Age of Iron: Anahuac Pt. 1

So the final continent of Age of Iron that will be covered is the far western (or far eastern depending on how you look at it) landmass of Anahuac. Anahuac is supposed to represent the Americas, and despite two distinct landmasses they are considered one continent.

Now Anahuac I have probably had the most trouble with in regards to what do with the setting. Not very much is known about America during the medieval times - partly because there were very few concrete 'nations' in America then and partly because colonialism and imperialism probably destroyed what records did exist. Many Native American cultures had oral records rather than written records, and of course those change and disappear as time goes on. So for a fantasy game, it's hard to pin down more than generalities.

I also encounter the same issue faced with Ifri, which is one of privilege as a white male writing about marginalized cultures. But once again unlike Ifri, pre-Columbian history is often shrouded behind a fog making it hard to just base areas on literal historic analogues.

I've thought of a few approaches on how to handle Anahuac, which I'll detail now.

Approach 1:  This is kind of a more 'simplistic' approach and most in line with what WFRP had. The regions would basically be siabra in the north, aztlan in the south, a Caribbean-analogue and a Native American refugee region somewhere in between.

The main issue with this is the Native American region, tentatively titled Hah'nu'nah. There are literally hundreds of Native American tribes that still exist today, and that number only increases as you go back in time. Hah'nu'nah would be very hard to generalize without the broadest of broad strokes. Obviously I wouldn't be offensive, but I'd risk being uninclusive.

Approach 2: This is similar to Approach 1, but I break the Native American nation up into multiple regions. These would be based on major cultural areas and not specific tribes, so there would be a Plains Native area and a SW Native area.

This would provide a more detailed approach, but it would also increase the chances of me getting something 'wrong' unintentionally, which is also something I don't want.

Approach 3:  Similar to 2, but it would focus exclusively on pre-Columbian agricultural civilizations - mainly the Pueblo, the Mound Builders, the Inca, etc. This would probably be easier to do justice to than Approach 2 and more detailed than Approach 1, but it'd still be a significant project.

Approach 4: The final approach, Approach 4 would be to just not cover Anahuac. Instead Tellus would be restricted to the "Old World", i.e. just Ifri, Europa and Aswai. Anahuac would exist, but as a myth or a scientific possibility rather than an adventuring area. I'd then transfer the siabra, aztlan and pirates to nations in the east.

This solves the problem of not doing the Americas justice by just eliminating the problem, but it would reduce the WFRP-ish nature of Age of Iron and kind of make it something more like Conan. Not entirely a bad thing, but it'd just be different.

That's kind of where I am right now with Anahuac, and any ideas or suggestions you all could make would be much appreciated. Obviously I'll make a decision eventually, but what that exactly is yet remains to be fully seen.

Age of Iron: Aswai

Now we head from the deep south of Tellus to the far east of our Asia analogue - Aswai! Aside from the Old World, the Far East is probably the 'best' detailed region of the Warhammer setting. Even then, that distinction has diminishing returns. Either way, medieval Asia is a pretty exciting and distinctive time period, so I of course had to include it.

The Great Steppe (name potentially changing) is my Eastern Steppe analogue, based partially around the Golden Horde Mongols. This is more Scythian than Mongolian, plus there will be hobgoblins a plenty.

Gurkani is my India/Ind region. Much of Gurkani was once under the control of Avalon but they've shaken off most of the shackles - now it's divided between a not-Delhi Sultanate and the southern not-Hindu kingdoms.

Kombuja is my Khuresh/SE Asia analogue. Khuresh is inhabited mainly by serpent people, and while those do exist in Kombuja they are not the main focus. Kombuja basically exists after the fall of the Khmer Empire, with many small successor states being led by god-kings trying to recover from disaster.

The Land of Darkness (name potentially changing) is my Darklands/Persia. Instead of basing it on Mesopotamian/Assyrian Persia, the Land of Darkness will be more like the Timurid Empire or Ihl-Khanate - where foreign invaders suppressed the native Persians and had basically a reign of terror over the region for around two centuries.

The Ogre Khans is my Ogre Kingdoms/Chagatai Khanate region. Ogres once ruled over all of Aswai much like Mongolia did, but the death of the Great Khan shattered the empire and drove the Ogres to inhabit the Mountains of Heaven, aka the Himalayas.

Yashimi is my Nippon/Japan analogue, and is fairly firmly entrenched in the Warring States/Shogunate era. Yashimi is also extremely isolationist, and mainly only Aquilla is able to trade with them in a reference to the Nanban trade (though that fudges the timeline a bit, which to me is fine).

Zhongguo is my China/Cathay region. I don't know if Cathay was ever based on a specific era of China, but Zhongguo is mainly influenced by the fairly short-lived Yuan dynasty (which immediately followed the dissolution of the Mongol Empire). Yuan China was probably the largest China has ever been, having conquered Mongolia, large parts of Tibet and even Korea. They even attempted to invade Japan once or twice, but subsequently failed.

