Telengard - Rugged Plains and Mountain Fortresses

The northeastern Arandish kingdom of Telengard is a vast expanse of wasted high plains and harsh eastern mountain slopes that has never fully recovered from the ravages of the Old War. Most Telengardians are sheepherders, miners (some working for the dwarves of neighboring Gannar) or mercenaries, the latter typically venturing south into Delzar to fight on the Mizarian frontier. Due to threats from monsters and outlaws, the major towns and villages of Telengard are walled, and most traffic in and out of the lonely kingdom moves along the northern trade routes. Telengardian characters tend to be lean, cautious and tough, respecting individual strength of character more than political power or wealth.

With twice the land area yet half the population of Noffel, Telengard nevertheless subsists largely on the taxation of dwarven goods coming from the east, iron mining, and sheepherding.  Lacking abundant fertile farmland, Telengard must trade with its wealthier neighbor (and former enemy) Achelon, and its southern neighbor Delzar, for many staple agricultural goods.  Telengardians are at peace with Achelon and few Telengardians hold Old-War related grudges, but there are certain proud locals who view Achelon as a rich, pampered country unworthy of Telengard's respect.  Due to its proximity to Gannar, Telengard has a particularly large dwarven population, many of whom serve key roles in local Telegardian town and regional governments.  This is also a region where goblins as Player Characters (an idea brought to my attention by James M. at Grognardia) could come into play.  Very few rodians venture this far north, however -- the climate does not agree with them.

The Telengardian Roughriders
The Roughriders are a well-trained and highly disciplined group of horse-mounted fighters and rangers who patrol Telengard's borders and wilderness areas in small (1-4 man) patrols.  The Roughriders technically take their orders from the king of Telengard, but in practice, each Roughrider precinct (based out of a different Telengardian town or city, the largest being from Ironcrown) exercises a fair amount of autonomy in establishing its regular patrol routes and keeping its region safe.  Originally established at the end of the Old War to hold Telengard's borders against Achelon and to hunt down any renegade Dark Magicians still at large, the Telengardian Roughriders are nowadays mostly kept busy saving citizens and travellers from local monsters and brigands.  Roughriders help maintain the northern east-west leg of the Endyn Trade Route and are easily found there, but their jurisdiction includes all of Telengard, including the region of the deadly Ghardash Wilderness.


The Ghardash Wilderness
The most dreaded wilderness area in Ara, and perhaps the single most dangerous region in Ara, the famed Ghardash Wilderness is actually a relatively small area in north-central Telengard, nestled against the southern slopes of the Novellan Mountains between the fortress city of Ironcrown (to the south and west) and the northeastern dwarven mountain kingdom of Gannar (due east).  The Ghardash Wilderness is where many of the strangest and most deadly monsters summoned to Ara during the Old War eventually settled, and therefore, unlike most other Arandish adventure locations, few humans are to be found within its environs.  Even certain low-level monsters think twice before settling in Ghardash.  Also, don't forget that Razgar the Red Dragon inhabits this area as well. . .


Ghardash Wilderness d30 Encounter Table

1: Bear, Grizzly
2: Bugbear
3: Bulette
4: Cat, Panther
5: Cockatrice
6: Dragon, Green
7: Dwarf
8: Ghoul
9: Hobgoblin
10: Lycanthrope, Werebear
11: Lycanthrope, Werewolf
12: Manticore
13: Men, Brigands (20% chance that the band includes rodians, 20% that it includes dwarves)
14: Men, Insane Magic-User or evil Cleric (level 5-9)
15: Men, Ranger (Telengardian Roughrider)
16: Ogre, Wild
17: Orc
18: Owlbear
19: Roc, Small
20: Shadow
21: Spider, Giant Black Widow
22: Throghrin
23: Troll, Hill (same as standard troll)
24: Troll, Rock
25: Troll, Tree
26: Wight
27: Wolf
28: Wolf, Dire
29: Wraith
30: Razgar the Red Dragon


Click here to download a free pdf of this Table, along with a 1d20 version.

Northern Arandish Forest d30 Encounter Table

To accompany my previous post on the geography and culture of Achelon, I here offer an exciting encounter table usable in any northern forest in Ara, be it in northern Achelon, the Western Lands, even near the Ghardash Wilderness in Telengard -- though the latter will also have its own particularly nasty encounter table (forthcoming).

