plants of the forest.

>>86198090
>Demographics
The Mahûdom’s population is almost exclusively human, with the native Mumak, a tall, dark skinned people, being the majority. Each Mumak clan, apart from having different traditional tattoos and piercings, also has some unique characteristics, such as the northern Umaro clan, who are known to be of sturdier build than most others, or the clan of Ashram being known for their amber coloured eyes. Apart from the Mumak, there is a small population of Aruandans that live in the western coast, having fled from the Blind Bastard and choosing not to seek refuge in Nosso Lar.
The only significant non-human population lies in some outlier Orcish clans in the north. Even though all but one Orcish clan (the Izhtuli, who were conquered by the Mumak a long time ago, but were spared and tolerated) were independent and occasionally warring against each other and against the Aruandans and the Mumak, it all changed when Renne invaded, dividing the Orcish clans and using them against each other, leading to their subjugation. Not all of them stayed under her domain, however, with some fleeing towards the Mumak to the south, being sheltered by the Mahamahûd in Ifghazar, against the wishes of some of his Mahûds. The Mahamahûd has promised these lesser Orcish clans that he’ll defeat Renne and free their people, making them chieftains, and in exchange they’ll swear allegiance towards the Mumak.

>>86198104
The only significant non-human population lies in some outlier Orcish clans in the north. Even though all but one Orcish clan (the Izhtuli, who were conquered by the Mumak a long time ago, but were spared and tolerated) were independent and occasionally warring against each other and against the Aruandans and the Mumak, it all changed when Renne invaded, dividing the Orcish clans and using them against each other, leading to their subjugation. Not all of them stayed under her domain, however, with some fleeing towards the Mumak to the south, being sheltered by the Mahamahûd in Ifghazar, against the wishes of some of his Mahûds. The Mahamahûd has promised these lesser Orcish clans that he’ll defeat Renne and free their people, making them chieftains, and in exchange they’ll swear allegiance towards the Mumak.

>Religion

The Mumak follow a number of indigenous cults, some of them influenced by the Aruandans, and others by the people to the north, such as the Gokmavi Khaganates and Gilgemash. This fact could prove that the Mumak hail from these people. The religious lore of the various Mumak clans is written down in two texts – the Tariz Ishtar and the Zahy Shuahil. A variety of gods, demons and saints are comprised in the Mumak pantheon, with three deities being universal among all iterations of the faith. The Elephant and the Tiger are considered sacred animals, akin to gods, with the Tiger representing war, power and ferocity and the Elephant representing wisdom, leadership and loyalty. The water demon known as “Raksasa “ is considered the antithesis of all things good and rightful, and is said to reside in the Sea of Fog, sending his ghastly soldiers to flood the sea with mist and drown any sailors, while also singing out a haunting song that sends all who hear it into a trance.

>>86198516
I think I have an idea about the misty people religion now

>>86198914
What are the connections between the Moonlight Shores and the Mistfolk?

>>86199337
Could be that the Mistfolk were once men or elves that were "corrupted" by the fog

>>86198090
Weird that the west of the Terrania Freeholds have weird spirit stuff, yet in the east the drunig are able to colonise it without issue.

>>86189292
The city of Felovik was established by several knights of the Zapalovach Republic, who made the difficult choice to abandon their home in hopes of founding a fortress hold in the north so that the names of their houses may forever live on in history. There were only 53 knights (after the battle with the two giants that lived on the island) and about 200 peasants who established the city, but the population has grown to 70,000. There are no other cities on the island, only a few distant houses belonging to those who have no desire or need to live in the city, or those fortunate few who are wealthy enough to own multiple houses. The high council originally only consisted of knights, but now anyone can be elected by the guild members, generals, and soldiers(the only people who get to vote are the guild members, generals, and soldiers) given that they were born in Felovik and are above the age of twenty. This is similar in some ways to the government of the Zapalovach Republic, as the knights spent most of their lives there. There are some key differences, however. Felovik has a much larger percentage of its total population either in the army or in reserves to be ready at a moments notice. Close to a fourth of the entire population would be armed and trained in the event of a crisis. One major reason for this is that every citizen must serve the high council in the military before they may vote for its members or become a member themself(in actuality, only members of knight houses ever get elected due to nepotism and biased ballot-counters, but it's possible for anyone to become a high council member.) Now, while the city is very martial, thats not to say the population is ignorant. While the majority of the population are simple laborers, the wealthy members of the knight houses can afford to learn a variety of professions. Any knight that can't command a force and manage logistics and construction would likely be seen as a disgrace, and exiled.

>>86204992
While the city may have once been a mighty fortress, it has suffered immense damage to many of the fortifications and they cannot be rebuilt due to the raids of the hostile Tribe of the Yellow Fang, and their allied bugbear assassins.

Magic, philosophy, and most forms of art are not held in high regard by the traditional people of Felovik. Their culture only values the military, scientific advancements that could improve the military, and songs and ballads to be sung to improve morale.

>>86205016
The trade goods of the people of Felovik are... just that. The people of Felovik. Due to the immense amount of citizens trained to be soldiers, many citizens who complete their service and training will request their commanding officer to have them transferred to the state-run mercenary organization to fight abroad to earn an immense amount of money for their nation and a considerable profit for themselves. While the payment for a few soldiers may be miniscule for a nation, that of a thousand is certainly not. The soldiers abroad are still loyal to the city of Felovik above all else, as are their commanders.

Spies are a very disputed subject within Felovik. Many knights view the usage of spies in any capacity to be immensely dishonourable, but there are yet more who belive that information collection - and nothing more - is acceptable. Depending on the commander of the force, there may be spies in service of certain forces. This itself poses a danger, as these spies, while all trained as soldiers, are not trained as spies by any organization in service of the high council. Unless a training organization is founded to ensure the loyalty of such individuals, there may be an instance of a particularly trecherous knight using spies for political power, if it hasn't happened already.

>>86205047
Unbeknownst to the population or any of the knights, there is the ancient tomb of Chief Kurnast beneath the city containing the Sapphire Shield of Areduin, stolen from the dragon Eilanzar by Chief Kurnast. The current chieftan, Urgal, has heard of this tomb from the shaman Kylkal and wishes to steal the shield again to ensure his legitimacy in order to unite the thousands of goblins within the dispersed tribe and steal the trade boats of Felovik to escape with his people to the mainland. The destruction they could inflict upon far less defended villages in the rural regions of the Land of Windmills could be great enough to warrant the involvement of the Laurentian Knights.

>>86205090
The plot of Erik Arvid:
In the summer of 3158 A.B.E., the high marshal Erik Ardvid led his knight company and 3 battalions in a coup attempt, marching them through the nearly destroyed iron palace, battling with the knights guarding it while it was to be repaired. This coup lasted a matter of weeks, with the quick and bloody battles of the iron palace ending in a decisive victory for the loyalist forces and the complete destruction of the House of Ardvid. However, the loss of so many soldiers in so short a time has led to a question of whether keeping mercenaries abroad is truly beneficial in such a time of crisis, when the reconstruction of the ruined portions of Felovik recquires an ever present, ever vigilant army.

>>86205090
This one could be under the title "Chief Urgals Scheme"

>>86205047
under the titles "Trade" and "spies" respectively.

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>>86205150
Spies, not spies.

Here is an image that doesn't look like it was made in a ripoff of MS paint.
Green is plains and forests.
Brown is rocky terrain.
Grey is undamaged areas.
White is the iron palace.
Black is damaged or destroyed areas.
Cyan is minor settlements and trade outposts.

>>86204086
The west is also inhabited by tribal people

>>86189268
Excellent work! Are you going to do another area of the map next?

>>86205397
I added all those to the wiki, under the appropriate categories. The goblin stuff is part of "demographics" to differentiate it from the human tidbits of the nation. Are humans even the majority of Felovik, anyways?

>>86205961
I'm doing the Orange Marquissates and the Woodcutter cities. After that, I'd rather focus on lore.

What are the major political conflicts in this setting?

>>86207594
Avangar's potential expansion, the Gnoll Empire's existence, the Witch-elven attacking their neighbours...

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>>86175755
Added the bogwitch.

>>86207983
holy kek

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>>86172572
Really fun movie

>>86206693
I'm bothered by the fact that the Demographics category only talks about goblins, so I wrote a small paragraph about the human population.

