Introduction to Trid

Long ago, in the Dim Ages, the cruel saurians built a sprawling empire on the backs of dwarfs, humanoids, and men. They manipulated arcane magic to travel quickly across the Continent and impose their tyranny.   To escape, the dwarfs tunneled into the The Deepreach while the humanoids hid themselves in the wilds. Men became nomads, ever retreating before the saurians, until they encountered the elves, who alone resisted the saurians and taught them how to reap, sow, build, and fight. Together, elves and men defeated the Saurian Empire, giving rise to the Age of Fable.   The great alliance between elves and men ensured their future peace by establishing the Ardic Republic, uniting two-thirds of the Continent. But in their ill-judged bid to control the arcane, the elves tainted Trid's magical field and brought the Ardic Curse upon themselves, depriving them of their innate magical ability. The balance of power shifted to humans, and the Republic collapsed in violence. Those elves who survived abandoned Trid to seek the Fey Realm.   The elves' departure turned settled areas to wilderness overnight and ushered in the current Age of History. Today, man stands alone against humanoids and monsters surging from the wild places, but the lure of rich treasure and magic from ancient ruins feeds the ambitions of power brokers who would reshape Trid to serve their own needs.   This setting is a hodge-podge of cultures generally akin to those of Earth's early to high Middle Ages, but distinctly different through the infusion of magic, real gods, and massive caches of ancient treasure hidden in dungeons and guarded by monsters.  

What Everyone Knows

Trid hosts three major landmasses: a pangeaic expanse known simply as The Continent, a large southern island called Eremus, and a trio of islands across the western ocean known as The Far Isles. These lands are separated from the Continent by the Serpent Sea to the east and the Shoreless Ocean to the west.   The Gazetteer is written from the perspective of Continental inhabitants, whose populations—given its vast area—are highly varied. However, world events have created a shared canon of sorts, and everything written in the Gazetteer is considered common knowledge (though that doesn't mean it's entirely accurate).  

History is Deep

Trid's long past exerts a strong influence on the present. There are four distinct Ages, each marked by the passage of empire:   The Before Times: Trid was a warm and verdant world populated by giant lizards and two dominant races: the learned elves and the reptilian saurians. Primitive human and humanoid tribes struggled to survive in the wilderness, while the elves and saurians warred for supremacy.   Dim Ages: As the conflict between elves and saurians escalated, the saurians created the Far Paths and used them to spread across the Continent to expand their empire. The dwarfs retreated underground, humanoids to the wilderness, and humans became nomads. The elves, pressed by the saurians, raised man to civilisation and groomed them as allies. Together, they defeated the Saurian Empire.   Age of Fable: Following the saurians' defeat, the alliance of humans and elves unified much of the Continent within the Ardic Republic, and prosperity reigned for generations. Ultimately, the elves' progressively reckless arcane experiments tainted Trid's magical energy field, fostering the Ardic Curse and their ability to control arcane magic. The elves' loss of leverage allowed humans to assert greater independence within the Republic, prompting an increasingly despotic response from the elves that provoked the Republic's Fall.   Age of History: With the Republic shattered and humans dominant, the elves abandoned the Continent in search of the Fey Realm, leaving broad swaths of wilderness for man to tame.  

Humans Dominate

Since the departure of the elves, humans have ruled the Continent as the only practised custodians of civilisation. Anywhere man hasn't settled or doesn't control is considered wilderness. While each of the nine human ethnicities are concentrated in ancestral territories, holdings are relatively small as local warlords, self-styled kings, and moneyed power-brokers fill the power vacuum. As a result, there are no truly established nations, but rather pockets of patrolled territory separated by stretches of lawless wilderland.  

Borders are Fluid

The nation-state does not exist, and a territory's size is the physical extent to which the settlements within can push back against (or expand into) the surrounding wilderness. On the Global Map, Continental territories are generally bound by Elven Roads. The realms within are defined by their capital settlements, whose patrols dominate a certain amount of the surrounding area whose borders adhere to rivers, natural features, or roads. The land between a polity's claimed borders and how far it can effectively maintain them is best defined as frontier, while the land beyond is wilderness. This the province of wildermen, monsters, humanoids, and self-styled warlords; the pressures these forces exert on civilisation are terrific, and borders can change quickly.  

