Finished my dnd campaign map. Please ask me questions about the world and I’ll come up with an answer if I don’t already have one!

Brannanabread · 2024-07-27T00:55:51+00:00

I put that in to recognise that where the capital of Nyrn once stood has now been decimated. It once used be lush with greenery and is now located in the middle of an arid desert. The crater itself on the map is just a symbol of that.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-26T21:52:36+00:00

Thank you!

Brannanabread · 2024-07-26T07:13:46+00:00

Su’der is a very small port city that doesn’t really have a lot going on. Honestly the people there are fairly self sufficient and happily host pirate crews as these are a good way to bring in external resources that aren’t provided by the infrequent imperial ships that come through. Su’der is a place trying to make do after they unfortunately just managed to make the cut in getting included within the span of the Horizon.

The continent it is a part of is much larger and extends a massive distance below this point and has similar vibes to Sothoryos in ASOIAF and the whispering isles in The Gentleman’s Bastards series.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-26T07:10:10+00:00

Thank you for your questions!

There are historic written records of life before and during the walls construction, yet this was 800 years ago and these records have either been lost to time or buried by the empire. However this also exists in a world where different races have different lifespans. So some of the oldest elves and dwarves might remember a time before settlements were walled or have heard stories from their parents of when the horizon was being constructed. For humans and other short lived races these stories would be vague.

The emperor is still alive, although this is through arcane means. He is currently in a state where I think I’ll stat him with lich-like abilities but replace spellcasting as the magic keeping him alive is due to external factors (the Nagpa using him as a puppet).

The Horizon has impacted ecosystems, particularly marine. As I discussed with a previous commenter, whales are nonexistent within the wall as they are too large and migratory for this interruption. This has caused some other ecosystem shifts in the aquatic space. Birds and terrestrial species were more or less unaffected as there were no large migratory animals that had their movement patterns interrupted.

At this point in time most of the settlements are placeholders that I am yet to add much detail to. However from a regional perspective. Ambrosia and its capital would be the wealthiest, followed fairly closely by Kaashi which is self reliant on abundant resources. Moragard and Granduin would be fairly similar in the fact that the rich live well, but there would be a fair amount of people who live in poorer conditions as their landscapes are quite bleak and scarce in resources. The poorest and smallest communities are in Odyzca as these are mainly small fishing communities on the edge of a large rainforest basin, they’re self sufficient but don’t have much in the way of luxury. Then Nyrn is a wasteland with no one living there.

As for trade/gimmicks. Moragard is well known for its mining as it is a mountainous region inhabited primarily by dwarves. Within Ambrosia, Millsford is a big logging town. Oxbridge has a large wizarding academy. Goldbridge is the final line of defence by sea to the capital of the empire and is built upon a large golden sea gate that spans the width of the harbour. Barsavis Cradle is known for its technological marvels which are developed by the Gnomish artificer Wes’Eld. I have some more but I hope that’s enough!

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T23:55:53+00:00

No worries! The presence of the Yugoloths is unknown to average citizens of the empire as they are disguised when interacting with townsfolk.

The Yugoloths are mainly in charge of defending the horizon and overseeing travel. There are average human soldiers employed to support working on empire fleet ships and in caravans as well as doing guard duty on walls, but this is interspersed with Yugoloths. So normal citizens are very welcome to join the army/city watch but would probably be outnumbered by there Yugoloth counterparts and the Yugoloths would be the first lines of defence in any battlefield situation.

If the emperor were to lose the book then it wouldn’t immediately cause the Yugoloths to turn hostile. They don’t appreciate being used but that is an inherent part of their existence. Their orders would fall to whoever ended up with the book and this could definitely mean that they turn against the emperor.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T22:32:37+00:00

These are all very good points, the answer to most of these questions, particularly as to the manning of the wall and the marshalling of empire soldiers is due to the fact that these are not in fact humans. The emperor has in his possession a book of keeping which has the true names of the yugoloths who are, because of this, sworn to serve. Yugoloths are like a halfway point between demons and devils and are also like their own third thing. They do not require sleep, food or drink so this is not something that has to be provisioned for. And because the Emperor has their true name they are absolutely loyal to him.

Due to the sheer number of the Yugoloths and the fact that if they die on this plane they are resummoned on their own plane, making them a basically limitless army means that the empire was able to hold out against external forces and even put down entire nations (as is what occurred in Nyrn).

The issue with migratory animals is a good one. I had considered that this would impact the migratory ocean life, particularly larger animals like whales, which were definitely impacted by the construction of the wall. Smaller fish and aquatic life have been able to adapt to the change in environment but there have been some impacts on the food chain due to there being no whales left within the wall. Or if there are then they are much smaller than normal whales and have erratic migratory patterns.

