Coldforged: Regions of Tysis
Each Thursday this year, I focus on a different aspect of the world I’ve created and played D&D in for over 20 years, in the hopes of honing the ideas and cementing enough in place to settle the world in my own mind. This week, I’m going to talk about cultural and significant regions on the island.
The Regions
Tysis is the name of the continent that the players of my games adventure on, and while there are some commonalities that linger around the Island, there are also a vast variety of peoples, cultures and technology levels across the continent. While there are dozens of sub cultures and over a hundred different groups of people, they can be generalized into but a few overarching regions.
The map below showcases the regions on the continent
Killbarum
One a proud
Killbarum has a strong mix of different people. Gnomes, Elves, Dwarves, Thraxians, and Humans are all prominent, with humans the greatest part of the population, but not the majority. Half-giants and Dragonkin are rare and are often military leaders, advisers, and priests when they have not been granted Arcane talents, though Dragonkin’s powerful affinity for sorcery is always a welcome boon to whichever College they choose to attend. Magespawn are looked down upon as sorry and disgraceful beings but are tolerated as long as they don’t aspire to high degrees of power.
Killbarans attempt to infuse magic with the martial and political at every opportunity and they often develop vast and complicated magical theories around the application and practice of those infusions.
Killbarans Characters:
Suggested Alignment: Usually Lawful or Neutral, sometimes Evil
Suggested Race: Human, Elf, Dragonkin, Gnome
Suggested Subclasses: Clerics of Knowledge, Eldrich Knight, Arcane Trickster, Fiend Pact, School of Enchantment, School of Evocation, School of Illusion, Arcane Archer, and War Mage
Levisha
Levisha – The
Even when the
The Levishans practice a life of harmony with the natural world, speaking for and defending the plants and animals of the great woods. They tap into primal magic more often than not while defending their groves, circles, and great forests.
Suggested Alignment: Usually Chaotic, rarely Evil, often Good
Suggested Race: Elf, Gnome, Halfling
Suggested Subclasses: Cleric of Nature, Cleric of the Tempest, Circle of the Land, Circle of the Moon, Oath of the Ancients, Beast Master, Hunter, School of Conjuration, School or Transmutation, Storm Herald, Circle of the Shepard, Scout.
Hrondring
While Hrondring refers to the specific people of a specific culture in various parts of the outlying wilderness that is ostensibly controlled by other kingdoms, they do not reject outsiders who wish to abandon their old lives and join the clans. While almost the entirety of the population of the Hrondring are Hrondring, there is almost always an outsider within a tribe.
Suggested Alignment: Usually Chaotic, sometimes Neutral
Suggested Race: Human, Hrondring,
Suggested Subclasses: Cleric of the Life, Circle of the Moon, Horizon Walker, Samurai, College of Swords,
Alora
While Alora may no longer be their own
Alorans tend to be Human, and this fairly rural area tends to be the most human portion of the continent and they hold a slim majority. Dwarves and Thraxians populate the area in pockets, as well as being solid minorities in most towns and cities. Elves are slightly less common, being thought of as great rangers, wilderness guides, and hunters. Magespawn, Godtouched, Dragonkin, Gnomes and Halflings are all exceptionally rare, and while a gnome or halfling will often bring no more than a raised eyebrow, the others are looked upon with skeptisism.
Aloran Characters:
Suggested Alignment: Often Neutral, rarely Good
Suggested Race: Human, Dwarven, Elven,
Suggested Subclasses: Cleric of War, Cleric of Death, College of Valor, Battlemaster, Brute, School of Conjuration, School of Necromancy, Assassin, Inquisitive, Shadow Sorcerer, Hexblade, Fiend Pact.
