Inner Sea Basin
Along the shores of the Inner Sea Basin a dozen civilizations have risen and fallen, and their inheritors continue to gather. To remember. To seek to right the wrongs of the past, and outdo the empires that failed. And always, atop a vast sea that knows only bounds, gold flows like the tide. Here the lost and forgotten civilizations of the world congregate and greet one another. Here man and myr come with ambition. They rise to prominence. And they inevitably fall. Here the great alchymic experiment of the world proceeds in full force, and its reactants are great men and its catalysts are a wealth of knowledge and resource seeming ripe for the plucking. A land of ambition overlooking the world's only finite ocean - what finer irony could there possibly be?

Physical Geography

The Inner Sea Basin sits at the western extent of the known world, south of the Bosot Mountains that stretch down from Maldaakore, west of the vast Imperatry Plains, and east of the vast dusty expanses of Battlewaite. The region is dominated by the Inner Sea, from which it takes its name. A slat-water lake some thirteen hundred miles long, and up to three hundred miles across at its widest point. Relatively shallow in most places, when the water is especially clear a sailor can see the rocky bottom a mere hundred feet or so below his vessel, but towards the heart of the sea deep gashes open up in the floor, and silt clouds the water. Small islands are common from the shores to the very heart of the sea, miles out from the mainland. In the west these islands are often the peaks of the Bosots as the descend into the water, and are usually steep and rocky, but many of the eastern islands are long and flat and fertile. From the shores of the Inner Sea the Tolza Canal leads into the massive Lake Akyanta, just north of the Amari Sounds. Lake Sakaya in the far north marks the place where Kel Wacuite meets the borders of the Great Salt Flats, and in the west the Claws of the Sea Divh reach almost to the silty wastes of Battlewaite.

In the far north, in the no-mans-land where the Inner Sea Basis meets the barren highlands of Muetelo lie the Crooked Plains. Dominated by the wandering tribes of boar-cats and their strider-herds. These grassy plains are unusual because their surface rises and falls in haphazard plates, revealing the bare clay and stone beneath, like massive grass-clad scales. The uneven ground makes the land hard to traverse, and the waist-deep grasses hide sudden drops that injure many travellers, as well as serpents and dinner-plate sized scorpions. Creeks emerge from under the ground, and disappear again, and stands of oddly twisted trees grow close together, often merging their trunks into a single corkscrew tree leaving a hollow woody cavern at their heart.


Hemming the Crooked Plains are the southern reaches of the Bosots, that descend into the Inner Sea. Prone to rockslides and mild tremors, this territory feels profoundly new, unlike the implacable and wind blasted grey stone peaks that the Bosots turn into in the north. These stout, broad mountains frequently ascend in sheer vertical rock faces, and frequently trap thin clouds of vapour, hueing them blue when seen at a distance. Lazy rivers flowing out of the crooked plains and into the Inner Sea widen into violent rapids here and there through white-water valleys, and even drop into raging black-water as they pass under the mountains. Peaks are broad and often shelter high-up grassy plateaus where ogres lair.

When the Bosots finally emerge as the shoulders of the world from the sparkling surface of the Inner Sea it is in the Mhul Pont, a region of imposing and mountainous terrain that shelters the Inner Sea from the terrors of the Battlewaite. Here the country is made up of high plateaus, craggy mountains and rocky highlands, cloaked here and there with dark pine forests and broken by deep, fast flowing rivers. The Pont is almost entirely uninhabited, and the land is wild, the forests virgin and the lands rich, but the high altitude and chill winds leads many travellers to an unfortunate end, especially in the winter months, and the deep vales all look surprisingly similar, making it easy for the unskilled traveller to become impossibly lost.

The rolling plains of Taurvann dominate the southern coast of the Inner Sea, stretching from the foothills of the Breshan Mountains to the marshlands of Amir and merge with the Imperatry Plains in Cal Manar. A traveller in Taurvann recalls tall, lush grasses with pleasant, shady stands of trees and shallow streams breaking the verdant savannah, descending into flatter prairie in the south. Few settlements and fewer roads are to be found here, and herds of wild mustangs dominate. The coastline of the Taurvann is one of the most beautiful parts of the basin, with long sandy inlets giving way to sparkling waters, and lazy, red-flowered callistemon, and groves of torch lilies turning the land into a blaze of colour, and attracting humming birds and large cherry-red ants.

