I commissioned a cartographer to make a world map for me based on my initial vision of the world. All is going well but I have yet to come up with ideas for the kingdoms that need to be inserted. I do not plan on having wall to wall countries in the world but rather 2-3 in close proximity then bands of wilderness before another one is encountered. The history of the world provides backup details for having the world this way. Each kingdom should be unique with its own set of problems and terrain specific to it. I want the players to remember each kingdom they explore and travel to and make them unique enough that they would not be confused with one another.
Please post any unique kingdom ideas that I could consider. Provide as much or as little detail as you feel necessary to convey your ideas. I hope to sort through the posts and select the ones that appeal to me the most and use the ideas or garner inspiration from them.
Here are the ideas I have so far.
Empire of Saulania
This is the first human kingdom which has come and gone 2-3 times throughout the world's history. Originally it encompassed a considerable amount of territory but now after its second or third rebuilding, it is more of a shadow of its former self. This is a human kingdom that has a few unique features:
A Withering Forest and Lake: These two terrains are cursed lands which essentially have withered in appearance. The trees are bent, are dark, heavily covered with moss and patches of low lying waters. The wildlife in the area is aggressive and chirping song birds are the last thing you would see or hear. The wilderness is not filled with lush green grasses but rather stretches of dead looking areas. It is not uncommon to cone across dead animals rotting in the forest. The lake is dingy and a dark green in color, filled with algae and has a scummy looking surface. The dead fish occasionally wash up to shore is large numbers.
Underground City: There is a large underground city (which was the worlds first human city). It isn't that far from the Withering Lake and a long tunnel takes its citizens to the surface. In this city the wealthy and privileged live. It is considered to be a place where the elite take advantage of the common citizens. From outsiders point of view the city is sort of a "Den of Thieves".
Demonic Forces in Government: The government is actually led by devils that were once summoned to the world during a great war. This is detailed in the history and I won't bother you with all the details. Powerful devils are actually in control of the human elites and the common person of the streets. This is a well known and documented fact that the citizens of the country are well aware of.
Demonic Forces in the Military: The military is ultimately governed by the devils as well. Humans serve as the troops but the leaders are primarily devils or Tieflings. This is a commonly known fact and such creatures are commonly seen throughout the kingdom.
Elvish Kingdom
There is a large Elvish Kingdom east of the Empire of Saulania. This is where 90% of the elves in the world live. I don't have a lot of details worked out here.
Addenshire
Another human kingdom northwest of the Empire of Saulania. This is primarily an agricultural land which has resisted the demonic invasion of the world. Here the government is more traditional D&D campaign style. There is a huge swamp in which lycanthropes are drawn which encircles much of the kingdom. Major invasions of lycanthropes plague this land once a year. The detail concerning this phenomena are detailed but go beyond this post.
Dragon Kingdom
The dragons of this world take a step beyond that traditionally used in most D&D worlds. Dragons are seen as the saviors of the world. They are the race of creatures that brought civilization to dwarves, elves, humans, etc. and are responsible for bringing them out of the stone age.
Each color of dragon has its own territory based on its color. Each territory is part of a larger Dragon Kingdom ruled by a Council of Great Wyrms which is represented by all colors of dragons.
In the beginning, all dragons were good aligned. When the demonic invasion set it throughout the world individual colors began to change their demeanor and some of them slowly turned evil. This was more of a magical demonic change. Despite having differences in philosophy, dragonkind maintained their kingdom (though this became more difficult because of alignment differences). Now internal strife causes conflict within their kingdoms.
The demonic forces aligned with humans and races of the underdark fought with the demi-humans aligned with the dragons in a great war centuries ago. Eventually the demonic forces found ways to threated and destabilize the dragon kingdom making the draconics exit the war to prevent their own kingdom from collapsing.
Now after several centuries, the dragons have replenished themselves, they have their dragonborn armies ready to march and they are dealing with the internal dragon conflicts as best as possible. The dragons are getting ready for war number 2 with the demonic forces and underground races. This time part of the goal is to free humanity from the enslavement they brought upon themselves in the first war by summoning the demonic forces in the first place.
Giant Kingdom
This is to the far west of the continent, far away from those described above. I'm going to develop a active ruling caste of giants using the Ordning concept given in 5th edition MM under giants. Their kingdom will be similar to a human civilization with towns, craftsman, rulers, armies, etc.
Yuan-ti Kingdom
I don't have any details worked out yet but would like a yuan-ti kingdom filled with ruins. This would be a smaller civilization.
Please help me come up with new unique ideas and maybe help add some flavor/fluff to the Giant Kingdom, Elvish Kingdom, Yuan-Ti and new human Kingdoms.
Really, no one has an idea they would like to share for a unique kingdom.
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Gamer Talk doesn't really get a great deal of traffic. Probably would ask at the Homebrew section of the forums.
Gamer Talk doesn't really get a great deal of traffic. Probably would ask at the Homebrew section of the forums.
Where is that located?
