Edarnia: Gods and Weather

In Edarnia, my home-brew setting, weather doesn't depend on climate patterns in the same way as it does in real-life. Instead, on Edarnia, weather exists at the whim of the Gods. So, the weather experienced in any given geographical area is entirely dependent on which pantheon is worshipped locally, and on that pantheon's relationships with other pantheons that might influence the local weather.

Take the Protectorate of Zama, for example. Here, the Pantheon of the Sun (the Phoenician Pantheon)is worshiped by the vast majority of the inhabitants. As one might expect, this results in warm, sunny days and (because the Pantheon of the Sun also has purview over the moon and stars) warm, clear nights. Because the Pantheon of the Sun has fairly warm relations with the Pantheon of the Earth, the soil is healthy and experiences a long growing seasons. Three to four crops a year are common, but crop growth is also dependent on the Pantheon of the Suns' somewhat difficult relationship with the Pantheon of the Sky (also known as the Pantheon of Storms). Thus, when it does rain, the rain often comes accompanied by high winds and can damage crops as much as nourish them. Thus, the Protectorate of Zama does all it can to keep on good terms with the Pantheon of Rivers, which provides a steady source of clean water to irrigate Zama's crops.

In a similar vein, the lands under the reign of the Pantheon of Storms are dark, cold and often windy. Due to the difficult relationship with the Pantheon of the Sun, the lands see very little direct sunlight through the omnipresent cloud cover. And due to the outright hostility the Pantheon of the Earth bears the Pantheon of Storms (due to the rape of an earth goddess by a god of the skies), the soil is extremely poor. Thus, the population in these lands is dependent on the seas for raiding, fishing and trade - and the violent Storm Gods have assured themselves of the cooperation of the Pantheon of Seas by the simple expedient of having taken one of their number hostage.

Under the Earth, in the lands between the surface and hell, the Pantheon of Darkness alone holds sway. Thus, there is no sun and little breeze, for the one thing the Gods of the Sky and the Sun can always agree upon is that the Pantheon of Darkness is their greatest foe. That being said, the Pantheons of Water and Sea have no quarrel with the Pantheon of Darkness, and so both fresh and salt water can be found in the Underearth. Moreover, the neutrality of the Mycenean Pantheon, the Pantheon of Fire, (who reside under a mountain themselves, after all) ensures the Underearth remains warm. This combination of water and heat allows some plants to grow and fish and other animal life to prosper in small number.

Finally, the lands of the Imperium are bleak and barren. The humans who reside their have turned their backs on the gods to traffic with demons and devils. Thus, the temperature is always either too cold or two warm, the lighting is always dull and grey, water is brackish, there is very little direct sunlight and it almost never rains. Thus the humans of the Imperium ever see to expand their lands by conquest and enslavement and rely entirely on conquest, trade and tribute in order to feed themselves.

Peoples of Zama: Myceneans

An introduction to the Mycenean (Pseudo-Greek) culture in Zama. You'll notice I'v changed the art style in this (and subseuqent) Zama posts to feature line drawings and etchings over computer-generated art. I reckon these better capture the Old School feel of my campaign setting than modern, computer generated imagery.

Myceneans:

The peoples of Mycenea came across the Outer Sea from lands now lost some 300 years after the onset of the Age of Conquest, shortly after the fall of the Pheonixian Empire. Invading the lands of the Southern Tuatha about the same time as the Sythians from the East, the Myceneans very quickly established a firm hold over most of the Southern Middle Sea Region, which they retain to this day.

Much of the ancient history of this otherwise knowledgable and educated race was lost with the catycysmic destruction of their homeland or in subsequent internal warfare. It is known that they came from the endless seas to the south of their present territories, armed with sophisticated siege engines and weapons of bronze. While the Tuatha fought individually with weapons and armour of iron, the Myceneans fought united, arrayed with long spear and pike in phalanxes the ragged Tuatha warbands could not penetrate. The tide turned further in the favour of the Myceneans when they learned the secret of iron-smelting from captured Tuathan smiths.

