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Oh, this is working out nicely!
Jun. 18th, 2014 03:57 pmDoing a little noodling on my setting. I've established that the dwarfs were originally from the southern tip of Africa (making Table Mountain a good candidate for the place where the dwarfs were from carved from the living rock. . . the rest of the mountain is on another plane.)
But I needed something to push them north. A plague of dragons is always good. Indeed, these ancient dwarfs might be the ones who first awoke the sleeping dragons of the modern age! So I have my dwarfs running the length of Africa before settling in the lush lands of the Sahara and the Nile Delta.
Then I thought about what happens next? I already have three big threats moving in on poor Europe; gnolls invading Iberia, human and orc babarian nations rolling off the steppes in the east, and unspeakable horrors sweeping out of the deserts of Araby and overrunning the Levant. So I need something that is going to stay put until the characters go find it.
Eureka! Prester John! The legendary ruler of a Christian kingdom that was Somewhere Else. Since the stories put him all over the map, South Africa is reasonable. We'll make him one of the early church fathers, one of Augustine's contemporaries. Not a cleric, but a Wizard brought in for his knowledge. After the end of the Jerusalem Council, the founders went their separate ways to spread the word of the church. Augustine went to Rome, and got all the credit. But John?
John traveled south, through the humans squatting in the ruins of the dwarf empire, converting as he went. Eventually, he'd reach the dragon-blasted lands, and set up an empire. However, the lands were still demon-haunted and terrorized by dragons. Prester John was forced to create a tightly controlled, militarized, state. Despairing of dying with his work undone, and seeing no likely successors (indeed, by that time John was an epic wizard. Knowing his time was running out, John began perusing a forbidden goal.
He made himself a lich.
Today, the lands of Nova Roma are ruled by the undying Prester John. In his mania for order, no advancement has been allowed. Cities are built on Roman plans, and order is kept by legions. Not all of them manned by the living. The people worship John as a god, and he's come to believe that he is a deity, guarding his people from temptation. This being South Africa the place is lousy with gold and gems. Outsiders are usually quickly killed or held for death in the arena. Every setting needs a Roman remnant.
Fun fact: In the original legends, he was Presbyter Johannes. South Africa's largest city is Johannesburg
But I needed something to push them north. A plague of dragons is always good. Indeed, these ancient dwarfs might be the ones who first awoke the sleeping dragons of the modern age! So I have my dwarfs running the length of Africa before settling in the lush lands of the Sahara and the Nile Delta.
Then I thought about what happens next? I already have three big threats moving in on poor Europe; gnolls invading Iberia, human and orc babarian nations rolling off the steppes in the east, and unspeakable horrors sweeping out of the deserts of Araby and overrunning the Levant. So I need something that is going to stay put until the characters go find it.
Eureka! Prester John! The legendary ruler of a Christian kingdom that was Somewhere Else. Since the stories put him all over the map, South Africa is reasonable. We'll make him one of the early church fathers, one of Augustine's contemporaries. Not a cleric, but a Wizard brought in for his knowledge. After the end of the Jerusalem Council, the founders went their separate ways to spread the word of the church. Augustine went to Rome, and got all the credit. But John?
John traveled south, through the humans squatting in the ruins of the dwarf empire, converting as he went. Eventually, he'd reach the dragon-blasted lands, and set up an empire. However, the lands were still demon-haunted and terrorized by dragons. Prester John was forced to create a tightly controlled, militarized, state. Despairing of dying with his work undone, and seeing no likely successors (indeed, by that time John was an epic wizard. Knowing his time was running out, John began perusing a forbidden goal.
He made himself a lich.
Today, the lands of Nova Roma are ruled by the undying Prester John. In his mania for order, no advancement has been allowed. Cities are built on Roman plans, and order is kept by legions. Not all of them manned by the living. The people worship John as a god, and he's come to believe that he is a deity, guarding his people from temptation. This being South Africa the place is lousy with gold and gems. Outsiders are usually quickly killed or held for death in the arena. Every setting needs a Roman remnant.
Fun fact: In the original legends, he was Presbyter Johannes. South Africa's largest city is Johannesburg