>Even though the human inhabitants of Felovik arrived long after the goblins, they amount to more than fourty percent of the island's total population, with the majority residing in the city itself, due to the countryside swarming with goblins. Most of the inhabitants hail from the Land of the Windmills, and some of the knights can trace their heritage to Zapalovah.

You can tell me if you like this or not

>>86209139
added

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Where could this be in this setting?

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>>86210247
What about this one?

>>86210247
Chrysovica kinda has floating towns, but this one looks weird

>>86210258

Looks like something in the Isle of Wizards, Zemyland, maybe even Leng/Seagard

>>86210247
Is that a sunken city?

>>86210788
looks like it

I kinda want to write something about the Misty Isle, but not a full blown out wiki-style detailed explanation, but something of an academic style entry that doesn't uncover fully the mystery of the land and its people.

By the way, how do goblins work in this setting? They are mentioned here and there, and the underground map show they are a lot of goblin nests. Do we go with a Goblin Slayer style infestation, or do we turn them into an actual civilisation?

>>86211241
No problem with that go ahead

>>86211321
inherently evil fucks with the intelligence of crows

>>86211469
how?

>>86211469
>the intelligence of crows
They are described as smarter than that in the Gnoll Empire's history. Still evil fucks, though.

>>86211321
>>86211469
I figure goblins are borderline unseelie fey

They tend towards selfishness, cruelty, cowardliness, and wildness, so in their natural state they are a bit like dnd/tes goblins, but not as suicidally aggressive

But they are also influenced by whoever their faerie lord is, resulting in a range of personalities

Plus there are a number of subspecies and cultures, some of whom could have greatly varying traits

Plus some individual goblins could have pretty unique individual backgrounds/personalities

What's the relation between the pondlings and the Platinum Princedom? I imagine the ponglings lived all around Uska Island until Platinum expanded to half of the island.

>>86212444
maybe half of the pondling island is full of uninhabitable marshes/swamps so the platinum princedom don't bother to expand there/waste manpower since they're on the brink of war? Could be that pondlings also live in the northern half of the island, which is just Platinum Princedom territory.

Or, option C: All of the island belongs to the Platinum Princedom, but the Pondlings just live in the southern portion

>>86212525
I'll write some history about the pondlings.

So, the Blesire States and Orc'Eire are the only places in Scimitaria without complete lore?

>>86212444
>>86212525
the platinum-pondling relationship is described here: https://crumbling-giantstep.fandom.com/wiki/Princedom_of_the_Platinum_Strait?so=search#Pondlings

>>86213284
>So, the Blesire States and Orc'Eire are the only places in Scimitaria without complete lore?
plus some small niche islands and nations

Good to see this is still ongoing and active. Can't wait to play this when y'all finish this

I wish I could contribute but I'm without a PC for atleast 2 more weeks now

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Chrysovica Cultists

>>86188590
This is the Kingdom of Nes and Fitt, right?

Damn, /tg/ is fast tonight

>>86213871
Yes.

>>86196080
>>86196630
Essakor was the old capital of the Azan Empire.

It's in the same region as Nananikor, the current capital

>>86218073
That reminds me we don't have a map for Azan yet. We have Changrila, Drunigzar, the Orange Marquissates, the Woodcutter cities... but not Azan.

>>86218180
There is one from a fee threads ago that was never added to the wiki.

What are some things on our current to do list that could be done within half an hour?

>>86218505
Was it complete?

A bit about the pondlings. Not much, though.

The Uska Islands are a small archipelago between Zemyland and Littlestep, functioning as the gate to the Platinum Strait. This advantageous position has meant that many powers have been interested in gaining a foothold into the island, but this has rarely panned out. The island is covered in forests and swamps, and it is not uncommon that the seasonal storms end up sinking parts of the forests into limited swamps that might last for months at a time. The trees grow so thick and so close together their branches and roots can create massive natural labyrinths, dooming the lost explorers to futilely chop the trees or to take their chances swimming into the murky waters. Mosquitoes and other insects thrive in these conditions despite the generally cold weather all year long, feeding on whatever warm-blooded creature they can find. The coast has very little natural spaces that allows the easy construction of ports, and again, the seasonal rains and storms can cause heavy damage to docked ships. Most of the ports that have been built there have been abandoned over time, either due to the destruction caused by the storms or by the lure of safer ports at far away shores.
This doesn’t mean that there aren’t human populations, however. Over the centuries, the many attempts to colonize the islands have resulted in small spots of population, both at the coast and deeper inland. They have evolved into very isolated fishing towns, moving from area to area depending on the swamps and the forests’ changes.

>>86220456
Outside of that, the island fully belongs to the pondlings. Their physiology is quite adapted to survive and thrive in the massive swamps of the islands. Many of the human settlers believe the pondlings use the remnants of an unknown civilization that sunk beneath the swamps, but there’s little proof of that. We do know that pondlings have reused and repurposed many of the structures humans attempted to build, and even began building some of their own. It is believed that the humans’ contact with the pondlings was what originated the pondlings’ underwater population centers. In the deeper areas of the swamps, the pondlings have built imitations of human cities, made out of seaweed, wood and rock. However, their layout is an ever intricate, near impossible to navigate mess, made a thousand times worse due to the darkness of the murky waters. Many old human settlements have been sunk on purpose to lay the groundworks for underwater towns, with the tallest buildings peeking out of the waters, covered in weeds, algae and other vegetation.

>>86220476
The only true successful occupation of the Uska Islands was made by the Princedom of the Platinum Strait. In their campaign to increase their holdings beyond Zemyland, they needed to find a way to control the prized trading routes within the Platinum Strait. While they were conquering parts of northern Littlestep, a platinum fleet disembarked on the Uska Islands, claiming them for the Princedom. The Platinum troops tried to explore the island, but without the help of the locals, this was impossible. However, the human natives’ isolationist customs meant that they weren’t in a hurry to contact with the zemylanders, and the same happened with the pondlings. However, there was no resistance to the claims of ownership, so to this day the area is considered part of the Princedom of the Platinum Strait. Their colonizing efforts, however, are lackluster. Much more successful than any previous attempts, but outside of a small port in the eastern side of the biggest Uska island, the rule of Platinum is mostly nominal. This is fine by both the pondlings and the local humans, since they aren’t really forced to participate in Platinum’s politics as long as they pay a small tribute: basically wood, fish and the occasional help exploring the depths of the abandoned human towns sank underwater.

>>86220482
The small port in the east has been fortified over the years, slowly growing into a strong fortress that could resist the storms and the uneven terrain of the area. This area also includes a great lighthouse, allowing safe travel for the ships in the area during even the harshest storms.

Attempts from Platinum of exploiting the natural resources of the area have been unsuccessful, to say the least. Most zemylanders are not really keen on the idea of living in the ever humid, ever cold swamp full of mosquitoes and mischievous pondlings, so they have little to no volunteers for the colonisation projects.

>>86207821
The mere existence of the Gnoll Empire is a political crisis indeed.

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>Excerpt taken from “The Encyclopedia of the South” by Citadel scholar and professor Leonard Targomas

What little we know of the Misty Isle and its inhabitants can be attributed to several witnesses, some being a thousand years old, with others more recent. It was Professor Alvan Nattestad who compiled all of these accounts roughly ten years ago, and I believe our findings during this voyage can shed light on some of them.

>History

Not much is known of the Mistfolk’s history. The very first written mention of the Sea of Fog and the Misty Isle can be found in the archives of a lunar temple in the Ta’lunasir city of Mar Muinne, and is dated to almost two thousand years ago. A record that is dated to only a hundred years earlier refers to the Sea of Fog and the Misty Isle with different names, as well as referring to the latter as uninhabited. Nattestad, therefore, comes to the conclusion that the Mistfolk came to be around these hundred years, with the record of this event being absent from the Ta’lunasir archives, at least as of now.

What we know from all other interactions with the Mistfolk is that many venture to the Misty Isle, but few come back to tell the tale. Those that did have described the Mistfolk with characteristics that belong to either humans or elves, but with some key differences, such as their skin and eye color, as well as their language and mannerisms. Thanks to a groundbreaking discovery during our expedition, these uncanny similarities and differences can finally come to light. My company and I have come to the deduction that the Mistfolk came to be when men and elves alike were corrupted by a power whose nature I will unveil on a later chapter. Since many brave adventurers and sailors have gone missing after landing on the Misty Isle, I am fairly certain that this corruptive power has not ceased and instead keeps “turning” outsiders into what we now know as the Mistfolk.

