Places in the Great Playground
Land of monasteries, occupied (such as the mathematicians'
monastery) and abandoned (such as the Order of the Spider's old
haunts)
Pretty much what the name implies; between the Far West and the Keeplands.
Frankel's
centaur tribe hails from here. The area has presumably expanded
eastwards since Rogtymark's keep was abandoned in AK 595.
An allied group of keeps separated by farmland and
wilderness, also called simply the West. Mostly LG. Run for
centuries by a Council
of Lords, then changed to a theocracy after the party retrieved
the Cuthbert
from Artifact World in AK 592. The recent
war between the West and the Marakeel Empire has
left the region largely unpopulated. There's some hope that a new
"Nation of Good" may take root in the area, but for now everything
outside the main Hollerith Temple seems to be Organization/operative
territory.
The largely forested region extending from the border of
the Keeplands to Lifeblood
Forest and the Deadlands; much of this
area was held by the Auramkil Empire at its
height.
Part of the buffer between the East
and the western frontier. So named because the
area is cursed and most creatures die shortly after entering. Rakni
has established a gate somwhere in here.
Bad news LE regime with several bad news LE temples (Death
and Earth Worm high among them) and bad news evil adventurers (the
Hawks and especially the Ravens). Enslaves elves and halflings. Few
wandering monsters and excellent roads. Sometimes referred to as the
East. Its capital is, not surpisingly, Marakeel.
Land of "spirit folk", including kenku and ogre
magi.
These run E-W to the north of everything previously
described (in fact, they run all the way around the desert in the
center of the continent) and are known to contain a shrine to the
titan King Tizhalux (with lots of mountain giants around it) and a
powerful community of Moradin-worshipping dwarves. A wind barrier
containing a gate to the Cloudlands runs
above them.
The middle of the continent, with a volcano at its center.
Contains temples (defunct and active), githyanki power stations, blue
dragons, and lots of stuff we don't know about.
Once the capital of the Auramkil Empire, then plunged into
anarchy, now becoming a relatively stable port city and trade center.
Population mostly human and high-elven, with a less-well-known
doppleganger community. Demiloths (whatever they are -- shapechanging
partial demons with no ESP?) have recently become active here.
Surrounded by an astral and ethereal barrier (a cylinder extending
about 50 yards past the coastline, powered by the palace, and complete
with roaming creatures) and known for especially convoluted political
intrigues. Ganeth and Lorcan
grew up here.
City at the western edge of the Marakeel
Empire. Several of its factions revolted against Marakeel, and the city was besieged by the
Western Army during its war with Marakeel in AK 594. In the wake of
the siege, a group of merchant mages briefly appeared to be in
ascendancy, but the place shortly fell apart and most of the normals
evacuated. Current attractions include ethereal storms, disappearing
extraplanars, elementals and escaped zoo animals in the streets, and a
very potent cadre of yuan-ti.
Merman city on (and under) the ocean floor southwest of Silverton. LG with a bloated bureaucracy and
very long lines to get anything done. Nobles live in the Inner City
(where non-nobles only visit with special passes and are generally
forbidden to carry weapons); the Outer City (built in 3D) extends into
the seabed and has many more inhabitants than any surface city.
Breepul City has just declared war on the Locathah, believing them
responsible for the disappearance of Prince Julib.
Mostly LN city under the protection of a mysterious
demigod. A strong trade center until the war. Hoped to ally itself
with a Free Banzeel once things settled down,
but as things have gotten worse instead, the city is now closed to
non-citizens, and a shanty town has built up outside the walls.
Hobgoblins comprise a significant minority of the city's
inhabitants.
The keep of Lord
Rogthermal and the only thing resembling a city in the Keeplands. More info about the keep on Rogthermal's
page. Currently thought to be a hotbed of Shade Lord and Organization
activity.
A merman city on the edge of the continental shelf, a few
days' swim from Breepul City. Gateway was the
mermen's first line of defense against "the Depths" until the sahaugin
overran the city in AK 595. According to the dolphins, humans posing
as sahaugin in Gateway's main temple are providing the reptiles with
tattoos that protect them from sunlight.
Capital of the Eastern Empire. The
Western Army recently cracked the crystal dome protecting the city,
leaving it open to attack for the first time in centuries. The army
perished in the process, but the Cuthbert's
power is continuing to degrade the city's remaining magical
defenses.
LN city north of the desert, home of the Keepers of the
Ketronel (though not the Ketronel itself).
Another coast city, once a trade center and a mecca for
scheming mages. Known in the Keeplands as the
City of Sin. The city is now largely abandoned; with most mortals
gone (primarily to Sunrise), the place has
become a battleground for extraplanars. Although the Pentat attempted
to attack Rakni here late in AK 595, their strike was a complete
disaster, and Rakni remains firmly in control of the city (with
normal, astral, and ethereal defenses out the wazoo). Tremere's
hometown.
Pre-Khambeer, this was a mining community inhabited by
humans and gnomes. Not sure if anything's there now. There's a gate
to the drow plane in the mine
complex. Rantyr's hometown.
