Those of the blood laid down the trade routes long ago that other vessels might follow, the seas of a double dozen worlds in every captain's head.
-- Corwin, The Hand of Oberon
Atlantia
Rulers: Elders Lavis, Kreekikik & Daro
Tech Level: Roman Era
Magic Level: High (General)
Trade: Fish / Ocean Products / Artwork -- primarily sculpture.
Ally: Nautiline
Atoll kingdom with humans and large dolphins sharing a canalled city. Gleaming white marble structures. Intellect and Artistry prized. Ruled by a democratically elected body.
Burgami (based on an inspiration by Sarah Bear Kindred)
Ruler: Queen Quirabi
Tech Level: Early Medieval
Magic Level: Low -- Shamanistic
Trade: Pelts / Foodstuffs / Mercenaries
Ally: Gol
Enormous shallow bowl of African Savannah. Extremely old Shadow. May pre-date Amber. Queen Quirabi *very* shrewd statesman and in a formal 'state marriage' to Benedict. Took enormous damage during Black Road War.
Chisou
Rulers: Shogun Takami & Kouhi Minami
Tech Level: Japanese Medieval
Magic Level: Low - Nature-based
Trade: Soft woods / Quarried stone / Martial Artists
A rugged mountainous land with fertile river deltas and thriving port cities. Behavior, station and 'face' extremely import to the inhabitants. A contentious people given to ritualized -- and highly effective -- battle forms.
Coatl
Ruler: None (several separate city-kings)
Tech Level: Ancient Mayan
Magic Level: Low -- Animal-based
Trade: Pottery / Wildlife / Pharmaceuticals
Winding rivers through tropical jungles. Steep lush mountains with circular pools in subterranean caverns. Step pyramids and cities of stone. Copper-skinned people.
Dargothia (based on an inspiration by Dave Thompson)
Ruler: Lucient Eren
Tech Level: High Medieval
Magic Level: Low -- Animal Only
Barriers against Sorcery
Trade: High Grade Weapons / Enduring Clockworks / Poisons
Anvil of Flame. Land is *extremely* inhospitable. Caustic atmosphere, toxic plants and animals, very geologically active. Monarchy, though Eren has just recently emerged from a regency.
Duwamsh
Rulers: Elected Council of Elders (composition and number constantly changing)
Tech Level: Iron Age
Magic Level: Moderate (Totemic)
Trade: Furs, Pelts / Objects d’Art - Wood, Bone / Herbs
A loose coallition of related (and sometimes warring) tribes. Temperate rainforest in fertile mountains dotted with longhouses. Inhabitants very concerned (rightfully) with guardian animal spirits.
El-Soya
Ruler: Don Calvayo
Tech Level: Moorish Spain
Magic Level: Null
Trade: Horses / Steel Weaponry / Literature
Ally / Rival: Khalidan -- long history of mutual wars and treaties
Hot, high and dry in places. Lush river valleys elsewhere. Excellent seaports and shipping industry. Extremely sensitive nobility prone to dueling.
Freeport
Ruler: None (or more accurately Admiral de Jour)
Tech Level: Napoleanic Era
Magic Level: Low / General Cantrips
Trade: Plunder / Narcotics / Sailors
Rival: Usikuthari
Center of the Pirate Archipelago. Roaring dives of seaports. Anonymity and a good time guaranteed. Fast, violent and short lives also guaranteed.
Frygia
Ruler: Clan Leader Oerund
Tech Level: Primitive
Magic Level: Very Low
Trade: Furs / Crystals
Land of Eternal Ice. Snow and long beautiful nights of stars, moons and boreal displays. Intelligent Yeti-like humans dwelling in small communities of longhouses. Place of contemplation and testing.
Gol (based on an inspiration by Chris Lightfoot)
Ruler: Ulaan Khan
Tech Level: Nomadic Middle Ages
Magic Level: Moderate (Specialists)
Trump Erratic
Trade: Horses / Semi-Precious Stones / Military Specialists
Ally: Burgami
Rolling flatlands surrounded by enormous snow-covered peaks. Nomadic and warlike culture with a few settlements. Current Khan ruling for last 500 years after deposing her predecessor.
Han
Ruler: His Eminence Chiang Li Song
Tech Level: High Fantasy
Magic Level: Low
Trade: Smelt Iron / Tea / Spices / Silk
Ancient land of ancient mysteries. Has a long and ornate history, a high level of organization and a flair for social rituals. Origin of many philosophies, including several martial ways that have grown into diverse and deadly martial arts. Land is huge and diverse -- resources making Han empire one of the strongest dynasties in the Golden Circle.
Khalidan
Rulers: Sultan Al-Hayid & Sultana Djani
Tech Level: High Fantasy
Magic Level: Moderate (General)
Trade: Spices / Fabrics / Stories
Ally / Rival: El-Soya -- long history of mutual wars and treaties
Land of a Thousand Tales and Mysteries. The archetype for Babylon and the Arabian Nights. Loosely allied city-states answering to the Sultan and Sultana.
