Which nation of the inner sea is most likely to build prison colonies?
Me and some other Australians are looking to flesh out Sarusan, and and a big event we're considering is an attempted invasion from a foreign power (definitely not based on anything real).
The most obvious answer is Cheliax- we know they have colonial ambitions and have the resources to put up a fight. They are also pretty clearly evil, which is a plus as we want to make it very clear the invaders are the bad guys.
But the obvious answer is not always the best... does anyone have any other suggestions?
We are intending the invasion to be facilitated by some artefacts, so the logistics of how they get there is less important than how interesting they could be once they're there.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I would expect Cheliax has much more efficient uses for prisoners, since it has a diabolic bureaucracy to feed with souls and just abolished slavery. But Taldor has a long history of expeditionary expansion, including the colony of Amanandar in Tian Xia. I could see getting a proper settler expedition to explore and colonise Sarusan being a major Taldan project - they're in a period of political recovery under Princess Eutropia, tensions with Qadira are lower than normal, and their biggest naval rival, Cheliax, just got the legs cut out from under them by the loss of Ravounel and putting down the Glorious Reclamation. They can't colonise westward because there are already colonies on Arcadia,, and the Segadan Protocol tolerates those with reluctance. And eastward is the Padishah Empire of Kelesh, the Windswept Wastes which are haunted by the ghosts of Ninshabur, or the fallen cyclopean steppe east of Iobaria. So the only direction they can really go is south, to Sarusan.
But Iobaria is also home to Australian wildlife - kangaroos, thylacines, etc., alongside the roaming centaur tribes. So you don't even necessarily have to go to Sarusan for the Fantasy Australia Experience.
Taldor was a strong contender- as you say the period they are in now certainly speaks to certain simarities. The idea of an ambitious but bloated and distant bureaucratic ruling class also appeals!
On Iobaria- the appeal of Sarusan is that it's a huge tract on unmapped land. We're certainly not intending just to make it "Australia but Elves" but a certain amount of acknowledgement is required I think when dealing with "the mysterious southern continent most people don't know exist". People are going to think Australia.
However! I didn't know Iobaria had those Aussie animals- I always assumed it was an Ancient Greek stand in. I don't know if I misunderstood something- but the idea that there's a mythic hero nation that also has some Australian stuff? Yeah that's very appealing...
Note: I looked it up and I've conflated Iobaria with Iblydos!
|
Cheliax canonically has prison colonies - within its core territory. Deepmar was one such, Longacre's technically another. But quite apart from its lack of need to do overseas colonialism, testified by its doing internal colonialism, its ability to do so is limited at this point. And if it were to try anywhere, Azlant would make a more likely site than Sarusan, which is farther away and with the easiest route through the eastern Inner Sea being under the command of enemy powers.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Note: I looked it up and I've conflated Iobaria with Iblydos!
Well, at the least Brush Thylacines are native to Casmaron, and are noted as being smaller than the "Sarusan Wolf" but hunting in packs. But I actually hadn't considered that, being part of Casmaron, both Kelesh and Iblydos might have a note-worthy marsupial population, and that you genuinely might have hoplites forming shieldwalls against diprotodon riders or using thylacine as war hounds. That really would be something to see.
Iobaria is in northern Casmaron roughly where the equivalent of the Russian Steppe begins, just adjacent to Avistan's Brevoy, though it always struck me more as an equivalent to Anglo-Saxon England. It was colonised by Ulfen warriors and then invaded by Kellid refugees fleeing Sarkoris after the Worldwound opened. But thematically Celtic or Saxon warriors taking thylacine animal companions or herding kangaroos sounds just as gnarly!