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Jakk
Great Reader

Canada
2165 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  06:47:28  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
...is called so because it was a punny name, and primarily because it is an entirely appropriate name for the project it describes.

This scroll is for the primary purpose of creating a unified conception of the mysterious southeastern continent of Toril, as well as the outlying islands scattered across the globe, so that we might have something consistent to work with for all of our campaigns.

I've started this scroll primarily because our fellow scribe HandsomeRob is producing an absolutely amazing map of Toril, and the largest area devoid of physical geography is "the land [I hope formerly] known as Osse"; the following exchange between myself and The Sage explains all:
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage

quote:
Originally posted by Jakk

Another question for you, Sage, for purposes of Rob's map... how much canon lore is out there on the physical geography of Osse, Myrmidune, and the other smaller lands both in the Great Sea and north of Anchorome?

Osse:- All we know about the land itself has been revealed in the Lady of Poison novel -- part of "The Priests" series. Aside from a few obvious examples in the book, I usually don't agree with many who say that Osse is a direct translation of, or heavily influenced by, Australian Aborigine culture. Gunggari's mannerisms aside [as well as his dizheri], it could be said that the supposed "ways" of the Osse people could very well be associated with many other examples of Polynesian tribal cultures. I always thought the actual name "Osse" was a bit of a joke as a matter of fact...

If the translation works for you, however, then determining the geography of the region shouldn't be all that difficult.

...

Myrmidune:- There isn't much, beside what's in the fourth Volume of the Candlekeep Compendium.

...

Other smaller lands in both the Great Sea and north of Anchôromé:- You might actually have more luck asking Brian James, as he's had some brief thoughts on this himself.



First two questions:
1) Are we content with the name "Osse" or do the locals call it something else?
2) Are the locals another Earth-culture ripoff or something new and different? I like door #2 myself, having done away with the Old Empires of Unther and Mulhorand in my Realms (they're part of Thay now).

Link to HandsomeRob's zoomable Toril map (showing areas not yet mapped physically in grey): here

Links to previously-created non-canon geography:

WaterdeepMUD - Cruoris

Toril - a blog

The map of Toril associated with said blog

Toril by Patrakis of Candlekeep (it's an 8.64MB PDF file, so be patient; it's worth the wait)

In all cases above, every attempt has been made by the cartographers in question to adhere to canon for areas already mapped in canon published materials.

What we're looking for here is twofold:
(a) a description of the new continent ("Osse" for the time being, I suppose) in as many aspects as possible that is up to the standards of the Candlekeep Compendium;
(b) a version of the physical geography of both that continent and the outlying islands that is popular enough among the scribes of Candlekeep for HandsomeRob to feel that it is worth his time to include in his epic map of Toril and complete the geography of this world.

I would create a poll for voting on the geography, but to be fair, I would have to include Markustay among the candidates, even though he hasn't yet tackled Osse, simply because of the quality of his past work; the problem for me there is, I'm not sure where the majority of his maps are being hosted now (if anywhere). MT? If you're still stopping by occasionally, now's a good time to pop in and comment.

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 16 May 2010 06:52:38

Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
565 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  08:57:48  Show Profile  Visit Cleric Generic's Homepage Send Cleric Generic a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I reckon the name 'Osse' is ok, provided it isn't pronounced 'ozzy'. Also, I'm very much in favour of having a culture or cultures not so obviously derived from real world ones.

I'll clean up some of my home-brew Toril material in the near future to hopefully get people's imaginations going. Good project!

Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!

ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!

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Doc Filth
Seeker

55 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  09:29:54  Show Profile  Visit Doc Filth's Homepage Send Doc Filth a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Presumably too much nausea and stomach bile caused by working on this for too long would eventually lead to Project Isle vomiting?

...I'll get me coat...
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
565 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  10:21:38  Show Profile  Visit Cleric Generic's Homepage Send Cleric Generic a Private Message  Reply with Quote
*badum-tsh*

Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!

ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!

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Elfinblade
Senior Scribe

Norway
377 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  11:17:06  Show Profile Send Elfinblade a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Osse is fair enough, if a bit simple. As long as it's not pronoounced 'aussie'.

quote:
Originally posted by Jakk

Are the locals another Earth-culture ripoff or something new and different? I like door #2 myself, having done away with the Old Empires of Unther and Mulhorand in my Realms (they're part of Thay now).


Strongly agree in the new and different part. The whole world map reminds me too much of Tellus that i can feel my bile rising and my bowels squirm in upheaval. Yes, very much new and different please.
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crazedventurers
Master of Realmslore

United Kingdom
1073 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  11:45:21  Show Profile  Visit crazedventurers's Homepage Send crazedventurers a Private Message  Reply with Quote
One of the things I wondered about is whether you make it the hunting preserve of 'Inferno' (Imvaernarho) detailed in Power of Faerun. In which case it makes it an interesting 'barren land'.

Suggestions off the top of my head:
Inferno has destroyed any large civilisation and so ruins abound.
Small tribes exist scattered along the coastline hiding in caves
Larger tribes exist within the continent but underground.
Very small nomadic families roam over the plains many of whom can take beast shape of the animals they follow (generally pacifist in nature and vegetarians)
Other predators (lions, tigers and bears - oh my!) are all were-creatures in a nearly permanant state of beast form

Geography:

large wide beaches ring the main bulk of the land. There is no slope from beach to land - but massive 1000+foot high cliffs to a large flat plateau of land.

Plateau: large flat rolling savanna land with 'islands' of small tree covered hillocks - each one controlled and owned by one tribe - all islands are safe and are never attacked. Fighting occurs only on the plains

Lots of rain driven in from the sea - wetter and cooler on the coast, warmer and drier in the middle. So more tree cover on the coast.


Technology:
Unsure - I think failrly low level tech levels - some industry in basic commodities (pottery, weaving, hides and leathers etc) resulting in tarde between tribes/families.

Culture:
touched on briefly - a war between the beast people. Survive and thrive mentality. More 'culture' with the beach people as other people have been shipwrecked there/more trade from other distant lands etc.


Just a few random thoughts

Cheers

Damian

So saith Ed. I've never said he was sane, have I?
Gods, all this writing and he's running a constant fantasy version of Coronation Street in his head, too. .
shudder,
love to all,
THO
Candlekeep Forum 7 May 2005
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Snowblood
Senior Scribe

Australia
388 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  14:27:45  Show Profile Send Snowblood a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Osse Osse Osse....oi oi oi!!!!!!

Aryvandaar, Ilythiir, Arnothoi, Orva, Sarphil, Anauria/Asram/Hlondath, Uvaeren, Braceldaur, Ilodhar, Lisenaar, Imaskar, Miyeritar, Orishaar, Shantel Othrieir, Keltormir, Eaerlann, Ammarindar, Siluvanede, Sharrven, Illefarn, Ardeep, Rystal Wood, Evereska are all available here for download:http://phasai.deviantart.com/gallery/
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HandsomeRob
Seeker

68 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  18:19:59  Show Profile  Visit HandsomeRob's Homepage Send HandsomeRob a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Okay, I'm in. Here's what I'll do. I'll split Osse off from the main Toril map (just so I'm not dealing with enormous files), and as ideas come in I'll fill in the geography. Once we have a good idea what the general landforms will be, I'll get a map done for everyone to review, and then we can go through the process of filling out the details.

Things to note:
1) Osse is HUGE. It's as big as Faerun. So I suggest instead of thinking about the continent as a whole, think regionally - there's room enough for just about everyone's ideas.
2) There was a pretty decent start on a project like this:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19848714/Project:_Osse
We may want to mine it for good ideas.