Now for the maybes: I definitely want a region based on Austronesia, but I'm divided on whether it should be the location of the Fomorians, another human nation, or perhaps the realm of the 'sea elves', spun off from the high elves and given their own civilization.

I've also considered divorcing Korea from China but I think its kind of too minor of a country at this point in history to get highlighted as such. Korea really comes into its own when Sejong ascends to power, but that's not for a few 'real world' centuries. 

I've also considered doing Australia as kind of a southern Chaos Wastes, but I think that can be lumped into my regular Chaos Wastes analogue.

But anyway, there's Aswai. Next time we'll head west to Anahuac (aka the Americas) and get into a lot of debate on what to include. It's probably the 'roughest' continent content wise by far.

Age of Iron: Marcher Baronies

Inspirations: Frankokratia Balkans/Turkey after the Fourth Crusade but before the rise of the Ottomans

After the Vermin War and the fall of the Skrzzak Empire, the land that was once the center of Aurelian civilization was in near utter ruins. It wasn't long until settlers, crusaders and forgotten Aurelian nobility began flocking to the region, hoping to settle the long-forbidden lands and rebuild. Thus the Marcher Baronies were formed - a loose collection of states who are only unified in their desire to reignite and carry on the Aurelian culture that had nearly been forgotten. Unfortunately, conflict is still rife among the Baronies, both between the new nascent nations and the terrible things that stalk the many ruins of old Aurelia.

Lay of the Land 

The Baronies straddle Europa and Aswai, located on two relatively dry and rugged peninsulas separated by the small Umbral Gulf. The peninsulas are bordered by the Middle Sea to the south and the Umbral Sea to the north, meaning farmland and fishing is relatively plentiful. The settlements of the region are heavily fortified, and outside of them much of the wilderness remains dark and dangerous - untouched by civilized hands for centuries and replete with terrible creatures and crumbling ruins. The only heavily fortified path in the region is the Silk Road, and even that isn't fully immune from raids from bandits and worse things.

Politics and Government 

There is little political unification in the Baronies - each barony stands alone, and many barely rule more than a fortified town and a few surrounding acres of farmland. The 'barons' come from all walks of life - some claim they are from Aurelian royalty, others are crusader kingdoms created after the Vermin War, and still others are adventurers or exiled nobles looking to establish their own nascent states for themselves. Lygos technically has suzerainty over all the Baronies, but its more a fealty bound by tradition - King Bylbos does not have an army big enough or lands sprawling enough to enforce his will outside of the city's walls.

People and Culture 

People from the Baronies are often strong, independent and determined. During the height of the Skrzzak Empire, the few non-ratmen residents of the region were subject to cruel tortures, slavery, exploitation and violence, but they kept the flame of hope burning throughout the years. Even the Baronies' modern instability has not stopped the blood of old Aurelia from flowing strong. The Baronies have also attracted both human and demihuman settlers from across Europa, Aswai and Ifri, though some 'natives' view these settlers as outsiders wishing to exploit both the generosity and weakened nature of the Aurelian successors.

Locations

Many Baronies are small, often built upon the ruins of Aurelian cities or in old crusader strongholds. The only large city in the region is Lygos, and it is there that one can catch a minor glimpse of the awe-inspiring architecture that dominated all of old Aurelia.

Lygos is one of the largest and most populace cities on all of Tellus. Though much of the city is in disrepair and has seen better days, it still remains a center of trade, knowledge and culture. Nearly every nation and ancestry possesses its own city district, meaning Lygos can also become a hotbed of intrigue and political upheaval. All of Tellus has a stake in Lygos and its future, and it shows no matter the city's condition.

Osman is a quickly growing barony on the Aswain side of the Marcher Baronies. Osman was originally a nomadic tribe from the Land of Darkness, but increased pressure from the dvergar caused them to flee west. Led by Osman the Great, this group of nomadic warriors has slowly been building up its strength over the years, with some believing they hold the intention of assaulting Lygos to take as their own.

Rodos is a large island off the coast of the Baronies currently held by the Knights of Mithra - a legendary group of crusaders who have managed to hold the island since the height of the Vermin War. The Knights have served as vigilant defenders against potential attacks from the sea, and despite their relatively small size some Knights have even journeyed west to Anahuac in hopes of expanding their reach into the new world.

Nymphaion is one of the most well-defended baronies in the whole region. Led by Baron John Karameikos III, Nymphaion lies on the edge of the Baronies and serves as the last line of defense against orx, dvergar, bandits and other foul elements who spill westward from the Barrens and Land of Darkness. Despite near constant assault, Nymphaion and its famed soldiers have always managed to stand these tests of endurance.

