The Mountain Kingdom: Intro

I came up with the idea for this setting when I needed a place to set the next mission for a 7th Circle game. Credit for the name (which may be a working title) goes to Robin Hobb's amazing Farseer Trilogy, which has also helped inspire a few other pieces of flavor. The basic concept is a massive mountains system similar to the Himalayas, intentionally ambiguous about its surroundings to allow GMs to expand as desired, focus the PCs on a more local scale or insert the region into an estabilished setting such as Faerun. The background incorporates material from the Eberron Campaign Setting and the Tome of Battle, though GMs can choose to set this aside if they so desire; the setting has a limited oriental influence.

The mountain kingdom is a vast realm of snow-covered peaks and steamy jungle valleys, as well as cave networks carved by rushing rivers and flowing lava alike. Though today royal cartographers argue that it is an inaccurate oversimplification, the region has traditionally been divided into four quarters. Five hundred years ago it is said that the Northlands, Eastlands, and Westlands were each the home of a great civilization while the wild Southlands held only savage tribes of humans, orcs and goblins. But little is truly known, for in each century that followed one of the Three Empires fell to the Necromancer Lords. It was two hundred years ago that elven colonists from the far south persuaded the survivors of the three empires and the denizens of the Southlands to band together against the common enemy. Seventy years of battle followed, until at last the encroaching hordes of constructs and undead were repulsed and scattered and the Necromancer Lords themselves vanquished and slain. The Mountain Kingdom was founded by the leaders of this great alliance in the wake of their victory a hundred and forty-six years ago, and since then the survivors of the war have in equal parts rebuilt, reclaimed, and created a society together. An era of relative peace an prosperity has tenuously maintained itself; now some say a new era is upon us, one of change and discovery. Perhaps this is true; or perhaps, as others say, it would be better for the dark secrets of the Three Fallen Empires and the Necromancer Lords to never be uncovered...