I have a dilemma in creating my setting for Novus. Tyrlon is and will be a great setting, but there is still tones of development left to be done on it before it is anywhere near ready for release. But I want something available when I release the revision of Novus.
So I came up with Anwyn, The Sundered Isle. Let me tell you a bit more about it.....
I drew a little bit on Celtic mythology to create Anwyn.
In Celtic mythology, Annwn is "the otherworld", and in Irish/Celtic mythology Hy Brasil is a mythical island that appears every seven years, but cannot be reached.
So, I got to thinking, what if those myths contained a grain of truth, but were distorted over time and with retellings down the ages. And I went from there.
In short, Anwyn became sundered from reality, drifting between multiple worlds after being struck by a meteor of a magical nature. Those from the island can always return to it, even bring others along, but the natives of a given world cannot normally reach it on their own.
A few hundred years ago, a small pantheon of deities discovered Anwyn and for reasons of their own took an interest in it. Six of the deities each selected a race and transported them to the island to make it their homes.
Two of the deities, of a, shall we say, less benign nature, took other areas of the isle. One took the plateau containing the randomly appearing megalithic portals (i.e. archways made of stone that randomly appeared and opened magical gateways to other worlds) and nudged them towards even more chaos by having them bring beings and creatures from the worlds that they opened upon to Anwyn. The other took control of what has become known as the Haunted Steppes, which is somehow linked to tombs and haunted ruins from many worlds. They also sought to corrupt members of the six races to further their own ends.
To the north, the Dwarves have Kragmorn and the Sambaur Mountains. Then we have the Shadowlings of the Wraithwood, with the Ethori Gnomes living among Zhorgard Mountains. On the western side of the Zhorgards is the Verdyri Wood, home of the Verdyri (Green or Wood) Elves. On the eastern side of the Zhorgards is the Sylvari Weald, home of the Sylvari (Silver or High) Elves.
All of these races are along the north-eastern side of Anwyn. Along the western and southern sides of these lands, and east of the Emerald and Sapphire Rivers is ruled by the Humans.
Each race has its own capital, and the Human capital of Hyb Rasil (the Port of Rasil) is also the home of the Conclave, the council of the races that oversees the island.
Note: The city maps of Hyb Rasil and the other towns and cities are preliminary, not the finalized versions.
Hyb Lyrri is the other Human port city, but it also has a high percentage of Elven residents and it is a much smaller port, usually only seeing local trade from Hyb Rasil.
Nu-Rukag is a small outpost and way-stop on the road from Hyb Rasil up to Kragmorn.
Anomt is another way station, north of the Wratihwood and the last town before traders and travelers reach Kragmorn.
Overall, this small setting allows for a GM to bring in any monster or adversary that he wants via the portals and the haunted steppes. It also allows for travelling to other worlds via ships, or if they go through a portal that is active. Returning back to Anwyn? Why that can be an adventure in and of itself....