For the d30-less (poor forsaken souls!), I also offer a d20 version of this encounter table, included on the free downloadable pdf version of the Northern Arandish Forests d30 table.  See also two new Arandish forest-dwelling monsters at the end of this post!

Northern Arandish Forests Encounter Table – 1d30
1: Bear, Grizzly
2: Bee, Giant Killer
3: Bugbear
4: Cat, Panther
5: Dwarf
6: Elf
7: Ghoul
8: Hobgoblin
9: Lycanthrope, Werewolf
10-11: Men, Brigands (30% chance that the band includes rodians)
12: Men, Lone Mad Hermit
13-14: Men, Local Patrol*
15: Men, Ranger
16: Ogre
17: Ogre, Wild**
18: Orc
19: Owlbear
20: Roc, Small
21: Snare: One PC rolls initiative vs. the snare and is caught if s/he loses.  The trappers (50% chance human brigands, 50% chance tree trolls) appear swiftly and attack.
22: Spider, Giant Black Widow
23: Troll, Hill
24: Troll, Tree**
25: Wight
26: Wolf
27: Wolf, Dire
28: Encounter a Ruin***
29: The party stumbles across a partially decayed corpse
30: A dying Magic-User propped against the base of a tree hands a party member an indecipherable scroll, then perishes

* In Achelon, this would be the Queen’s soldiers; in Telengard, the Roughriders; in the Western Lands, any one of many possible local militias – maybe two competing ones!
** New Arandish monster, described below.
***I suggest you use the Random Ruin Generator by Robert Lionheart, in Knockspell #3.

New Monsters

Ogre, Wild
No. Enc. 1d4 (2d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')
AC: 4
HD: 6
Attacks: 3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
Damage: 1d10 / 1d10 / 1d12 + rabies infection
Save: F5
Morale: 10
Hoard Class:  II + V
XP: 570

Faster, stronger, and far more bloodthirsty than normal ogres, the wild ogres of northern Ara are fearsome opponents.  Wild ogres are larger and hairier than standard ogres, and attack mainly with long, sharp, deadly claws.  Wild ogres are fiercely territorial and do not like to be disturbed by humans or other "civilized" beings.  A wild ogre's bite attack infects its target with rabies unless a save vs. poison is made -- the rabies infectee goes mad and dies within 1d6 days unless cured via the cleric spell Cure Disease.

Troll, Tree
No. Enc.  1d6 (3d6)
Alignment: Chaotic
Move: 120' (40')
AC: 5
HD: 3
Attacks: 3 (2 claws, 1 bite), set traps (see below)
Damage: 1d4 / 1d4 / 1d8
Save: F4
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: X
XP: 65

A smaller and more mischievous cousin to the larger trolls of Ara, tree trolls are in fact extremely rare EXCEPT in the forests of Northern Ara, especially in Achelon, where they seem to proliferate.  Tree trolls are not typically keen on direct attack strategies, preferring instead to soften their foes with tricks, psychological warfare, and rope or vine snares before attacking in large groups.  Unlike, say, rock trolls, who tend to fight to the death once they smell blood, tree trolls will retreat in the face of particularly strong foes and/or combat circumstances that turn against them.  Tree trolls have the same regeneration abilities and susceptibilities to acid and fire as their larger brethren.  Tree trolls live in treetops and hollow stumps and logs.  

Achelon - Matriarchal Prosperity

Pronunciation guide:
Achelon [ACK-el-on]
Achelonian [ack-el-OWN-ee-yun]

Achelon has seen many decades of restoration and growth since the end of the wizardrous Old War with its eastern neighbor, Telengard.  Due to prosperous trade with its southern neighbors, the kingdom of Noffel and the Free City of Kaladar, Achelon is presently one of the largest and strongest monarchies in Ara.  Almost all trade goods in Ara eventually traverse some part of the Endyn Trade Route, the most heavily traveled of all Arandish roads, most of the north-south length of which is maintained and taxed by the Achelonian Queen.

Matriarchal Rule
Achelon is a matriarchal culture, ruled by a Queen.  This is likely in response to the strongly patriarchal cultures of Noffel and Telengard, from which Achelonian people descend and against which they define themselves.  The southern half of the region now called Achelon was first settled around Old Calendar year 1000 by migrants from Noffel.  It would seem that those who favored matriarchal rule stayed on in this area, while those with a more patriarchal (traditional Noffellian) bent moved on northeastward to the Telegardian high plains. 
 
