Life on the Frontier:  
The Frontierlands Campaign Setting

The following is a compilation of character knowledge concerning the history and geography of the known world.

It is currently the year 798, Frontierlands Reckoning (abbreviated FR798).    

History

"Discovery" of the Frontierlands

Still ambitious after collectively conquering the known world but as yet unwilling to make war with each other, the rival empires of the Great Continent sent ships in all directions to discover new lands to conquer.

One vessel braved the dangers of the Misty Seas and sighted land a thousand miles west of any known port.  Following south along hundreds of miles of inhospitable mountain coast, it encountered a deep and sheltered natural harbor in which to make port and replenish dwindling supplies.  In the year 1, Frontierlands Reckoning, Captain Frako Joyle unfurled the Imperial banner of Dar'Danuk and claimed the new landmass for the Empire of Dar'Danuk and the glory of the Emperor.

The Frontierlands at FR100

Though already eighty years old, the first settlement at Reme was still a simple colonial garrison.  The empire of Dar'Danuk maintained a minimal fortification at the mouth of the harbor to assert its claim.  The Frontierlands were merely a symbolic pawn in a greater struggle; there was little incentive to settle the thin inland soil.

The discovery of the Gateway Basin changed everything, opening up new lands to the north and west to those willing to make the four hundred mile trek inland.  The north lands were arable, with rich soil and abundant rainfall.  The indigenous elves were disinterested in affairs outside their forest kingdoms and the dwarves laid claim only to the mountainous perimeter.  Other than tribes of disorganized humanoids, the choice land was free for the taking.  The new wild lands to the west were deadly and exotic.  Early expeditions beyond the frontier returned with tales of ancient dragons, fabulous wealth, and splendid natural wonders that fired the imagination.  

However, the attentions of the imperial courts were directed elsewhere, towards the earliest skirmishes of the Colonial Wars.  When the main garrison at Reme was recalled, fortune-seekers and adventurers converged on the Frontierlands from all realms.  Shiploads of outcasts arrived seeking a new life free from whatever tyranny they fled.  This was the first wave of settlement.

On the Great Continent far to the east, the sanctioned churches of the empires grew strong and arrogant.  Followers of the old gods faced persecution.  In time, worship of even noble Thyr, chaste Muir, and gentle Freya was outlawed.  Some chose exile over heresy or conversion and found passage across Misty Seas.  This was the second wave of settlement.

By FR149, the dozens of petty conflicts comprising the Colonial Wars had merged into the Great Imperial War.  Contact with the empires ceased, except for shiploads of refugees with tales of magical destruction, horrific suffering, and terror.  This was the third wave of settlement.

Though wary of authority, most settlers bound together into communities to survive the hardships and dangers of frontier life.  Many settled the rich farmlands north and east of the Gateway Basin.  Some remained at Reme to fish the Misty Seas.  A few made homes within the Gateway Basin itself to service travelers and to explore the frontier.

Refugee ships arrived sporadically until FR159.  When the next imperial ship docked at Reme in FR590, the old empires had long ago fallen and new ones had ascended in their places.  The Frontierlands had been forgotten by the continent for over four hundred years.

The Northern Kingdoms

The Kingdom of Bretundy

In FR188, nearly two generations after the third wave of settlement, a group of farming villages north and east of the Gateway Basin banded together to defend against goblin raids.  The leaders of each town chose one of their number to be the final arbiter of all decisions related to the common good.  The benefits of cooperation became apparent when the alliance successfully repulsed the goblin threat, and by the end of that year, each leader had sworn an oath of allegiance to King Cyronuld Bretundy under the terms of the Great Charter of Bretundy.  The town leaders became the first nobles, likewise demanding oaths of allegiance from their citizens under the terms of the charter.

Cyronuld's Charter was intended to prevent the kind of persecution that drove many of the Frontierlands' earliest settlers from their previous homes.  Under the terms of the charter, anyone primarily of human or demihuman blood could become a Bretundy citizen by swearing an oath of allegiance to a Bretundy noble (or alternately, the king).  In return, the noble (or king) promised to provide certain crown protections, including protection from harm by others, protection of property from banditry, and protection from magical control.  The charter specified that no religion is illegal per se, citizens are free to hold divergent views, and citizens may always defend themselves against illegal aggression.  Anyone committing treasonous activity, violating the crown protections of another citizen, or otherwise breaking the law can be declared an outlaw.  This occurs when a noble formally issues a Writ against the outlaw, which may specify a bounty for their death or capture.  An outlaw is considered a non-citizen until the writ is revoked. 