I'll be paying close attention.

-Rob

Visit Sorol today: http://sorol.wikispaces.com
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Brace Cormaeril
Learned Scribe

294 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  21:46:50  Show Profile  Visit Brace Cormaeril's Homepage Send Brace Cormaeril a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I love the Advanced Marvel Super heros game, the Old Blue Box. When I was introduced to it,I was maybe 11 or 12, and at the height my love of the comic book meilu. I started running it with my friends immediately, and we loved it. In our minds, our characters were *almost* apart of the vast canon lore we studied so fervently. This early experience plays a fundamental role in how I run my Forgotten Realmsgames now. This is easier to do with MSH; if the PC's defeat Dr. Doom "once and for all", and are plauged by his machinations at some later juncture, this time teamed up with Baron Mordo, no one seems to mind.In the Realms, if the PC's construct a strategy by which they locate and obliterate Manshoon's stasis clones, and the next years supplements deal with some kinda' "Clone Wars", it feels less epic. For me. In short, I strive to make my games seamlessly canon. Following from this perspective, the questions I raise are:
Why has Osse remained so enigmatic? Even "secret"? Certainly numerous old empires and (spelljamming) mystic organizations have Circumnavigated Toril. Is Osse being "retconned" in, so like Elminster and everybody knew about it, we just didn't know about it to know that our characters were supposed to know it so we pretend from now on that our charcters always did know about it?... Lol. Just some things I got to thinkin about.

The Silver Fire's Blade: A Novella in Nine Parts, Available Soon, in the Adventuring Forum!
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Quale
Master of Realmslore

1757 Posts

Posted - 16 May 2010 :  23:10:45  Show Profile Send Quale a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I imagined that you have to be high on shamanic substances to find the place.
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Jakk
Great Reader

Canada
2165 Posts

Posted - 17 May 2010 :  05:22:55  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Okay... the ideas are popping up more quickly than I can take note of them all...

I read through the first five pages of the Osse Project thread at WotC, and our own MarkusTay and Dagnirion (Lord Karsus at WotC) have quite a stimulating dialogue going through there. I'd love to get them on board with this as well, if anybody can contact them; MT has been back recently, but not regularly... anyway, here are some posts that caught my attention from the first five pages of the Project: Osse thread at WotC:

quote:
Lord Karsus (Dagnirion here at the 'Keep) wrote:

How I envision it:

In the waters right off of it's Western and North Western coasts, a large kingdom of Sahuagin, a la your "Empire of the Tides", as a rough-but-not-exact-and-interesting analogue for the Great Barrier Reef. Their presence also explains the relative lack of back-and-forth interaction between Osse and other continents.

Eastern and North Eastern Osse is a tropical climate, with a lot of rain, humidity, and wetness. This causes swamps and jungles.

Central Osse is more-or-less scrubland/grassland/prairie, with enough rainfall to not be considered a desert.

Southwest Osse is a real desert, created artificially, as opposed to naturally (reasons to be determined).

Southern Osse is swampy and humid, with a tropical climate.

Western Osse is somewhat mountainous, preventing westward exploration of the seas.

That island off of Southwest Osse ("Tasmania") is a tropical climate.



Edit: Added May 26:

quote:
Lord Karsus (Dagnirion here at the 'Keep) wrote:

Being as that I have begun rereading Lady of Poison, I gathered a bunch of minor relevant facts:
•'Tattooed Soldiers'
•Strange tattoos
•Thick soled leather shoes
•Breech clouts
•Gunggari Ulmarra
•Disdainful of clothing
•Dizheri: Long, stout wooden tube; colorful, warclub and walkingstick
•Osse is "beyond the girdle of the world"
•Person from Osse = Oslander
•Ancestor worship/veneration


</edit>

quote:
Colman wrote:

Why no colonies? Either it's not worth colonising, or something stops them. Huge wild/dead magic area? Overdone.

In the waters right off of its Western and North Western coasts, a large kingdom of Sahuagin, a la your "Empire of the Tides", as a rough-but-not-exact-and-interesting analogue for the Great Barrier Reef. Their presence also explains the relative lack of back-and-forth interaction between Osse and other continents.

A large kingdom of very advanced Sahuagin, strong enough to dissuade even the powerful empires except for the odd high-value mining outpost that's supplied by Spelljammer? Sahuagin that can sink ships with undersea rams propelled by some suitable mount.

Who are the bad guys? Advanced lizard men?

LK's description is too pleasant. Make it meaner.

We don't want to replicate Zakhara's interior - big desert, lots of ruins. I'm thinking environmental extremes - very hot and wet, very dry, very high and cold. Huge foetid tidal swamplands.

Need a pre-history - maybe one of the creator races hung around Osse longer than elsewhere? Maybe they're still there? Maybe they don't like colonisers?


quote:
MarkusTay63 wrote:

No colonies because then you are assuming that no-one already lives there, or the culture is just so primitive that it can be ignored (and we already have/had that with Maztica, Anchorome, and possibly Katashaka).

When colonies were discussed in the K-T thread, I had mentioned the possibility that the east-coast have at least one 'civilized' kingdom (hopefully more), but that the west coast was not settled... which leads one to wonder why the easterners have not bothered with it (some sort of taboo, perhaps?). It could just be as simple as the place beiung very inhospitable (on that side), which is exactly how I was picturing it (and it didn't stop the Shou from attempting a colony/port there... which mysteriously disappeared).

For Kingdoms on the east side, I'm not sure what kind of cultures would be there, if we are using one based on aboriginies for the main part of the continent.

Non-human may be the way to go, so its not just like the rest of Faerûn (or Retrurned Abeir, for that matter). We have more then enough 'classic medieval' style kingdoms to do that again. Perhaps a powerful empire, made-up of a half-dozen seperate (and rebellious) Kingdoms?

Just trying to imagine something completely different for this region - at least different then anything already on Toril. Perhaps even a Romanesque Empire still in the Bronze-Age? That could work....


quote:
Yakman wrote:

if you want to go primitive, i've been thinking of developing a region that is cursed so that "no stone may lay atop another for a day and a night" by a powerful elemental.

what i mean by this is that it is impossible to build anything by human hands that will last a day due to a powerful curse. essentially, civilization is made impossible by powerful magic. while we don't have to apply all of this to Osse, it makes it such that anything beyond hunter-gatherers is impossible.

the region/continent then would be made of monsters, extremely primitive tribes, etc..

just a thought.

Why not take Athas and put it into an FR context? Standard magic just plain won't work here... or it comes in two sorts: the spirit shamans and their far darker brethren: the DEFILERS.

Defilers never got their fair due. Not wanting to mince words, I'll come out and say it: DEFILERS ARE FRIGGING SWEET.

What does this do? Creates a different magical context for the continent, serves as a means to keep out the Shou and the Zakharans, and also provides for a wealth of role-playing possibilities.


quote:
Gray Richardson wrote:

I like the World Serpent better for the Rainbow Serpent, over Jazirian. If the World Serpent has been sleeping for ages, he might reside in the Plane of Dreams. Osse could have powerful connections with the Plane of Dreams, which they might just call the Dreamtime... or Alcheringa.

Also, if they worship the World Serpent (or Rainbow Serpent) that could imply sarrukh influence in the ancient past. Perhaps the yuan-ti have strong roots in Osse. There maybe copious underground kingdoms of scalyfolk in the underdark below Osse. The humans of Osse might well have some yuan-ti blood running through their bloodlines.