>>86222387

>Mistfolk

"As I mentioned before, the Mistfolk are of pale skin and their eyes can be a shade of yellow, blue and light grey. They are on average taller than men and elves alike. Some older individuals, described as “Elders” have been said to have markings on their chest, arms and face, whose purpose remains unknown. The individual that we were able to capture closely resembled a Ta’lunasir Elf of the Moonlight Shores, while most accounts have given them a more human-like appearance."

>Government

"Although we are unaware of who the Mistfolk’s leader is or the structure of their government, we can assume that they get to reside in the large building that resembles a castle or a palace, which stands on top of the large hill at the middle of the island."

>The Misty Isle

Even though thick fog shrouds it most of the time, the large Castle and the surrounding town and ports can be visible with clear skies, from both the west and the east. The buildings are made of what appears to be thick, grey stone, a material that’s not used in the architecture of their neighbors. Not only that, but there are also a lot of fishing boats and vessels sailing around the Sea of Fog. From that, it is clear that the Mistfolk are miners as well as fishermen, and perhaps their society isn’t as strange as we perceive it on the outside. The shallow waters of the Sea of Fog are filled to the brim with razor reefs, stranded tree logs and treacherous rocks that emerge out of the water. Even if one were to discount the mist that looms over this land, it is no wonder how many ships that cross this sea fail to reach their destination.

>>86222502

>Culture

"Most aspects of the Mistfolk's culture are unknown to us, although it’s safe to assume that some elements of the Ta’lunasir and human cultures have remained after their… transformation. A passage from the recovered journal of a Seagardian sailor mentions how the Mistfolk are able to manipulate the flow of water using a series of whispers and whistles, an ability whose extent we were able to witness ourselves later on. Regardless, it seems that the Mistfolk place great importance on the elements of water and mist. When we captured our unfortunate Mistman, he spat and cursed us in a queer language, and it sounded like the wind through leaves, rain on water, or the sound of stones in a brook. His voice was mesmerizing, it being as pure as winter air."

>Religion

"Although I am embarrassed to say it, I do admit that my partners were less lenient than me, and blinded by their zeal used methods of torture upon him. Despite my protests, our mage succeeded in making him lead us to their leader, after threats of further torture. We hopped onto a small boat, and followed our prisoner’s instructions. He led us successfully through the misty waters, using a type of magic that could manipulate both water and air. We were surprised when we found ourselves entering a large grotto. What we encountered there was nothing short of a marvel.

Salamanders of a myriad colours, pristine blue waters, stalagmites and stalactites, and a cave system that could house an entire city within it. However, our sightseeing was cut short when we heard splashes and footsteps back at the entrance of the grotto. We gagged the captive and quickly hid inside of a hidden alcove. A group of Mistfolk passed by us, heading deeper into the cave. "We were led into a trap", I thought at first."

>>86222519
Our mage used all of his powers and was able to cast a protective field that would shield us from unwanted eyes, at least for a short time. We followed the Mistfolk deeper into the cave, and we found themselves in a huge chamber, larger than any I’ve ever seen in my life. In the middle of it was a creature that I fail to describe with words. It resembled a huge toad, the size of at least 20 horses. Its face was unlike that of any toad, instead looking more like a human’s skull, only covered by a thin layer of skin. Two giant, wrinkly hands were protruding from its body.

The Mistfolk laid out three prisoners of their own race in front of this Demon. After examining them closely, it snatched them with its hands and devoured them as the prisoners screamed and begged for mercy. After it was done, it spoke in a strange tongue, and began singing with a voice that sounded like it belonged to a beautiful woman. Three men dressed in fancy robes and wielding staves with exquisite gems on them (we believe that these could be either their priests or court sorcerers) began dancing and chanting alongside it. This song… it still hunts my dreams. It matches perfectly with the Mumak legend of a song echoing across the lake, a legend that is more than a thousand years old. This Demon... it was no other than the mythical Raksasa, the Demon of Song, with its maiden priestesses who would lend it their voice!

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>>86222534
After its song ended, it opened its mouth and clouds of mist started flowing out. The moment that happened, we scurried out in panic, and I managed to take a last, frightened look behind me. It was then that I finally noticed that there was a fourth prisoner, chained to the wall. The mist had almost completely engulfed the room, and only the prisoner was still visible. Although some of my companions claim that my mind was playing tricks with me, it was clear as day. This dark skinned warrior, chained to the wall… the longer I looked at him, the paler his skin got. Our theories were true. The legends were true as well. Before leaving the grotto, I took my dagger and slit our prisoner’s throat. This -no doubt about that- was the God of the Mistfolk. The God of Transformation, the Father of the Mistfolk, who could only be satiated by the taste of human flesh, and in return would lend his children the powers to control the mist and the waters in order to protect their lands. I still can't figure out the reason that our prisoner led us to their sacred grotto. I wonder if it wasn't a trap, as I initially thought, but perhaps it was a call for intervention, a call to be freed from the tyrannical shackles of this primordial creature that ruled over his people. It's impossible to know, and all we can do for the time being is ponder about it. "

Foreign Relations

"Almost all interactions between the Mistfolk and the outsiders are unanticipated, and it seems that the Mistfolk made a pact with the toad-like demon Raksasa, and in turn they protect their lands and their secret with fervor. The Mistfolk seem to be self-sufficient, as contacts with the outside world are nonexistent. The only way for this to be reserved is through the death of Raksasa, and the elimination of the treacherous fog that surrounds the Misty Isle. But who’s to say that the Mistfolk wouldn’t be able to cast it back again? Truly, there’s still so much we don’t know about these elusive people.

I added the "Land of the Gods" lore to the wiki. I think I managed to successfully differentiate between the different realms.

Would you say that the lore for these places (especially the glutton and fit and ness islands) is "complete"?

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updated "lore map", land of the gods is in orange since I don't know if they should be considered "complete" (although if it were up to me, the fit and ness kingdom has satisfying lore atm)

>>86223011
oh, and I forgot to remove Felovik

>>86222543
So, the Mistfolk just are transformed from humans/elves, not born that way?

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Kingdom of Tarot

>History:

In ancient times, the region was split between several minor human kingdoms with strong ties to the fey. However, when the Khenomeric Empire expanded into the region, many of these kingdoms were enthralled by the possibilities that the Khenomeric’s magic represented. This allowed the Khenomeric Empire to turn the kingdoms into a series of vassals fairly easily, but tensions remained between those that favored an academic based approach to magic, and those that used fey magic.

The City of Ouroboria quickly became a major center of learning within the Khenomeric Empire. There, scholars without magical abilities themselves started experimenting with various materials, some with magical properties, some without. This led to all sorts of advancements in the field of alchemy. Many in Ouroboria will in fact claim alchemy was invented in their city, though many parts of the world have their own alchemic traditions that were well developed before any meaningful transfer of knowledge from Ouroboria occurred.

Following the Battle of Empires, the Khenomeric Empire turned its back on magic. Deprived of their main reason for joining the Khenomeric Empire in the first place, the kingdoms of the region quickly rebelled, and thanks to the fact most other vassals in northeast also rebelled, never faced any meaningful retaliation for doing so.

For a time, the petty kingdoms bickered among themselves, but that changed when Zaccariah Oddo rose to power in the city of Ouroboria. A genius politician and theologian as well as an alchemist, he created the Elemental Codices by merging the region’s various religions together with the “four elements” principles popularized by Eliphas Ensatti, plus some traditions and superstitions associated with the popular card game Tarot.

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>>86227491

The “Kingdom of Tarot” led by Zaccariah conquered all of its current territory, as well as had many vassal states in the surrounding region. However, Zaccariah’s successors maintained his obsession with symbology, but without his political or theological savvy. The Kingdom turned inwards for a long while and the many independent kingdoms were reorganized into just four (excluding Ouroboria and certain outlying vassals) and certain identities enforced onto them based on Zaccariah’s obsession with the four elements. Among the changes were cities being renamed, alchemists in different areas being forced to focus on certain topics, and large but impractical buildings being constructed, like the massive ring wall around Ouroboria and its surrounding farmland. Not all of these changes were impractical though, as it helped reinforce the loyalty of key individuals and organizations to the new nation.

