Setting:Unified Setting/Lindwurm

Part of the Unified Setting for /tg/

A lawless, untamed land. Filled with lost treasures, marauding gnolls, peaceful kobolds, stoic Faestir and scheming representatives of every other race in the world. A place where might makes right and a quick sword or spell is the only thing that stands between you and the afterlife. A place where fortunes and lives are won or lost with every turn of the cards, expedition into the hills or back-alley encounter. Fantasy with an Old West flair.

Geography

The southern-most continent, dominated by the Kudara Desert. Despite the extreme southern latitude the land is habitable, if barely so. Native inhabitants include kobolds, gnolls and Faestir. Human colonies in the west are steadily growing, bringing with them a mix of other races seeking their fortune in this unclaimed (by anyone that matters) land.

Lindwurm is the homeland of the Faestirs and the now-extinct draconians. Their ruined cities and the lost treasures said to lay within are a magnet for treasure seekers. Lucky seekers find empty ruins or nothing at all. Unlucky seekers find vast complexes, inhabited by new and unfriendly occupants. Despite the risks, the dream of instant riches sends a steady stream of adventurers into the wilderness.

The scattered hills and small mountains are unusually rich in minerals, supporting a small prospecting industry. The badlands are considered too hostile to permit large-scale operations so mining is conducted by small groups or individuals. There are intermittent rumors that local or overseas dwarves intend to create a proper fortress, but aside from fortunes made and lost speculating on those rumors nothing has come of them.

Those interested in working the land, via farming or ranching, find it back-breaking and unrewarding work. This comes as no surprise to the inhabitants as it is universally regarded as an unpleasant place to live. There is a common saying about the continent: "Every so often the gods pick up the world and give it a good shake. All the trash falls down to the bottom into Lindwurm." It is also been called "The Highest Concentration of Weird Crap in the World." but most long-term residents drop the weird.

Political Regions

Barthelmia

In typical human fashion, this area was named after the explorer that first planted the flag of Solaris on its soil - Barthelmia, after Admiral Geralt Barthelme.

Celebrations were dampened when the other races pointed out that Barthelmia was actually the Lindwurm continent, which they would have known if humans weren't primitive upstarts, the other races had no intention of letting Solaris claim an entire continent and, furthermore, the land turned out to be an unpleasant and unproductive one that was filled with hostile natives.

Accepting that their maps might have been a tad off, the western part of the continent is still called Barthelmia by the Federated Kingdoms of Solaris. Inhabitants call themselves the Free Cities. Everyone else prefers to call them what they are, Lawless Human Cities.

While they couldn't officially claim it (without facing a war) the Federated Kingdoms still found a use for the territory. It was an excellent place to ship people who didn't fit in anywhere else. Barthelmia became the home for the dreamers, the exiled, the condemned, the hopeless and the wildly optimistic. Whether jumping at the chance, or forced at swordpoint, the new inhabitants founded the Free Cities, humanity's newest and most exciting outpost in the world.

The largest city is New Solaris, followed by Esperia and Gloria. In spite of the overblown names, these cities are trashy, disease-ridden hellholes with minimal government. To prevent Solaris from pressing a claim to the region, nearly every nation established their own outpost. Officially the handful of buildings outside most cities are there to watch after their own citizens, unofficially to prevent any legal claim by Solaris and in practice as a place to send fuck-ups.

Despite the mild international tension, residents of Barthelmia go on about their day-to-day lives. This involves getting drunk, gambling, plotting intricate schemes for returning from exile and taking revenge on their persecutors, ranching, farming, buying and selling fraudulent maps to draconian ruins brimming with treasure, prospecting, murder, mugging, marking the days until they leave and boiling hides for export.

Lindwurm is no place to raise a family, but people do. Mostly the ranchers and farmers who emigrated to find a better life or escape their past. Faced with poor yields and menacing bandits they cling to a legend of a masked ranger (or group of masked rangers) who travel the land defending the weak and helping the helpless. While told and retold by the downtrodden, the stories are considered total bullshit by everyone else. Those who mock the idea sarcastically call them the Men With No Name. Some of the biggest scoffers have never been seen again, but Barthelmia is a dangerous place and no connection has been made.