Setting Trait (value): A Land of Coasts The Inner Sea shapes this region absolutely, and its calm, salt-rich waters have facilitated trade on a scale not seen elsewhere in the world. Complex economies are beginning to emerge, making individual citizens, and nations, wealthy, and rich in diverse goods, with well established economies. Goods are not nearly so segregated to their lands of origin here, and values remain constant along the whole coast of the Inner Sea. Only in the west, where the Goblyns and Mhulak cloister themselves, is disparity felt.

Spirit of the Land


Political Geography

More empires have risen and fallen on the shores of the Inner Sea, than in the rest of the entire world combined. And though it may not seem it now, these lands are some of the eldest, the most civilized, and the most important in the annals of recorded history. The greatest men and myr of many an age lived and died here, and the region is rich in history, and the simmering remnants of old power, towering wealth, and unforgotten resentment.

The nations of the Inner Sea have all taken advantage of the sea itself, and the rich lands around it, to become wealthy and powerful, and these compact domains have made a recovery no other part of the west has managed in the face of the collapse of the Magocracy. The Inner Sea is still a land dominated by free myr; be it the Goblyns and Hobgoblyns, the Orkûn or the Kenu. The various nations on the coast of the Inner Sea have faced the Haedrasian and Darkman conquests, the collapse of the Kelorn Empire and the Magocracy, the slow failure of the Kelorn Pantheon and the Mage Clans, and the influx of Irians and Haedrasians, and emerged strong and stable, if diverse.

In the east the Mhul Pont is a coalition of Mhulak deepings, representing the largest unified community of Mhulak in Allornus. The Goblynfells to the north may well be the ancestral homeland of the goblynkin, and while the land is splintered under the rule of a number of warring qadars, they are more than willing to unify against any outside threat, or even against a rich target. These two wild regions open onto the Battlewaite, and Caliban regularly wander over the boarders and plague the lands.

The northern coast is made up of small, young domains determinedly increasing their wealth and standing against one another, and frequently warring and bickering amongst one another. Camar is split between three Patricians, each of whom rules one of the major cities of the realm. Lodel is ruled over by a single patrician who took control of the region in a military coup some years ago. The two nations have uneasy borders, although hostilities have not been formalized yet. Further east the Goblyn nation of Taal is ruled over by a religious regime that, in emulation of the old Kelorn Pantheon, has started hoarding religions in a desperate bid to accrue divine favour to make their lands mighty and rich. Kord is ruled over by the secretive and exclusive Hooded Ones, who isolate their ranks and even their beliefs from the downtrodden people. The Goblyns of the marshy nation of Bakkar are ruled by a totalitarian regime under the Grand Satrap, who may well be the most powerful individual ruler in the basin, despite the relative weakness of Bakkar itself. Amir on the south-eastern coast is one of the more peaceful regions of the basin, perhaps because its count tries to be as inoffensive as possible, and tolerates other nations aggressively expanding their holdings around him.

The three old Kelorn counties of Kel Wacuite, Kel Saratose and Cal Manar are ancient and historic nations. The vast Kel Wacuite is a land where caution is the rule, as its count tries to avoid the attentions of the Haedrasian Legions, and enclaves spring up every season. Cal Manar has a similar situation, though its count is vocal about his opposition of the Haedrasian occupation of his western neighbours, and even lands than once fell under the purview of his predecessors. Its border with Kâdoc and the intrusion of the six guilds mean that Cal Manar is engaged in a war of words on many fronts, and a full half of its borders stand in tense readiness for escalation that might come any day. Kel Saratose by contrast is surrounded by vast expanses of empty territory, and has few real enemies aside from the occasional wandering caliban raiders. Along with vast natural wealth Kel Saratose enjoys almost unparalleled peace, and despite the scheming of the local Kenu population little disturbs the calm of this land.

Setting Trait (2): Shadow of Empire Nowhere else in Allornus is the presence of the Haedrasian Empire so felt. The folk of the Inner Sea Basin know that if Haedrasia seeks again to expand its borders, it will be here, and to most it is a question not of if, but when the legions march west. With the Camari Pass giving access to southern Maldaakore, and the wealth of lands like Kel Saratose, the rulers here know that they are rich prey, and that they could not even hope to stand against the might of Haedrasia, and they fear that day, and resent that fear.