Yet when the Myceneans encountered the Scythians for the first time, it was they, not the Scythians, who suffered the gravest losses. Like the Tuatha, the Myceneans had never before seen cavalry, let alone fought against mounted men in combat. The strangely re-curved bows of the Scythians could easily outdistance all but the best Mycenean slingers. Thus, the swift and elusive Scythian hordes slaughtering phalanx after phalanx with arrow fire, sustaining few losses themselves save in seige warfare.

Only in the close terrain of what is now Canwyn were the slow moving phalanxes able to force open battle, slaughtering the Scythians in their turn. It was in one such battle with the Scythians that the last Mycenean King was killed without a named heir.

The result was a rush by a multitude of bastards, nephews, generals and brothers-in-law to claim the Mycenean throne for themselves. Even as the war against the Scythians raged on, the Myceneans began to fight amongst themselves.

Mycenea was shattered. In the chaos, an army of Canwyn Barbarians, assisted by a horde of allied warriors from Cerwya, descended upon the unguarded towns and cities of Mycenea, while their defenders fought fell upon one another elsewhere, burning many cultural treasures (including rare manuscripts saved from the destruction of the Mycenean homeland) to ash. Killing all before them, the barbarians drove the fractured Myceneans as far west as what is now called Pergannon. There the defending Mycenean armies met another Mycenean army marching to their relief from the west. This army was led by a man named Zerphon, grandchild of Arramnon, the last King.

Zerphon succeeded in uniting seventeen of the feuding Mycenean cities under his banner. Using cavalry trained by Scythian mercenaries and phalanxes of men armed with pikes trimmed to the size of spears to secure his flanks, he brought the Barbarian tribesmen to battle near the Holy Mountain. There, at the Battle of Balerophon, thirty thousandTuatha died. Zerphon was crowned the”Tyrant of Seventeen Cities” following the battle.

The mighty Tyrant of Seventeen Cities was able to recapture a great deal of lost Mycenean territory, but his successors were far less capable men. Today, the borders of Pergannon end almost within sight of Arka, the capitol, which has become an armed camp. Other than Pergannon itself, no Mycenean state  encompassing more than a hand-full of towns and cities exists. Instead, perhaps three dozen small city states make war on one another in the region known as the Free Cities. These scattered townships with their ever shifting web of alliances seem united only when faced by the interference of outsiders –as both the Imperium and Pergannon have discovered at great cost.

Cultural Traditions:

An intellectual yet war-like- people, the Myceneans have a reputation as notorious liars. Their reputation for political and mercantile scheming and intrigues is as legendary as their tempers. While the Myceneans make must of thier loyalty to their home-cities, many outsiders believe that the Myceneans value their individual freedoms rather too much. Often at the expense of their own families.

Myceneans, like many of the “civilised” peoples, tend to stand shy of six foot even at their tallest. Both men and women tend to be lithe of build, though muscular. Most have dark hair and eyes. Men often have considerable quantities of body hair, especially on their arms and legs, which they shave or wax often. Naturally hairless backs are far from common in Mycenean men.

While it is said that Pergannon and the Free Cities are the birth place of all art, culture and philosophy in the world this is hardly the case – as any Parnthian or Pheonixian will tell you. Yet Myceneans and Aryans insist that Pergannon and it’s sisters set the fashion for such things as rhetoric, theatre, wine, art, philosophy, and clothing for most of the civilised world (which, to an Aryan or Mycenean, conviently does not include the territories claimed by Parnthians or Pheonixians).

Mycenean sexual pratices however, are one aspect of Mycenean culture that has yet to be adopted elsewhere. In Mycenean lands, homosexual relationships between men are considered to be the ultimate expression of true romantic love. In fact, the man who loves his wife is often a figure of mockery in Mycenean theatre and poetry. In Mycenean epics, this love between men who are away from home on long campaigns, such as men who serve together on the battlefield, transcends all. Such couplings are known as “shield-pairs”. This custom is far more common in the Free Cities, than it is in the less liberal, more militant cities of Pergannon, whose generals (Strategos') generally insist in separting men who have formed "shield pairs" into a serparate phalanx.

