The Great Crevasse and the Twin Rocks

During the Second Demon War, when the area of Gemnos which is now called the Cursed Lands was overrun by demons, the last battle was fought near a small village some hundred miles east of the Seven Army Nations.

The village no longer exists, but back in the day, in 5679, there was a symmetrically shaped boulder more than 50' tall and 40' wide, just standing in the middle of the plains, outside the village. One day the boulder split into two rocks of equal size and a portal opened. Out of that portal came the Red Triad and their army of demons.

Years passed, and the demons rampaged through the lands of men, all while substantial forces guarded the portal and the rocks.

When the Brave Wyverns sacrificed their lives and closed the portal, a great force shook the earth and ripped it apart, creating the Great Crevasse, a great canyon without bottom, a oneway portal to Hell. Or so it is said. Demons from all over the continent were sucked into the eternal darkness therein. Aurac the Great Wyrm followed them into the darkness and kept them from coming back.

As mentioned, the Great Crevasse is bottomless. It is also between 2 and 5 miles wide in most places, so it is a fairly large hole in the ground of Gemnos. It is possible to scale the side, but going down, you will find nothing but death. Few who persist in climbing down ever return. About 1.000 feet down, an impregnable darkness covers the entirety of the Crevasse.

After the war, due it it's particular shape, the Twin Rocks quickly became a holy place to priests and worshipers of the Twins. It still is today. In fact, many of the most devout priests of the Twins spend significant time and money traveling to the Twin Rocks, at least once in their lifetime, to pray for guidance in life or other important matters.

Due to it's importance, a small fortress has been built next to the Twin Rocks. It is run by a high priest of the Twins, whose job is solely to assure that the Twin Rocks remain unharmed and unchanged. Around the fortress a small village has sprung up, mainly to service the many visitors that come to see the rock and seek guidance from the Twins. The village is aptly named Twin Rock village, while the fortress is called the Watchtower.

Swamp of Death

Lockhurst

Size

34.000 inhabitants (halfling 10%, dragonborn 10%, elf 5%, dwarf 3%, gnome 3%, half-elf 3%, half-orc 3% and tieflings 1%)

Leader

Warlord Enry Kammel

Coat of Arms

Black Dragon on blue parchment

Known Power Players

Marlin the Archmage, the [Council of Peers]

Location

Lochhurst is located next to the Dragon Lake, in the central part of the Seven Army Nation.

First impressions

Lochhurst is a busy city. A lot of noise from carts. Many small canals and thus bridges. The city is surrounded by 60 ft spiked walls, held together by massive 90' iron towers, through which you need to pass through in order to enter the city. At entrance, guards check all wagons and goods. Like most other big cities, humans are in majority, but just so. There are however many extraordinarily many dragonborns in Lochhurst.

History

After the Second Demon War, five famous adventurers, the [Brotherhood of the Dragon], arrived here in 5701 and spent an obscene amount of gold building five luxurious estates in the ruins of an ancient city that had been almost completely destroyed during the war. As the small communities grew up around the five estates, they discovered that they were not alone. An ancient black dragon called Urtho'rak lived at the bottom of the Dragon Lake, and now that he had awoken after sleeping through the Second Demon War, he wanted his share of the Brotherhood's riches. In the end however, the Brotherhood won that war, and Urtho'rak was killed. Eventually, the communities grew together and formed a city, each community becoming a ward.

Square in the middle of Lochhurst, you will find a huge statue of Eletha. It is there to honor the work she did in stopping the holy war of 5779 between the Church of Bane and Bahamut.

Religion

The four dominant religions in Lochhurst are Torm, Mystra, Bahamut and Shar.

Now

Regional trendsetter of art, culture and litterature (It has one of the largest libraries, run by the priests of Mystra, called the Art of Knowledge.

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Ironville Crossing

Size
26.000 inhabitants (halfling 10%, elf 5%, dwarf 3%, gnome 3%, half-elf 2%, half-orc 3%, dragonborn 1% and tieflings 1%)

Leader
Warlord Sophie Ran

Coat of Arms
Boar on green cloth


Known Power Players
House of Nobles

Location
Ironville is located on the Iron Isle, an island in the middle of the Yokar river, in the central part of the Seven Army Nation.