Such a presence might imply that other scalyfolk gods are known in Osse. Sseth and Zehir might well have an interest in fostering worshipers here. Deities such as Laogzed and Shekinester may have some influence as well.


quote:
MarkusTay63 wrote:

Scaley-influence would be cool, but I was already going that way with Jambu Dweepam (southern Kara-Tur/Jungle region).

However, I was borrowing heavilly from the Mahasarpa (OA)WE for that, and the humanskill anything 'scaley' on-sight, for the most part. In osee, it could be an excepted thing, and there could be people with scales and snake-features walking around in the open with no problems.

Now I'm starting to see a 'Dinotopia' spin on the continent, if we bring in Sarrukh influence.

Maybe throw in Raptorrans and Bullywug Kingdoms - give the whole place a 'Creator Race' feel. Ergo, it would be like taking RW Australia's known oddities (more 'primitive' flora and fauna) and translating them into Realms terms. The entire place could be a 'throw-back' to an earlier era.

The 'Underground Kingdoms' works very well for my concept of the entire center being a vast plateau. If the surface of the plateau is nothing more then a monster-infested, blasted wasteland, then it makes sense that region below ground would be utilized. Not a true Underdark at all, because those cultures living there would be at 'sea-level' - basically just a massive cave complex (as in, thousands of miles).

A continent with a mostly-subterranean population is rather different, and could prove very cool (everyone becomes a Dwarf! :D ). We could even bring Ed's 'long-lost' albino Elves into this area.

I was goping to say that halfligs would be one of the few groups living near the surface of the plateau (in burrows), and could act as go-betweens for the deeper races and whatever lives on the surface. That may give them too much of an Eberron-Halfling feel, though (socially - living in burrows is NOT Eberron).

And like I said, the plateau is just most of the central portion of Osse - the 'outer rim' would be 1-200 hundred miles wide, and be inhabited by more 'normal' groups.

I've been trying to think of a 'mystical' reason for the plateau, and I keep getting drawn to the Abber nomads of RL and Abeir. Perhaps the wasteland is what was left after a large portion of the world was swapped with Abeir, or was even one of those regions 'left blank' after Ao created Abeir (sending a good portion of the aboriginal peoples along with it to Abeir, some of whom eventually became the Abber Nomads of RL).

Here's a WIP of Osse. [dead link... MarkusTay! We need a new linky for this please! Assuming you still have the map, that is...]

This thread got me in the mood.

I had to reduce the size to upload, so the res isn't as good as it should be. Also, I've only got the outline done (which is one of the hardest parts - I have to go over everything five times!)

Now we need to just figure out what the hell to fil it with. I also need some Island names, but I suppose that will come with the lore.

And NO, this still isn't a project... its a fun 'exercise'.


Well, it's a project now, Mark... and we'd love to have you and LK/Dagnirion involved! We kinda already have a cartographer, but you have plenty of lore skillz to contribute, not to mention the fact that you've been working on this already... and I'm more than curious to see what you've come up with on that map you started. So... are you in, or what?

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 26 May 2010 06:10:43
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Jakk
Great Reader

Canada
2165 Posts

Posted - 17 May 2010 :  06:09:33  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I had a big follow-up in progress, and I accidentally hit the "back" button on my mouse... and lost it all.

What I was going to say, in brief:
- humans: low-tech, as presented in the Lady of Poison novel, probably due to being hemmed into an area with little or no mineral resources, with other factors influencing their lack of technological progress (constant tribal warfare; possibly an ancient curse against either the humans or the land they inhabit);
- I really like the idea of a massive sahuagin empire off the northern coast (and possibly something else big and nasty lurking in the waters off the western coast as well); that explains why Osse has remained so isolated from the rest of Toril, as queried by scribe Brace Cormaeril earlier in this scroll;
- I love Damian's idea of the inland area being Inferno's hunting ground; interior plateau of plains/savannah, possibly (mostly) surrounded by mountains... although the cliffs and high plateau are definitely very interesting. I'm not sure about the were-creatures; that's something we know exists as a major group over in Anchorome, and I'm working on something there as well.
- I'd love to see a minotaur realm, as well as a pre-Spellplague (3.x ruleset) dragonborn realm... hopefully this gets your attention, MT...
- I don't want to see standard nonhuman races (elves, dwarves, etc.); I kind of like the idea of a mini-Athas in a big inland desert, with desert elves, desert halflings, and (definitely) thri-kreen and related races. Not sure about the half-giants, tho...
- I like LK/Dagnirion's geography and climate notes as well; let's see if we can work those in combination with the notes Damian has provided.

I'm going to post this before my thumb $&%@#*!s up again and makes me lose it all again. Feedback please! If we can decide which areas are going to contain what, then we can start dividing up the continent and handing out parts for the project... although we need to settle on the big-picture geography first.

Edit: That was the other major point in my original (lost) post: I also like MarkusTay's idea of (parts of) the continent being a last residence of the other Creator Races before they left Toril altogether... especially the Aearee and the Batrachi; I have plans for the Sarrukh involving Chult and Katashaka, since it was originally their turf.

Edit: I also wanted to hear back from other scribes (particularly HandsomeRob, since it's his Toril map I'm referring to) regarding the smaller islands scattered around Toril as rendered topologically by scribe Patrakis in his PDF map of Toril. Does this topography work for us all for those "project isles"? For the moment, topography is all I'm concerned with for them; Myrmidune has been described rather well in CK Compendium IV, and I have a great concept in mind for the islands north of Anchorome that fits perfectly with Patrakis' topography.

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 17 May 2010 06:27:41
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe

USA
505 Posts

Posted - 17 May 2010 :  15:54:15  Show Profile  Visit Darkmeer's Homepage Send Darkmeer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Okay, after reading some of both threads (believe me, I don't have all the time to read the WoTC thread, sadly. )

One thing that I think is discounted is bringing more "forgotten" races into the world. Personally, I've got some ideas to throw out there for you:

Sendasti (a la Mythic Races) would fit the desert region, would make great raiders, and would fit the idea that it's inhospitable. Perhaps a (gasp) serpentine race made for the desert, i.e. the Sktak (also a la Mythic Races) would fit the ideal of a "honorable nomad" desert dweller. The difference being that the Sktak are serpentine, and the Sendasti are not. Perhaps the Sktak have a very regimented religious system, while the Sendasti are more... loose with their beliefs, perhaps even Shamanistic in their culture. These fit into Southwestern Osse.

For the eastern and north eastern Osse, what really strikes me is the races from Dragon 317, the Adu'jas (plant-humnaoids that were the 'precursors' to the elves, in their beliefs), Gruwarr (shadow-fey, ones on the edge of both the seelie and unseelie court), and the T'Kel, a scaled folk that creates beautiful, ornamental masks that they wear constantly, fearing that someone seeing their face owns their soul. These could fit quite nicely in a forested environment, with the Adu'jas being a minority, while the T'kel have many monasteries within the steaming jungles as they throw off the shackles of having been a raider-only style of society. Within some of these monasteries, the Gruwarr watch everything from their hidden perches and their nighttime haunts.

The last additional race (for now) would be Niomus (Mythic Races). They are bat-winged humanoids, perhaps descended from the Aeriee, with a free spirit and sorcerous talent. Perhaps they act as couriers across the continent, having a somewhat 'neutral' stance on the continent.

For the races mentioned over yonder:
Bullywug: A steaming jungle group of raiders and other unpleasantness, mostly preying on the T'kels, as the T'kels are easy targets and share much of the same land with the Bullywugs. This would fit the idea of Southern Osse quite well, with some of the T'Kel's being there as well.

Dream Dwarf: These share the mountains in a symbiotic, and friendly, relationship with the Goliaths. They follow the path of the Dreaming, and in their society Binders are not completely shunned.