Also known as the Idyllic
Forest, this is basically a demi-plane attached to the Prime at
the intersection of two rivers in a forest toward the western side of
the frontier. Where grey elves, including Stealth and Silvana, come
from. The domain of Plant
Dude.
A small farming town in the hills of Kormuth that the
party explored (at the prodding of the Grey Elven
Forest) at the start of AK 577.
There was something unusual about the inhabitants, who were unwitting
participants in the "Karbile Project" (which had something to do with
efforts against the undead), and the place was watched by Ramola and
his wererat followers on behalf of a mysterious Organization (in
retrospect, probably a front for the Shade Lord) with connections to
the Silverton School of Magic. After skirmishes between Ramola and
the party destroyed much of the town, the party tried to relocate the
villagers to Zubberg but were opposed by high
elves from the Organization (who were later discovered to be members
of the Nirduk Clan). The vampire king
Xirox was eventually able to divert the villagers to Vlurshollow, decisively ending the Karbile Project.
(One Karbile native, Marika, stayed with the party as Thorongil's
protégé but was killed in AK 579.) Sunrise was built on the site a year
later.
A forest north and west of the Keeplands. Probably has an entity like Plant Dude at its heart, but this one
is evil and spits out werewolves, worgs, and similarly nasty critters.
Evil quasi-druidic types are also in residence. With the Keeplands
depopulated, one would have expected the werewolves to start expanding
to the south, but they haven't -- something (current speculation
favors the Organization/Shade Lord) seems to be keeping them in
check.
A region of hills northeast of Silverton. In the AK 570s, the caves in this area were
kept stocked by the Silverton School of Magic and were used by members
and associates for controlled low-level adventuring. Dwibble's Digits
Inc., manufacturer of magic missile wands and traps, was based
somewhere here. The Temple of the Transmuters was also here, and the
experiments performed there created lots of strange monsters that
could be found in the area, including owlbears, satyrs, minotaurs, and
harpies. The Gnomonsland gnomes may have been
mutated dwarves originally from this area; the necrognomes who
devastated Zubberg in AK 578 were certainly
from here.
A forest between Chthul-Ra and Banzeel, north of the Deadlands. Until quite
recently, the home of the Lifeblood entity (a weaker CE version of Plant Dude), evil wood elves, and evil
bloodwood trees that lived off the blood and souls of humans. The
heart of the forest (including the entity, the elves, and the
bloodwood) has recently been transferred to the Elemental Plane of
Plant; the resulting hole in the fabric of the prime has distorted
distances in the area. Anyone able to penetrate the distortions will
break through into the area "under" Lifeblood, which features gates to
the drow plane and the Veins
of Abbathor.
A thousand-foot-tall mountain north of Chthul-Ra that sits on tremendous elemental power
sources. There's a big cavern complex all through the mountain and a
well-defended castle at the top. Formerly shielded from extraplanars
and home to the Shadowed Plane Conspiracy, now held by the Alliance
for Law. Past occupants include Lord Rognon, various operatives of
the Shade Lord, and githyanki summoners. Its caverns connect to the
Veins of Abbathor.
A town of fire-worshippers on the frontier that was wiped
out by the undead before Kambheer. Over a hundred Pyrethrites(?)
from the distant past have recently appeared to re-found the town and
its university.
Formerly a small farming town in the hills around Kormuth (built on the site of what was formerly Karbile), now the home of Silvertonians in
exile (including Daedalus).
This seems to be a weirdly configured demi-plane composed
of caverns and tunnels that connect to the Prime in many underground
locations, including the caverns of the Moradin-worshipping dwarves,
the center of Lifeblood Forest, and the
complex beneath Mt. Kathul. Its geometry is
subject to change over time. Inhabitants include evil
Abbathor-worshipping grey dwarves, black xorn, umber hulks, and other
nasty creatures associated with elemental earth; a creature resembling
a mortal version of an All-Mother was also encountered. Magical
bludgeoning weapons are recommended; leave the piercing stuff at
home.
Once the base of Xirox's undead armies, now a quiet town
of human farmers and gnomish miners; warded against evil by the ki-rin
(who briefly had a branch of the Temple of the Wind there before the
Shadowing). The town sits on a gate to the drow
plane, a gate to Artifact World, and
secret caverns holding a lot of powerful magic and
artifacts.
Originally a small adventuring town, then a mecca for
followers of Zub, the god of food. The place was generally peaceful,
thanks to the efforts of the Wizard of Zubberg and the grey elves (the
latter to keep the area's drow gate sealed), but while the grey elven
forest was cut off from the Prime during the drow incursions of AK 577-578, gnomish necromancers from
Kormuth slaughtered the population (as well as
the orcs living in the nearby forest) to create an undead colossus
(which the party later destroyed). Its current status is
unknown.