In all matters, the King remains the highest judicial body in the land.  He is answerable only to the gods and may unilaterally revise the charter, or suspend it in times of war or emergency.  However, scholars claim that the current text is nearly identical to that of Cyronuld's original document.  Few kings have tampered with its basic tenets.

In practice, the Great Charter is enforced only when a grievance is raised to the nobility, either by the victim or their family.  It is a contract of behavior between the nobility and the people.  It does not specify penalties for specific infractions; these penalties may be specified in other specific laws and are generally guided by recent precedent.  The King may create whatever specific laws outside of the charter that he deems necessary to govern the land.  Critics claim that the Great Charter protects only the literate and affluent who can negotiate its legal intricacies.  They claim that its terms are vague, and loopholes such as "treason", "times of war", and "emergency" leave room for abuse.  Nonetheless, it is perhaps the most sophisticated and longstanding legal document in the Frontierlands.

The Kingdom of Ghanyon

 Just prior to the silence (referring to the time that the northern kingdoms were cut off from the south) the first avatar of the ‘One’ was taken.  The message of order and righteous justice spread quickly, and upon the bodies of those who opposed the great transformation the Theocratic state was conceived.  Having purged themselves of all but the most innocuous of filth the people of Ghanyon instituted a holy order to maintain and protect them.  Answering directly to the avatar of the ‘One’ this order was comprised of three segments, one representing each side of the triangle, the strongest shape and also the symbol chosen by the ‘One’ to represent its presence here and in the other worlds.  All three of these groups are under direct command of the ‘One’ and each is comprised of a series of levels (multiples of three).  The 3, followed by the 9, 27, 81, 243, 729.  Each child born in the kingdom is examined by the priesthood to determine whether they should be initiated into the 729 of one faction or another.  Children chosen in such a way are removed from their parents unless one of their parents is also a faction member of the same.  These children are fostered to the particular faction and overseen more directly by a member from each consecutive level.  Thus a 729 would be assigned to a 243, an 81, etc.  the closer the link the more personal the contact, each 243 would have three 729’s and so on.  Also, those directly above an individual tended to proceed at more or less a consistent rate so if your 243 sponsor failed to become an 81 you could be stuck at 729.  On extremely rare occasions, a 729 might bypass a 243 sponsor and move directly to an 81. 

The Law:  

Political faction consisting of priesthood.  Focus on social control and maintenance as well as selection and placement of initiates.  Maintain closest position to the ‘One’ and delegate its wishes.

The Order:

Mages steeped in a tradition of manipulating the elements and especially gifted where the domain of air is concerned.  Intelligence training as well as special combat skill development makes them a force to be feared.  Officers of the army.

The Judgement:

The holy knights (Paladins) of the kingdom police the kingdom or act as NCO’s in wartime.  In charge of maintaining and training the military regiments of the kingdom.

 

The Avatar:

N’dora of Stromguar was the first avatar to be chosen by the ‘One’.  She had only reached maturity by a few days when she was taken.  N’dora-unim was to be the war leader that would purge the filth from the land, and in so doing she would begin a legacy that would span the lifetimes of dozens of others as they too became the chosen of the ‘One’.  According to the ‘One’ each new avatar adds a new set of eyes to the wisdom of the old.  The judgement is made from both worlds and what is gained is incalculable.  The triangle is formed, the old, the new, and the Cosmos.  Updated every thirty years or so, the wisdom of the avatar has led the kingdom to unprecedented prosperity.  However, the most recent centuries have been quiet and the wisdom gained from each new perspective wanes.  There is a prophesy that many hope will soon be fulfilled; that the ‘One’ will one day signal the kingdom that the sleep is over, and that the dormant tide of order and law will surge forth beyond the sanctity of the borders and sweep the filth of chaos and evil from the world.  Some say the signs are already present and that the age of judgement is approaching, others follow the prophesy more closely and wait for the coming of the ‘Disoro-unim’ the ‘divided-One’.  According to the prophesy of N’dora-unim, three aspects of the ‘One’ would appear upon the death of the ‘avatar of tides’ (a title that would be conferred posthumously).  The three war leaders would strike upon the unholy nations and drive the evil from the continent entirely.  It is also prophesized that in the final battle the three will confront their own shadows and that a terrible racket would ensue (the translation seems incomplete here but the legend is quite old).  