Goliath: Pretty much standard as per Races of Stone, with their primary trade partners bieng the Dream Dwarves. Western Mountains fit them well, just like the Dream dwarves.

Human, Oslander: Probably building early kingdoms or fiefdoms along the entirety of Central Osse, with perhaps Chauntean clergy abounding here in her earth-mother aspect rather than Chauntea herself. Who or what would be competing with them on the plains other than themselves? That is what I ask myself, as I would like to see some real competition for humanity, perhaps even something that can drive THEM towards extinction.

Kodingobold and Tindrraynggwa: What are these? Seriously, I have no clue.

Thoughts, ideas, discounting everything?

d

"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME."
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
565 Posts

Posted - 17 May 2010 :  16:28:54  Show Profile  Visit Cleric Generic's Homepage Send Cleric Generic a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Two things I've oft pondered sticking into the realms some place that might find a corner somewhere on Project Isle:

- Small Gods: as opposed to having a few rather lofty and distant gods, the idea of corporeal deities with limited regional power appeals to me. They could be everything from god-kings of theocratic city states to the god of mountain X or lake Y.

- an Overlord Race: perhaps a region is overtly ruled by a particular race that is few in number but vast in power. Perhaps the few remaining members of some exotic spelljamming species has forged itself a last refuge out there and are living it up at the expense of their subjects.

Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!

ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!

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HandsomeRob
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  16:44:45  Show Profile  Visit HandsomeRob's Homepage Send HandsomeRob a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm taking lots of notes and roughing out the geography that we've discussed so far, and it looks really great! We've done a good job of including a lot of variety. The farthest northwestern and southeastern coasts are still a bit "blank" - I was thinking that a cold-weather, mountainous rainforest (similar to the Pacific Northwest) with lots of volcanoes and enormous pine trees would fit nicely in the southeast, and I don't think there's anything much like that on Toril as of yet.

WIP map: http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1659/ossewip1.jpg

Dark Green: forests
Light Green: grassland
Yellow: scrubland
Light Orange: desert
Teal: swamps
Mountains should be obvious
The big grey mass in the middle is the wasteland plateau.

Coral reefs would cover the area from the island at the far western edge, along the northern coast, and around the big island at the northern edge. This reef would abut the coast in the northwest and end up encircling the large northern bay, creating a sea. I also added a few lakes. The big orange thing on the plateau is a chasm filled with lava. There's one on Athas and I always liked the idea.

Thoughts?

-Rob

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Edited by - HandsomeRob on 17 May 2010 16:46:59
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Jakk
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  17:36:08  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Darkmeer: I don't have time to read the whole thing either, and this is equally lamented. I'm going to try to read a bit more of it today before going to work. I have another late shift today, followed by two days off!

I don't have access to my copy of Mythic Races atm, as it's in storage out of town, but from what I remember, I think it's a perfect fit.

Consider my post a vote in favour of all of Darkmeer's ideas. I was thinking some more about the minotaurs and dragonborn, and I think they're a better fit for what I have planned in Anchorome, anyway; there are too many good original ideas for Osse at the moment. If there's room, maybe I'll throw something in, but I envisioned both of these races as having large, dominant empires, something that isn't going to work with what we're putting together (which I love, in case that wasn't obvious).

I still like Damian's (crazedventurers) idea of the interior plateau being Inferno's hunting grounds; are we looking at that being the reason it's considered wasteland? Because nothing much is going to live there if that's the case. My thought was that any intelligent life was eradicated from the plateau long ago by Inferno, and because of the steep cliffs and low tech level of the human inhabitants, not to mention their entirely justified fear of the dragon (Inferno is beyond Colossal; think the big dragon from Reign of Fire), the only life on the plateau is the vegetation (all grasslands, for the most part) and the grazing herd animals that in turn are eaten by the dragon. Note that these herd animals could be anything, and Inferno isn't going to need his breath weapon to hunt simply due to his size, so while there might be occasional blasted remains of any former civilization on the plateau, for the most part it's a fully thriving ecosystem; ash is a wonderful fertilizer. For all we know, Inferno transported the herds there himself after eradicating the intelligent life, simply to give himself a place to feed uninterrupted.

I'm also still somewhat enamoured of the sahuagin empire off the north coast; however, thinking about Inferno gave me another explanation for Osse being undiscovered until now; what if that was a consequence of Inferno's magic? We know he's a powerful arcane magic user as well, so what if he had placed magical wards around the island to keep it concealed from seafarers and air travellers? Just another thought...

Rob: I don't know if I'm going colour-blind, but I don't see any "light orange" on your map. If you mean the light brown areas along the southwest coast, I like it. I also really like your ideas for the northwest and southeast, particularly the volcanic coniferous rainforest... I live just north of the B.C.-Washington border, about an hour east of Vancouver, and the steep mountains flanking the Fraser River here are a neat inspiration too... what about something like that in there as well?

One more point for Rob: Any further thoughts on the outlying islands in that area, both near Osse and further away? They're too small to have a great deal of variety, so I'm thinking forest and/or mountains, with maybe one or two desert islands in the mix (because I'm seeing this area as ripe for a pirate campaign, and what's a pirate campaign without a desert island or two?)

Edit: I should also mention again the idea from MarkusTay in the WotC thread (quoted above) about an "under-plateau" civilization or three... any ideas for races?

Edit: Race list (from Darkmeer and WotC thread)
- Goliath
- Gargun
- Whisper gnome
- Dream dwarf
- Desert elf (Dark Sun-ish?)
- Desert halfling (Dark Sun-ish?)
- Mythic Races (see Darkmeer's post)
- Humans (as described in Lady of Poison)

I'm really getting excited about this project! I think we've put together some brilliant ideas here.

[/edit]

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 17 May 2010 19:47:33
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Patrakis
Learned Scribe

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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  17:38:30  Show Profile Send Patrakis a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Hi all,

You might want to know (or maybe not), that the version of Osse you find on my Toril map was drawn from information i found on the globe map that was featuered int the Electronic Atlas of the Realm. That is a close to Canon i could find. Since the globe doesn't work anymore for many owners of that product, i thought you should know.

So if there was something worth keeping from my map, it would be the mountain ranges that it shows.

Anyway, good luck on the project.

Pat

Dancing is like standing still, but faster.
My site: http://www.patoumonde.com
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Jakk
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  17:49:38  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Thanks for the info, Pat! I actually liked those mountains as presented in your map, so we'll see what we can come up with. I'd like to stay as close to canon as possible for the physical geography, so knowing that the mountains are canon helps a lot. I suspect Rob feels the same way regarding canon... but he's the one drawing the map, so we'll wait for his response.

Edit: On a related note, Pat's map is the one I commented on earlier as something I quite like as a source for topography of the remaining islands. Thoughts?

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 17 May 2010 17:54:04
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HandsomeRob
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  18:46:34  Show Profile  Visit HandsomeRob's Homepage Send HandsomeRob a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm happy to use Patrakis' work as a starting point for the topography. But I'll also request that we not be penned in by it - if we want to add a large wasteland plateau, we should go ahead and wedge it in, even though there's no sign of it on Pat's map. I'll move some things around and try to get my mountain ranges to better match Patrakis' for the next WIP.
quote:
Rob: I don't know if I'm going colour-blind, but I don't see any "light orange" on your map. If you mean the light brown areas along the southwest coast, I like it.