In recent times, the Kingdom of Tarot has suffered a string of losses against the young but powerful Avangar Empire. Although still fairly powerful in their own way, the Kingdom of Tarot remains hamstrung by factionalism, overspecialization, and hidebound thinking.

>Government:

The overall ruler of the Kingdom is the Venerable Hierophant, who, in theory, is the supreme authority in all matters including theological, scholarly, arcane, political, and military. In practice though they tend to be long time alchemists, and although many are also very knowledgeable in theological, arcane, and a wide range of scholarly subjects, they tend to leave the rest to advisors.

Below the Hierophants are four sets of kings and queens (equals in theory), with each set ruling over one quarter of the kingdom (excluding Ouroboria). Confusingly, both Tarot, and its four component nations are known as kingdoms.

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>>86227523

Reporting to each set of kings and queens are several organizations and individuals that are sometimes more powerful than their respective kings and queens. This includes one powerful “mythical guardian” and one alchemic order per kingdom, plus several unique organizations per kingdom like the Navy for Cups, the Mining Guild and Banking Guild for Coins, the War Engineers of the Kingdom of Swords, and the Wandmakers Guild of the Kingdom of Wands.

The royal families award noble titles to those in their favor, but although many such titles are hereditary, being a noble comes with little power unless said noble is appointed to a position of power or works/buys their way up the ranks of one of many powerful organizations.

The Alchemist’s Guild is arguably the most powerful faction. It is split into four Orders, with an unofficial fifth dominating Ouroboria. Each Order is restricted to certain alchemic techniques, and are expected to operate out of one province. Each Order’s philosophy is somewhat based on pre-existing stereotypes for the kingdom they are based out of. It is an odd system, but helps ensure the dominance of Ouroboria, and close ties between the Alchemist’s Guild and existing factions in each kingdom.

>Economy:

The Kingdom of Tarot is famous for its large numbers of skilled alchemists, and the wide range of alchemic materials found in the region. However, its has never achieved its hoped for dominance of the global alchemic economy as most nations have their own alchemists and new recipes get out sooner or later. Tarot does export certain relatively common alchemic products in bulk, and high end items will always fetch a high price regardless of where they were made.

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>>86227530

Each kingdom has its own specializations where guilds churn out large quantities of products, while a branch of the alchemic order researches new innovations. Resource extraction is also somewhat divided by kingdom, with most fishing occurring in Cups, most woodcutting in Wands, etc.

Despite its reputation for regional overspecialization, most folk in Tarot live pretty mundane lives as farmers, herders, and low-end artisans.

>Foreign Relations:

- Florinth is the nation they have the closest ties to culturally, economically, and politically.

- Avangar dislikes them due to past abuses, and now controls several old vassals of Tarot while forcing Tarot itself to pay significant tribute.

- The Astromancers have friendly relations with Tarot, mostly via the Kingdom of Swords.

- The Princedom of the Platinum Strait is a major trading partner, who is also trying to free Tarot from Avangar’s influence by various means.

- The Golden Sea of Wheat and the Orange Marquisates are also significant trading partners, as is Vilga, despite the occupation of Vilga by Avangar.

- The Harmony Goddess’ Realm – This somewhat strange realm appeared out of what was once dense forest not long after the Kingdom of Tarot formed. Tarot has long worried about what the true goals of the Harmony Goddess are, but they remain a mystery.

- The Scatomancers are a strange off-shoot of the Alchemist’s Guild who became obsessed with feces, and later travelled to Grobianismus where they promptly went insane (or more insane). The Alchemist’s Guild considers them a joke, though is aware that some of them have mastered powerful magic.

- Lunatik Nine – Tarot probably could take this oversized slum easily, but why bother?

- Sealed Grove – The inhabitants of Tarot have long ago figured out that the Sealed Grove should be avoided.

- Blackstone Prison Islands, Tarot sends prisoners there on occasion.

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>>86227543

>Geography:

The geography of Tarot varies by kingdom, but generally the north is flat and fertile while the south is more mountainous and barren.

The Kingdom of Cups is good quality agricultural land, with its many fields separated by countless lakes, rivers, and forests.

The northern portion of the Kingdom of Coins is also mostly fields, but the southern portion is more mountainous.

The Kingdom of Swords is primarily mountainous, but with many flat plateaus as well. Herding is more viable than farming here.

The Kingdom of Wands has the oddest geography, with several volcanoes in the south, and the north being dry fields and forests which are prone to burning.

>Demographics:

- Humans make up most of the population. Most of them belong to the same strange Westerling offshoot that Florinthians come from, though their fey blood isn’t quite as strong. Many along the north coast have at least some Northmen ancestors, and many in the Kingdom of Swords and some in Ouroboria have at least some Khenomeric blood (usually from Interior Horse Nomadic peoples).

- Dwarves are fairly common in the southern parts of the kingdom, particularly in the Kingdom of Coins. Their culture is fairly similar to the western dwarves, but there are some minor differences like architectural style, clothing, cuisine, etc.

- Fey are not uncommon though vary by area. Almost all are allied in some way to one of the four “mythical guardians”, who in turn swore oaths to protect a particular sub-kingdom of the Kingdom of Tarot. Fey include merfolk, melusines, and sentient whales (allied to the The Great White One), horned behemoths and centaurs (Titanicus), harpies, fairies, and sentient eagles (The Thunder Bird), and fire sprites, phoenixes, and imps (The Salamander King). There are also nymphs, dryads, and pixies who serve Libeia Fire-Hair, the unofficial fifth mythical guardian who protects the inland portions of the Kingdom of Cups plus Ouroboria itself.

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>>86227552

- Dragons and Drakes – The Kingdom of Wands is one of the few places one can still find dragons, however, they are weak offshoots who have more in common with wyverns, wyrms, and drakes than the divine dragons of Bronzar. They are all in some way tied to the “Salamander King”, a three headed red dragon. As the Salamander King is one of four mythical guardians of Tarot (the rest of whom are faerie lords), and is also served by certain fey, many in Tarot and the surrounding nations treat the dragons as fey as well.

- “The New Guardians” – Some factions of the Alchemist’s Guild, particularly in Ouroboria and the Kingdom of Coins, distrust the fey and dragons, and have attempted to make their own guardians like golems, homunculi, or freakish fusions of various creatures known as chimeras.

>Religion:

Tarot is home to an odd mix of religions including bits and pieces taken from the Khenomeric Empire, various faerie lords, Northmen gods, and dwarven gods, among others, while many of the scholarly orders and artisan guilds are fairly secular. In order to tie all these elements together, Zaccariah created the Elemental Codices, which wove the various cultures of the region into four simplified sets of creeds.

Creed of Water – Associated with water dwelling faerie lords (Great White One and Libeia Fire-Hair) and northmen oceanic gods (Rusalochka and Legoluboy), as well as Kagal, the most innovative of the Khenomeric Pantheon. The Creed of Water is a flexible one that values the hardy stoic nature of the northmen sailor as much as the friendly warmth of a half-nymph or the reckless intuition of an urban potion maker. The massive whale-like faerie lord known as the Great White One is the Kingdom of Cup’s official mythical guardian, but the Water Nymph Queen Libeia Fire-Hair (sister of Aphiria of Florinth) is nearly as powerful, and her pet newt helps guard Ouroboria itself.

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>>86227569

Creed of Earth – Associated with the lumbering brute Titanicus, the dwarven gods, and perhaps the Khenomeric god of death Uruc as well. It is a cautious, slow moving creed, though oddly enough, when in a tight place, overthinking is frowned upon and intuition valued over logical reasoning. Titanicus is the mythical guardian of the Kingdom of Coins, but he is inscrutable, spends most of his time in the Golden Sea of Wheat or completely absent from this world and is therefore not seen as a reliable guardian or something worthy of worship. Many humans involved in mining, crafting, fighting, or alchemy in the Kingdom of Coins worship the dwarven gods instead, and some may also follow Uruc.

Creed of Air – Associated with Thunder Bird, the Guardian of the Mountain and Khenomeric/Nomad god of Kartaluk. It is a warlike creed, but not as dark or grim as the Creeds of Earth or Fire. Instead, life is celebrated, extroverted traits valued, and decisions are made with a clear head, not confused with emotion or darkened with nihilism. The Thunder Bird is a large faerie lord who takes the form of a roc, and is often seen as an avatar of the Nomad god Kartaluk.