The avatar is a divine aspect of the ‘One’ although the identity of the ‘One’ itself is incomprehensible to even the most learned of the Law and the Order.  Many have questioned avatars of this, some for days but despite the gentle indulgence and endless patience of the avatar, no one has understood any of the descriptions of the ‘One’.  The best description seems to be that the ‘One’ is simply unknowable by mortal standards and must simply be accepted as such.     

 

The Ascension:

The ascension of a new avatar occurs under three sets of conditions, the two most common being the death or retirement of a present avatar.  Only twice has there been an exception to these, the first such case referring, of course, to the first avatar N’dora.  The second exception happened shortly after the silence was broken.  The avatar of the time, Eloan of Yel, announced plans to travel to the southern wildlands and shortly after embarked on a five year quest, which saw as its end, the return of Eloan with nine children which he had chosen as candidates three to be trained in each discipline.  No reason, or significance, was ever revealed by Eloan but the nine children excelled in their respective factions and within a mere fifteen years had all ascended to the order of the 3, giving absolute power of the factions to foreigners.  While this may seem extreme, there was no resentment or negativity of any significance visited upon these remarkable men and women.  The skill and purity of their motives as well as their success in administering the kingdom actually reaffirmed the faith of many who had dissented in the past.  The brightest of this cohort was Arastil, an elf, who would not only become the first demihuman avatar, but would also ascend to the title as no other before him.  Less than a month after Arastil was named to the Order of 3 Eloan, still a young man, announced that Arastil had surpassed him in all fields and retired to his rule.  With the addition of Arastil’s elven experience to the avatar a period of reflection ensued, lasting a hundred years, the same as Arastil’s rule until he retired.  Arastil is still alive and acts as council to new avatars.  There are scholars that believe that the kingdom is currently in a state of decline because the reflecting process is still affecting the current avatar.  The theory is basically that the addition of the elven worldview has added such a radically distinct perspective to the avatar that many years will be needed before the information can be applied to anything.  Those more critical feel that the complacency is a product of peace, and that the kingdom is in fact too perfect and there is very little added by each new avatar simply because the candidates all come from the same perfectly ordered upbringing.  Recent attempts to promote perspective growth include frequent ‘errands’ that initiates must overcome in order that they understand what else is possible.  It is thought that the attrition of initiates is less of a concern as compared with the potential of drawing better avatars, who after all might be capable of finding an even better solution.

The population of the kingdom is roughly 98% human with the two percent demihuman population consisting mainly of elves.  There are also a number of celestials and good air creatures living in the kingdom but their numbers are in the hundreds and of little statistical interest.  There is an even split between male and female with slightly more males born in the south and slightly more females in the north.  There are absolute egalitarian conditions within the borders of the kingdom.  There are just as many men chosen as initiates as women, although the majority of avatar’s have been women.  The only position held exclusively by men is that of Exniholor (those that practice the art of the banishment of evil outsiders).  In the past, it has been noted that some evil outsiders have the power to affect their banishment by finding refuge in the womb of a female Exniholor.  The offspring of this foul act have been most powerful and difficult to detect and deal with.  As a precaution this practice has been left to men who don’t seem to afford refuge to the filth.  The population is tolerant of race, gender, and even to some extent religion, but there is absolutely no tolerance for evil acts or disorder.  Justice is swift and sure and as it is most difficult to lie to a paladin there is typically no need for any sort of trial.  The exception being in the case where judgement is brought against a member of the factions, the only punishment regardless of severity being exile or death (most choose death) in such a case.  There are virtually no nasties (monsters and such) within the border of the kingdom and the few that are there are almost all of good alignment.  The majority of the population are of good alignment however there are some lawful neutral citizens who prosper under the laws as well.  If there are any evil individuals they have hidden this fact through very powerful means for detection would quickly bring death.  Since the police force is headed by paladins discovery is reasonably certain.     

The ideology of the theocracy is partially summarized in the Axioms of the Order of the One, volume 1 and volume 2. 

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Last updated 05/09/2003 .