Yeah... deserts in the southwest, as proposed by Dagniron.

quote:
One more point for Rob: Any further thoughts on the outlying islands in that area, both near Osse and further away? They're too small to have a great deal of variety, so I'm thinking forest and/or mountains, with maybe one or two desert islands in the mix (because I'm seeing this area as ripe for a pirate campaign, and what's a pirate campaign without a desert island or two?)

I was considering filling up the reef area with multitudes of tiny atolls and volcanic islands, to be very polynesian. As for the other islands, there's a chain to the east that would probably be tropical considering its latitude. For the other islands father afield, here's what we've got:

CONTINENT-SIZED ISLANDS:
* What I found labelled as "Numidia", an island about the size of Chult off of Katashaka's east coast.
* Another similar-sized continent to the southeast of Numidia, between Katashaka and Zakhara.
* Myrmidune - apparently this has been detailed in Candlekeep Compendium IV.
* Aurune - two continent-sized islands and several smaller islands located north of Anchorome. These are almost certainly glaciated and probably full of polar bears.
SMALLER ISLANDS:
* There's a long chain of islands running from the western tip of Zakhara about half-way across the ocean towards Katashaka. I found one of Mark's maps that labelled these as the "Farahsahad Islands" and even began to detail a few of them:
http://Markustay.deviantart.com/art/Farasahad-Islands-122579852
* There is a chain to the northeast of Koryo that might be analogous to the real-world Kuril Islands or Kamchatka in terms of physical features.
* Directly east of those and north of Osse is another chain of islands. No idea what might be out there - but how about a people who surf and hunt enormous, city-sized whales?
* There are a couple of small islands due south of Osse's southeasternmost point.
* There's a few small islands northwest of Katashaka and south of Myrmidune.
* There's an island chain due west of Katashaka.

I also used Mark's Osse WIP as a basis for the coastlines on my map. It's here if you're interested:
http://Markustay.deviantart.com/art/Osse-WIP2-120041580

One of the sources in the initial post (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SniTwfm5BwE/SwGdq1hhEjI/AAAAAAAABz0/m5Cw31XAZpw/s1600/World%20Map%20of%20Toril.bmp) also shows long chains of small islands located throughout the large oceans. So if you've got an idea for an island chain somewhere, there's probably room.

-Rob

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Jakk
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  19:02:27  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
As a side note, I haven't been able to get the globe working for years now, and haven't even bothered installing the Atlas since about 2005. Otherwise, I would have remembered those mountains myself.

Rob: Some thoughts on integrating Patrakis' canon mountain ranges with what's already assembled:
- keep the southwest desert coast; make the western mountain range bigger and more connected, almost the entire west coast (inland from the desert, of course) right to the edge of the magma chasm;
- alternatively, if you want to go entirely canon for mountain position (which I would entirely support), move the desert to the southeast coast, place the mountains as in Patrakis' map, and make the southwest and/or northeast mountains geologically active (volcanoes, etc., as discussed); make the north and east coasts rainforest as had been previously discussed, and make the central plateau area smaller.

As has been pointed out, Osse is a big place; right now, the plateau is the size of Chondath, Chessenta, Unther, and the northern Shaar (south to the Sharawood) combined. That's about four times the size of the Thayan plateau, and bigger than the Sea of Fallen Stars if we're talking total water surface area. Even with the mountains taking up more space in canon (via Pat's map), there's still lots of room for everything we've talked about. But it's your time put into the map, so it's your call.

Edit: Heh. I guess I took too long to post this. Rob, I agree with you on the inland geography; as noted here, I like the plateau idea as well. In about an hour, I'm heading off to work, so I'm going back to the WotC thread to mine it for more ideas until then.

Edit 2: Regarding the islands:

I'm not sure about the canonicity of "Numidia" as a name... it sounds a bit too African to me, but considering that we already have Tabot and Koryo in the East, I'll leave that up to you; I don't really have any other ideas for names. The islands around Katashaka I had envisioned as primarily jungle, with some mountains; beyond that, I'll let you take care of the cartography. I really like your idea for the islands north of Osse and the islands near Koryo, as well.

For Aurune: Rob, I'm with you on the inhabitants; I do like Patrakis' topology for them, and I have an idea (influenced, obviously, by "The Golden Compass" somewhat) involving a society of were-polar-bear Northmen-types, probably distant relations of the Northmen of Ruathym et al. in the Trackless Sea. The islands were speculated as the original Ruathym homeland in notes on one annotated Toril map I found somewhere... I'll try to find it again for us. I already have some work done on the society here, so I'll try to polish it up... I got the were-polar-bear idea originally from Anchorome, which we know from established lore to be inhabited by werewolves and possibly other werecreatures, and then I read "His Dark Materials" and saw "The Golden Compass" and it got me back into that idea.

Anyway... thoughts on Aurune? I see the realm as a loose confederation of kingdoms who typically raid the coasts of Anchorome and the surrounding islands, but are not above fighting among themselves on a small scale (feuds and such things are common), and they have begun settling the northern reaches of Anchorome, particularly the northeast peninsula. Despite the infighting (which is always a result of their very Norse honour-codes), they consider themselves a unified people, and they call their nation Tuhaval. In times of overt alliance against a common enemy (such as the werewolves of Anchorome) the kings of Tuhaval appoint a High King (this is rather Celtic, I know, but it keeps the Northmen from being too Norse) to lead them as a people.

Other wildlife on the islands themselves include winter wolves (hunted and killed on sight) and other Arctic creatures.

In any case, I'll leave you to work on the maps for the time being; I just wanted to see where we were on filling in the other blanks. I'm probably going to do some more work on Tuhaval, now that I've gotten back into it; so much for browsing the WotC thread.

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 17 May 2010 19:34:57
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Jakk
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  20:15:33  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Erm, yeah... actually, I'm glad I went with the WotC thread anyway... I found some GOLD!

Okay, I started at the end of the WotC thread and worked my way back to page 6, having looked at the first 5 pages earlier. Check out pages 6-15 of the WotC thread, in particular pages 10-15. There's some good stuff in there.

quote:
MarkusTay63 wrote:
Well, the super-volcano could have blown a gasket a mil... errr... 35,000 year ago or so.

Since that time, erosion how leveled-off much off the original enormous crater ridge (still leaving relatively large mountains). I like the idea of the lake, but combined with Suin Bahhar's suggestion - that there is still a large amount of vulcanism taking place below the continent, so that the lake becomes 'steamy' and even sulpherous (posionous) in places. That leaves that entire central area shrouded in mists, and would probably be a source of much local legend and taboos. I'm picturing a bayou-like marsh around it, with various 'things' living in huts on stilts, and also lots of scaley things living in the water (Giant Crocs, Huge Snakes, some pleisaurs, etc, etc...).

Although the main caldera from the original eruption is no longer 'active', geysers, both in the water and out, erupt in the region. Also, the entire mountain chain (and beneath the continent) are riddled with lava-tubes, some of which are still active from time-to-time. Occassionally, a pocket of magma reaches the surfaces, and lots of smaller volcanos are born - some oozing lava, some just smoking, and others having gone dormant long-ago like the super one.

That gives us all the seismic activity and still able to fill the ancient caldera with water (or whatever).

I was actually working on the southern island for about two hours today - I wanted one thing completed to give everyone a better idea of the scale involved. The map I posted here was greatly reduced in size so I could fit the whole thing on this page.

I should have the island done tomorrow and I'll post it.


quote:
Lord Karsus wrote:
-I was thinking something like Crater Lake. It was formed when a supervolcano erupted and "blew itself up", leaving behind a big crater. The entire continent sits over large magma pockets and such, with other, smaller volcanoes active in the nearby mountain range. The land directly to the east of the lake can be something like "The Mudlands"- miles of bubbling and steaming mudpots (though not necessarily dangerously hot)- and fire swamps (a la Princess Bride), geysers, and things like that.