Creed of Fire – Associated with the Salamander King. It is a dark creed, associated with a need for dominance and a tendency for sensation for the sake of sensation. The Salamander King is an odd individual whose history is murky. People in the region tend to see him as just another faerie lord like the other mythical guardians, but those more knowledgeable in the ways of dragons see him as perhaps an outcast divine dragon, or perhaps a powerful demon associated with Althazzar. The Salamander King followers were expanding aggressively around the time the Kingdom of Tarot was founded, and some think the Elemental Codices were partially an excuse to bring him into the fold.

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>>86227580

>Military:

The Kingdom of Tarot has a fairly large and well equipped army that is held back by mediocre moral, a nepotism riddled officer class, and poor coordination between the armies of each of the four kingdoms.

As the most populous kingdom, Cups has the largest army as well as the only navy. Its navy is well respected, perhaps due to its Northmen roots, seahorse knights, or powerful alchemic weapons, but the army is seen as prone to putting appearance over function, with its shiny copper armor, elaborate banners, and fancy parades not quite making up for its questionable combat record.

The Kingdom of Coins also has a decent sized army, though many of them (both humans and dwarves) would rather be mining, farming, crafting, or trading than fighting. Coins is experimenting with clay golems and some say darker creations, but so far they are mostly used for defensive purposes.

The Kingdom of Swords arguably has the best army, most of which is mounted on horses or gryphons. It benefits from high moral, a strong warrior culture inherited from the Nomads, and the fact that many of its alchemists and mages are combat oriented.

The Kingdom of Wands is also quite dangerous, but are also rather unreliable and insubordinate. Some worry that their true loyalties are more to the Salamander King than to the Hierophant.

I've been reading about the gnoll empire. Is the only thing left for that article the way gnoll society and administration functions?

>>86223011
If the zealot ogres are part of avangar, shouln't they be erased from the map?

>>86228732
I guess so

>>86228732
>>86229031
How would it work? We know the Nameless emperor rules, possibly aided by the Ogre Council that led the country before the emperors. But how would the administration and the economy work? I can't imagine most gnolls using something as a coin based economy. Bartering? And how are taxes collected, then? Are all gnolls left alone until they are ordered to obey the emperor?

Is anything written about Gilgemash?

>>86229158
nothing at all

I can’t believe this thing is still alive, what did I miss from the last two months?

>>86229785
A lot of lore.

>>86223011
There are some places that could be erased from here, since they are mostly wild areas with little to no population, or they have already lore written about them elsewhere.

>Squid Peninsula
No civilisation to speak of, only voraceous ants and termites.

>Lotus Island
It's been described both in its own article and in the Drunigzar one.

>Lucy's Land
There is very little lore registered about the place because Lucy and her friends don't know how to write and read yet

>Cursed Battlefield
Its history is all in the Battle of Empires page, though writing what remains now would be nice.

>Giant Handprint Desert
We could write the history of the Brass people, but other than that (and the worms) there is little to write about.

>Thornwood
What you see is what you get there. It's a sea of thorn bushes, simple as.

>>86230311
That's true, but I'm leaving them as is for now in case someone wants to do a small write up of them, kinda like the Pondlings before that

>>86229082
I've written something quick.

>Administration and economy
It is difficult to study what happens for public administration in the Gnoll Empire. The gnolls’ wild and violent nature makes organizing them into any form of structure and society is notoriously difficult, and are always prone to jump and gut each other rather than collaborating with one another. However, there have been successful attempts of organizing the gnoll, usually as mercenaries, bodyguards, hunters or another activity revolving violence. The examples of gnoll mercenaries and even the prestigious Drunigzar’s Gnoll Corps have proven they are not the mindless beast they were assumed to be centuries ago. Necromancy has also proven to pacify the gnoll enough to subdue most of their violent impulses, leading to increased learning and a more calm and collected demeanor. However, this is only applied to individuals and small groups, a couple of hundred gnolls at best. Trying to apply these principles to the Gnoll Empire itself, a land where tens of millions of gnolls reside, and where the population is always at the brink of a demographic explosion, is a completely different subject matter. Trying to imagine an organized state ruled by the vicious and brutal gnoll and the slightly less brutal ogres is difficult, and one could assume the Gnoll Empire would have imploded mere years after its founding. Instead, the empire has not only endured for centuries, it has expanded to become one of the biggest powers in eastern Giantstep.

>>86231405
The inner workings of the Gnoll Empire are very poorly studied, since communications and diplomacy with the gnolls is sparse to say the least. However, we can make certain assumptions from the registers and chronicles the few individuals who have visited and lived within the Gnoll Empire and lived to tell the tale.

The better known parts of Gnoll administration are from the top, and become murkier and murkier the more we get close to local administration. There is no doubt that the supreme ruler of the gnoll is the Gnoll Emperor. Since the creation of that title, the rule of the emperor is unquestioned. His will is obeyed by millions of gnolls and by hundreds of thousands of ogres. Wherever he goes, the empire will follow. Whatever he asks, it is done. The rule of Emperor can be challenged, however. Any gnoll, in theory, can walk out to the emperor and send a defy the emperor in a battle to the death, one on one. In practice, this has only worked once, since the emperors have been universally undead liches, and the sheer might and power means that it is extraordinarily difficult to defeat them. The death of Grabagrorr the Great at the hands of the Nameless caused great speculation outside of the empire, but considering the rumors of the Nameless being the favored student of Vandervax the Vile, his magical prowess should not be surprising. During his rule, the Nameless has tried to reform and organize the structure the Ogre Priests left behind and that Grabagrorr utterly ignored in favor of war. Many believe that the Nameless has been bringing all surviving records of the Khenomeric Empire to the capital, to try to understand the key elements of the ancient khenomeric administration at its peak, and try to use it to give a structure to the empire in the present. This seems to be quite difficult, since the Great War of the Gnoll caused untold destruction, and most records have either been lost or damaged beyond understanding.

>>86231413
For now, the highest echelons of the Gnoll Empire are taken by the Ogre Priesthood and the many undead gnolls. Undeath is essential in the empire, since the ability to think free of the bestial instincts of their race makes the undead gnolls a vital part of the administration. Otherwise, there would be no way to keep the chains of command. Not even the ogre priests could control the millions of gnoll living in the empire. But the undead gnoll, with hundreds of years of both fighting prowess and magical experience, can and frequently do beat the rest of the species into submission. This is done to show the gnoll who is the strongest, to then obey the undead administration as part of following the Gnoll Emperor’s orders. This also helps to guarantee the rule of the Gnoll Emperor: if the strongest gnoll they know obey the Gnoll Emperor without question or hesitation, then the Emperor must be a being with strength beyond belief. The mere mention of the Gnoll Emperor will make most gnolls stop whatever they are doing and listen, considering him a figure of terror and awe.

>>86231431
How the local administration works beyond that, it is difficult to say. We can assume that part of the role of keeping whatever law and order there is within the empire is in the hands of the ogre priests, but it is difficult to confirm. Another thing that’s very difficult to assess is how the economy of the Gnoll Empire works. Rumors have arisen that many of the slaves captured by the gnoll are actually used as herders and farmers, tending to the fleshox and tortoplodon of the empire to guarantee a stable source of food and shelter. Agriculture is seemingly becoming an essential activity in the empire, although unlike most places, gnolls do not eat what they produce. Gnolls are carnivores, and all the produce is dedicated to feed the fleshox, tortoplodon and other farm animals the gnolls manage to herd successfully. Ogres have also dedicated themselves to these activities, usually with great success, since it is rare for predators (or the gnoll for that matter) to try to attack an ogre herder, whereas an emaciated slave herder will not be that much of a deterrent.

>>86231446
The gnoll do not use money, seemingly unable to understand the concept of currency, instead depending on bartering to obtain what they want. They will usually trade whatever they can get their claws on, and even whatever they can manufacture (artisanship has seemingly been improving over the years within the empire, but it’s still quite far away from any human society). The only place where one can find money of any kind is in the coastal cities and in the capital, and only use it when dealings with the outside world are needed. The other form of trading between the gnolls are violent duels. Fighting between the gnolls usually starts when a gnoll sees something he wants in the possession of someone else, and challenges him to a duel. Whoever wins keeps the losers’ property, and it most of the time the fight ends up with the loser dying, and this keeps the population in check. Demographic explosions happen from time to time, and they are usually resolved by creating massive wars within the gnoll, and grinding both sides down until numbers are once again manageable. In the past, it was done through conquest, but the Nameless’ politics of improving the empire’s diplomacy with the neighbors means this is no longer the first option.