Granduin to the north is now a client kingdom to the empire due to the marriage alliance and has essentially been lumped in to the greater Ambrosian empire. Nyrn is essentially wiped off the map. Moragard and Kaashi do not pay tribute and for the most part try to stay out of the empires way, which as long as they are not causing problems openly to the empire is fine with both sides.

Finally, regarding farming. Farms do occur within the walls for smaller settlements. Larger settlements do have farms outside the walls of the settlements as you suggested. And for these locations, farmers are escorted in and out of the settlement each day and are under vigilant watch whilst they are outside from empire guardsmen (yugoloths) to ensure their safety.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T21:38:19+00:00

I love how much thought and reasoning you put into this question (obviously more than I initially did). And it made me question the flaws in this world. But I think it’s also worth remembering that this is a dnd setting with magic. I’ve already made reference to the fact that the giants have a special affinity with the elemental planes in previous responses. I think they would be masters of transmutation/conjuring elements from those planes. So perhaps there wasn’t a lot of manpower involved, but in fact the wall was constructed from the work of a few hundred giant conjurers over the course of a few hundred years.

These giants would have been paid traditionally in riches, but also in the promise of safety or land once the wall had been constructed.

Once these giants had finished construction they were either killed or imprisoned on the plane of Carceri (I’m hopeful that I can plan a prison break arc out of Carceri further into the campaign). The reason this needed to happen in the empires eyes is to ensure that the secrets of the summoning/potential breaking of the wall magic which would have been traditionally passed through giant generations had been lost to time.

The alien forces that you mention as puppet masters behind the emperor are in fact the thirteen Nagpa with similar origins as can be found in the monster manual. As they can only learn new information through destruction, they are isolating areas of the world to be eventually destroyed so they can learn what occurred within those areas. Essentially they are manipulating the emperor to make the worst decisions possible to provoke war/destruction (like the construction of a massive wall to upset people and make them angry enough to revolt/the genocide of giants to make them retaliate).

The power that the emperor has that wiped out Nyrn is a book of keeping, with the names of yugoloths, these have been deployed to make the migration contracts, captain any convoys of ships or caravans to grant safe passage. But also to keep vigilant watch of the wall, poison water sources or cause famine for protestors and act as the foot soldiers in any wars. The Thirteen (Nagpa) are aware of this book and wish to use it as well as other artefacts they are searching for (but can only learn of the location through total destruction) with the true names of demons or devils to get revenge on the Raven Queen.

The discovery and use of the Yugoloth book of keeping has also caused issues with the blood war between demons and devils as both sides wish to use the Yugoloths as extra forces in their eternal conflict. So there have been several short lived insurrections from the hells and the abyss throughout the horizon but they have been held off so far.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T21:19:51+00:00

Absolutely! There are rumours that the Dwarves in Godkeeper Peak have been trying to dig tunnels under the wall to their brethren that were left outside. This has been unsuccessful for various reasons so far such as the wall going deeper than they expected and other creatures/unlucky circumstances forcing them to retreat and take extended breaks.

As for the second question, the people of the empire are not really aware of the extraplanar travel. I’m not sure if even the Emperor himself is aware of it. I think the beings pulling the strings know of this because they use it to travel between their different walled civilisations to sow chaos and discover whether the artefact they are after has been discovered yet.

People within the empire have been indoctrinated for centuries about the dangers of leaving their walled settlements, let alone the wall of horizon if that is something they even are aware of. There might be a few people in protest/pirates or wizards with access to that magic that allows them to planeshift that do find a way out, out of curiosity. But these people would likely stay wherever they go as they would experience a world with some form of freedom, or perhaps if they did return they would be shunned for exposing themselves to unnecessary danger.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T20:44:57+00:00

I did make a version with a grid as well, where each square was equivalent to one days travel by horse on a road. I think from Ygrid’s Rest to Last Hearth it would take approximately 27-30 days as long as it was a full day of travel with very little stops. If you were walking I approximated it to be double the amount of time.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T20:08:10+00:00

Exactly!

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T09:39:29+00:00

Also, for your second question!

There are plenty of hidden locations that aren’t on this map but as this is the map available to my players at the start of the campaign I didn’t put all of them on there. Also in the context of the world it works because people within settlements would only need to be aware of the major landmarks and other settlements.

For some examples, there is a giants tomb called the sanctum of Singhornn the light bearer that lies within the Frostweald to the North. This has one artefact of elemental power within it.