Kyrik
Ruler: First Wing Glirit
Tech Level: Medieval
Magic Level: Moderate (General)
Trade: Fur, Leather, Pelts / Large feather products / Musicians
Steep, craggy mountains with sheer sides. Cities are aeries built into mountains. Hunters are bonded with giant birds of prey. Magic expressed through music and wind.
Lapta
Rulers: King Aminicoccio & Queen Hybrealia
Tech Level: Victorian Fantasy
Magic Level: Moderate (Specialists)
Trade: Gliders, kites / Power Gems / 'Scientific' treatises
Ally: Atlantia, Weirmonken
Rival: Freeport, Kyrik
Floating island. Lapta is an enormous landmass moving slowly over a rough and barbaric wilderness under the power of enormous fans. Victorian senses and sensibilities.
Nautiline
Ruler: Dweller Nimimnis
Tech Level: Ancient
Magic Level: Low
Trade: Music / Sea-based textiles (waterproof) / Jewelry
Ally: Atlantia
Rival: Rebma
A world inside a coiled Nautilus shell -- everything is pearlescent and organic. Polynesian peoples who live mostly carefree, happy lives. The Dweller is designated speaker for The Seed, an ineffable life force that dwells in the very tip of the shell.
Oman-Ra
Rulers: Pharaoh Teptisumet and Lady Evengel
Tech Level: Bronze Age
Magic Level: Moderate (Specialists)
Trade: Building Stone / Pharmaceuticals / Domestic Animals
One long and twisting river valley with seasonal flooding and ebbing. Mighty stone palaces and monuments surrounded by tenements and huts of slave races. Evengel is former Stygian dark-walker, but Oman-Ra has no relations with Stygia. Powerful religious orders abound.
Rebma
Ruler: Queen Moire
Tech Level: High Fantasy
Magic Level: Low
Trade: Secrets / Small Enchantments / Songs
Rival: Stygia
The enigmatic and elusive mirror of Amber, Rebma is a place of bewitching misdirection and seductive leisure. A place easier to get into than out of, this underwater kingdom will only reluctantly return that which drifts into its nets.
Remulus
Ruler: Pro-consul Viator
Tech Level: Roman
Magic Level: Low
Trade: Foodstuffs (especially grains) / Textiles
A passionate and fiery people inhabits this small continent and archipelago in large teeming cities / colonies. Gambling and spectator sports are constant in the many coliseums and arenas.
Ryanoak
Rulers: King Edwin & Queen Katherine
Tech Level: Medieval
Magic Level: Null
Trade: Foodstuffs / Sheep / Cattle
Verdant countryside interspersed with primal forests and castles. Borders on Arden. Nobility and Chivalry are cultural imperatives. Took major damage during Black Road War.
Stygia
Ruler: The Terminum (Costas d’Varic)
Tech Level: High Fantasy
Magic Level: Moderate (Specialists)
Trade: Luxury Goods / Objects d’Art / Workers
Ally: Weirmonken
Rival: Rebma
Eternal twilight. It’s denizens are mostly humans of great strength and stoicness -- and low intelligence. Beauty comes from the Dwellers in the Darkness, demons and vampires that actually rule the world and create it’s sensuous artifacts. Rumors of Gheneshian refugees dwelling among the Nightfolk.
Suceras
Rulers: Empress Sassithis & Consorts
Tech Level: High Fantasy
Magic Level: None
Trade: Stonework / Metalwork / Mathematical Toys
Circular and Spiral underground cities of marble built by race of giant snakes, using a primitive anthropoid race as telepathically controlled ‘hands.’ The Sucer are hedonistic and agoraphobic. Most wild As live in rainforests above ground. Chosen As live with the Sucer in their cities and are personal extensions of the individuals they are bonded too. The Sucer show no signs of any other mental abilities.
Under the Hill (name one of many)
Ruler: Queen Titania
Tech Level: High Fantasy
Magic Level: High (Illusionary, Glamor)
Trade: Lies / Dreams / Betrayals
Rival: Stygia
Land of the Fey, the Sidhe, the Seelie... very difficult to determine the actual nature (if any such thing exists.) Entire realm and people subject to constant illusions and glamours, which they are fine with. Deeply seeped in imagery and intricate (possibly indecipherable) traditions.
Weirmonken (based on an inspriation by Jeremy Zimmerman)
Ruler: Emperor Brocke der Gottsmann
Tech Level: Steampunk
Magic Level: Moderate (General)
Trade: Hardwoods / Processed Ores / Optics
Ally: Lapta
Despite being mountainous, gloomy and cold, Shadow is fairly industrialized -- in places. Small 'noble' population of Weir rules two larger populations of men and wolves with rigid discipline. Can be somewhat barbaric in the backhills but cities show a high level of civilized behaviors and amenities.
Xx'it'lac
Ruler: Mother-of-Us-All
Tech Level: Primitive
Magic Level: Null
Trade: Medicines / Minerals / Precious Stones
Empire is entirely underground -- Shadow has no 'sky.' Facist state of sentient insects dwelling in interconnected hives of tunnels and caverns. Different species all working together -- or else.
(Note: I rarely use all twenty-four of these Kingdoms when I'm GMing. Typically I'll pick the dozen or so that best fit each particular campaign.)<>
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