The Grand Duchy of Karameikos
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map image 'borrowed' from fellow D&D website Classic Dungeons & Dragons
Threshold: Hometown to our adventuring party. This northern logging and farming settlement is ruled by Patriarch Sherlane, a cleric, also known as Baron Halaran. Nestled at the foot of the Black Peak Mountains, and bordered to the north by Lake Windrush, the town is surrounded by a dense wilderness where vampires and werewolves abound.
The town comprises several fishermen's camps, the den of thieves known as Fogor's Isle, also a logging camp in the higher ground to north, where trees are felled and floated downstream to be chopped into lumber. This camp was cruelly attacked one year ago by the rogue necromancer Maximus, its workers struck down by the wizard's undead minions.
To the north can be found Rezgale's Ruins, once the site of an evil wizard's keep, and which served as the first ever quest which Lana, Drewen, Threy and Canerzon undertook together! More recently the wizard Bargle the Infamous has shown an interest in the ruins, stationing his bugbear troops here for a while in preparation for a raid on the nearby town ...
The Lost Valley of Hutaaka: At one time a mighty empire blessed by the jackal-headed Immortal Pflarr; now a deserted ruin, a memory of past glories, spoken of only in myths and legend. This valley was visited by our party, as we encountered both its inhabiting races, the proud dog-headed Hutaakans and the warlike Traldar (descendants of the current-day Traladaran people). Bordered on all sides by impassable mountain peaks, a fierce civil war has been raging within the Valley for long centuries now, unknown to the world outside.
The Valley sports a wide variety of rare breeds of life, but up until the intervention of our heroes was plagued by a dark monster known only as Kartoeba. A being of utmost chaos, this ageless demigod is suspected to have had powers over the undead of the Valley, and also was known to have conducted nightly raids on the settlements of all tribes dwelling within the Valley, raining death and unstoppable destruction wherever his caustic presence found its way. Kartoeba served a purpose however; it was he who stood as guardian over the lost riches of the Hutaakan Empire.
Specularum/Mirros: The capital of the Duchy, ruled by Duke Stefan Karameikos himself. This Thyatian nobleman traded his ancestral lands in the Empire to the East in return for title to the rugged hills and forests of Traladara, to which he now after long decades of rulership has finally brought some civilisation. Large portions of the realm escape the Duke's control, however, as humanoid tribes, slavers, and elitist traladaran cults seek to exploit the Duchy in pursuit of their own ideals.
Specularum literally translates as "the City of the Mirrors" as it overlooks a shimmering bay where the ducal fleet is moored. The capital also serves as a second home base for the Threshold Party; most notably since it is here that Drewen, Threy and Lana fulfilled their longtime dream of establishing their very own working inn! The Flying Ferret Inn is to be found along Westron Alley in the residential Bricktop area of the city, premises which only a year before now served as headquarters to a group of treacherous doppelgangers, bent on no less than the demise of Duke Stefan. The Inn is a warm and homely place, serving excellent food, ales and welcome comfort to the road-wearied traveller. The city serves also as home to Karnus and Vasily, both having grown up in the slum areas of the great capital, but who now find purpose in the libraries of the Wizard's Guild and the chapels of the Church of Traladara respectively.
Dymrak Forest: This dense stretch of woodland demarks where the Duke's territorial control must surely end, for within this forest dwell many dozens of humanoid tribes, such as the cruel goblins who razed the countryside to the north alongside the wizard Golthar, and also the raiders who slaughtered Lana's mother almost five years ago. Indeed Lana's birthvillage Glaston can be found here, on the south of the forest, along the Eastron Road halfway between the settlements of Krakatos and the more settled Rugalov.
After the mage Karnus stumbled upon the lair of a great green dragon Korak, crimelord and co-ordinator of the goblins' activities, the party entered battle with the wyrm and emerged victorious. Or so they thought ... Rumours now abound of a second great worm, one whose sheer size, power and magical might make Korak seem almost insignificant!
On the eastern side of the Forest can be found the Lake and Island of Lost Dreams, and also the occasional group of elves.
Verge: A small northen village located less than a day's walk to the west of Threshold. The settlement is ruled by the noble Antonics - Lord Retameron, a sturdy and seasoned fighter, and his lady wife Halia, herself a practising magic-user. Together this pair couple muscle with magics to ably defend the homesteaders of their village against the threat of warlike gnolls, whose clans dwell on the unsettled river plain only a short way to the west.
Rifflian: An elven trading outpost.
Kelvin and the southeast moors: A wealthy riverside merchant city, reknowned as a trading centre. Magic within the city walls, as is the case in Threshold, is strictly outlawed, save for beneficial effect. On occasion both Lana and Karnus have been obliged to commit the contravention of magic-use, in preservation of the greater good; in such cases the authorities happily tend to turn a blind eye!
On a tall plateau some distance to the northeast can be found the ancient hutaakan city of Xitaqa, now largely crumbling ruins. It was throughout the moors to the east of the settlement that the wizard Golthar led his goblin army, plundering each of the frontier-style homesteads in search of an ancient tapestry-map to lead him to the Lost Valley of Hutaaka, and the age-old treasures contained therewithin. The moors are home to many wild beings, such as the undead and bands of werewolves, also many packs of roaming white horses, such as are prized by the Calarii elf tribes. These steeds are protected, however, by the mysterious centaur Loshrad, who roams the moors in the form of a magnificent black stallion, and who occasionally will exchange favours with adventurers who assist him in protecting his kin.
Highforge: Open-minded small town comprising many different demi-human inhabitants, most notably Drewen Goldenhammer's aging mother! The venerable dwarven matron retired to this community after Threshold became too busy for her.
Penhaligon: Large town presided over by Lady Arteris Penhaligon. Walls currently being reconstructed with the aid of local stone giants. Current home to the rather volatile Gnomish Shop of Wondrous Inventions!
The Black Eagle Barony: A den of infamy and lawlessness to which Duke Stefan can do little but turn a blind eye, since the Barony is ruled by his beloved but secretly evil cousin, the Baron von Hendrikks. The foremost settlement of the barony, Fort Doom, is perhaps the most abhorred of all places in the Duke's realm; as this blackspot is rumoured to serve as home not only to the most prominent members of the Iron Ring slavers but also one Bargle the Infamous. Many may enter but few ever leave, falling victim to the cruelty of the Duke, his depraved pet wizard and their slaver associates. It is the hin or halfling inhabitants of the nearby Five Shires who most heavily bear the burden of the proximity of this place.
Luln: This recently established town to the in the west of the Duchy finds its main protection in the form of the town's ruler, a feisty and fearless female swordswinger named Lady Sascia. It is she who almost singlehandedly drives back the hordes of bugbears who would otherwise seek to plunder the town, vulnerable as it currently is, since town defences have not yet been established! It was in Luln that our party first met the shapechanger Yuri Kopernikov, a devil swine, whose bestial transformations led to the gruesome demises of several unfortunate townsfolk.
Blight Swamp: This desolate patch of wasteland spans the gap between the Grand Duchy and the Five Shires to the east; home to zombies and other more formidable monsters such as the young black dragon, Falaryx. Few find need to set foot within the murky depths of this place.
Koriszegy Keep: An abandoned and crumbling keep some distance east of Luln and bordering on the lands of the Radlebb Elves; these ruins were once the fine home of a wealthy family, but came under the power of a curse, and now are reported to be haunted by powerful undead entities. Many have sought knowledge of the identity of the liege of the Keep, but none have ever returned to share their tale ...
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