Technology is Limited

Trid's technology is analogous to 10th-century Earth and advances at a snail's pace, primarily because humans spend the majority of their resources either securing their borders or advancing on someone else's. Until the Age of History, magic was the driving force behind alchemy, engineering, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine—man, wary of all things arcane, has only recently explored these fields through mundane means. Of those states who have achieved suffficient social stability to make such advances, the Midlands excel in metallurgy and navigation, while the Sovereignties boast advanced architecture and alchemical remedies.  

Religion is Varied

While every culture has its roots in their Local Gods, most human societies converted to the Ardic Gods during the Age of Fable, while under the Ardic Republic. Following the Fall, humans retained these gods, but reinterpreted them through a simple lens of order and disorder. Today, most city-building men adhere to the Lawful Faith, an ecumenical ideology composed of the Ardic Gods who support order and the civilised societies that spring up around it. Religious orders dedicated to saints and martyrs whose acts exemplify social virtue are scattered across the territories, steadfastly repelling the disorder of the wilderness. Conversely, the Ardic deities of chaos are venerated by a dedicated few, though in hidden places, and may be found in every corner of the Continent.  

Magic is Real

Magic is caused by radiant energy produced by the Elder Powers, immortals responsible for the fundamental forces that drive the multiverse. Casters trained to channel and control these energies may produce arcane magic (despite disruptions caused by the Ardic Curse). Divine magic is bestowed by gods upon on mortal servants who pledge to serve their interests on Trid. Attitudes toward divine magic are mixed—if the recipient has faith in the caster's intent, it's considered benign (of course, the opposite is also true). Arcane magic, inexorably linked to the elves and the violent fall of the Republic, is almost universally mistrusted.  

The Age of History

Decades of conflict combined with the elves' exodus created vast stretches of wilderness overnight, riddling established polities with pockets of unsecured territory through which the denizens of the wilds rampaged. Humans still struggle to dislodge them as they slowly rebuild the civilisation the elves betrayed. Many places seethe with wildermen tribes, humanoid clans, monster lairs, and the strongholds of self-styled lords whose lust for power scorns justice or social order.   It is the year 1026, just over a millennium since the elves left, and man has much chaos to tame:   The North: The Northern Kingdoms are the most stable lands, though they struggle against humanoid warbands from the wild Bretland Marches, Jarlefolk raiders from the Frost Reach, and internal power-brokers eager to exploit any opportunity for gain. Trade with the Coastal Dukes of the Sovereignties is brisk, though increasingly taut: The Dukes have grown rich through commerce with the Midlands, and some feel it would be cheaper to take the Nordland's resources by force than with coin.   The Midlands: The Twelve Tribes of the Midlands maintain a strict theocracy dedicated to Adesh, the Lawful Lady of Hieron, though the rise of the Messenger Cult threatens the social order. Watching closely are the Alfmen, who plan to make Alfland the heart of a new Ardic Empire.   The South: Wildermen mercenaries under elven captains drove the Sudemen south of the Elven Road during the Fall, retaking most of Sudenland for themselves. The displaced Sudemen nobility established their footing in Austrus, whose dynastic autarchs have since campaigned (unsuccessfully) to recapture the heartlands north to the Glittershore and west to Buccina.   The East: The Ostmen claim all land to the south and east of the elven road, not coincidentally the bloodiest battleground during The Fall. Ostland is now home to a handful of growing polities with the common purpose of fiercely eradicating any scrap of elven influence they can find. They listen to their ancestors, who urge them to topple the Alfmen satrapies lodged along the Glittershore. This requires a larger naval presence than the Ostmen can muster. Meanwhile, burgeoning sea trade with Austrus is creating an economic boom in the southern Ostland states, prompting colonial expeditions to Eremus across the Broadstrait.   The Serpent Sea: The Sea Holds, gateway to the Serpent Sea, consist of dozens of independent city-states built upon the ruins of the ancient Saurian Empire. Notoriously fickle in their alliances, the native Inselmen are nevertheless prolific trading partners that supply the Continent with many exotic goods (including lotus). Each city-state deploys its own navy, largely to shield merchant vessels from the greedy eyes of ubiquitous pirate lords. Many of the smaller islands of the Serpent Archipelago are uninhabited (or at least unexplored), though Pon is overrun with humanoids and Palus remains an inpenetrable province of wildermen.