Note: Not even close to complete. If you'd like to add a detail or location to the map, please let me know.

Note: This is a huge WIP and fully open to player contributions. If you would like to add an entry, please write it up add your lore snippets to the pirate pad here



Salished Empire: In spite of the fertility and wealth of its lands, the vast majority of the Rainland's inhabitants live squalid, depauperate lives as serfs and servants. In exchange for the protection of the land from the savage hordes from the unsettled world, these serfs toil all their lives to enrich the masters responsible for their safety.

The Salished Dynasty came about in the Year of the Setting Sun 7,200, when a tribe of mountain folk known to history as the Saliszi descended from the Godsfang Mountains to invade the verdant Rainlands below. The Saliszi warriors fought with weapons forged from Soulsteel, a magic-resistant, hypersharp metal that the petty Rainlander kingdoms had never encountered before. Saliszi swords were immeasurably superior against Rainlanders armed with iron and even Drathan-enchanted weapons. By 7,380, the Saliszi had established dominance over the eastern Rainlands. There, the Saliszi king Mardok established the city of Nyssos at the confluence of the Nabal and Tashgad rivers - and remains the seat of power of the modern Salished Empire to this day. A mixture of cultures transpired in the new Salished kingdom, Salished warriors adopted the lamellar armor, archery tradiation, and chariots of the Rainlands, while the inhabitants absorbed the language, architectural motifs, and religious concepts of their occupiers.

Over the next two centuries, the Salished Kingdom expanded across the rainlands. The conquest of the southern kingdom of Moribon gave the Salisheds the exceptionally fertile Nabal Delta and unhindered access to the sea.

Today, the Salished Empire is a sprawling bureaucratic state and is by far the most powerful nation on Azoth. United under the iron first of the Shashul, a warlord-emperor who commands the loyalty of a fearsome military machine, the true key to Salished strength is the Cult of the Forge: a monastic religious order devoted to cruel and hungry deities they believe reside in their Sacred Forges, where the Soulsteel is created. The gods, however, are ever-hungry, and require a constant stream of sacrifices in exchange for their boons. Virgins will do, but great mages and warriors are above all prized.

Drathan Union: A collection of city states and several lesser towns located throughout the Ashlands and Red Desert, the Union is governed by the (often fractious) Congress of Masters, a coalition of extremely powerful mages hailing from the Great Clans of the Dratha. Magical inquiry thrives among the elite denizens of the Union, which is home to many of the most celebrated libraries and arcanums in known world. All forms of magic, including necromancy, blood magic, and the other branches of dark arts are permitted and indeed actively studied in the Union.

Except for the relatively small members of the exclusively Drathan ruling caste, the denizens of the Union are deprived any of political participation, though the Masters are generally laissez-faire rulers, interested more in their arcane pursuits and internecine feuds than actually governing and disinterested in the religion, mores or associations of their subjects. Most subjects of the Union are slaves, fishermen and grub-farmers toiling in the ashen mudflats along the Bay of Teeth, though there is a strong middle and upper middle class of artisans and merchants who appreciate the protection and low taxes afforded by the Masters.

Militarily, the Union relies on mercenaries and on hordes of slave-soldiers, mostly beastkin and mutants purchased by the Masters from the slaver-tribes wandering the Ashlands. The nominal capital of the Union is the ancient city of Zar Dratha, though other cities contest its preeminence.

The Clans of the Broken Lands: Feudal confederation of northern reaver clans occupying boggy hill country known as the Broken Lands, across the sea to the north of the Rainlands. Many northmen leave their frigid homeland to serve in the mercenary armies of the Drathan Union.



Daigon Shadow-Caller, the Coward: Leader of the legendary mercenary company known as the Coward's Men. Exiled Jarl of Gravemire in the Broken Lands, with the reputation as a skilled and seasoned commander. Daigon was known to have a knack for spellcasting and a taste for dark magic well before his exile to the South and his many years of service to Drathan wizards.



Ichor: Some scholars claim that our world has been cursed, impregnated by demons, and that Ichor is the seed of fallen gods and ancient monsters, seeping up from some vast, accursed womb. A black, viscous fluid with dangerous mutagenic properties in its unrefined state, Ichor is most frequently found among the ruins of the Old Ones. Refined Ichor in liquid and crystal form has an immense variety of uses, from powering archeo-tech to use as a key ingredient to many potions and spells. Some sorcerers despise the use of Ichor in magic as amateurish, but its effectiveness is undeniable. Warlocks among the beastkin are known to ingest raw Ichor, thus vastly increasing their power, though with often unpredictable results for themselves...