Many humans have given up on civilization entirely, and now mimic the native gnolls. They wander the badlands visiting death and misery on anyone who crosses their path. Pleas for a Solaris garrison to deal with these bandits are met with half-hearted circumlocutions about the political situation or total indifference.

Gnoll Tribes

Gnoll tribes are endemic to Lindwurm, hunting and raiding wherever they see fit. Human and kobold settlements are frequent targets, and travelers between settlements without sufficient guards frequently vanish without a trace. Some gnoll tribes have agreed to give safe passage to properly marked travelers in exchange for tribute, but there are enough renegades that a guard is still necessary. Accusations that those who refuse to pay the gnoll-toll to human brokers are specifically targeted for attack are strongly denied and universally believed.

Kobold Kamps

Kobold kamps dot the landscape. This peculiar race manages to survive despite the oppressive environment and the predations of both human and gnoll raiders. While seen as comically inept, kobolds can be quite dangerous when roused and many a raider has met their end by underestimating them.

Bejwaere

Home of the Faestir. Along the coast close to the ruins of Bahamut's city-palace, the survivors of an earlier massacre founded the settlement of Bejwaere in a series of natural caves. Less worked than their ancient city, this one must constantly deal with the runoff of the constant rain from Leviathan's Tears. On the other hand, it also keeps them safe from the prying eyes of treasure hunters, kobolds, and gnolls.

Opossokarthel

The ruins of the old Faestir city, now kobold-infested and sitting out in the middle of the desert. Once, the city was a great organ. The rain was funneled into gutters, which funneled into pipes, which were part of a giant system for making music. The defense grid was controlled from a terrace on the highest point of the city, where there is a bejeweled orchestra pit. Lacking the constant rain, most of the lower reaches are stagnant and rotting. Not a very nice place, and many have met their deaths trying to plumb it's depths for treasure.

Arsonis Vex

Ruins of the ancient Draconian civilization in the East. Needs more fluffing.

Adventure Hooks

• Any Western- Rip it off. Replace revolvers with swords.

• The Lost Treasure- Players find a map to a legendary mine. Get there, clear out whatever nasties are there and come back rich beyond the dreams of avarice.

• Caravan duty - There is a lot that needs to be transported, and the badlands are a risky proposition. Even if you pay the local fixers, renegade gnolls and human bandits are always a menace. Strong swords are needed, auditions are in front of the Dead Rat Tavern from six bells to sunset.

• The Seven Swordsmen- The party are down on their luck adventurers, out of cash, out of prospects and about to be thrown on the street when they receive an unusual proposition. A kobold kamp is being raided by gnoll or human bandits and they have sent a small group to the nearest human city for help. They can't offer you much. Just a few silvers, room and board, but it's the best offer you've got. Can you save the defenseless kobolds?

• The Magnificient Kobolds- Bandits have raided your village again, and they promise to return. Your people are simple farmers and herders, but you have had enough. You have sixty days to organize your people, prepare your kamp and give the bandits a nasty surprise when they return.

• Blazing Trails- Rockslides, bandits, or politics have blocked the only route supply trains have to a small village. Find a new path, clear the old one, or monopolise the situation.

• Exile- You have been exiled to Lindwurm. Carve out your own place in the wilderness, hitch a ride back and get revenge on the sops who got you sent off, make your fortune raiding ancient ruins or just try and avoid getting killed.

• A Series of Tubes-The location of the ruins of Opossokarthel are well known, and thus the outer reaches of the city are picked clean. In the center, however, lie grand towers only touched by feral kobolds in recent years. It's time to hit it rich or die trying; find the Storm Leader's Rod and restore the city to its former glory, or just retire after the loot gets sold.

• Ruin Hunters!- Lindwurm was the homeland of the legendary Draconians and the mostly unexplored continent is full of their ruins. Vast riches and vast dangers can be found within. Successful ruin-hunters are treated like fabulously wealthy rock star/astronauts. Less successful ones are never heard from again. For the price of a bottle of rotgut whiskey you have a map to a promising location. Just travel across Lindwurm's trackless wastes, dodge gnoll raiders, find the ruin, deal with both squatters and Draconic defenses, wrest the fabulous treasure that lies within and somehow make it back alive. Hey, if you had a better option you wouldn't be in Lindwurm.