More like /tg/ makes a seething

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would it be fair to consider that the Gnoll have a "satisfying" amount of lore?

>>86231882
The only thing really lacking is how its military works. I could try writing something later. Other than that, I'd say the Gnoll Empire is pretty much complete.

Also, what the fuck is a prelurian horned ape?

>>86231882
I'd say so

I've written some gnoll stuff.

>Military
The forces of the Gnoll Empire are near encompassing with the entire gnoll population. Every single gnoll is a creature capable of tearing up a man with its own claws and teeth. Every single gnoll can sustain grievous injuries that would incapacitate any man and just keep going, not stopping until blood loss or a crippling hit takes it down for good. Every single gnoll could survive in the harshest areas, eating from the land and, frequently, eating its enemies in the middle of the field. Near every single gnoll is utterly replaceable, since the gnoll reproductions makes sure that the losses are easily and quickly taken care of. And the Gnoll Empire has millions of them, always eager to spill their enemies’ blood and feed on their entrails. This alone makes the Gnoll Empire one of the most feared empires in the land, an ever growing sea of beasts that feel no fear, no remorse and that could drown their opponents in bodies without any limit of morale and logistics.

>>86234847
The reality is less impressive, although that doesn’t mean that the Gnoll Empire isn’t one of the great military powers of Giantstep. They are indeed, but the gnolls are not unstoppable, as many victories against them have proven time and time again. The biggest weakness of the gnolls is, ironically enough, their vicious bestial nature. Gnolls are in a near constant state of alert, exploding in violence at the smallest provocation. This not only makes self-preservation quite difficult for a gnoll, but also makes organizing them a daunting task. They are known to attack each other, frequently to the death, for little reason. And their animal rage makes them ignore pretty clear signs of danger, or situations where retreat is the better chance: an unarmed gnoll will have little chance to beat an armored knight, but the gnoll will jump at the fight regardless. This state of alert also makes the gnoll a particularly difficult to train soldier, unable to focus on the lessons instead of constantly surveying its surroundings. Discipline and the ability to follow orders both in and outside of a battle are also difficult things to accomplish, but enough training (and orders from a strong enough leader) will make this easier with time. A small group of human soldiers keeping formation could defend themselves from a gnoll horde many times its size by just keeping calm, maintaining formation and using the gnoll’s blind rage against them. This was what allowed the Khenomeric Empire survive so many centuries against the feral gnolls, even cleaning some regions from them from a time. It was when the ogres manage to beat into the gnoll enough cohesion into them to not rip into each other and to utilize some strategy other than “charge blindly” when the khenomeri found themselves outmatched.

>>86234871
Since the days of the Great War of the Gnoll, the ogres have formed a fundamental part of the gnoll armies, functioning as both their warlords and their priests. Ogres are capable of bludgeoning an individual gnoll into death, and that kind of show of strength is essential to keep unit cohesion, and will obey the orders of the ogre captains, though their tactical finesse is not that far from the gnolls’. Once the Gnoll Empire began becoming more and more organized, the army slowly gained hierarchy and structure. This was especially true after the Nameless rose to power, since his reforms (aided by the undead gnolls’ research and possibly help from Okhost) and longer periods of peace gave the empire enough breathing room for modernization. While many suspect most of the reforms proposed by the Nameless ended up being unapplicable due to the gnolls' nature, it has taken what used to be a horde of undisciplined beasts into what can be considered an army.

>>86234889
The current Gnoll Army is very simplistic in comparison to any modern army’s standards. It is mostly composed of hordes of light infantry, with a very loose organization outside of that. The infantry is comprised of formations that could include between 50 and 500 individual gnolls, all obeying the rule of a warchief. These warchiefs could either be ogre captains or particularly ferocious gnoll that have manage to carve out the respect of their fellows in the heat of battle and also proven they can instill loyalty and fear enough in them to lead them to battle. Over them we could find a warlord, that could command between 50 and 200 formations, but once again, it will depend on the warlord’s charisma, strength and success. Many warlords are veterans of many campaigns, and if they are successful enough they will be rewarded with undeath, which will allow them to improve their leadership skills, as well as continue to fight for as long as their bodies can be repaired.

>>86234903
Over them, we find the war commanders, absolutely terrifying leaders and near universally undead. They can have under their wing hundreds of dozens, even hundreds of warlords, who will show nothing but blind obedience to their leader. The war commanders can only be promoted by the Gnoll Emperor himself. He alone is capable of rising an individual to the rank. The war commanders will also have the privilege of carrying to battle with them a very unusual unit: war drummers. The Nameless saw fit to imitate the tradition from other armies of adding army bands, and thus he ordered the creation of the war drummers, formations of between over a thousand drummers playing in unison. The sound of a single unit of war drummers means that unimaginable destruction is on its way, since it means a war commander is closing in with his legions. They are not particularly good drummers, though, not they are good at playing in unison, which makes it even more striking when they all suddenly stop playing and their sound is replaced by the charging howls of the gnoll.

>>86234909
Gnoll auxiliaries usually take the form of specialized units, usually there to counter the gnoll’s main weaknesses. As a primarily infantry-based army, there are two things that can counter even the gnolls’ mighty numbers: cavalry and fortifications. The majority of gnolls cannot use any known mount, for the simple reason that any animal smart enough to be tamed is also smart enough to get away from a gnoll as soon as possible. And that means that mounted units have a great advantage in mobility and speed: heavy cavalry can swathe entire gnoll formations with a single charge, whereas light cavalry can keep themselves at bay while firing arrows into the gnoll.

>To try and counter this, the gnoll...
I have no idea what to add here. What can the gnoll do to counter cavalry? They are too unruly to use spear phalanxes, and too slow to just chase the horses themselves.

Also, what's the best counter the gnoll could use against fortifications?

>>86229951
That sounds genuinely nice (I feared this was being kept alive by like 3 people asking questions), but I was looking for a more informative answer. If it’s not too much of a bother. When I left the azan faith, history and important worldy events were being discussed, what more has been added?

>>86235703
To be fair, you've slowly got each nation getting lore dumps about them. There was also lore added about some historical empires and the "Battle of Empires". There was talks of an allignment chart being made but it didn't go too far

Generally, I'd say we are more than halfway done with the "Required" lore of all nations in the setting. Then we'd need to figure out how magic, alchemy etc work

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Update update

>>86235800
So, I'd say our "priorities" when it comes to nations needing lore should be:

>Blesire States
>Orc'Eire
>SonQo Temples
>Blind Bastard's Domain
>Nosso Lar
>Kingdom of Lorient/Lemon
>Laurentian Crusades
>Corteau Canyon
>Kingdom of Poker
>Kunt Pirates/Dreaded Wharf

>>86235800
Felovik is complete.
"Land of Storms" should be wiped, it's just a geographic location of the Drow lands.

Also, isn't Kentogorod "in need" of more lore?

>>86235902
>Also, isn't Kentogorod "in need" of more lore?
Not really, what more could you add to it?

>>86219279
For present day yes

https://desuarchive.org/tg/thread/85775039/#q85814195

They lost a lot of land so for historical stuff look at surrounding areas

>>86234930
The flying Dragonspawn Gnolls they acquired after bringing the chained Dragongod into their fray.

There is a limited supply (The Emperor knows of they tried to make too many with the Dragongod's flesh they would kill them) but Gnolls with wings and draconic power form a sort of "elite force" within the military structure

More like /tg/ makes a seething

>>86238564
Maybe something about the government and the demographics

>>86240233
The thing is, kentgorod is on the northern edge of the world, it's a small, far away and mysterious place. Describing it with so much detail might not be worth it.

>>86238620
>The flying Dragonspawn Gnolls they acquired after bringing the chained Dragongod into their fray.
But using such an elite force to counter cavalry, something that pretty much every nation could field relatively easily, seems pointless. Their numbers won't be enough.

>>86234930
Obviously throwing maggots over the walls to make Gnolls sprout inside the castles.

Other than that using their Rat-vassals to dig tunnels or the necromancers making sure the horde never runs out of bodies to throw at the problem.

>>86238620
The Dragonspawn are servants of the Dragongod King whose a vassal so I'd guess their access to those is limited.