First impressions
Being located on island in a river makes Ironville a bit different from other cities of the same size. Only 600 meters from the northern to the southern wall, the city is more than 3 kilometers from its westernmost to its easternmost point.

The city is dotted with many large manors, belonging to the noble families of Ironville Crossing. All entrances and exits in town go through ancient stone towers made by dwarves.

Six gargantuan bridges span the river, connecting the Iron Isle to the mainland, both to the north and the south.

History
Back before anything was ever built on Iron Isle, the place acted as meeting place for local villages. Leaders met here, with a mutual agreement that it was a place of peace. Eventually a city was built here, but it was, as most other cities, destroyed during the Second Demon War.

When people returned, after the Second Demon War, many of the first settlers claimed nobility, and before long, the growing city had more than 200 noble families. Power struggles filled the day-to-day agenda for almost 20 years, until Ragan Thork emerged and took the mantle as Warlord. Since then, the warlord of Ironville Crossing has always had to deal with the many noble families running the city.

Back in the day, when the city had not yet had it's city walls rebuilt, the then settlement was threatened by the now extinct Bloodtusk Orcs from Oakwood. The settlement was saved by the ranger Trenigar, who not only fought like a demon asking the green-skinned menace, but single-handedly slew their war-chief and then infiltrated their lair and killed their elders and shamans, putting an end to any plans of expansion they may have had. A 30' foot tall marble statue of Trenigar stands at the Main gate.

Bane used to have a strong presence in the city, but following the Bane-Bahamut Holy War in 5779,  riots occurred and the temple, which had survived the Second Demon War was torn down, after the clergy fled the city. The Temple ground is now considered cursed and still stands in ruins, in the middle of the city, 80 years later.

Religion
Since the Holy War, the three main churches in Ironville have been Torm, Lathander and Bahamut.

Now

Even though the number of noble families has been set at 100, the remaining still wield considerable power and influence. Or so they used to. It seems that Sophie Ran only feints listening to the House of Nobles and usually with her mind already made up. This does not make the nobles happy, but with the army loyal to a fault, no one dares moving against her at the moment. 

Handdrawn map of the West

Ashfield

Inhabitants: 6104

Industry: fishing, lumber and mining - from open-pit mining with deep shafts. Most surplus is exported towards Ironville.

General: Ashfield is located (mostly) on the south side of the Yokar River, which is at that point is about 700 meter wide. Lots of small boats ferry people at all times of the day to north side, which holds about 500 of the inhabitants in their own pseudo-town, even though it is Ashfield, and otherwise some farms and a trail to Manhurst departing from the north gate.

From the east gate a trail heads east around Trollwood and south towards Questown. Out of the west gate a trail goes along the river to Ringborg.

There is a bias against halflings in Ashfield, they are seen as untrustworthy. Probably because Ringborg has a larger than normal population of halflings, or perhaps due to the influence of the Church of Bane.

Conflicts: Ashfielders really do not like Ringborgians. Ringborg is slightly larger than Ashfield and has a better military. Therefore Ringborg and it's inhabitants are seen as dangerous.

"Never trust a Ringborgian, all he wants is our city, our lumber and our copper. And when he has taken that, he will take our wives."

NPC's of note:

Michael Delacroix (Lord of Ashfield)

Markos (council-member)

Erika (council-member)

Jaren Sunwell (council-member)

James (captain of the guard)

Charming Charlie (enchanter)

Elias (Priest of the Twins)

Zimena Fartree (high-end courtesan)

Valin Barhold (Emissary from Hillstown)

Colonel Zanderoo (Emissary from Ironville)

Drogan Hammerholt (exceptional smith)

The Ancient Forest

The Ancient Forest is just that - ancient. Rumored to be one of the first forests on Gemnos, the southern tip of the forest is part of 7AN and the home of many lumber communities. Currently many of the communities are at war with wood elf tribes which for now have been pushed back.