Archeotech: found in the monster and demon haunted ruins of the Old Ones. Archeo-tech comes in a variety of forms due to the variety of ancient civilizations on Azoth.

Soulsteel: Steel forged in the Sacred Ovens of the Salished Empire, with the help of the demonic Forge gods. Requires the sacrifice of a virgin or a warrior in order to create. Difficult to wield for any not initiated into the mysteries of the Forge Cult, the greatest Soulsteel weapons are said to be possessed by the gods themselves.



Humans: pretty much...humans.

Common Ethnicities

• Avanagashans: desert peoples of the Avanagashan Waste (details to be decided as players submit characters).
• Varyonese: non-Drathan human population of the Ashlands, they mostly have dark hair and eyes and light brown skin.
• Saliszi: Warrior elite of Salished society, whose ancestors swept down from the Godsfang Mountains and conquered the Rainlands in the name of the Forge Gods.
• Rainlanders: Smallfolk of the Salished Empire.
• Northmen: Hardy clanfolk of the distant Broken Lands in the North.

Old Ones: Who or what these ancients were is mysterious, for they destroyed themselves in ages so distant there remain only confused myths and legends. Some tell of a race of gods descended from the stars, others of kingdoms of devils that dwell still in the wastelands and in the many hells below the earth. Azoth is strewn with the ruins of these advanced and strange peoples.

Red Gods: Azoth is a world filled with lurking spirits, mysterious intelligences, powerful beasts and haunted sites of power. Some of these- out of vanity or ambition or for other, more inscrutable motives- have set themselves up as gods. Many of these monsters and spirits are bloodthirsty, warlike, and feuding, often devouring each other when they become strong enough to do so. They grant their followers boons in exchange for blood sacrifices. The gods and demons making up the Red Pantheon are innumerable- it is not really known if they are all even one kind of thing...some are corporeal, others not- and most peoples and tribes who follow the pantheon worship one or a select few of the deities, though some worship the Pantheon as a whole, which they take to be symbolic of the fundamental nature of the cosmos- one of constant battle and unending appetite. Some of the red gods communicate and interact frequently with their devotees, while others remain aloof, answering prayers and rewarding sacrifices only occasionally and indirectly. Likewise, while some of the gods are tied to one specific holy site, others roam the world freely, manifesting themselves wheresoever they please.

They are frequently sought out by the ambitious or the desperate, who seek to create pacts with them in exchange for material gain, victory on the battlefield, success in love, magical power, or other boons. Some of the more commonly known and worshiped red gods include:

Commonly Worshipped Red Gods:

• Jadas, the Scorpion Mother, depicted frequently as half-scorpion, half woman and often taken as the patron of pirates and slavers. She is not associated with any holy site, and it is a subject of debate among scholars whether or not she is merely the name given to a range of demonic activity.
• The Gore Lord, a powerful spirit often invoked by warriors. His holy site is known as the Blood Spring. It is a pilgrimage site for many beastkin.
• The Mountain Wisdoms are monstrous crones said to lurk high in the Godsfang Mountains, often sought out by those seeking hidden knowledge.
• Horned Huntsman, a legendary beast often depicted as a wolf with prominent horns and a great spear. Feeds only on warm flesh and blood, and so do his servants. Said to prowl the Witchwood, where his main shrine lies. He is the patron of cannibals and hunters.

The Dratha: An ethno-cultural subgroup of abhumans, the Dratha are a bloodline of sorcerers who engage in careful eugenics to ensure the purity of their race. Few in number, a Dratha is known by his or her black eyes, pale skin and intricate, curling tattoos in ancient script. They have a natural affinity for magic, and are famous for their magical academies, their skill at enchanting and their legendary arrogance and disdain for custom and piety. They venerate the memory of their founder, Othman Dratha, who in popular lore is said to have used cunning and treachery to steal the secrets of magic from the god of the moon (some legends say he ate the moon-deity's heart). Few Dratha believe such superstitious nonsense, but tales of Othman's ruthlessness and ambition illustrate the guiding tenets of Drathan society. While there are Dratha living throughout Azoth, they are most common in the powerful confederation of city states known as the Drathan Union.