Social Geography

Because the nations here are wealthy and powerful, society in the Inner Sea has become diverse and clearly defined. Life in the basin is becoming more and more focused on trade. Rather than communities working to support themselves, large settlements are instead focusing on one or two major industries, forming trade agreements with neighbouring villages, and even neighbouring nations to circulate goods between one another, allowing each community to focus on a single industry almost to the exclusion of others. Of course small communities still strive for self-sufficiency as they have for centuries. Sea trade along the shores of the Inner Sea allows for trade between nations, and specialized industry can be supplied by raw materials obtained leagues away. This means that steadily the coast, and the banks of the lakes and rivers, as well as a few major overland trade routes, have become densely populous, and the countryside has become even more sparse.

Older and more stable than the nations in the south, the lands of the basin are split between some of the oldest and most historic domains in Allornus, and some of the youngest. The history of the old Kelorn Empire influences the basin more so than it does the Southlands, which have moved on and carved their own pioneering identity. The lands are largely run like old Kelorn counties, with a number of noble families who have hereditary rule of a region, and each noble house cycles through rule of a land as one count is overthrown and replaced. All ranking civic and military positions are given to relatives of the ruling family. Each family holds a traditional monopoly over one of the land's resources, making them economically as well as politically powerful, and also causing them to fluctuate in influence from generation to generation and often rendering the ruling houses weaker and more vulnerable as their commodity loses value. Meanwhile in the younger northern domains rulers change every few decades, and few dynasties have been founded. Rule is often by the strongest, sometimes because a regime take over by force, or sometimes by consensus of the most powerful members of society. Younger landsman lands and Goblyn lands in particular believe that dynastic succession leads to stagnation, and that the best candidate should rule over one who benefits from fortune of birth. This has also led to many radical regimes and religious sects gathering avalanche support and taking over a land until its leaders become feeble and weak, and the country collapses into civil war until a new leader emerges.

As a result life for the common man is better here than in many other places. Disease, famine and violence are still rife as they are everywhere, but without strict social strata, a man is either of the ruling class, or a commoner, and a commoner has the opportunity to become part of the ruling class just by gathering strength, wealth or influence. Of course this remains less than a dream for the average labourer, who will toil through his short life to make another man rich. What this does mean is that there is little to divide professions except wealth, and so a prosperous redsmith may well be held as more important to society than a scribe, or skilled artisan, and this has created an influential merchant class whose ranks often produce rulers of younger lands. In the absence of hereditary nobility it is those with strength of arms or great wealth who are the upper classes. For this reason banditry is often rife, as petty warlords rise up to carve out their own domains from the rich lands of the basin.


Trade is so central to the Inner Sea region, that near all of the nations with coastline on the sea, save for the Mhul Pont and some parts of the Taurvann, have adopted a system of coinage based around the five-gram silver talent. The talent is the value of a single day's labour by a common man, so that a dock hand, field hand, or similar common man. This does not mean that all commoners are paid in coin, but in or around cities this has become the norm. A craftsman usually charges a talent for a given service, thus a blacksmith, redsmith, potter, cooper or similar might pay several apprentices a talent a day, and do enough work in a day that he can earn that again, while a sole craftsman might earn three or four talents in a work day. Soft silver talents are often simply broken into even quarters, called bits, to make change, though the breakage must be even because the coin's value is still in its weight. A talent is a talent, and no matter where it is minted it holds its value well, though they often have a hole punched in them so as to be carried on cords. Twenty-five gram five talent pieces called shekels are also common enough among the tradesmen classes.

For particularly small items, such as meals, often credit is kept, so that a week's meals might be bought for a bit, or a rowdy night's drinking. Meanwhile the cost of living in a city is usually about four talents a week, less offerings at the temple, leaving the average labourer 'a talent to spend, and a bit to save' as the old saying goes. This means that the average unskilled labourer will work a six day working week, spend the seventh in religious observation, and have enough to go to a drinking hole for a hearty meal and enough cheap spirits to sink him deep in his cups, while someone like a soldier whose keep and gear are seen to by his employers will only make a talent a week in currency.

For merchants and aristocrats all manner of denominations are in regular circulation. Generally speaking the Haedrasian gold noble is worth a full fifty talents, and the smaller but rarer Drak blood-gold (so called because it is debased with brass, giving it a red tinge) is considered to be worth fifteen talents. Some cities, most notably Ashkel, Hallufport, and Amira's Landing, mint their own gold, which are considered to be worth about forty talents, and try to be consistent with one another.

