July 2018 Challenge: Elion: Dead Risen in the Shadows of the Woodlands
Didn't save a screenshot, but this was the list I generated:
After some deliberations I decided to go with number 5, Elion. I'm taking a few liberties with the term 'world', here; Elion as known to Elion probably isn't an entire planet or world, though it is large enough to contain quite a number of distinct kingdoms and states within and there isn't a whole lot without that the people of Elion interact with - in something I'm seeing turn into a bit of a trend with some of my maps the borders of the map are where they are for reasons and tend to be barriers to travel in one form or another. In Elion's case, there is a dark pall hanging over the north, a shadowed darkness that none dare enter - or at least, that none are known to return from. Considering Elion itself and its inhabitants, that says something.1. Tirine, a marvelous world of volcanic mountains, cratered lowlands, and storm-wracked seas. The world is primarily populated by dwarves, with smaller numbers of other races.
2. A grassy hill amidst a cratered field. The air is filled with the scent of ozone.
3. Somewhere amidst an amber field.
4. A crystalline cavern on the 5th level of the Halls of Bloody Annihilation.
5. Elion, a medieval world of wooded hills, misty valleys, and cratered lowlands. The world is primarily populated by humans, with smaller numbers of other races. The denizens of Elion are infamous as powerful necromancers.
6. A volcanic island in the Sea of Allas.
7. Somewhere amidst a desolate waste. An ancient and long-forgotten temple lies half-buried in the sand.
8. A chamber filled with sand on the 8th level of the Dungeon of Indomitable Death.
9. The bank of a wide river amidst a verdant jungle. A noxious fog fills the still air.
10. Mithlothlin, an elemental plane of azure water and scattered bubbles of air. The plane is the domain of Finore, a demigod of oceans, and is populated by sea dragons. The denizens of Mithlothlin are at war with invading demons.
As noted in the prompt, Elion is primarily inhabited by humans. Many of those are dead, and so of questionable humanity; the living remain, however, a majority (if somewhat more narrowly). Also as noted in the prompt, necromancy in a variety of forms is a big thing in Elion. It is hard to say whether the prevalence of the risen dead came first or various arcane practices about them did, but whichever is the case across Elion there is generally a notable presence of the undead, or those who work with them, or become them. And also stranger things, sometimes... Nonetheless, what is perhaps unusual about necromancy in Elion is perhaps how mainstream it is. In Lotherem, all the common folk serve in their nation's proud military for two generations post-mortem; the aristocratic classes of Aleveri are vampires without even the slightest pretense of secrecy, though the implementation of the blood tax is usually quite humane in recent years; and the rulers of Medorjnsy would be lost without the wise counsel of their honored ancestors' centuries of knowledge. Next to all this one might think the Hollow People of Ulsk wouldn't even stand out (although, no... they're still feared by most of Elion's other inhabitants).
That's not to say the unquiet dead rife across Elion are necessarily no threat to the living therein. Particularly troublesome are the blasted fields that remain on the sites of its nations' most fierce battlefields, which are often roamed aimlessly by the less sapient of militarized undead, guided by orders long past having any sense or context if they are guided by anything at all.
Anyways, with that context and intro, here's the start of my entry for this challenge... currently just a coastline and mountains, with rough blobs in the vicinity of where I plan dense forests (green) and blasted, cratered flatlands (purple-gray).
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EDIT: ...I seem to have forgotten the proper July 2018 Challenge: header for the title. Don't think I can fix that on my end, although I see the thumbnail scraper still picks the thread up. Is there a way I could have that added back in?