Located throughout the Ashlands, Cinderlands, and the Red Desert the Union is governed by the (often fractious) Congress of Masters, a coalition of extremely powerful mages hailing from the Great Houses of the Dratha. Magical inquiry thrives among the elite denizens of the Union, which is home to many of the most celebrated libraries and arcanums in known world. All forms of magic, including necromancy, blood magic, and the other branches of dark arts are permitted and indeed actively studied in the Union.

Aelg: A race of broad-shouldered abhumans with pointed ears, sharp fangs, olive skin and brutish faces, the aelg live in nomadic tribes as reavers, slavers and hunters indigenous to desert, ashland and mountains. The aelg are renowned as trackers, huntsmen and warriors, and their society- often derided as brutish by more stationary peoples- is united by a sophisticated monotheism and highly intricate oral traditions going back thousands of years. Many aelg tribes are allied with Drathan city-states, whom they serve as mercenaries.

Aboriginals, the Nyr'kiin: sentient insectoids that come in a variety of phenotypes, the Aboriginals are among the oldest races of Azoth. Individually sentient, Aboriginals are psychologically scarred by the ancient memory of the unity of their species under the long lost Hive Mothers, destroyed eons ago but now worshiped as gods by many Aboriginals today. They are extremely susceptible to collectivist politics and demagogues, which many scholars theorize is a result of the psychic trauma caused by the ancient deaths of their Queens. Aboriginals are hyper-sensitive to psychic phenomena and magic, able to detect its use from some distance away. Stronger than humans, they make excellent soldiers, workers and slaves. Most members of the species can lay eggs and reproduce sexually or asexually, but scholars believe that in ancient times the Aboriginals reproduced like ants and bees through the Hive Mothers. Aboriginal larvae are known to many as nyrworms, and take 1-3 years to reach maturity. They are considered a delicacy by Drathan wizards.

Aboriginals are common in the Ashlands, where many live in vast hives that are mere shadows of their former glory, though others live in smaller nests and large populations can be found in the Bug Districts of human cities. The hives live mostly in peace with the Drathan Union, exporting their own kind to the wizard-lords as slaves in exchange for delicacies and luxury goods produced only by the wizards.

Nyr'kiin hives are rare in the Red Desert, and they were wiped out of the Salished Empire many centuries ago by the genocidal holy wars of Shashul Davguld II the Bug-Burner.

A note on Magic:

I like the Tolkien/GRR Martin approach to magic and religion. Magic is real, mysterious, and powerful, but for the most part takes place 'off-screen', and is for aesthetic purposes somewhat subdued or indirect. I am not a big fan on fixed magic rules or magic systems. I do want to stress that this is low(ish) fantasy. That means no armies of reanimated dead or golems, no legions of fireball casters, balrogs, etc. We're going to err on the side of how the LotR handled magic rather than say, D&D.

Likewise, the RP will take the GRR Martin approach to religion: there are as many religions as we can come up with here, but we will leave it an open question as to whether any of them are true. Conflicting mythos and cosmologies and visions of god(s) are encouraged.

Name: Glory.
Race: Human. (Northman/Northwoman.)
Faction/Unit: Independent mercenary. Huntress.
Location: Wandering.
Synopsis of Role: Glory was a wandering mercenary and huntress that hailed from the north. Her sword forged by the best smiths from the best ore to be as durable and as sharp as possible. She slew monsters for money, and sometimes slew humans who were enabling those monsters to do harm. On one hunt her luck ran out, and she lost her arm to the maw of a beast that was emboldened by a warlock. Cutting her arm free she slew both of them. But was running out of time. With no other option, she thrust her arm into a pool of raw ichor and screamed in agony for hours as a new arm was formed. This exposure robbed her of her natural vision, but gave her an arm and empowered her body to levels unseen in humans before or since.

Now Glory saw the world through clairvoyance. The light of day did not blind her, and the shadow of night hid no secrets from her. Glory could even see things thought to be behind her and out of her field of view. However, such gifts do not come lightly, and she is considered a valuable prize to warlocks.

Name: The Lawbringers
Race: Various, Blood Hunters
Location: The Claws
Description: A cult of bounty hunters the Lawbringers are one of the the only sources of justice to be found in the Red Desert. Residing in the High Court, an ancient crumbling gothic citadel found in the Claws, its members take on contracts to hunt down the unrighteous for sacrifice to their god Iustitia.