Major Races and Cultures

There are a number of major races all staking their claim to the lands around the Inner Sea. In the north the Goblynfells is purported to be the home of goblynkind, while the boar-cats are native to the Crooked Plains, the kai make their homes in Taurvann and Hobgoblyn communities are common in all nations. The Kenu live in the hills and mountains of the south, and in the northern highlands of Kel Wacuite, and the landsmen of the region descend from the tribeless, with racial stock from the Haedar and Malorns mixed throughout. The boat-people of the Inner Sea show a particularly pure Kelorn strain, likely due to their unusual lifestyle.

The landsmen here tend towards light skin, brown hair, brown eyes and medium height and build. They often lean towards a greyer drak caste or a richer, coffee coloured skin given the influence of their larger northern and eastern neighbours in the lands where these ancient invaders are common. For their part the resident Haedrasians and Malorns are also rarely of pure blood.

The Kenu and the Orkûn are the native myr of the region. The Kenu are tall, stork-like creatures with vulturish heads, that hide their frail bodies under heavy robes. They are fractious, competitive creatures who relish competition for social and political standing, and bicker constantly. So clever are they that their intrigues have brought down entire nations. The Orkûn meanwhile are part man, part boar, and part plains cat, with hairy pig-like heads, lithe builds, clawed hands and feet, and bristling hair ranging from a rusty tan to dark chocolate brown and even black. These creatures are usually nomads, travelling from place to place on the backs of massive strider crabs, though many communities have settled and become more agrarian, growing crops and taking on more conventional herds such as oxen and yak.

Goblyns and Hobgoblyns claim that the Inner Sea is the original homeland of their kind, and the Goblyns here are different to those throughout the rest of Allornus, exhibiting finer features, more pronounced noses, higher and more delicate cheek bones, and darker, warmer tones skin. These vashrite Goblyns, who are colloquially known as 'fellers', are not the fine horsemen that the bosk or talthakee goblyns are, but they have a much higher and more ancient culture, and tend to hold themselves above the other Goblyns. They claim that the vashrite Hobgoblyns were once degenerate slaves who rose up and broke free of the Goblyn yolk, and for their part the Hobgoblyns here have little to say in denial. As ugly as the rest of their kin, vashrite Hobgoblyns, who stretch their civilization south to the ocean, are hairier than the bosk Hobgoblyns who live in, and even the women sport patchy beards. They are also prone to very large, hair covered feet, leading many to give up their usual felt shoes in favour of bare feet or foot binding.


All dates are given in the old Kelorn Calendar which measures ages, and not all time. The first two ages comprise a full thousand years, and subsequent ages change every 500. At present the world is 145 years into the Age of Legacy. The actual placement of ages adheres to the more scholarly Kelorn Sept (KS) with the beginning of the first age (0 Creation) also being 0 KS, thought to be 5145 years ago.

176 Ascent The Magocracy collapses.
207 Ascent Imperatry Legions begin to consolidate their holdings along the borders of Kel Wacuite. Kel Saratose sends a fleet to support the count against inevitable incursion, but it never comes.

48 Legacy Ashiva Mas-Kujabi, the Invincible Warlord, arises in the Fells and unites the qadars.
50-59 Legacy Ashiva builds the Great Fleet marches over the lands of the northern coast, his growing army is undefeated so long as he marches with it. He massacres every scholar-bird and boar-cat community in the lands between the Bosots and the coast.
59 Legacy Ashiva's flagship is lost at sea, and the Great Qadar is lost with is. His three most favoured warlords posture to assume the throne.
67 Legacy The Empire of the Northlands splits into three warring factions based around Bakkar, and modern-day Lodel and Camar.
91 Legacy Lodel breaks away from Taal.
100 Legacy Bakkar and Amir are divided.
116 Legacy Kloris en-Sara begins his reign in Kel Saratose.
122 Legacy Dolremm leads a coup to conquer Lodel.
123 Legacy Lodel begins 'training' large numbers of troops along its eastern and western borders.
132 Legacy Qadar Hukam Sahib, in defiance of his chief sangoma, leads the Sahab-Ra in a major incursion into Camar, but is turned back when his supply lines are disrupted by a coalition of opposing qadars.
145 Legacy (5145 KS) Present Day.

The Domains of the Inner Sea Basin
The Taurvann, Cal Manar, Amir, Bakkar, Kel Wacuite, Kord, Taal, Lodel, The Inner Sea, Kel Saratose, The Mhul Pont, The Goblynfells, Camar, The Crooked Plains
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