>>86241002
>Obviously throwing maggots over the walls to make Gnolls sprout inside the castles.
Ok, I actually really like this. Using their spawn as a weapon (both the maggot and the hyena forms) looks like a strong psychological weapon, relatively effective and cheap and really fits the gnoll theme.

The gnolls catapulting bodies of their defeated enemies back into the castles, having been infected by the gnoll... Disturbing and effective.

>>86241025
Yeah. I wonder what weapons Gnolls use I'd guess spears and kopesh. Often made of bone as that's what a Gnoll has most access too.

Have we ever decided on the origin of Gnolls? My headcanon is the lower stair.

Also I think the eternal tent city might need more lore.

>>86242749
>Have we ever decided on the origin of Gnolls? My headcanon is the lower stair.
Gnoll's origins should remain obscure.

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Where in this setting could this be?

>>86244743
Probably Zemyland, but perhaps not Slavic enough

There is also a lot of places in the northwest that could also work depending on the season

>>86244743
Zapalovah

>>86244743
Boy, that looks unsafe.

>>86244814
Not really

>>86245059
In an age where magic and gunpowder exists, all you have to do is to blow up the natural pillar and then the castle would crumble.

>>86242749
I was going to write about gnoll weapons, but first I'd like to find a way of gnolls fighting cavalry somewhat effectively. I was thinking of using caltrops of some sort to block charges, but I'm not sure if that would work with heavy cavalry (would horseshoes block those?) and they would do less than nothing to mounted archers. What can they use to counter cavalry?

>>86242749
>kopesh
I could see the gnoll trying to replicate the weaponry the khenomeri left behind. What was their arsenal?

>>86244743
Is this based of something?

>>86245857
Talking about the Khenomeric... surely they used sand magic, right? Since the Nerim also use sand magic, it'd make sense if they were descendants of the Khenomerics who migrated north

>>86240977
They have just enough of them that cavalry is a critical weakness of the army but that any nation with horses can't auto win against them

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>Art:Tan Zhi Hui (Kudaman)
>Alt text: A humanoid spikey lizard-like dragon with one leg one large tail and two wings.
Pictured is Dragongod Thazanon. Claimed legendary founding figure of the Azan Empire, the titular Dragon of the Dragon Empire, and claimed ancestor of the First, Second, Third, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth imperial dynasties.

>>86249423
In modern times, the very existence of Thazanon has been questioned their current location, or if they are alive or dead is a matter of much debate. Thazanon (like most Dragongods) has been conflated with others. Some believe they ARE Bronzar, others belive they are the sibling and/or mate of Bronzar. Given how most people haven't heard of a living Dragongod, let alone seen one, the line between fact and legend is hard to find.

>>86248183
Still we should look for something else. They cannot be too dependent on the flying gnolls.

>>86227491
>>86227523
>>86227530
>>86227543
>>86227552
>>86227569
>>86227580
>>86227595
I really like the Tarot Kingdom lore.
Kinda wish there was more of it

>>86252247
there was some shit written earlier on

>>86246303
Nah the Khenomerics had nature, star, necromancy and 'life' magic. Life being unique to the Pharakhans. Keep in mind Khenomeric were steppe not desert people.

I imagine sand magic was born by mixing nature and necromancy

>>86248183
I'd imagine Gnolls could use tactics simmilar to Shaka Zulu maybe where the fastest Gnolls are given spears and are told to run very fast to act like cavalry.

Alternatively wardrummers, fires and flairs could be used to panic enemyy horses.

>>86252396
Could the gnolls commission the creation of a mount for them? I'm sure that the Emperor could see how effective cavalry is, and ask some alchemists for the creation of a warbeast of sorts. Considering there are a lot of mix and match creatures in the setting already (see the Strange Meadows), this shouldn't be that complicated.

>>86252423
Problem is as stated "any animal smart enough to ride is smart enough to avoid a gnoll" and now try to keep a gnoll from eating their or their boss's mount.

Them lacking cavalry is also pretty interesting. I mean raw numbers counter cavalry plenty. If you charge into an army of Gnolls you will get stuck and be killed even if the KDR is 20:1

At the end of the day one knight takes years to train a new Gnoll is out and ready to fight in potentially days.

In other words when fighting Gnolls you can win 100 battles in a row and loose the war.

>>86252453
>I mean raw numbers counter cavalry plenty
To a degree. Heavy cavalry could decimate the lightly armoured gnolls in a charge, and mounted archers will just circle the gnolls around indefinitely. Which I imagine it was the way the khenomeri nobles hunted down gnolls before the ogres arrived.

Thing is, the Nameless is a smart individual, he knows the weaknesses of his subjects and he¡s doing all he can to fix them. If the gnoll currently have no cavalry due to lack of a mount, I imagine he would try to fix it.

>>86252495
Why not just undead horses?
1. Non-edible
2. Don't have a mind on their own to get scarred

Their numbers would not be high of course, but neither can the numbers of fully armored knights be

>>86252794
How do undead animals work? Also, do we know if they are unedible by gnoll standards or their larvae?

Should we make a new thread?

>>86254080
Probably this one will be at boop limit in 20 posts.

>>86252816
I assume they are directly controlled by the necromancer, though considering undead Gnolls seem to have authonomy.

As for if Gnoll/larva can eat undead... No clue desu

>>86252794
The problem of undead horses is that:

1. The gnoll cannot breed horses, they can only capture them alive or dead from their enemies.
2. They have to keep them in good enough shape until the necromancers can get their paws on them. It'd be pointless to resurrect a half eaten horse without legs.
3. They would then have to teach the would be gnoll riders how to ride the horse, which is not a small feat. Not only there'd be very few gnoll capable of learning, thee'd be even less riders capable of teaching.

The end result would be a cavalry unit so small and unprepared that it would be just easier to take all this effort to train more infantry.

>>86254360
Guess we can chalk up their lack of cavalry as the reason they didn't keep infinitely expanding like the ravenous horde they are.

Walls and horses keep the Gnoll at bay. Good reason for some medieval stagnation desu

>>86244743
Literally Castle Athassel

I just realised something. We have a lot of kingdoms, but we don't have any dwarven kingdom. We have a lot of abandoned or fallen holds, and a couple of inhabited holds in the Drow City States. Do we have a history why the dwarven have no longer a proper country for their own?

>>86257168
I figure most of the time dwarves just operate city-states (often heavily fortified and at least partially underground) anywhere where valuable ores can be found, then move to new locations as new seams are found

If their neighbors are weak, they operate completely independently, but if their neighbors are strong they accept some sort of vassal status on paper, but use lots of "donations" to ensure low taxes and de facto political independence

Alright I'm thinking I will expand on the Kresteneg Grounds lore

>>86257168
there's Gautlan, I guess

>>86258401
Oh yeah, I completely missed it.

Ok, I'm continuing the gnoll stuff from >>86234930.

For centuries, cavalry has been the main counter against the gnolls. Over the years, the gnolls have tried many tricks to try to stop cavalry’s edge over the gnoll infantry. The first attempts involve bathing themselves in substances that would smell so horribly that the horses would be spooked. This partly worked, but properly trained cavalry simply is not bother by this, being used to the smell of blood and death of a battlefield, and ranged cavalry will always be far enough from the source of the smell. Another attempt was the use of iron caltrops, which once again, had mixed results. But in the end, any warhorse worth its salt uses horseshoes, which nullify the effect of the caltrops. On the contrary, the deployment of caltrops slows down the gnoll infantry more than the enemy’s cavalry, so it was scrapped once again. Observing their enemies, the gnoll learned that a long and sharp spear was pretty good at keeping the horses away, but the attempts of emulating a phalanx formation ended up in disaster. However, spear throwers actually became a staple in the gnoll army, but as a specialized unit, since most gnolls wouldn’t willingly separate themselves from their weapon, and many more would die before losing the chance of charging at the enemy instead of waiting for them.