The Bluestone Hills

The Bluestone Hills which partially are part of the 7AN get their name from the blue stones that can be found and mined in the hills. Bluestones have magical properties and extremely rare and valuable.
In 5654, before the Second Demon War, there was a find of Bluestones here, and a lot of people headed there in hope of salvation and riches. Small mining towns popped up here and there, with everybody and their dog looking for the magical but elusive blue stones. But most are disappointed. Some gems were however found, making their owners rich beyond their wildest dreams, or dead.

Aside from the mining towns, the hills crawl with evil humanoids and cultists.

The Dragon Mountains

To the west of the 7AN, are the Dragon Mountains. Rising to more than 16.000 feet, these ancient mountains are literally infested with orcs.

Oakwood

All the way to the east, you will find Oakwood and Eletha's Crystal Palace. The ancient forest is a dangerous place, not only because of the elves, who will protect their queen at all costs, but also due to a strong connection with the Faerie, which often enables powerful fay creatures to slip through the cracks of reality and enter the mortal world.

The Black Hills

The Black Hills, located to the south of the nation are split in two parts. The northern lays within the territory of the 7AN, while the southern belongs to tribes of evil humanoids. Hillston, the hill dwarf town, sits further to the south, acting as a shield against the evil monsters.

The Dragon Lake

The Dragon Lake takes it's name after the fact that when the area was settled after the Second Demon War, a great black dragon had a lair in the lake. Now the dragon is long gone. Instead, the area is dominated by the Arcane Academy located on the Island of Cruul at the center of the lake.

Questar Wood

Questar Wood is named after the tribe of wood elves called the Questar, Questar Wood is a dark, damp forest. The Questar elves are fairly xenophobic and few non-elves enter the woods. Queston has some trade with them, but not much. Local rumors claim they protect an ancient evil or an artifact. The Questar tribe rules the eastern part of the wood. The western part is dominated by evil tribes of goblins.

Glimmerlake

Located almost 100 miles outside 7AN territory, Glimmerlake is a lake that glimmers almost unnaturally when the sun shines. It is a semi-holy place to the worshippers of the Twins and their aspects and many pilgrimages end there.

The Yellowwood

The Yellowwood is located outside the borders of the 7AN, to the west of the nation. All trees at the center of the forest have yellow leaves all year around. Sages and druids claim that the yellow leaves have magical properties of various sorts. It is also known to be a very dangerous place to adventure. Many adventurous people have left to collect yellow leaves and never returned again.

Yokar River

The Yokar River starts up high in the Dragon Mountains, from a glacier, and flows down through mountains, often underground, before it arrives on the plains, west of the 7AN. Before Yokar River enters the 7AN, it is more than a mile wide, once inside the 7AN, it is close to 1/2 mile wide. This means it is virtually impossible to cross without a boat, so most crossing takes place at towns or villages.

The Seven Army Nation

To the west and south of the Cursed Lands lies the nation called the Seven Army Nation. A nation of hard and brutal men, the Seven Army Nation is a nation of city-states bound by a fragile and constantly tested alliance. It is a nation surrounded by wilderness and monsters. It is a nation hardened by war, where everybody looks out for themselves.

Right now, the power of the Seven Army Nation is more or less evenly distributed amongst the nine warlords that rule the nine biggest city-states. They each rule like kings and emperors from their fortified cities, each watching the others like a hawk, waiting for one of the others to show weakness. Meanwhile, they openly support the coalition to work together against outside threats, while trying to gain more territory to control.

While the nine warlords are very different from one another, make no mistake, they are warlords for a reason.

Nimalar

The continent of Nimalar, greatest on Gemnos, is located squarely in the center of Gemnos. It is dominated by the Empire of Zun to the north and the Kyzian Empire to the south.

Tucked in between the two mighty and ancient empires, are the Cursed Lands. Named such after their fate during the Second Demon War, the Cursed Lands are both new and ancient. Ancient because more than seven empires have made the Cursed Lands their home, and new because the area and it's inhabitants were almost wiped out 150 years ago.

But although they returned, the Cursed Lands are still easily the least populated of all of Ural.

The populace of the Cursed Lands have founded 10 nations so far, but those nations only cover less than half of the Cursed Lands. The rest is still wilderness, inhabited by only the bravest and stupidest, as well as by monsters of all sorts.

Central area of Seven Army Nation