Kingdoms and Regions of Aoerth
Al-Kazar: Sometimes called "Al-Qazar". Far to the south are the many desert cities of Al-Kazar. Each city is a city-state with a sultan or prince ruling over it. Some cities are human, some elves, some even are dwarves or minotaurs. Most people in Korovia only hear rumours about Al-Kazar. To them it is a mythical land of snakes and scorpions, where genies and desert nomads are in quiet abundance. Even further beyond Al-Kazar is the jungle-filled island of Quinias, where ancient temples stand in overgrown jungles and more dangers await.
The Azagolian Empire: The Azagolian Empire is actually three smaller human kingdoms, which have pledged fealty to a single emperor who rules over all three kingdoms. The empire is mostly human, with a strong belief in perfection. This perfection extends to martial arts and monks are very common in the Azagolian Empire. Unlike Korovia where elves and humans co-exist peacefully, the Azagolian humans have an ancient hatred of elves and have had many wars with both Zangolia and Basikvia over the centuries.
Basikvia: The ancient homeland of elves. It is regarded to be the birthplace of all elves. Elves dominate the landscape, but there are also many bastions of ogres throughout the land. Basikvia's wilderness varies between tamed and untamed. The elves are suspicious of outsiders as possible ogre spies, but otherwise don't turn into lynch mobs easily (although it has been known to happen).
Habbeland: Sometimes called "Habbelund". South of Korovia is the homeland of the halflings (who call themselves Habbels or Habs) and many shy fey creatures.
The halflings live in a relatively quiet co-existence with their fey neighbours. When trouble stirs, it is usually because of trouble brewing amongst the fey. Pixies fighting evil pixies, and such nonsense. The halflings try to stay out of such conflict. When trouble from monsters occurs, the fey and halflings usually join forces to oust any problem.
The Horse Lands: Far to the west, even further than Lavordia, is a land populated mostly by humans known as the Horse Lands. Very little is known about this far distant realm other than the people there are skilled on horseback and are said to be distant relatives of the Flintrako Tribe in Korovia (whom many cossacks call their forebears). Few that travel that far west ever return, and those who do return with stories of dragons, gigantic spiders, and the mighty lords of horse tribes who hunt such beasts. Beyond the Horse Lands are said to be more lands too, far distant kingdoms... and eventually a great cliff that overlooks the ocean.
Lavordia: To the far west of Korovia is a human kingdom called Lavordia. Magic and the quest for knowledge and power have twisted this kingdom into a land of chaos. The kingdom, if it can be called that, is regularly in a state of civil war between four ancient mystical tribes. (Language Note - Lavordians speak a language similar to French.)
The state of war in Lavordia has existed since ancient times when they had once been a singular people following a Great Chieftain called Xorek. Xorek became so powerful that his own people began to fear him and they threw off his reigns of power and split into four tribes.
To fortify themselves the tribes built various mystical towers across Lavordia and frequently engage in attacks on cities controlled by their rivals. Over millenia cities have risen and fallen, been sacked and retaken, and thus who controls which cities varies from century to century. At present the various factions control the cities list below.
The Bonumancers
Air Mystics who favour Alteration and Illusion magic.
Controls Lrorn and Lavor Peak.
The Extomancers
Water Mystics who favour Conjuration and Abjuration magic.
Controls Trifork, Ki-Vork and Pasdek.
The Omnimancers
Fire Mystics who favour Invocation and Divination magic.
Controls Birefia and Lobartek.
The Malumancers
Earth Mystics who favour Necromancy and Enchantment magic.
Controls Livnek, Siliborn and Vasienbor.
Lavordian Mystics practice "gem magic", channeling their spells through gems they wear on their hats. Their hats are upside-down pyramids, with dangling cords to which their gems are attached. They do not use spellbooks, their spells are stored inside the gems instead. Since their hats are so important many Lavordian Mystics employ magic to make certain they never lose their hat.
Knowledge and power are considered to be the ultimate goals in Lavordian culture. Roughly two thirds of the population are mystics. The remaining one third of the populace occupy the lowest stratas doing the tasks that are considered beneath that of a mystic and are considered to be expendable by the mystics who rule. Thankfully the chaos of Lavordia is far removed from Korovia, but some of Lavordia's wizards are known to hire out as mercenaries.
Druids are illegal in all parts of Lavordia and are killed on sight. Druidic magic is considered blasphemous. The same goes for any person who does not worship the four elemental gods.