-The volcano exploding in the past can also explain why the people of Osse are fairly 'backwards', in terms of how advanced the rest of Kara-Tur, Maztica, Zakhara, and Faerûn are. Something in the recent past would have cleared the table, prompting civilization and whatnot to have to start over. Something in the recent past would also explain the lack of outside influence in Osse. Perhaps the Kara-Turans, or the Zakharans settled the continent long ago, and then catastrophe occurred, and because of that, ties were broken, allowing Osse to develop more or less on it's own. Being as that the information is new, in terms of world building, Oslander ties can be written into other Kara-Turan or Zakharan places, and nothing gets messed up.

-Originally, I placed the desert on the western coast. It was then moved to the eastern coast, reason being was that the prevailing weather patterns and climates would be moving cyclones/hurricanes and less dangerous tropical rainfalls down from Southeast Kara-Tur to the western side of Osse. Putting a desert there, an explanation would be needed to explain why tropical desert exists on that coast, and nearby, a desert. Moving it to the opposite coast moves it away from the southern moving storms, and places a barrier of mountains, to mostly prevent the storms from providing rainfall over the area.

-The seismic and magmal (I like that made-up word) activity beneath Osse is still ongoing. That is why Osse has no traditional Underdark- there is lava under there, poisonous gasses, and constantly collapsing caves and cave complexes because of earthquakes. The island, as a whole, is more or less stable, and isn't in danger of collapsing itself, or whatever else, but the same can't be said for it's "innards".


quote:
MarkusTay63 wrote:
Does it have to be a volcano?

In 1038 DR, Toril experienced a slight rotational shift (The Great Glacier, pg. 7). I have therorized that this was the result of a rather large meteor strike somewhere on the planet, but considering their were no direct effects (other then global warming and general glacier-melting) it would make sense that it had to have happened on the other side of the planet.

What if that is a meteor crater of a strike that happened a mere 337 years ago?

Perhaps there was a powerful civilization (a'la Netheril, or Imaskar) controlling this land and keeping outsiders out, and these aboriginies are whats left of those once-great peoples.

Ergo, instead being primitive because their backwards, they are primitive because they were nuked into the stoneage.

This will also help differentiate Osse from Malatra, where there are already very primitive, stone-age level people dwelling.

Thoughts?

We could still have everything currently exactly as we imagined it - their would still be a lot of tectonic upheaval (perhaps the 'plate' was cracked by the strike?) and a thermal basin. All that would change is the back-story (and tie it into an aberrant piece of FR history).

In Kara-Tur's case, for whatever reason in the past* they were unable to colonize. Thanks to some sort of 'recent' upheaval that has changed. The upheaval itself depends on the timeframe we decide to go with. If we want it VERY recent (which makes the mostr sense), then the ToT should be blamed - whatever was protecting (coveting?) the continent is now gone (which could mean dead or just 'asleep'). If we push it back to the Meteor-strike I discussed in my last post, then the continent itself was probably blanketed with all sorts of basdness for the past three centuries - choking smoke, like-bloacking dust clouds, earthquakes, volcanos, lava rivers, sulpherous Geysers and thermal basins, oceanic seam-vents, ash-storms that bury entire cities, etc, etc....

Which has all quited-down in the past twenty years or so, allowing Kara-Turrans to finally have enogh nerve to try again.

Secondly, Shou Lung and T'u Lung hate each other. T'u doesn't have the central organizartion to mount an effective colonization. Shou certainly does... but T'u would do anything to prevent that. Being unable to use Osse themselves, I can see them using their navy to keep all Shou explorers from reaching the mainland.

Things changed, however... maybe Wa and/or Kozakura have discovered Osse, and are trying to settle it. This may have caused a change in the status quo, and T'u has finally decided to get its crap together and try colonization (putting aside its war with Shou and it's internal disorganization for once).

* The reason from the past will effect which way we go with the recent change. If we go with the ToT for the change, then we will have to say some sort of deity-level power was keeping others from reaching Osse (and keeping the Ossies from 'escaping'). If we use the Meteor strike/super-volcano, then we could say that the former Empire(s) of Osse were incredible powerful, and had some sort of Magic and/or techhnology that allowed them to hold-off 'barbarian invasions'. If we go that route, we have to establish some sort of cultural reason why they didn't bother to invade others (which could mean their power was derived from Osse itself). However, that option allows us to go full-tilt ruins all over the place, making it a much more interesting gaming environment then just a continent full of 'savages'.

I'm leaning heavilly toward the meteor/Volcano angle, and having Osse 'wiped clean' three centuries past. I like the idea the Ossies would have legends from their mighty past, and now they are a downtrodden people who have lost much of their hope (having to concentrate just on survival for all this time). Culturally, we can play-up the whole "the gods were angry at us" angle. I see a lot of potential in that.

A continent and people just climbing back up from a great cosmic thwacking.

Edit: I'm beginning to see that the ideas are not mutuallly exclusive - if the 'mighty power' that was holding sway over Osse since the beginning were the thing responsible for the Ossies incredible power (at their height), that would have also meant that they wouldn't have that power while away from Osse. By the same token, foreigners (and their beliefs) would have been a threat to this powwr, and thats why it would have blocked others from interferring with the 'paradise' it had created.

Which means the 'cosmic thwacking' could have been caused by outside gods (Faerûnian, Maztican, Kara-Turran, ect..), who felt it was about time the Ossies were free from their 'benevolent' (yet despotic) ruler. However, the power (a Primordial?) managed to stay alive and protect it's people from dying-out altogether, mitigating the worst of the cataclysm (we sort of need that, otherwise it should have been global). After three centuries of constantly exerting it's power to the fullest, it fell into a deep coma (those 'sleeps' that god-like beings are always falling into). This means it is now in a 'recovery phase', and healing, which means it can come back... which is exactly what the natives pray for.

The only way the natives can still communicate with their 'god' is through it's dreams.


Most of MarkusTay's map links are dead now, but a couple of them still work; one shows a lake at the centre of the continent, a la the "Crater Lake" hypothesis discussed in the quotes above. It's a neat idea, and it would explain Osse's relative lack of advancement compared to Faerun and Kara-Tur, but I don't want to mess with the map too much, for Rob's sake. I like the plateau idea, especially as Inferno's feeding ground, and I want to keep that in the continent, definitely.

Anyway, I need to get going to work; I'll be back online in around eight hours to see what else we've come up with.

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.
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HandsomeRob
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Posted - 17 May 2010 :  21:24:07  Show Profile  Visit HandsomeRob's Homepage Send HandsomeRob a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I also found this bit of good stuff, attributed to Lord Karsus:
quote:
A large desert categorizes southwestern Osse. Called the Opaleis Desert by the Oslanders, this region of Osse is sparely inhabited, and has very few living creatures living in this climate, let along thriving in it. Temperatures during the day are regularly in excess of ninety degrees, and during the nights, temperatures flirt with the freezing temperature.

The great desert on Osse receives less than ten inches of rainfall per year. This is due to the presence of mountains to the desert’s east, preventing the flow of rainfall and moisture into the region. Because the land lies high above sea level, moisture from the east has to climb treacherous cliff faces that in some places can be in excess of 100 feet. The desert landscape is mostly made of sand and rock formations, including large, immobile formations, such as rock arches, and smaller, mobile sediment, made of pebbles, salt, and arid desert soil. A large lake does indeed exist in the desert, named Lake Ngambati, but the lake does nobody and good, being a salt lake with an extremely high salt content, to the point that it is said that creatures that enter it receive harsh burns and skin irritations.