Conclusion

So here is the first post in the revised gazetteer for Age of Iron. I was hoping to get one of these done a day, but my schedule is just too hectic for that. Every few days is more likely, I feel. I also plan on doing more Age of Iron posts than just gazetteers - religion, timeline, calendars, etc. Hope you enjoy it, because this was pretty fun to write and I look forward to doing more.

Edit: I updated a few things with the Baronies as I wasn't fully happy with them. This is a little bit better representation of what I was going for.

Age of Iron: Return to Form

So after some more brief considerations, I've decided to once again use Blogger to better elaborate out the whole of the Age of Iron setting. Remember the old 300 Years War posts? Well I plan to reignite those in a pretty similar format. I think I'm going to go about a similar layout to the previous entries, but I might strike the Current Events entry - kind of puts too much metaplot in the setting so I don't see the point.

Hopefully I'll start doing those again tonight or over the weekend - meaning yet another revision of Couronne. Regardless, I think it will be fun, and I hope you stick around for it

Age of Iron: Quick Thoughts on Ifri & Europa

I've just had some considerations about Ifri and Europa, and I thought I'd illustrate them here.

So I'm something of a 'numbers' person - I'm trying to balance a good variety of nations in the game without blowing the number of them out of proportion. However, I also like good round numbers or groupings that 'make sense' in my head.

So I've done a little shuffling around as well as idea expansions that make the 'numbers' for Europa and Ifri fit.

For Europa, I've pretty much decided the British Isles will be the domain of the high elves - I think it just makes more sense for them to be an international, 'benevolent imperialist' force rather than the weird isolationists they are in Warhammer.

This brings the 'nation count' in Europa up to 11, but to make it a nice round number I will 'transfer' The Barrens to Europa. The Wasteland will indeed be rolled into Aquilla, and Troll Country will just be part of Ruthen.

That makes Ifri have only five nations, which I will 'fix' by adding Ntotila - indeed splitting up Central and Southern Africa into two different places. Ntotila is going to be pretty Darkest Africa and mainly focused on the Kingdom of Kongo, while the Ivory Kingdoms will be renamed Vanhu and mainly focus on the Mutapa Empire.

Most of these ideas are ones I've sequestered away so they aren't new, but writing for sure has helped me materialize them better. Hopefully my ramblings make some sort of sense.

Next time we'll get back to normal programming, and we will be covering Age of Iron's Asia: Aswai!

Age of Iron: Ifri

We go from the northern climes of Europa to the slightly balmier southern reaches of Ifri: Age of Iron's version of a fantasy Africa!

Africa has very rarely gotten its fair shake in fantasy settings. Some good examples stand out - Nyambe, Midgard's Southlands, Spears of the Dawn, Ki Khanga - but most of Africa is often described as dark jungle inhabited by primitive tribes, when that is patently not the case either geographically and historically.

But also I understand where some designers are coming from - as a white American male, I have little first-hand knowledge of even modern Africa and its problems, let alone a medieval Africa. I realize I am writing from a place of privilege, and I am going to try my absolute best to treat these regions of the world as more than just the mysterious jungle lands. I don't promise I'll be perfect, but I'll try to be better than my fore-bearers.

Anyway, on to the nations!

Al-Hilal is my Araby/North Africa/Arabia analogue. I initially thought it was ridiculous for Araby to be positioned as such, but after doing research into Al-Andalus and the Almohad Caliphate I realized it wasn't so far fetched. Al-Hilal is pretty standard Arabian-style fantasy, though its currently fractured with no ruling caliph. I did move some more classic Arabian locations here (aka a Mecca analogue), but I feel its a minor change.

The Barrens is my version of the Badlands, orcs and all. It was previously inhabited by the Dumari Empire, which draws some parallels with early Arabic caliphates, though the Barrens occupies the spot after the region was sacked by the Mongols. Humans still exist here to an extent, but orx and kobolds dominate. Most 'Arabic' culture has been ported over to Al-Hilal.

Habesh is new and is based on Ethiopia/E Africa. I had struggled with this one for a while, between making it 'stone dwarves' to a very religious place. I've come to the conclusion of basically making Habesh take over the Wasteland's role as a trading powerhouse. Ethiopia was extremely important to international trade due to their location on both the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. They brought goods from China and India to Europe, plus Ethiopia was never conquered by invaders until WW1 I believe. I'm pretty satisfied with where this has gone.

Khmet is my Egypt/Nehekara and basically functions in the same manner - undead hellscape, though some human outposts exist (including a Courronne crusader state). Not much new here, though I did tint it with some Mamluks.