Loqland: North of Lavordia and to the east of Korovia is a harsh land where orcs and human barbarians rule. Many of the mountains in Loqland are volcanic and its wilderness is extremely harsh with no real roads. Mountain trails and hunting paths wind through its landscape. Tribes of orcs, humans, trolls, ogres and even giants roam the land in search of food and survival. There are six human cities which have fortified themselves against the dangers beyond, but also several orc cities as well. Most notable of the orc cities is Molloch, which is only a few miles across the Korovian border from Roknar. Molloch is a mountain metropolis built on top of slave mines. The orcs of Molloch are known to kidnap the children of giants and use them as slaves in their mines, and then kill the giants when they get too big to control. Loqland's human barbarians are known for their battle prowess and fearlessness and for riding their war mammoths. Loqland's dragons are notoriously vicious however, and eating a mammoth is considered to be a healthy appetite by a Loqland dragon's standards. Loqland druids often have saber-tooth tigers guarding their backs.
Historically part of Loqland, part of western Korovia and all of Stilornvia was once a dwarven kingdom (briefly about 1300 years ago), but when an orc vs dwarf war broke out, with Loqland dragons helping the orcs, the dwarves retreated and had to abandon one of their cities. The dwarves split into two separate factions, one in the new dwarven kingdom of Stilornvia and the smaller one in Korovia and the orcs sacked the abandoned dwarf-city of Rokbar and renamed it "Molloch". Molloch has ever since been a thorn in the side of both groups of dwarves.
Wizards and mystics are illegal in Loqland's human settlements, but are accepted in orc settlements. Orcs frequently work with Malumancer mercenaries.
Quinias: The dinosaur filled jungles of Quinias boasts hidden temples of a highly spiritual people who live in fear of the monsters who prowl outside their tall walls. The dark skinned peoples of this great land are legendary warriors and mystics, often training in hidden monasteries on cliff sides out of reach of the predators. The ruins of fallen temples, cities and palaces dot the landscape of Quinias - overrun with vines, giant apes, enormous snakes, and creatures from another time. It is rumoured that somewhere in deep jungles and grottoes is a portal into a distant past and through this portal many ancient monsters walked through and have since flourished in the jungles of Quinias.
The ruins of Quinias are said to have hidden artifacts such as Quake-Stones and Obliteration-Stones deep within their forgotten tombs. These extremely powerful artifacts hold devastating powers to destroy.
Stilornvia: Hidden deep within the mountains west of Korovia and south of the orc city of Molloch is the dwarven kingdom of Stilornvia. It is a kingdom of stone, where almost everywhere a person walks (above ground and below ground) has been carved out of stone. They repel orc raiders from the north but otherwise keep to themselves. They care very little about what goes on in the outside world.
Some Korovian dwarves travel to Stilornvia to study various crafts with the dwarven mastersmiths. The dwarves of Stilornvia have a deep hatred of all things magical (and therefore anyone from Lavordia) and Spellslayers are common in an effort to hunt down wizards and sorcerers who live amongst them. Dwarven sorcerers in Stilornvia usually flee the kingdom and come to Korovia, where magic is more welcomed.
The dwarves of Stilornvia have become exceptionally good at creating masterwork swords and armour. The Master Blacksmiths of Stilornvia have discovered secret methods of making the steel magical without using arcane magic. These methods are clan secrets and are highly valuable to outsiders.
The Wild Lands: North of the Leviathan Sea (to the northeast of Korovia) is a land of wilderness that is relatively uninhabited. Small numbers of barbarians live there, along with tribes of snow elves, giants and ice trolls. Very few that travel that far north ever return. (The Wild Lands is sometimes confused with the Ice Lands, a region further to the north where almost no one but ice giants live.)
Zangolia: An elvish kingdom, Zangolia has dedicated itself to three things: Martial arts, making war against the Azagolian Empire, and making trade with Al-Kazar to the south. Elvish monks and clerics fight an eternal battle of superiority against their human foes to the north of them. Many elves not so keen to fight are also deep in the market trades with the rich bazaars of Al-Kazar. Zangolia is a wealthy and powerful kingdom with its share of magic and mayhem. The elvish noble houses sometimes fight amongst themselves, while the royalty maintains their war-like stance against the humans to the north. Zangolia was once part of the Azagolian Empire, but revolted centuries ago and instead formed a kingdom. Rather than rejoin Basikvia (which had signed a peace-treaty with the empire and ceded lands), Zangolia viciously maintains their independence from both Basikvia and the Empire.
Zipteklund: Far from being quiet, this land of gnomes is constantly under the barrage of new gnomish inventions (and explosions). While not at war, the gnomes do have their share of trolls and giants to defend themselves against. They do so quite successfully however, with burning machines and giant tripping machines. Gnomish juggernauts are the latest invention to walk (and clank) through Zipteklund's wilderness. Korovian people rarely travel to Zipteklund unless they have a good reason to travel to cities where elevators and such items appeal to them for some reason. The gnomes can be quite tricky about selling such items however, as they don't always work and the gnome who sold it mysteriously disappears.
Map of Aoerth
Last Updated: February 1st 2023.
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