Tyndaria
The Great Kingdom of Tyndaria is descended from
Tyndaria is the most diverse of all the regions, with no specific group holding a majority strong enough to claim primacy. Elves, Dwarves, Thraxians, Humans, and Dragonkin populate many of the cities and towns, who also welcome the stocky Half-Giants and diminutive Halflings with a smile and a nod. Only
Tyndarian Characters:
Suggested Alignment: Often Neutral, Rarely Chaotic
Suggested Race: Any
Suggested Subclasses: College of Lore, Cleric of KNowledge, Cleric of Trickery, Cleric of War, Battlemaster, Way of the Shadow, Oath of Devotion, Thier, School of Abjuration, School of Evocation, College of Whispers, Forge Clerics, Cavalier, Kensai, Monster Slayer, Swashbuckler, Inquisitive, Assassin
Thrax
Thrax is the end result of a long and unifying work started ages ago by the god Takannas in order to unite and strengthen his long-estranged children. here, behind their great wooden palisades within their dirt and timber fortresses, the wild children of Thrax thrive. Orc, Goblin, Hobgoblin,
Few
Suggested Alignment: Often Chaotic, sometimes Evil, rarely Good
Suggested Race: Thraxian, Half-Giant, Dragonkin,
Suggested Subclasses: Totem Warrior, Cleric of Life, Cleric of Death, Cleric of Nature, Archfey Pact, School of Conjuration, Ancestral Guardian, College of Glamour, Cleric of The Grave, Circle of Dreams, Horizon Walker, Scout, Gloom Stalker
Drimmak
Thought the Drimmak was once the home of the Dwarves, the massive mountains are now populated by Dragons, Giants and their kin, who have inhabited the vast halls and great keeps of the exiled
Drimmak Characters
Suggested Alignment: Often Neutral, usually Evil.
Suggested Race: Half-Giant, Dragonkin, Dwarf
Suggested Subclasses: Way of the Four elements, Draconic Bloodline, School of Evocation, Storm Herald, Storm Sorcerer, Cleric of the Tempest, Gloom Stalker, Scout
Aldashir
Aldashir Citadel is a once human fortress on the edge of the Drimmak Lands and was the first location that the Dwarven exiles found that offered succor from the brutal world they were trudging through. Now, with their Exiled Hierarchs holding court here, they call out to the exiled dwarves of the world to come and join them, to reclaim their homeland and prepare for war. In the meantime, the Hierarchs gather the funds to launch their expedition into the Drimmak Mountains, mostly by selling the skills of their highly trained and highly motivated dwarven warriors to those willing to pay the price for a force of one of the best soldiers on the continent.
Aldashir is almost exclusivly Dwarven, though they are willing to accept assistance from others, including the few fellow gnome and half-giant refugees from Drim. Being a theocratic institution, the Godtouched are also a common sight and revered as the gods voice of pleasure with a specific clan.
Aldashiri Characters:
Suggested Alignment: Often Lawful, Sometimes good
Suggested Race: Dwarven, Gnome, Half-Giant,
Suggested Subclasses: Way of the Four elements, School of Evocation, Cleric of Life, Cleric of War, School of Divination, Zealot, Sun Soul, Divine Soul, Celestial Pack, Monster Slayer, Hunter, Brute, Champion
Brokensail
When Killbar invaded and destroyed
The City, though with humble beginnings as a mass of beached ships, has become a multi-island affair within a short time. Though the majority of the population is halflings, and they rule the city, there is a sizeable population of ne’er do wells from all over the island that have come to participate in the cities great trade. The junks piloted by the halflings tend to be small affiairs, so most of the pirates are of smaller folk – Halfings, Gnomes, and dwarves, but there are a few Captians that have taken on bigger ships, bigger crews, and in their eyes, bigger opportunities.
Suggested Alignment: Often Chaotic, Mostly Neutral
Suggested Race: Halfling, Dwarf, Human
Suggested Subclasses: Cleric of the Tempest, Storm Sorcerer, Storm Herald, Champion, Battlemaster, Swashbuckler, College of Swords, School of Illusion, Mastermind, Inquisitive
The Great Swamp
The home of many lizardfolk and other reptilian monstrosities as well as some few barbarian groups,
The Deadlands (name TBD)
In the far Northern lands that comprise of Tyndarian, Killbarum,