The Ivory Kingdoms are new and they represent south and central Africa, mainly states that formed out of the Bantu migration. This is probably the closest you'll get to a 'Darkest Africa' since the Spirit Rainforest (aka the Congo) is located here, but I'm really trying to keep away from the lost world thing at least in Africa. The Zulu are a bit too advanced for the timeline, but things like Kongo, Mutapa and even the Swahili Coast are present. Also going to add a slight colonial influence, but that's not the main crutch of the area.

Mande is brand new, and takes up the role of the West African empires - mainly Ghana and Mali, though a bit of Songhai, Yoruba and Dahomey made it in too. These empires were hyper-modern and even had a governmental structure more similar to a representative government than a feudal society, plus they are exceedingly wealth. Overall a very cool place I think

So that's Ifri. I really don't have too many 'maybe' ideas about this one - the only one being maybe separate Central and South Africa into two different places, but I think that's splitting hairs.

Age of Iron: Europa

So recently I've been puttering away at Age of Iron, aka my Zweihander setting I've been working on forever. I'm really tired of it staring me in the face, so I'm going to do my best to really buckle down and try to get the setting in a final form. One way to help push that along is through Blogger - I think writing and getting my ideas out will help me meld the setting correctly.

So I'm going to do a much smaller setting series for Age of Iron, where in each post I will cover one of the setting's four main continents. I'll provide basic descriptions of the nations, how they differ from Warhammer, and a few ideas to kick around and consider.

Today we are starting with an easy one: Europa. Europa is the 'Old World' of Tellus, and you'll find 90% Warhammer analogues here, albeit with a few spins.

Aquilla is the Holy Roman Empire/Empire analogue, and runs pretty similarly to it - aside from the fact its not a monolithic entity like in Warhammer. I added a bit more political strife, putting the country more to the actual political realities of late medieval Germany than the Empire is. "The Moot" will also be in Aquilla.

Couronne is my France/Bretonnia, and much more reminiscent of actual feudal France than Bretonnia's France/England fusion. Decadent nobles and ruddy peasants rather than Questing Knights and a national cult.

Drakenlanda is my Nordic/Norsca analogue, but a little more tame - not all Drakenlanders are screaming barbarians, but the northern reaches closest to the Wasteland (covered later) are.

Eire (name to probably change) is the realm of the Wood Elves, aka Athel Loren. Placed in the same region, but I envision them more as Celtic remnants than just generic fantasy elves. Woad tattoos, ogham stones, etc.

Erdelyi is my Hungary/Sylvania, and is an independent country rather than a vassal of Aquilla. Erdelyi has warred with and invaded Aquilla in the past, but they've been driven off.

Hespia is Spain/Portugal/Estalia, but I'm vaguely split on whether it should be Reconqusita-era Spain or more imperial Spain. The timeline of the game is more set around what would be the 1300s in the real world, so I'm leaning more towards Reconquista with hopes of joining together.

Khazagul Dum is the domain of the dwarves, which runs through the mountain range called the Spine of the World - an analogue to the Alps. Yes, I got rid of the World's Edge Mountains, but the Spine serves a similar purpose. The Dwarves are vaguely more Swiss than normal along with a light Polish influence, but they are pretty broad.

Marcher Baronies are my Balkans/Border Princes, but they play a much more significant role. In Age of Iron, the empire of Aurelia (expy of the Roman Empire) was based in the Marcher Baronies before all sorts of wars basically destroyed it. Now the Baronies are small, feuding nations, with the exception of Lygos - a Constantinople expy and the largest city on the planet.

Ruthen is Slavs/Kislev, but dialed back to more WFRP 1e era stuff - the Tsar/Tsarina rules over all the lands, but each city-state is effectively their own country. Less Tsarist Russia and more Kievan Rus'.

Viteli is Italy/Tilea, and is pretty similar to it. Mercenaries, traders, pirates, etc. I did put the pope of the God-Emperor faith here instead of concentrating it all in not-Germany, but this one didn't see many changes. Also includes an analogue of the Sartosa pirates

So those are the certainties, but I have a few things up in the air

Albion becomes kind of obsolete if the elves are made more Celtic. I have a few options for this: either make Albion more Britonic than Celtic; make Albion the sole territory of the Fomorians; or make the High Elves inhabit Albion and go a whole 'imperial' route and eventually scrap Ulthuan. I'm leaning more towards the third option.

The Wasteland is honestly a bit boring - Marienburg is cool, but that's really the only thing there. I feel the Wasteland may just be better suited as a city within Aquilla rather than its own full nation. Plus, in the 1300s the Dutch Republic didn't exist yet and was part of the HRE. Would also give Aquilla access to a navy and trade vessels.

Troll Country is something I've bandied about, but I think it would be cool to be a Baltic/Teutonic Knight analogue - I just don't want to drown the setting in locations that could be considered parts of other locations

That's about it for Europa for the time being. If you have any questions or insights, I'd love to hear them!