The castle of the Queen of Achelon is located in Achelonia, in the southern half of the Achelonian realm.  To the present day, this southern region is more politically stable and geographically beautiful than the north, being made up largely of pastoral farmlands, fields of abundant crops, and dense but scattered copses and wooded areas. Southern Achelonians, being from the more agriculturally cultivated and “citified” regions, have every opportunity open to them: they are traders, farmers, merchants, militiamen, magicians, thieves, politicians—you name it.

In northern Achelon, looser government control combined with greater monster-related threats keep the region in upheaval. The Queen's influence is less strong here, especially in the region west of Achelon proper known as the Western Lands.  This northern area -- the Western Lands and Northern Achelon proper -- is heavily wooded, with large evergreen forests housing great and terrible monsters of all descriptions.  While Achelonian troops loyal to the Queen do keep minimal guard in the north, especially of the valuable Trade Route itself, for the most part, local barons have the run of the land.   Thus Northern Achelonians favor heavy projectile and melee weapons like long bows and two-handed swords, weapons that deter the kinds of large monsters that dwell in the region.

The Endyn Trade Route
The Endyn Trade Route is is the major north-south roadway in Achelon and Ara, and is the most-used road in Ara.  It circles the interior of the Arandish continent, connecting the dwarven mines and forges of Gannar to northern Telengardian cities like Freetown and Ironcrown, then running south through Achelon to Riverhold, then eastward to the Free City of Kaladar and the villages and towns of Delzar (e.g., Greywood, Bilnhof).  One of my most frequently used adventure hooks is to have a merchant hire the party to work as caravan guards on a mission along the Endyn Trade Route -- especially in the particularly dangerous stretches of the Route passing through northern Achelon and the Ghardash Wilderness region of Telengard. This hook works nicely if you want to start the campaign in the economic and cultural hub of Ara, the Free City of Kaladar, which sits on the border between Achelon and Delzar but is its own sovereign realm.  The road leading east out of Kaladar into Delzar is officially named the Kaladar-Bilnhof Road, but informally almost everyone considers this road an extension of the Endyn Trade Route and calls it by that name.

In southern Achelon and near the free City of Kaladar, the Endyn Trade Route is well-patrolled, both by Achelonian soldiers as well as Kaladarian Royal Guardsmen, who claim an active jurisdiction of up to fifteen miles out on all sides of the Free City.  Despite this patrolling, brigands and monsters will attack travelers and merchant caravans on the Trade Route in all but the most heavily guarded places (e.g., within sight of the walls of the Free City).  In northern Achelon, one of its most feared stretches, the Endyn Trade Route is kept somewhat free of brigands and monsters by Achelonian soldiers, traveling merchants and their hired caravan guards, and troops working for the northern landholders bordering it.  But this is a much more dangerous area and in the forests just beyond the northern leg of the Trade Route, wild and dangerous beings hold sway.

Legends of Mornlyn
The Spire of Mornlyn, called by many Southern Achelonians The Haunted Spire or Arlon's Spire, is the source of most of Achelon's darkest legends.  Mornlyn marks the site of the prison constructed by Arlon to hold the evil necromancers at the end of the Old War.  Given its noteriety, the Spire of Mornlyn is a frequent adventure destination for fortune- and legend-hunters, and is also a place from which people frequently never return.  It is an evil place.  The Spire itself is thin, pitch black, and approximately 300 feet tall.  It is frequently rumored that no one now living understands its true purpose or power.

Mediocre Maps of Ara Part 2

As promised, here are more mediocre maps of Ara available as free downloads!  Please recall my previous confession to being a lousy cartographer and visual artist, and be forgiving of these maps. 


Map #4 - Newer Large-Scale Lands of Ara Map
I just scanned this on my small home scanner in two sections -- the western half followed by the eastern half.  As soon as I can make it over to Knight Library to the fancy big book scanner, I will provide a nicer version of this map. 

This map is intended as a companion piece to the large Ara map available here.  Also, please refer to my previous notes on that older map, which are also available as a pdf download.  Much of what follows repeats information from those notes, but so be it – as I've said, neither of these two maps is wholly accurate, so I am trying to triangulate the geographic / cartographic realities of Ara via comparison and contrast between the two maps.  Herein, whenever I say “old map” I mean Map #1, the large-scale Lands of Ara map from the previous post.  Whenever I say “new map” I mean Map #4.  


