Monday Apr 27, 2020
Adam's Retroverse DM Blog: Entry 5
Entry 5: Quadrant Contents - Hyperborea
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The goal of Hyperborea, when I was drafting this quadrant up, was to establish a dichotomy of attitudes. Whereas one will discover many struggles and conflicting factions within other quadrants, this one is defined by an overarching struggle between these two political forces. I wanted grand, epic imagery and vistas as the set pieces, because I always found those types of locations to be the most evocative as I was growing up and even more so now as an adult with a greater understanding of their sublimity. So, if you find yourself thinking in sweeping panoramic shots as you read some these descriptions (which will be expanded upon in the future), that’s the intent!
- Hyperborea sees some of the coldest temperatures on this face and lies nestled between an impassible mountain range to the north and the Sea of Peace to the south. A gradient of rolling tundras and steppes, pine, sakura, and bamboo forests, deep fjords, lush rivers, and fields of rice and grain, control over this land is contested by two peoples: The Yonaguni Empire, and the United Jarldoms of Ysgard.
- The Yonaguni Empire is a vibrant nation of refinement. Within its bounds, a visitor will find the ancient home of the Emperor and his palace in the Divine City, the lofty, tranquil Temple of Icons nestled in the mountains to the northwest, the misty Ghost Woods, the marvelous feats of agricultural engineering that are the Grain Terraces, the rolling Steppes with herds of horses, the expansive and verdant Bamboo Forest, and, of course, the bureaucratic, de-facto capital of the Empire, the city of Yonaguni, itself.
- The United Jarldoms of Ysgard can best be described as primal to the core. Conjuring imagery of the Pleistocene epoch and that of Old Norse Scandinavia, this realm will challenge even the hardiest of adventurers. At its cultural center lies Ysgard, home to the largest population of peoples (others are scattered among various smaller towns and villages across the landscape). North are the Aesir Peaks, the tallest mountains of the northern range, with reliefs and statues of the Ysgardian gods and heroes carved into the mountain sides that are so gargantuan, one can distinguish the faces from as far away as the Divine City. Just southeast lies the most sacred Gods’ Wood, and to the forest’s west, across the Ormt River, is the Mammoth Run, where herds of its namesake roam freely. This borders the Karthian Reach to the southwest, a rocky, hilly region through which runs the Kormt River. Both the Kormt and Ormt flow into the Vimur River as it carves deeper into the majestic Fjordlands before exiting into the Sea of Peace. South of the Gods’ Wood stretches the Aurura Springs (one of the few touristy attractions of this harsh territory), pock-marked with popular hot springs, and even further south, on the eastern border of Hyperborea, lies the Truce March, a grassy plain where the untrusting Yonaguni and Ysgardian peoples warily work together to protect both nations from any evil incursions emanating from the Sludge Pits to the east.
This Quadrant's contents need more definition and detail. I haven't moved much past broad strokes with Hyperborea because I don't want to rush it and take shortcuts. Hopefully soon I'll be able to sit down and expand some of the locations and cities mentioned above into their own bullet points so that the next blog entry on this won't be as short! :P
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