In the Free Cities, marriage to a woman is often seen as a practical affair for the purposes of business ventures and procreation. Of course, with the double-standards typical of Mycenean society, female homosexual relationships, are frowned upon if not banned outright in many towns. Mycenean woman are even more repressed than those in Aryan high society. Woman have only slightly more rights than slaves and are often regarded as the husbands possessions by law. The exception to this is the island city-state of Mysos, where woman have full legal rights and may even elect to accept training in arms -purely for the purpose of defending the city while the men are away at sea or at war, of course.

Elsewhere in Mycenea, Women are expected to remain monogamous when in a relationship and to know no lover save their husband in their entire lives. Only men may enjoy extramarital affairs which are considered quite acceptable even by most wives – even when the paramour is another woman rather than a man.

However, should a wife decide to take offence at her man committing adultery with another woman rather than a man, the penalties for both can be quite severe. A wife is quite within her right to murder both her husband and his mistress should she discover them in flagrente delicto. Provided, that is, she does so within three days of “disturbing” the couple. Otherwise, she is treated as having used the affair as an excuse to murder the husband and her paramour for other reasons. Likewise, to kill one and spare the other is also considered murder.

Fashion and Appearance:

Mycenean dress is almost identical to that of Imperials, who copy Myceneans shamelessly in all things save the endorsement of homosexuality. Both women and men often wear as much jewellery as they can afford. A small percentage of Mycenean men have even been known to wear cosmetics into battle.

Daily exercise on the drill field and recreational athletics keep the Myceneans trim and fit until well into their advanced years. Any man too fat or too slow to fit into his armour is considered a fool, a coward and an embarrassment to himself and to his city. Any woman unfit to race is considered a shameful creature undeserving of respect or pity. Even heavily pregnant women are expected to take part in athletic events until only weeks before the expected birth

The average Mycenean is impeccably educated. Even most slaves can read and write. Many poor Myceneans sell themselves into slavery in Zama or the Arcane Imperium. There they are assured of a good life in a rich household and the chance to buy their freedom once the master's children have grown up and no longer require the services of a pedagogue.

Regions: 
Myceneans are not great travellers on the whole, as they have an un-savoury reputation in the rest of the world as scheming liars and pederasts. However, their merchants do travel extensively, but most like to return home for the campaigning season, lest they be thought a coward by their peers.

Most cities fight at least one battle with their nieghbours in any given summer. As a result, aside from a very few merchants, slaves and a surprisingly large number of mercenaries (mostly second sons or exiles) few Myceneans are found far from their own city-state. A great many of those who can be found are exiles of one kind or another. Myceneans are prone to exile petty lawbreakers rather than imprison or execute them, ensuring  they become someone else’s problem.

Religion: 
Myceneans worship the Mycenean Pantheon exclusively, a collection of harsh Gods and gentler Goddesses that demand much from their followers while promising little in return.

The Cosmology of Zama

Zama's cosmology is focused on the Mortal Realms, the material plane at the centre of the universe in which the world of Edarnia is located. Yet in Zama, unlike other settings, all the planes are geographically linked: it is possible to cross from one plane to another without magic, simply by undertaking a journey of sufficient length. Portals and spells are a far more efficient means of planar travel to be sure, but given enough time a man can walk (or sail, or swim) from the City of Zama, underground,through the Veil of Shadows and finally, into the Underworld (Hell) itself.

The Five Planes of Being:
Collectively the Summerlands and the Veil of Dreams are known as the Higher Planes. The Veil of Shadow and the Underworld are collectively known as the Lower Planes.