>>86258748
The first great success of the gnoll’s anti cavalry efforts appeared with the alliance between the Gnoll Emperor and the Dragongod. Phorsiussarx’s termes of vassalage included the creation of an elite gnoll unit: the Dragonspawn Gnolls, flying gnolls who could be used as fast raiders and as terror troops. The flying gnolls’ gifts allowed them to counter cavalry effectively, since they can just fly over the enemy and throw projectiles from the safety of the sky. This can disrupt a cavalry charge, since their defenses usually don’t account for an attack from this angle. Ranged cavalry is still problematic, but as long as the Dragonspawn Gnolls stay at a high enough altitude, most archers will have a hard time hitting them. This system is not perfect, however. The numbers of Dragonspawn are very limited, and they won’t be available in most battlefields, much less in significant numbers. Also, they are still gnolls, and their bloodlust can make them just abandon their advantage of height and just dove into the battle for close quarters combat, where their wings will be easily hacked and broken.

>>86258756
Over the years, the Nameless has been studying the arts of war of the human neighbors and from the old khenomeri records. He is dedicating a lot of efforts to find a way to develop a proper version of gnoll cavalry, but the lack of an acceptable mount is an impossible impasse. At first he tried to create an unit of regular cavalry, but the horses were eaten by the gnoll. Then undead horses were implemented, but the difficulty to acquire horses in good condition (either alive or dead, or at least whole enough to be resurrected) made the project too much of a hassle. Undeterred by this, the Nameless has been searching for alchemists from the outside to create a being that could be used as cavalry and that could complement the gnolls’ lifestyle and behavior. Using the riches from the empire, the Nameless is funding many rogue alchemists to come to the Gnoll Empire to try to create this creature. But even this seems difficult, as even rogue alchemists are not particularly keen to deal with the gnoll. And the gnolls’ allies like Okhost or Drunigzar seem reluctant about providing the gnoll with the resources to create this weapon of war, out of the fear of making an enemy of the rest of the world, not to mention the potential risk of having this weapon used against them in the future.

>>86258782
The other great obstacle for gnoll warfare was fortifications. The gnoll armies need to be constantly in the offensive, something that they can easily do due to their nature and their quickly replaceable numbers. However, if they are fought to a standstill, their momentum breaks down and they are left vulnerable to a counterattack, like what happened against the Ra. And that is why fortifications are very successful against them. The gnoll, for the most part they have very little tools of war against serious fortifications. And this doesn’t seem to impede the gnoll advance, who will simply surround the fortresses and castles and just continue moving on with their overwhelming numbers. But this has a lot of room for failure, since leaving big numbers of enemy soldiers behind their lines is a recipe for disaster, since they could launch hit and run attacks that could slow down the gnolls’ advance to a crawl. And of course, sometimes the gnolls have no choice to take over a fortress or a fortified city. For this, the gnolls have developed a few, many of which just rely on brute force to take down the doors: Armored ogres with rams, simple mobile stairs to climb up the walls, teams of digging gnoll to try and burrow their way in…

>>86258791
Over time, however, they developed very precarious siege weapons. The gnoll necromancers have managed to understand the inner workings of some of the siege engines used by the khenomeri, developing very simplistic onagri. While this is one of the most advance weapons of the gnoll by a wide margin, to the rest of the world’s standards the gnoll onagri have a pathetic short range, nothing compared with modern catapults or cannons. But the gnoll don't use them to throw rocks at the enemy, for the simple reason that that would require a logistic network the gnoll cannot rely on. Instead, the gnoll use their onagri as psychological weapons. They will carry enough dead bodies, infect them with their maggots, and launch them at the fortresses. Hundreds of bodies falling over the walls might not be an effective way to bring them down, but the effect in the enemy’s morale is clear and palpable. It’s even better if the defenders fail to dispose of all of the bodies, since the maggots might grow up into the hyena gnolls, which will cause disarray from within. It’s also useful to cause disease to the defenders, since so many corpses falling down is an obvious health hazard. However, this kind of tactics mean that the defenders will fight to the end, and thus there is no chance of surrender, knowing what fate will befall them if they are captured alive. At best, they’ll be killed on the spot. At worst, they’ll be enslaved and brought to the empire, where they will languish a short but brutal life serving the gnoll. Another weapon for sieges is the Dragonspawn Gnolls, but in sieges they are less effective since attacking defended positions holds many more dangers for flying creatures. If the gnolls want to be subtle, they will use ratmen slaves from the Seguerial Hordas. Their disposition for burrowing and their alchemical abilities make them excellent sappers, but considering the gnolls’ harsh treatment of slaves, they rarely last longer than a battle.

>>86258821
The armory of the gnoll is very diverse. Initially, back in the days of the Great War of the Gnoll, most of the equipment the gnolls carried was primitive, wooden spears with stone tips, clubs, axes… these weapons were crude but effective, especially in great numbers and with the khenomeri army divided and distracted by the ogres. The more the war advanced and the more slaves the gnoll managed to capture, their weapons became more and more complex. Out of studying looted weapons and interrogating captured slaves for their knowledge, the ogres managed to teach the gnoll the fundaments of bronze and iron metallurgy, which they used to great effect. Their weapons were still crude in comparison to the refined armory the khenomery, but again, it proved more than enough. In present time, the technology of the gnoll has kept improving, though they are still far behind from the technology from the human kingdoms. The rate of improvement is in fact so great that has become a point of great worry for the surrounding neighbors, fearing that their biggest advantage against the gnoll might disappear with enough time. This quick development is thanks to the undead administration. The empire has dedicated a lot of time and efforts to develop their society and technology, which includes its military. Many undead gnolls and ogres study the remains and archives of the khenomeri, jumping upon every useful bit of practical information with voracious appetite. However, while the technological development is fast, its practical applications are very slow, for the simple reason that most gnolls are unable to make use of the more complicated technology the undead bureaucracy has access to. The common gnoll artisan can only do very few things, such as crafting a couple of items he memorized after a lot of effort, or repairing said items.

>>86258835
Outside of the elite units, there is little homogenization in the gnolls’ equipment. Most gnolls have hand-to-hand weapons: simple things such as short swords, lances, maces, axes, hammers… Their quality is not the best, and most of the time the trooper has to provide his own weapons. Some of the more successful can be seen wearing metal gauntlets to claw their enemies, but the complexity needed to craft them makes them a rare weapon. In recent times, there has been an increase in the use of curved swords such as scimitars or even a variant on the traditional khenomeri khopesh of old. This is likely caused by the efforts of the Gnoll Emperor to recreate the khenomeri culture as much as possible. Ranged weaponry is rare, and mostly consists of throwing spears. The gnolls do know how to construct and use bows and arrows, and there’s even been cases of gnolls using slings and captured crossbows, but they seem to dislike these kinds of weapons, unable to satisfy their bloodlust with them. Armor is even more varied, with some gnolls wearing crude metal contraptions to protect themselves while others wear nothing at all to battle.

The elite troops, however, boast of weaponry and equipment of great quality. They are trusted with weapons miles above what the regular troops could ever find due to their experience and/or their success in the battlefield. Most of the weapons they use are from captured enemies, which is seen as a show of the gnoll’s skill and battle prowess, displaying them as trophies. This is especially true for undead leaders, since they not only are much smarter and collected than the rest of their brethren, but they also have magical resources to imbue their equipment with magical properties. This makes the undead leaders deceptively great fighters, who can fight using the known gnoll ferocity while also with as much skill and dexterity of even veteran knights, and that is without taking into account their possible magical prowess.

>>86258846
Another element of the gnoll army is the gnoll mercenaries. Over the years, many gnoll have travelled the world serving as mercenaries. This lifestyle, usually combined with banditry, has allowed many gnolls learn skills that would be impossible to find within the empire. It helps that the ones who choose this lifestyle are naturally predisposed to a calmer disposition, and can thus form groups with species other than gnolls. The Gnoll Emperor has tried to bring as many of them back to the empire as possible, to pass along their knowledge and experience to the rest of their species. This is not just for battle, this includes things such as medicine, crafting, strategy, organization… Any skill useful for the gnoll will be husbanded as much as possible, even if teaching them to the rest of the gnoll is an uphill struggle. Many of them will be rewarded with undeath should the learned skills be useful enough. The best example of this are the Gnoll Corps, part of the alliance between the Gnoll Empire and the Kingdom of Drunigzar. The drunig’s high standards allows for quite effective soldiers, with a level of discipline and organization nearly unheard of within the Gnoll Empire (but barely above a unruly mob in comparison to the drunig’s forces). Many gnoll who survive their long service within the Gnoll Corps can return to the empire if they so wish, having guaranteed a special place in the nation in exchange for their valuable services.

NEW THREAD, JUST IN CASE.

>>86258892
>>86258892
>>86258892

>>86150865
Neat.