The Holy Land of Gravidia
A primarly human kingdom that is notable for its obession with death. Psychopomp ushers and gods of death are the primary deities and the government is a open theocracy. Psychopomps are commonly see openly in this land and necromancy is considered high treason.
Gravidia does have a problem with sahkil and their fear obessed cultists stirring up trouble and among the lands deviant elites, there is a high demand for undead servants and necromantic items. There is also a sort of weird obession with sleeping with and being fed on by vampires, who are often sahkil cult leaders.
Aside from the undead/sahkil cults, Gravidia is also home to several militant minotaur tribes who regulary raid villages and harrass merchant caravans. Flame drakes, tatzlwyms, su,dryads, sprites, twigjacks, and redcaps are some other notable monsters.
Gamer Talk doesn't really get a great deal of traffic. Probably would ask at the Homebrew section of the forums.Where is that located?
Or the Advice forum.
Anyway, if the Yuan-ti kingdom is filled with ruins either they had some disaster which nearly destroyed them or they've taken over someone else's land. I like the latter, say that the Witch-Kings and Queens of the previous inhabitants saw that they'd lose to the Yuan-ti and unleashed terrible curses. Hence cursed ruins which the Yusn-ti stay out of - the monsters and curses there truly hate them.
For a pocket 'kingdom', imagine a town founded by a utopian visionary. Drewston was successful while its founder lived, but since then it's been plagued by bandits, corrupt officials and fey with a nasty sense of humor. One bandit lord has promised to come in and clean up the town if she's invited, but since she has a reputation for keeping ransoms and selling the ransomed into slavery anyway few think this a good idea. Any solution which looks much better could see people jumping for it though, they're getting desperate.
Drewston should be on a trade route but out in one of those bands of wilderness.
The League of Balochnala
Built in a large swath of rocky highlands, this group of semi-allied city-states seems to have existed for as long as anyone can really remember. In that time, they've fought in countless wars against each other, schemed and plotted for political power, and fended off hordes of goblinoids. A large portion of the league's money comes from their famed mercenaries, wielding battleaxes larger than they are with deadly effeciency.
Holderntrast, Land of Giants
The giant nation of Holderntrast is a very new creation. Only is the past few generation have the warring clans of giants been united under the banner of a titan-worshipping clan of storm giants. Storm giants and cloud giants are considered the high nobility, while fire and frost giants make up their middle class. Stone giants are used for construction and artisanship, while hill giants and giant-kin make up a vast group of serfs. One group of note are the cyclopes, as some are born with oracular powers. Those few cyclopes are sent to the ruling storm giants for unknown purposes.
I don't know where you have the Yuan-Ti kingdom set, but in my home brew its ruins are set in deep, nearly inaccessible jungles in the Far South (think African or Indian rain forests). They have become a degenerate race with only a handful that retain any semblance of the power they once held. They scheme and plan to reconquer their lost lands but so far they've met with little success.
I like the Giants' kingdom idea. I've been toying with something like this in my mind for awhile. Just need a place to put it in my setting (I run homebrew only) and my primary region is a setting much like very early Renaissance Constantinople. I think I'm probably going to use Nephilim as the primary giantish race as they sort of fit the mythology of my world.
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Thank you for the suggestions. I have gaps in my kingdoms still and will fill in details with the most workable ideas you offered. Here's a revised version of my kingdoms with inserts included from your efforts.
As many already know the history of the world comprises primarily of a two forces, a large dragon kingdom and demonic forces that were summoned by the humans to fight their war against the dragons and demi-humans. Long story short, the humans won but are now slaves of the demonic forces. These forces are trying to infiltrate all kingdoms and forcibly make the world their own. They are contested by the dragon kingdom which are getting ready for another war. I have two other continents that remain relatively free of the demonic influence (but not completely.)
Well the kingdoms I have this far are as follows:
The Northern Reaches of the Clansman Horde Sort of a Viking type of civilization.
The Frigid Domain of the Ice Queen Modeled after the 2nd Snow White Movie.
The Holy Realm of Belivdear Arthurian in style, no details as of yet.
The Sacred Faith of Divine Apostasy Religion is a long lost belief in the world and the gods have decided to make this kingdom their point of return. It will house all faiths of Darknoth (though I am going with a small pantheon) and include all alignments.
The Dreaded Cannibals of Kallistor A cannibalistic humanoid society that lives in a prehistoric setting. They utilize dinosaurs as beasts of burden and perhaps steeds.
The Sovereignty of Draconic Enlightenment A realm of ten different dragon kingdoms (one for each color) of which at its beginning, all were of good alignment. They form one huge kingdom that takes up a third of a continent. Collectively, these dragons worked together to care for the world. They are pivotal to the entire history of the Darknoth. There is much internal strike ever since magic altered the alignments of many of the dragons, and thus we now have both good and evil dragons (even some of the normally good aligned dragons have turned evil). There mission remains the same...to care for Darknoth. The evil dragons have changed their ideas of giving races free will and support to freeing them of the demonic beings only to them rule with tyranny.