Unlike many other deserts across Abeir-Toril, the Opaleis Desert supports very little vegetable matter. The few species that live there are sand, drought, and salt resistant, however. The desert’s western regions are more likely to receive rainfall, due to the proximity of the ocean, just below the great cliffs, and as such, most living creatures in the desert live in its western portions. Its eastern portions are nearly barren and lifeless, because of the harsh terrain, lack of precipitation, and high temperatures. Opuntias are the most common desert plant, as are desert holly and brittlebush. Other cacti and succulents are not found there.

Because of the harsh terrain, very few living creatures live in this region of Osse. Mulgara, armadillo and echidna are the only animals hardy enough to survive in this climate. Primarily, lizards, such as the thorny devil, and the frilled-neck lizard, inhabit the desert. The sandgrouse is the only bird that makes it’s home the desert.

Humans, for the most part, have avoided the Opaleis Desert. There is one particular tribe of Oslanders that lives in the desert, however. These people, the Siakdia Tribe, inhabit a ziggurat that is located in the desert’s roughest terrain, on the border of the Opaleis Desert and the Tolwaydi Mountains, along the Wenwolok Canyons.

The ziggurat was built by the Siakdia, and is one of the few permanent settlements on the island-nation. The stepped structure stands 75 feet tall, and on its roof is a large telescope-like device. In the center of the ziggurat is a chapel of sorts, housing a throne of foreign design, made of exotic metals. The Siakdia, unlike the other animistic tribes of Oslanders, worship a formal pantheon, made of specific entities. The creatures that they worship, they call ‘The Voidcallers’. Using the telescope housed at the top of their ziggurat, they speak directly to their deities, massive stars and constellations that hang in the night skies of Osse, that sometimes take the shapes of different animals. Elders empowered by the Voidcallers, the de facto rulers of the Siakdia Tribe, claim that, long ago, the Voidcallers came to Osse, but left, for whatever reason. Seeking to once again reconnect their association with the planet, they have chosen the Siakdia as their chosen representatives.

Southeastern Osse is categorized by swampy wetlands, known as the Waatikantri Swamp. Evidence suggests that the area was once more savannah grassland that periodically flooded. At some point in Osse’s history, the area flooded completely, and left behind a freshwater swamp forest. The areas where the swamp borders the ocean, the waters of the swamp are sometimes more saline. Temperatures during the day and night are similar to the temperatures exhibited in Osse’s grasslands, with the exception that they are slightly warmer, and far more humid, because of all of the rain and water.

The swamp receives a great deal of rainfall. The mountains to the swamp’s west are tall enough that they cause weather patterns that move southeast to west to stall over the region, inundating it with water and cloud cover, causing large amounts of rainfall, warmer temperatures, and higher humidity levels.

Because of its unique climate and geographic features, there are many plants in the Waatikantri Swamp that can be found nowhere else on Osse. Mangroves can be found in the areas where the swamp borders the ocean, since these areas are typically more saline than other areas. Pond cypress, being very rot-resistant, is the most common tree found in the swamp, and various types of epiphytes, such as bromeliads, or Maztican moss, grow on them. Carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants and Coliaran flytraps, grow in the swamp, and it is said that some reach gigantic sizes, and prey on not only insects, but also birds and mammals.

There is also quite a bit of variance in the fauna that lives in the swamp. It is primarily inhabited by lizards and amphibians, such as crocodiles, eels, monitor lizards, frilled neck lizards, swamp tortoise, water snakes and tree snakes, and tree frogs, many of which are inherently poisonous. Fish, such as yabby, snapper, and shrimp, live in the waters of the area. Many mammals live in the swamp, however. Fluffy gliders, sugar gliders, opossums, flying squirrels, and, surprisingly, dingo, all live and thrive in the swamps.

The swamps are not inhabited by Humans, but are inhabited by far more insidious creatures. Various Bullywug tribes live all over the swamp. Each grouping, known as ‘iwi’, is made up primarily of Bullywug who share familial associations. Bullywug iwi are fiercely territorial, fighting with other Bullywug iwi as often as they do with outsiders who breach into the swamp.

The Bullywug do not have formal cities, but each iwi does indeed live in semipermanent settlements, primarily made of wood and mud. Mysterious ruins made of brick and stone exist within the swamp, and some of the more prestigious Bullywug iwi live in, amongst, or around these ruins. No one knows who built these ruins, what purposes they served, or how old they are. The only beings that might be able to shed light into these ruins through investigation, the Bullywug themselves do not care.

Unlike many Bullywug from Faerûn, the Bullywug of Osse do not worship Ramenos. Instead, the Bullywug of Osse worship an eel deity, known as Ophisternon.



Also found a few geographical names, although no further information:
quote:

Notable Flora and Fauna
…Baji Foam Algae
…Wapa-Yandi Flower
…Gariguu Plant
…Jamba Plant
Central Osse
…Lake Biruu’burundi (Big Hole Lake)
…Mlimli Mudlands
…Baranna’nugan
…Mantha Plains
Southeast Osse
…The Majadeem (The Guardians)
…Zurbawunda (Desert Ziggurat)
…Opaleis Desert
…Lake Ngambati
…Wenwolok Canyons
…Ruins of Kella-Thus
Western Osse
…Tolyiwandi Mountains
…Guda N'gepya Volcano
…Baranna’wendanim
…Waatikantri Swamp
…Bulaarri Lakes
…Wugulu Plains



I do like to have names to place, so I will try to get some of these on the next WIP. We may have to move some of them around (from East to West or whatever) - but I'm sure it will work itself out.

There is also a discussion in that thread about making the coral reef sentient, which is totally cool.

-Rob

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Kno
Senior Scribe

452 Posts

Posted - 17 May 2010 :  22:40:43  Show Profile Send Kno a Private Message  Reply with Quote
To distance from real world analogies, do you consider doing a ''bone theme'' for a part of Osse? Or using this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oss%C3%AB guy being the cause there are no colonists.

z455t
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HandsomeRob
Seeker

68 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  04:41:25  Show Profile  Visit HandsomeRob's Homepage Send HandsomeRob a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Here's WIP#2 for Osse.
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3382/ossewip2.jpg

I've made it a little prettier than last time. Here you can see the geography that we've laid out so far, any names that I could find for things, and (in red) the homelands of some of the races. These homelands are not meant to be exclusive of one another; we may want to have all of the desert tribes living somewhat together, for example. I've just tried to drop a label for every race we've discussed somewhere on the continent.

I've tried a bit harder to match the geography to Patrakis' map this time. I made the lakes overall a bit smaller, as I thought they looked a little too big, and I copied his mountain chains exactly - although we might want to make them a bit bigger in the end.

Nothing is set in stone; if good ideas come along I can easily move things around.

-Rob

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Jakk
Great Reader

Canada
2165 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  05:55:00  Show Profile Send Jakk a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I really like the stuff from Lord Karsus (Dagnirion here at C'keep), apart from the fact that his geography conflicts with ours as far as layout is concerned... on which note...

The new map is awesome! The only notable absence I can comment on is the whisper gnomes; I would put them where the Aearee are, and move the Aearee to the shores of the western bay. Also, Bullywugs like it wet, so (assuming that the NE forest is temperate rainforest as previously discussed) I'd like to see some swampland south of there, between the shoreline to the east and the river to the south. Other thoughts on this recommendation?