A continent south of the one the PCs live on, where the
climate is hotter and armor is lighter. Dopplegangers are originally
from here, and there's a large community of elves in a forest called
Elvenstar. After Auramkil fell, many high
elves relocated here. (In fact, high elves have been migrating
between continents for centuries, generally to avoid extraplanars
whose influence doesn't span multiple tectonic plates.) The Shorin clan is apparently native to the
region. Some areas of the continent are ruled by dragons and
behirs.
A group of seven islands in the sea south of Dongar where some sort of power game is played by
several mortal and extraplanar factions. The party was involved in
one such game in AK
591.
A big frozen place on the opposite hemisphere from where
the party normally hangs out (or at least the night skies have no
stars in common); the campaign world's analog of Antarctica. One area
is a bit like the Keeplands -- the inhabitants
even speak Western Common -- but the keeps are on ice floes. A snow
plain is home to tribes of mammoth- and ice creature-worshippers;
these "barbarians" speak dialects of Eastern Common. A long rift
canyon, controlled by a cabal of ice liches, houses underground gates
to horribly dangerous places, including realms of illithids,
beholders, and all-mothers. Frost giants, spiders, gelugons,
psionic/necromantic octopi, and the Wind Temple are all active here.
The party's most recent trip to this area is described here.
A plane where
eight artifacts (one of each alignment, except True Neutral) were
sent from the Prime a long time ago; the influence of these artifacts
seriously messed up the place. The Cuthbert
and Selemine
were retrieved from here by the party in AK 592. Asmodanu is
reportedly for sale [early AK 596]; Ixoron (the king of the southern
continent vampires) is among the prospective buyers. Rakni may have
have retrieved artifacts from here as well.
A demi-plane that's a mix of Prime Material and Elemental
Air components. Has neither sun nor darkness, and invisibility,
telepathy, and immunity to electricity are common among the natives
(which include hunters, djinn, cloud giants, and cloud trolls).
Vaguely solid floating clouds are what pass for land masses here.
Gravity is normal, defining up and down, but the plane wraps
vertically. Falling damage is halved because the clouds are nice and
soft. Air-based magic works at double effectiveness, while magic
based on other elements is at half strength. The party's adventures
in the Cloudlands are chronicled elsewhere.
A demi-plane with strong ties to the Abyss where the drow
went after they were driven off the Prime a long time ago. Some
spider factions were apparently there first, and Lolth's attempts to
broaden her sphere from creeping plants to spiders has met with some
opposition from other spider-involved powers such as Rakni. No
daylight, of course. Features include nasty, glassy, brittle rocks
and mountains, roaming fungus hills, and glowing green water that
provides resistance to the plane's natural radioactivity but is itself
poisonous to Prime-dwellers. Access from the Prime is via seven
gates; six are in fixed locations (Zubberg, Gnomonsland, Vlurshollow, Lifeblood, and possibly Silverton and Kormuth),
while the seventh is a movable network of modules; these gates are
powered by the central temple of Lolth (which is itself a ship the
party managed to hijack for about fifteen minutes).
A demi-plane containing six finite worlds and several
smaller connecting regions, situated in the Astral somewhere near
Acheron. The plane was constructed by a cult of human Geometers with
aid from illithids, whilgs, and possibly others; it was intended to
serve as a training ground for monks, but the illithids had other
ideas. Travel there was generally one-way, through the trademark
orange gas wielded by the Spider Monks, Rakni's spiders, and sometimes
others: nonmagical organic material (including bodies) in the gas was
transported to a holding area in Dustworld, magical material was
transported to a different holding area, souls and spirits took on a
quasi-astral existence on Dustplane proper, and inorganic material was
unaffected (as were dwarves, who were simply killed). Victims of an
orange gas attack generally wound up on Dustworld with minimal
equipment (stuff like leather armor, wooden staves, or bone clubs if
they were lucky enough to have them) and a short life expectancy.
Because of the plane's shielding, the souls and spirits of the
occupants were trapped on the plane, and their energy was harnessed to
further Rakni's quest for godhood.
The Dustplane was destroyed in AK 594 through the
combined (though not coordinated) efforts of the party, the Shade
Lord, Rogthermal,
Epicenter, and possibly others. The plane's constituent lands
continue to exist as independent, unshielded demiplanes.
From what we can infer from comments by certain LE
extraplanars, this seems to be a demiplane that's somehow the dual of
the Dustplane, though it survived the
latter's break-up. A preserved Corellan follower (in a stasis chamber
covering a gate to the Eightfold Path in a crypt under Auramkil's harbor) described the path (via speak
with dead) as "an ambush on the way to Arvendor." Streck Nirduk is believed to
have vanished here.
A place that's intrinsically hostile to organic life and
interferes with magic but is rich in exotic material components.
Possibly a demi-plane close to the Abyss, but both it and its local
astral plane are well-shielded. Visitors normally have their life
forces transferred into husks,
specially designed constructs that can withstand the hostile
environment. The party's visits to Huskworld are recounted in The
Connection of the Ketronel.
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Maintained by Erich Greene; last changed 1-10-00