Name: Iustitia

Type: Red God
Faction: The Lawbringers
Description: The patron of the bringers of justice, be they law enforcement, vigilantes or those out for revenge. In return for the blood of criminals she will grant her follower a sip of her power, and a hunger for the blood of the corrupt and villainous, slowly transforming them into bloodhunter. The goddess herself is a drake of vast size that lives at the heart of the high court, where she acts as judge, jury and executioner of the accused brought before her, draining the sinner of their life essence using her many tendriled maw. (pronunciation: you-stih-tea-ah)

Name: Blood Hunters

Type: Race/Mutation/Blessing
Faction/Unit: The Lawbringers
Description: Those who pledge themselves to Iustitia are blessed (or cursed) with vampirism. Their bodies becomes stronger, their senses(particularly smell) become sharper and they thirst for the blood of criminals. Those who sate the thirst begin to undergo a transformation into blood hunters. Initially their teeth, particularly their canines, lengthen and sharpen while their arms begin to transform into 3 jointed, bat/dragon like wings. Most that suffer these effects journey to the High Court before they begin to mutate furthur, transforming into a bestial creature capable of true flight. The monstrous Bloodhunters retain their intellect, however their minds are consumed by their bloodlust and as a result they obsessively hunt those that need to be brought to justice. The cap on these creatures growth that they might have had as their former species is lifted and the bloodhunters can grow to immeasurable size and age, making some suggest that their patron may simply be the oldest of the Blood Hunters, rather than the original source of their thirst.

The Priestess character concept is of a female shaman or magic-wielding spiritual leader of one of the Clans of the Broken Lands. She is young for her position, but devout and incredibly charismatic in her worship of her clan's god (who I will be inventing if you like this concept). After her people are raided by a Dratha war party (slaves or mercenaries) they are all killed or scattered. From this tragedy, the Priestess enters a sort of insanity fueled by intelligence and religious fervor and fronted by her skills as a speaker and leader. She sets off to gather her people, unite as many of the Clans of the Broken Lands as possible as well as any other men or creatures that she can convince to join her cause. The ultimate goal of this long campaign: war against the Dratha.

Location: In the centre of the Great Varyon Waterfall, straddling the Long Road.
Faction/Unit: Independent Rebel City
Description: Zar Zirak was once the northern most City-State of the Drathan Union. It specialized in the training of slave gladiators. Fifty years ago one of those gladiators, the son of a Drathan mages pleasure slave, displayed unusual magical skill. He led a gladiator revolt and subsequently the city fell to the rebels in an orgy of blood.

The rebels were joined eventually by a rebellious faction of the Subtle Instruments, an assassin faction employed by the Drathan Union. The city has managed to survive based on its strategic location, providing elite mercenaries, and securing assassination contracts.


Name: Corsis
Description: Corsis is your standard human, with black hair and black eyes that hint at his Drathan heritage. He bears no unusual scars or markings. He is forgettable the moment he leaves your sight. In other words, he is invisible.
Race: Human
Faction/Unit: Master of the Zirak Assassins
Location: City of Zar Zirak

Name: Cerys of the Arakkai, Voice of the Messenger and Defender of the Unbroken
Description: Much smaller than reputation paints her, Cerys stands at 5’4, 118 pounds. She is lithe and fit with long, silver hair, pale skin, and dark eyes.
Race: Human
Faction/Unit: The Unbroken
Location: The Broken Lands
Synopsis of Role: Leader-Priestess of The Unbroken

Name: The Wanderer, The Traveller, Messenger of the Red Gods or simply The Messenger
Type: Red God
Description: This powerful, if incorporeal, spirit makes the whole world his shrine. He cannot stay in one place for long. He is unique among the Red Gods for not being in opposition with any other gods, and those that worship all of the great spirits venerate him as the voice of the Pantheon, while others consider his presence as a sign of ill fortune. The Wanderer speaks to few, but those he chooses are marked for either greatness or great failure.

Name: The Unbroken
Description: Currently, this is a small group composed mainly of Arakkai survivors. Over time, they will (hopefully) grow into a powerful army.
Race: Mixed
Faction/Unit: Independent
Location: The Broken Lands
Synopsis of Role: The Followers of Cerys

Name: The Arakkai
Description: A Clan of the Broken Lands, now destroyed.
Race: Human
Faction/Unit: Independent, but allied to the Einor (a neighboring tribe)
Location: The Broken Lands
Synopsis of Role: The tribe of Cerys’s birth, the remainder of which formed the first Unbroken.