The mountains should definitely be just a little bigger, though... apart from the northwestern and outermost northeastern ranges, anyway. I think that the largest ranges should be the long ones to the southwest; they should be the widest, and have the tallest peaks. Also, I would have the dream dwarves spread out through all of those southwestern mountains. They're basically sharing a habitat with the goliaths, so having them more spread out (and therefore more sparsely populated through those regions) would work better, I think. I like the idea of putting the garguns in the northwestern range; and the more I think about it, the less I like the idea of the batrachi being there at all. Definitely some batrachi ruins, and indications of former batrachi presence, but canon (specifically the Grand History) makes it fairly clear that the batrachi all abandoned Faerun and went to the plane of Limbo. That's not to say that there couldn't be some abandoned magical gates to Limbo, through which the batrachi might return some day... In place of the batrachi in the northwest forest, I would put either more bullywugs or another jungle/rainforest race; I would probably lean toward the latter, for variety; anyone have any ideas?

That's really about all I've got, apart from the spelling of "Batrachi"... and I'm thinking you might be right about the mountains (and the lakes?) needing to be a bit bigger... no, scratch that about the lakes, I think... unless other scribes have other thoughts.

Thoughts on altering the map to match Dagnirion's description (apart from the mountain ranges, which we know are canon from the FR Interactive Atlas)? Dags has done a lot of good work on this in the WotC thread, and Rob has done an awesome job with the map as it is, so I'll throw this open to a vote: Do we go with the forests/deserts/swamps/plateau/etc. where they are now, or tweak the map to fit Dagnirion's description more closely?

Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.

If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic.

Edited by - Jakk on 18 May 2010 06:01:55
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe

USA
505 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  06:43:00  Show Profile  Visit Darkmeer's Homepage Send Darkmeer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Chiming in to say wonderful work Rob, and thank you Patrakis for your wonderful work.

Now, onto my questions:
What are Kodingobolds? Dingo Kobolds?

Who is Inferno?

I'll start writing up something for the desert to the south and the "warring jungles" to the north this week, so that we have "proper" names for them. Anything in particular that we want to limit? Are we limiting tech to approximate bronze age, or can I go as far as early iron age? Just making sure as I get this all set.

EDIT:
Other thoughts, bearing on the swamp to the northwest:
What about Locathah that have been driven inland to survive against the Empire of Tides (sauhaugin, I'm assuming)? Not all locathah need be salt-dwellers... I'm thinking about the Florida wetlands, and Were-crocodiles and Ophidians may fit well here, again implying Sarrukh influence.

Also, the short mountain range east of the Tolyiwandi mountains in the rough shape of the number three could fit as the home for the Niomus and their "courier" services. Heck, the Tolyiwandi mountains themselves could be their ancestral homeland, having been driven out by some other menace.
/d

"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME."

Edited by - Darkmeer on 18 May 2010 06:48:05
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
565 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  08:25:05  Show Profile  Visit Cleric Generic's Homepage Send Cleric Generic a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Inferno, AFAIK, is an epic-mega-dragon of the red variety.

EDIT: That map is looking pretty funky!

Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!

ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!

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Edited by - Cleric Generic on 18 May 2010 08:25:39
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Kno
Senior Scribe

452 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  10:59:12  Show Profile Send Kno a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A dragon-ruled realm, how original.

z455t
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
565 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  11:08:16  Show Profile  Visit Cleric Generic's Homepage Send Cleric Generic a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Fair point, but if you discount Returned Abeir then the only dragon ruled bit of the realms I know of is (or was) Chessenta with Tchazzar. Also, calling it his 'feeding ground' implies less actual rulership than significant residence.

Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!

ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!

Vast Realmslore Archive: Get in here and download everything! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/rl

2e Realms book PDFs; grab em! - http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2010/07/working-around-purge.html
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Tyranthraxus
Senior Scribe

Netherlands
423 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  13:16:05  Show Profile  Visit Tyranthraxus's Homepage Send Tyranthraxus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Jakk
For Aurune: Rob, I'm with you on the inhabitants; I do like Patrakis' topology for them, and I have an idea (influenced, obviously, by "The Golden Compass" somewhat) involving a society of were-polar-bear Northmen-types, probably distant relations of the Northmen of Ruathym et al. in the Trackless Sea. The islands were speculated as the original Ruathym homeland in notes on one annotated Toril map I found somewhere... I'll try to find it again for us. I already have some work done on the society here, so I'll try to polish it up... I got the were-polar-bear idea originally from Anchorome, which we know from established lore to be inhabited by werewolves and possibly other werecreatures, and then I read "His Dark Materials" and saw "The Golden Compass" and it got me back into that idea.

Anyway... thoughts on Aurune? I see the realm as a loose confederation of kingdoms who typically raid the coasts of Anchorome and the surrounding islands, but are not above fighting among themselves on a small scale (feuds and such things are common), and they have begun settling the northern reaches of Anchorome, particularly the northeast peninsula. Despite the infighting (which is always a result of their very Norse honour-codes), they consider themselves a unified people, and they call their nation Tuhaval. In times of overt alliance against a common enemy (such as the werewolves of Anchorome) the kings of Tuhaval appoint a High King (this is rather Celtic, I know, but it keeps the Northmen from being too Norse) to lead them as a people.

Other wildlife on the islands themselves include winter wolves (hunted and killed on sight) and other Arctic creatures.



How about also adding some other artic subraces like artic dwarves?

Anyway, I found images of Osse's mountain ranges in my FR Atlas directory. If someone is interested send a PM and I could e-mail them.

Edited by - Tyranthraxus on 18 May 2010 13:17:30
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HandsomeRob
Seeker

68 Posts

Posted - 18 May 2010 :  15:05:24  Show Profile  Visit HandsomeRob's Homepage Send HandsomeRob a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Jakk

The only notable absence I can comment on is the whisper gnomes; I would put them where the Aearee are, and move the Aearee to the shores of the western bay. Also, Bullywugs like it wet, so (assuming that the NE forest is temperate rainforest as previously discussed) I'd like to see some swampland south of there, between the shoreline to the east and the river to the south. Other thoughts on this recommendation?

Whoops on the Whisper Gnomes; I will stick them in that valley and move the Aearee out to the western shores. For the NE forest: Remember that the equator runs through the northern part of Osse, so all forests along the northern edge should be tropical rainforests. The forest in the SW is what I was considering to be the temperate rainforest. There is quite a bit of swampland along the coasts in the NE; apparently I'll need to find a different pattern fill for swamps to further distinguish them from jungles.

quote:
The mountains should definitely be just a little bigger, though... apart from the northwestern and outermost northeastern ranges, anyway. I think that the largest ranges should be the long ones to the southwest; they should be the widest, and have the tallest peaks.

No problem - and I agree. I'll also get a scale onto the next WIP so that we can see exactly how big some of these things are. For reference, the scale on this map is 24% of the maximum scale on the Zoomable Toril Map, so if you are comparing the two you would need to blow this one up about 4 times.

quote:
Also, I would have the dream dwarves spread out through all of those southwestern mountains. They're basically sharing a habitat with the goliaths, so having them more spread out (and therefore more sparsely populated through those regions) would work better, I think. I like the idea of putting the garguns in the northwestern range; and the more I think about it, the less I like the idea of the batrachi being there at all.

What are Garguns? I don't remember seeing them. And I'll pull the Batrachi out. The next WIP should have labels for what type of ruins can be found in different areas.

quote:
In place of the batrachi in the northwest forest, I would put either more bullywugs or another jungle/rainforest race; I would probably lean toward the latter, for variety; anyone have any ideas?

I like Darkmeer's Locathah idea.

Also, Darkmeer: you are right on - they are Dingo Kobolds, AFAIK.

-Rob



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