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Post by gamedave on Jan 20, 2016 16:13:05 GMT -5
THE IRON WALL
Forming the eastern border of the Empire is the massive, cyclopean bulk of the Iron Wall. Not even hoary myth and legend records who or what built this black iron wall, which towers hundreds of feet high, stretching for hundreds of miles. No way through or over or around this wall has ever been found.
What is known (or at least generally believed) about the Iron Wall is that beyond it lays the Land of Gog, a horrific land of cannibalistic giants. Some apocalyptic myths have it that at the End of Days, great gates will open in the Iron Wall, and hordes of giants will pour through, to burn and smash and consume all of humanity and its civilization. Those who live in the shadow of the Iron Wall say that they can occasionally hear booming thuds from the other side, as if some massive creatures pounding on the far side, trying to get through. And, they claim, these sounds are louder and more frequent now than they were in the days of their forebears...
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Post by gamedave on Jan 20, 2016 16:16:35 GMT -5
THE WINE-DARK SEA
The Wine-Dark Sea is a vital resource for the Empire. Much of the Empire's trade is carried by merchant ships plying the sea, and its fishing fleets feed whole cities. All the same, it is subject to unpredictable and violent storms, and strange beasts lurk within its depths, which occasionally surface to drag ships down into the briny deep...
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Post by gamedave on Jan 20, 2016 16:21:03 GMT -5
THE PEARL-BRIGHT OCEAN
The Pearl-Bright Ocean stretches to the west of the Empire, its far shore, if such exists, beyond all human ken. The ocean itself is oddly placid, but far from any useful trade routes, and the creatures that swim within it are strange and often monstrous. Few dare its weird currents. "To sail the Pearl-Bright Ocean" is a common metaphor for someone who has gone mad, died, or disappeared - the three most common fates for any who dare to sail it.
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Post by gamedave on Jan 22, 2016 9:43:24 GMT -5
FAUNS
Fauns have no official status in the Empire. Those who can pass for human are generally treated as such; those who cannot are various shunned, ignored, lynched, or even tolerated, depending on local attitudes. In the great cities of the Empire, fauns are generally able to lose themselves in the teeming masses of poor commoners, and are able to survive at the margins, a step above goblins and orcs. In towns and villages, their fates are often more precarious...
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Post by gamedave on Jan 22, 2016 9:48:06 GMT -5
HALFLINGS
Halfings are accepted in the Empire as one of the races of Humankind...when they are even noticed. Between their small size, relative rarity, and their general inconspicuousness, halfings are often overlooked. When they are noticed, it is not uncommon for them to be treated as children or genuinely mistaken as such.
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