The Summerlands:
The realm of the Gods and the dwelling place of faithful mortal souls awaiting rebirth in new forms. The Summerlands exist above the material plane itself, and the stars in the sky are said to be the flames of souls awaiting rebirth. From the Mortal Realms, the Summerlands appear to be nothing more than the sky itself, but those who dwell in the Summerlands perceive it as another world similar to the mortal realm yet existing in eternal summer.
To living beings visiting in the Summerlands from the Mortal Realms only the dwellings and indeed the forms of the Planes permanent residents (Gods, Divine Servants, the dead and so on) actually appear completely solid. Everything else has a somewhat translucent, ethereal, unearthly feel to it.
The largest and most impressive structures in this Plane include the Sun Palace (dwelling place of Arbhaal and the Pheonixian Gods, literally the actual sun itself), Stormhold (dwelling place of the Gods of Air and Storm) and the Summer Palace 

The Veil of Dreams:
Also known as the Dream Lands, physically located in the upper atmosphere of the world and reachable from the peaks of the tallest mountains, the Dreamlands is where mortal souls come to dream while their bodies sleep. Reality here is mutable. It is the domain of those ethereal creatures that are neither entirely evil nor undead. Like the Summerlands, it appears an unreal, "thin" place to those from the Mortal Realms who visit the Dreamland in their physical, rather than dreaming, states.
The Veil of Dreams is also home to the Fey creatures known as the Shee, though the most priviledged of these serve the EverQueen herself in the leafy domain of the Summer Palace deep within the Summerlands.

The Mortal Realms:
The Mortal Realms encompass the entirety of the World of Edarnia, and potentially other worlds as well. The Mortal Realm is a world as we humans know it -physical, slowly changing, possessing seasons, days, years, months and so on. Yet there are also significant changes: the length and intensity of the seasons, patterns or weather, natural disasters -all these are determined by the will of the Gods. Or specifically, the wills of the Gods who are worshipped there. Thus, the lands in which the Pheonixian Pantheon hold sway are pleasantly hot, sunny places with long growing seasons and mild winters. The lands under the sway of the Storm Gods are cold, windy and rain often, with harsh winters meant to test the will and faith of the people. The lands of the Arcane Imperium, where no Gods are worshipped at all, is merely a barren wasteland of blasted, dead soil.

The Veil of Shadows:
This is the Realm of the Undead and of Nightmares. The Veil of Shadows exists beneath the earth, and many man or dwarf made tunnels touch upon it's outer boundaries. It is the mutable Realm of nightmare and fear. Like the Veil of Dreams, this land is home to Fey, yet of a bent and wicked nature, the servants of the Unshee court. Yet the Veil of Shadows, unlike the Veil of Dreams, can also bleed into the Mortal Realms, in places of great fear and anguish. Such places include battlefields, mortuaries and graveyards -or the locus of a particularly horrible murder or death. The Undead of reZama haunt these places -and the Veil itself- trapped in a strange limbo between life and unlife. Yet it is the power of the Veil itself that sustains them, and no undead being -even those with physical form- can leave the Veil. This "exile" into the lands of nightmare is, in itself, part of the curse of undeath.

The Underworld:
Also known as the Darklands, the Underworld encompasses all the dark depths of the Earth -whether beneath land or in the abyssal depths of the Sea. The Underworld is quite literally Hell. The dwelling place of Demons, Devils and tormented souls (just as the Summerlands are effectively heaven). Hot, blasting heat or crushing pressure permeates the very air. Mortals struggle to breath with every gasp of foul, heat-thick air. Here, the souls of the wicked are punished for their sins until once again unleashed upon the face of the Mortal Realms. Here, the souls of those who have offended the Gods writhe and burn in infernal flames. Here, the faithful servants of evil Gods are re-born as Demons and Devils, even as the most faithful souls of other Gods are reborn again as angels to serve the Gods of the Summerlands.
The Underworld is also home to the Winter Palace, the seat of the Unshee, home of the Winter Queen herself. The coldest place in hell. A realm of ice so soul-quenchingly cold, it makes travellers from the Mortal Realms yearn for the heat and fire of the other domains of Hell.