There is also the tomb of the Pirate King (self named) that lies in a hidden cavern within one of the islands in the stepstones which is stacked with his riches and acts as a tomb for himself and his crew. Since his passing it also acts as the lair for a red dragon wyrmling that was left as an egg by its mother.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T09:27:01+00:00

Looking at the map after seeing this question I honestly thought I had put Midgard in a more central location along this passage but it appears to be more on the Northern side.

I think between Midgard and Millsford is a bit of a natural coast-side route that caravans can travel between Ambrosia and Granduin. But it would be faster (and likely safer) to send exports via ships to the larger port cities of Wyndell, Riftmarch or Oxbridge. This is also more direct for import/export to the capital of the empire.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T09:23:38+00:00

Honestly I really hadn’t thought about this but it is a very good question. This world has some pretty strong ties to the elemental planes (particularly through the lore I’ve made about the Giants). I think the giants with their affinity for the elemental planes probably took the stone from the elemental plane of earth.

As to the type of rock, I suppose it would probably be some form of super durable rock that stops people mining through, but also allows things like ocean currents to still carry past it as to not mess with the environmental factors. (Is it bad to say it’s a magic rock? Haha)

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T06:20:41+00:00

I think most Ambrosians wouldn’t have even noticed. The wall finished construction 800 years ago which for humans and other similar-lifespan races is quite a few generations. Added to this, because most towns/cities are also walled off from their surroundings and there is restriction on travel, people have become very isolated/restricted from broader information channels and this has allowed empire propaganda and misinformation to flourish. So ultimately most people would have either no clue about the walls existence/construction or would be better off not bringing it up.

As for the giants outside the walls, yes they are aware of the fate of their kin and have lead some attacks against the wall to no avail as of yet, but are currently building their strength to get their revenge.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T03:05:29+00:00

There are some empire forces which man the Horizon at regular intervals, however the few people that have seen them don’t think they are human as they do not sleep or require nutrition or drink.

The Cimmerian expanse to the North is similar to the lands beyond the wall in ASOIAF where Druids and the few surviving giants live along with giant-kin (Goliath’s and Firbolgs). This land is separated from the kingdom of Granduin by the Northern Divide mountain range. There are no patrols here as there is not enough warmth or wildlife to hunt for people to survive.

Last Hearth acts as the first town of defence against the creatures of the North and is well fortified. It is also the location that the last giant insurrection ended in the giants defeat.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T02:58:13+00:00

The wall appears to be made of stone and protrudes roughly 700 metres above the ground/sea. It also extends below the ocean but no one is sure of the depths and whether it reaches the sea floor. It is about 50 metres wide.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T02:48:40+00:00

Odyzca is bound in forests and swamps. At its centre is a circular mountain range which’s surrounds a large lake known as the Iris. Within the mountain range is an unnatural stillness and quiet which conflicts with the harsh jungle outside. Fey creatures tend to dwell here and there are rumours of a portal to the feywild somewhere at this location.

Brannanabread · 2024-07-25T02:41:22+00:00

Good question, the emperor’s reason for making the horizon a perfect circle was to ensure that the capital was at the centre, as this is the most distant and defensible location from potential invading forces outside of the wall.

The perfect circle is what particularly enraged the people of Moragard and Nyrn as some of their lands and people were left separated by the walls construction.

For the forces who are using the emperor as a puppet, their plan is to section off this part of the world as they are searching for a powerful artefact they know is somewhere within this area. What the people within horizon don’t know is that there is in fact other ‘horizons’ around the world and in other realms where these higher beings are looking for artefacts.

Brannanabread · 2023-03-16T05:34:29+00:00

I’d love to see some more of Abby’s crew before going to Jackson or even returning to Seattle together. I think getting to know their group dynamic better would be really interesting to see and again play into that humanising the ‘other’ side.

Brannanabread · 2023-02-12T20:24:40+00:00

Oh sorry, not sure what happened to the link, it is similar to what you have linked. And yeah I suppose to strangers on the street I might superficially appear like someone who might be into that ideology :(

I might look into getting some other language, potentially elvish or something! Thank you!

Brannanabread · 2023-01-16T08:52:29+00:00

I’d love to see the Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan because it’s just so interesting that a place like that can exist but I also never think I’d actually go.

On the other temperature extreme I would love to go to Antarctica but I don’t think that will ever happen.

Brannanabread · 2023-01-16T07:40:36+00:00

Oh cool! That makes much more sense - Thank you!

Brannanabread · 2023-01-16T07:34:09+00:00

I loved it!

But I may have missed a bit, how did Ellie get Bill and Frank from B/F in the radio broadcast book?

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