The United Kingdom of Addenshire A farming country, comprised mostly of humans, halflings and gnomes. Lycanthropes haunt the giant swamp nearby and once a year they come out in full force attacking the villagers of the kingdom.
The Empiric Realm of Saulania Remains of the first human kingdom which was established by the dragons for humans. Over the ages this kingdom has rose and fallen. Right now it is militaristic and the government is controlled by forces of the hells which actively are seen throughout the capital city and the regions beyond.
The Just Realm of Walesmond No plans as of yet other than Walesmond is a family name and the kingdom has been handed down for generations. They are frequently raided by a humanoid kingdom to the north.
The Maurading Demons of Haggrick Another humanoid kingdom, though this one is also controlled by demonic forces. Haven't decided if they are demons or devils so far. They frequently raid the kingdom south of it which is the Just Realm of Walesmond.
Fairy Kingdom of Elshivan A relatively small elvish nation comprised of a forest.
The Royal Crown of Eastminister No specific plans for yet, though I an considering having them embroiled in a civil war as a result of the demonic influence.
Yuan-Ti The Yuan-ti kingdom will be one that they forcibly took from another race (haven't decided which one yet). I like the idea that shortly before the conquered the underground city in the desert a great curse was put in place by the previous occupants. Now the Yuan-ti cannot leave the desert and conquer other nations as a result. I got this idea primarily from avr. Thank you.
There is a second major Yuan-ti kingdom that resides in a swamp that is not affected by the above mentioned curse.
Undetermined Free City One of the ancient kingdoms which in itself has collapsed but now has reformed in the state of a Free City, once fended off the demonic invasion which occurred centuries ago. To do so, they opened up portals to other planes and various creatures came to help. This saved the city and though the kingdom itself didn't stand the test of time, one city did and that is now a Free City in the middle of no-where. The portals are still very active producing trade back and forth and opens the area up to many strange races from other planes. A strong special military has been formed to control the types of beings that pass through the portals. Thanks blood_kite for the wonderful idea.
Giant Kingdom Though it has no official name, I did section off a part of the world to place such a realm. That was one of my first ideas. Simeon touched upon this idea by change. I planned on using the "Ordning" information in the 5th edition rules set.
Plus there are a few other Free Cities which will probably have a few scattered villages nearby but each Free City will have a government unto its own without any specific amount of territory claimed. Most of these are located far away from other kingdoms.
There are also a few scattered underground kingdoms of Dwarves, Drow, Duergar, and Yuan-ti that are of significant size, though no details are drawn up yet.
Feel free to add more comments in order to fill in the gaps I still have left.
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Just a suggestion - or rather several suggestions - inspired by another thread about why there are no republics in fantasy worlds: don't make them all monarchies/kingdoms. There are lots of different systems of government in the real world. Your players may find it more memorable if they don't travel from one kingdom to another kingdom, but from a monarchy to a city-state to a republic to a tribal territory.
I would also recommend that you think about what the cultures of the different races are like. For example, are giants really civilized, or are they barbaric? If they're barbaric they probably won't have a centralized government. If they're really sophisticated they might have a senate or a high council instead of a king. Design the territory to go with the people who live in it.
Another thought is that kingdoms aren't always stable. A country may remain a monarchy for a long time, like England, but the actual family that holds the royal title changes every few centuries - or even decades. That might be different in a fantasy world where magic could help one lineage to hold on to the title: a kingdom could have the same ruler for centuries because he or she is a lich. But what kind of kingdom would that be?
Maybe it's not necessary to have all of your territories ready to go immediately. Look at Golarion. Paizo still hasn't provided much detail for the Tian Xia region, and there are other regions like the Mwangi Expanse and Vudra that hardly have any information about them at all. Unless you're expecting your players to have a lot of knowledge about the game setting, or the campaign to require a lot of historical or geographical knowledge, it's probably not necessary to have the whole world detailed out before you start. You could also ask players to make suggestions. They'll be a lot more invested in the game world if they get to provide some of its details.
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Theocracies are your friend. You mentioned an Arthurian holy kingdom earlier. Good idea but make it a lesser race ruling. A kingdom of gnomes devoutly following the tenants of the God of Magic or an archipelago ruled by undines or Gillman following the sea God or pirate God.
Tusque is a vast tropical sparsely wooded grassland ruled by elephant-riding bloodswollen corpulent orcish sorceresses. Gnolls, ghouls, trolls, and demonic hordes threaten their borders. A pact with the lion lords defends the frontiers with sphinx-riding archers. Wereboar barbarians battle swashbuckling cheetahfolk. Blunderbuss-wielding griffs hunt legendary beasts in dark jungles and blazing deserts. Massive migrations of minotaur preyfolk cross the continent. Secret valleys filled with dinosaurs are ruled by the Reptilian Republic.
The giant Ordning reminds me of a caste system. Maybe give Titania or whatever you call it a South Asian feel? Frost giants in the "Himalayas," fire giants in the jungles, cloud giants floating above the misty forests, hill giants as Untouchables, stone giants in the piedmont, and storm giants ruling from the surrounding seas and archipelagos.