NOTES ON OLD VS. NEW LARGE-SCALE ARA MAPS

Noffel and Southwestern Ara
The old map has far better topographical details in general, and should always take precedence in determining natural features unless otherwise noted.  This is especially true in the Noffel – Blint – Western Lands – Kaladar regions, which are out of proportion and too scrunched up on the new map.  However, Northern Telengard, near the dreaded Ghardash Wilderness, should be even more densely forested, as should the northern end of the Western Lands.  The old map’s placement of Kaladar and its arrangement of Noffel, Blint, Minoch, and The Western Lands relative to each other is perfect.  As are the Frey Mountains, which are scrunched in too far south and too close to Noffel on the new map.  As far as this southwestern area goes, the new map is mainly a good source for the latest and most correct city and settlement names.  For example:

In Achelon: the large unnamed city indicated in the middle of the old map exists and is called Achelonia.  Achelonia is where the Queen of Achelon resides and rules.  

In Noffel: the old map says Jakama, which is correct, though I may incorrectly refer to this same Noffellian port city as “Jakarta” in some places.  The old map lists no Highgate, which now exists (see new map; on the old map, Highgate lies just across the river from the top left corner of the “B” of “Blint”).  Highgate is where the Noffellian King resides and rules—such a city was implied to exist before, but was never explicitly named until now.

In Blint: Marshton (old map) has been replaced by Blintsport (new map).

The Western Lands and the Great Western Swamp
The towns of Vedik and Malak exist in the southern region of the Western Lands, as per the old map.  But follow The Western Lands insert map for all specifics of the rivers and human-made features in the northern two-thirds of The Western Lands.  Certain Western Lands cities from the old map, like Bozart and Garakthon, should be eliminated (though we could keep Bozart as a small village somewhere up there), and note that Tradefair, the largest and most important city of the Western Lands, does not even show up on that old map (it would go a bit east of where Bozart is now. . . see also my comments on the placement of Nurna below).  The features of The Western Lands shown on the old map may or may not always be accurate, especially as concerns those cities indicated in the southwest region: maybe one of them is Castle Morko, but I cannot vouch for any of them or their placement on the old map—see The Western Lands insert map instead.  

Note that where The Western Lands insert map says “to Redvine” it should more accurately say “to Holtboro and Redvine.”  Also note that The Western Lands insert map really only covers the northern two-thirds or so of the Western lands

The Great Western Swamp should encroach a bit further into the Western Lands, and the north half of the Western Lands should be much more thickly wooded (similar to northern Achelon).  Nurna, the great elven lake, is a bit misplaced on the old map; it should be much further north and a wee bit east, more ABOVE the Western Lands than off in the NW corner of it—see the new map as a guide.  Also, note that Marsh Town, the town built on docks in the middle of the southwestern region of the Great Western Swamp, lies just off the Western edge of the old map, at roughly the same latitude line as Swampsedge. 

Telengard, Delzar, Eastern Ara
I prefer Delzar to be more narrow and skinny than is depicted on the old map, and Delzar should be smaller than Telengard; thus I favor their relative proportions on the new map.  The new map is also an excellent resource for place- and city names throughout eastern Ara.


Map #5: Grimlock's Map of the Two Continents
This is a map I made fairly recently, as part of my 2008 attempt to introduce the Lands of Ara to my D&D 3.5e group.  As is embarrassingly usual, there is no scale given, but it does correctly depict the placement of Ara's West coast Cities and even reveals some of the (funny) names of port towns on the western continent that lies across the Algar Sea from Ara.  "Grimlock" is in fact a denizen of that western continent, a cartographer working out of Snotream Harbor, the principal port city of the region known as Iggle.  Note that Grimlock mistakenly identifies the Noffellian city of Jakama as "Jakarta."


Map #6: Southern Achelon
I cannot really vouch for the scale of this map -- it is given but I do not know how accurately it corresponds to the larger-scale maps of this same region already provided.  Also noteworthy is that Achelonia, the seat of the Queen of Achelon, is incorrectly placed here: it should be much further north, as on Map #4 (above).


Click here to access Maps 4-6.


Yet to come: a Comline Hills insert map and another cartographic look (besides Grimlock's) at Ara's West Coast Cities!