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I am thinking of putting together a Sarkoris Adventure for a homebrew game, and hoping for some help. It seems like a fantastically chaotic land where arcane casters will have to show restraint in public. The lost kingdoms primer has some information, but the realm is lacking in a lot of details. Mostly we know they were a celtic/slavic/gaulish/scandinavian blend of culture and tech; aka - Kellid, hated Arcane magics, and worshiped a massive divine pantheon.
This is just in the planning stages, but what I am wondering is what would stationary Kellid cities, run by Druids, and summoners, and witches look like? What kinds of homes would they have? (longhouses? Communal forts? Permanent yurts? European style country homes?)
How could massive cities be so perfectly balanced with nature enough to appease Druids?
What would the primary ambient foes of the Sarkoris people be? Fey? Plants? Abominations? Demons? Megafauna? I am thinking Fey and fauna are most likely, but I am not entirely certain.
What are some unique cultural quirks that would set them apart from nomadic or tech mad Kellids?
The government seems to have been mostly a formality, with individual clan heads running things as they saw fit. So how did they have an army unified enough to defend their borders? Was there a shared law, or was it just on a district by district basis?
Mostly curious on peoples thoughts and examples as there are zero adventures set in pre-worldwound Sarkoris, and little to base an adventure on. Thanks!
Arcane magic was fine in Sarkoris so long as it wasn't of the wizard variety. Bards, sorcerers, witches, summoners (godcallers) etc. were perfectly ok. The thing to remember is there was a core cultural belief that everything is part of nature: angels, demons, magic, cities, all of it. Sarkorians didn't have a problem with arcane magic, they had a problem with wizards who methods were regarded as "re-writing nature". In fact sorcerers, for example, were potentially seen as having a god within themselves so might have be revered and summoners were considered to have the power to manifest local deities or aspects of other gods. There didn't seem to be much distinction between arcae and divine magic.
Sarkoris had major cities e.g. Dyinglight (the spiritual heart of Sarkoris), Storasta (known for its groves and gardens, last to fall to the demons as commemorated in the Song of Sarkoris), Iz (a metropolis) and Undarin (the mercantile heart). I believe druids held most of the political power but had a rather hands-off approach, stepping in only when necessary.I think inter-tribal conflict would be a common feature (raids, blood-feuds etc.) with the druids stepping in if things got out of hand or if unity was need to deal with an external threat.
Iirc the veil between the planes was particularly thin in Sarkoris so think various plane-touched creatures would have been more common. Fey would have definitely have been more common, both of the relatively benign sort and the more malevolent.
You might find the Worldwound Campaign Setting to be particularly informative. It provides quite a bit of information as to how things were prior to the demonic invasion.
You might also want to check out the Lost Kingdoms Campaign Setting book for some inspiration. It's got a section on Sarkoris, including some stuff about what it was like before the Worldwound.
