Waldviech
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Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Wed 26 Feb 2020, 15:56

Well, Folks – so far, the world of “Forbidden Lands” is more or less heavily inspired by the European middle ages, just as the Fantasy RPGs of old it emulates so splendidly. But one thing, a lot of old F-RPGs did shortly after establishing the “European inspired basics”, was adding a part of the setting, that was inspired by “Arabian Nights”.
Now I am puzzling, how this could look like in “Forbidden Lands”. So, behold, my rather sketchy thoughts about this:
Silverland
Just south of Alderland, there is a vast expanse of sun scorched land. The areas at the coast of the eastern ocean are overgrown by lush jungles, while the interior is bone dry. Humans call this land “Silverland”, because of the vast silver deposits below the ground.
Once, this land was ruled by the king of Alderland, but this is the case no more.
Until three centuries ago, the humans of Silverland used to believe in Wyrm or Raven, just as the humans of Alderland. But then, a prophet arose, who preached, that there was neither Wyrm nor Raven. Instead, Wyrm and Raven where nothing but a veil worn by an unseen god.
And because the King of Alderland and the Church of the Wyrm where seen as oppressive by the people of Silverland, thousands began to follow the prophet and rebelled against Alderland.
Their rebellion was successful, and today Silverland is free of alderlandish rule. But despite all people of Silverland follow the creed of the “Veiled One” (how they call their one god), Silverland is not united.
When the prophet died, his four sons could not agree, who would be his rightful heir. So, Silverland is divided between four vast citystates – with a fifth, neutral citystate in the middle.
The four citystates are each ruled by a descendant of one of the prophet’s sons. The fifth city, the “City of Brass” was the place, where the prophet had his first visions of the “Veiled One” and where he also died. Because all Followers of the Veiled One agree upon, that the City of Brass and the Grave of the prophet, that is right next to it, are sacred, the City of Brass is considered to be neutral ground. Also, pilgrimage to the prophet’s grave is essential to the religion of the veiled one.
All the citystates are vast. The elites are filthy rich and live in opulent palaces, the vast number of normal people are quite poor and live in squalor.
Civilisation pretty much concentrates on the cities. The place between them is mostly a harsh, monster infested wilderness – not much different than the wilderness of Ravenland, only hotter and with much more desert. Of course, here and there are some desert villages, castles etc.pp. but all in all, it’s a lawless place.
The people of Silverland are mostly humans. The people of every citystate see themselves as their own ethnic group. Furthermore, there are some aslenian tribes in the desert, who follow the faith of the Veiled One.
The coastal areas are home to a few halflings and goblins and there are some “half-dwarves” and Ogres living in the cities. A strictly southern race are the Djinn – beings of smokeless fire, who outwardly resemble humans (alderlandian fairytales depict Djinn as almost omnipotent sorcerers. This is not true – while Djinn DO have a stronger affinity for magic as a whole, they are not more mighty than human sorcerers.)
 
At the moment, all four citystates are allied, because Alderland tries to reconquer silverland and lays siege at the City of Brass – but this alliance is a fickle one.
 
So much for now. Is this a concept, that could work?
 
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Brior
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Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 10:59

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Wed 26 Feb 2020, 19:00


So much for now. Is this a concept, that could work?
All this sounds fine to me. Just be aware that official areas are planned for the places beyond Alderland in the south and Aslene in the west. Glimpses of the beyond will be seen in the upcoming Aslene expansion. This said, don't let that hamper you. Once we get there, I'm sure things can be worked out.
 
Simpa
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Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Wed 26 Feb 2020, 21:56

This sounds nice! In the Aslene thread a few people suggested "deserts, necromancers and deamons" so there are certinly affection for it. To the City of Brass and "emirates" I would add a mountainous lawless area filled with bandits, sorcerers and warlords (thinking more of Conan here). Maybe your vision is a little to civilaized (big cities needs large areas of cultivated lands!) for my FL taste but I really like the "Veiled one" and the city of brass (but there need to be an explanation why the City of Brass has not gobbled up the other ones piecemeal - OK it´s built around a oasis in the middle of the desert - no army survies besieging it)! Give us more of this!

/Simpa
 
Waldviech
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Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Thu 27 Feb 2020, 13:41

Ah, Conan should be an excellent source for this! There definitly have to be vast stretches of uncivilised areas full of Warlords, sorcerers and barbarian tribes!


I also toying with including some egyptian influences - so, for example, the prophets grave could be a huge pyramid that ist still under construction since 3 centuries. Also, there could be a long river like the Nile or the Euphrat.
Perhaps, this evening, I can manage to build a first map with Hexographer and expand this Idea further.

(And as for potential "conflicts" with future, official expansions - I have a quite relaxed point of view about this. In Case, this should deviate far to much from official stuff that is in the making, Silverland could easily be in a different dimension or something like that 😎)
 
Waldviech
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Posts: 11
Joined: Thu 11 Jul 2019, 11:01

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Thu 27 Feb 2020, 23:12

Here is a first experiment with a hex-map of Silverland:

Image
 
Byrax
Posts: 1094
Joined: Fri 08 Jan 2016, 10:42
Location: Mythic North

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Thu 27 Feb 2020, 23:22

For really good adventures in the Sword & Sorcery/Sandals vein: check out The Spidergod’s Bride.
 
Waldviech
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Joined: Thu 11 Jul 2019, 11:01

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Thu 27 Feb 2020, 23:55

Thanks for the tip! That indeed looks cool. :)
 
Byrax
Posts: 1094
Joined: Fri 08 Jan 2016, 10:42
Location: Mythic North

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Fri 28 Feb 2020, 10:29

You are welcome. The scenaros are really well thought out, with intriguing "low-level" plots, fitting a desert setting (but easily usable everywhere in fantasy settings). Used plenty of them for a Conan game back in the days.
 
Waldviech
Topic Author
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu 11 Jul 2019, 11:01

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Sat 29 Feb 2020, 01:03

That sounds exactly like stuff, I am imagining, the Silverland should be. One part Arabian Nights, one part Conan and may be a slight dose of Dark Sun.
 
Magnus Seter
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 23 Nov 2018, 12:58

Re: Forbidden Lands and "Arabian Nights"...at least sort of

Mon 02 Mar 2020, 12:38

That sounds exactly like stuff, I am imagining, the Silverland should be. One part Arabian Nights, one part Conan and may be a slight dose of Dark Sun.
Sounds like something I would run!

/M

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