Pydwell

**Pydwell** *("Wind Swept")*, called **Vetronimor** by the elves, is a large island continent located in the southern and eastern hemispheres, with its northern tip stradling the equator. At over 13 million km², it is the second-largest of the Known Lands of Draconis. Pydwell is a vast wilderness made up of deserts, tundra, marshes, wetlands, mountains and hundreds of islands. Much of the continent remains untamed, although various states have risen and fallen throughout history; in the ninth age, Pydwell is divided into four political entities: the Northern realms, the Thalmonian Empire, the Archipelago and Illatorr.

## History

### Formation & Pre-History

The landmass of Pydwell presumably formed during the Conjunction; there is no record of its existence in the few Old Kingdom texts that remain. It is almost certain that Pydwell formed during the cataclysmic seismic eruptions that occured during the Conjunction, tearing apart the surface of the world and reforming it into the planet now called Draconis. Whether the entire continent rose from beneath the sea - as believed by the people of the Archipelago - or formed from collisions of tectonic plates is unknown. When the Conjunction brought together and tore apart the realms of the living and the dead, it connected the mortal realm to the Beach, a metaphysical buffer between the mortal realm and the Void, the origin of Power.

The first civilization to rise on the continent were the Primordials, now believed to be residents of the Old Kingdom that survived the Conjunction and the associated cataclysmic earthquakes. It is believed that the Primoridals were significantly changed by Power and evolved and diverged into humans, elves, giants, dwarves, halflings and others.

The various races quickly scattered into cultures and tribes, eventually forming the first settlements. As Pydwell began to heal from its own formation, its inhabitants slowly evolved from hunter-gatherers into larger and larger civilizations. Like prehistoric humans, the non-humans learned to create fire - both natually and through magic means - and raise livestock. The first non-human languages and alphabets appeared 32,000 years ago. The first monoliths were also constructed around this time. Some elves and other elder races left Pydwell entirely to sail across the Astralis Ocean, eventually settling the vibrant continent of Aarathma. The remaining elves split into three racial branches: the alders, the avari and the nandor. The alders and the avari settled in northwestern Pydwell, establishing the kingdom of Avarlell, while the nandor took to the wilderness, sticking to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had served them well for centuries.

### The Reclamation

#### Amateran Arrival

While Pydwell and its civilizations evolved, the amatera, saved from certain destruction by the Everlasting Dragons, began to rebel against their reptilian overlords, triggering a period called the Reclamation. With the aid of the World Serpent, Raiden Felldragon united the amatera behind him and freed his race from the Everlasting Dragons. With their world ruined and frozen over, Felldragon organized the largest exodus in human history: thousands of new human tribes, all allied as the Reclaimers, joined him on a voyage across the ocean, eventually stumbling upon Pydwell. The land they left behind became the Blackreach.

The first amateran landings on Pydwell occured in 1:3 - the fourth year of the Reclamation - somewhere along the northwestern coast in what is now the Kingdom of Bohaem; it is during this period that the name "Pydwell" first came into use to refer to the continent, with its translation being "Wind Swept" after the strong eastern wind that the continent is known for. Believing Pydwell to be a "promised land" gifted to humanity by the World Serpent, the Reclaimers agreed that all of the lands before them belonged to humanity by right. As the Reclaimers headed further inland they began to fracture and splinter off into various tribes and cultures that claimed different regions. Mass pogroms began where humans overthrew non-human kingdoms, quickly establishing humanity as Pydwell's dominant race.

## Geography & Environment

### General

Surrounded by the Ghost and Astralis oceans, Pydwell is separated from the Archipelgo by the Raag Ocean. Pydwell's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with frozen wasteland in the south, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the north-west. The Serric Desert makes up by far the largest portion of land and separates the kingdoms of Norgard and Sinder.

### South

The south of Pydwell is dominated by the Thalmonian Empire, a religious hegemony consisting of the former realms of Tarv, Niildard, Thalmonia and Kiin, as of the 12th century. Geographically, the south of Pydwell primarily consists of a series of plateaus and vast hills, with enormous mountain chains between the Empire and the Northern kingdoms. The longest of these mountains is the Gnawed Mountains, which separates the northern and southern realms.

Four peninsulas jut out of southern Pydwell into the Astralis Ocean; from the westernmost to the easternmost, they are the Thalos, Thule, Weeping and Kell Peninsulas.

### Islands

Pydwell is surrounded by a vast number of islands, most of which are tiny and uninhabited; the remaining islands are the size of entire mainland countries. The largest Pydwellian island is An Harg, located off the eastern coast of Norgard, closely followed by the distant Far Seen and Ard Shen. The kingdom of Illatorr off Pydwell's western coast is collectively the fourth-largest set of islands, followed by the fifth-largest island Ard Sheren. The island of Cydal is located to the southwest.

The Illatorr archipelagoThe island of CydalAn Harg, the largest island of PydwellFar Seen, the second-largest and second-farthest of Pydwell's many islands
## Kingdoms

### Araad

> *Main Article: Araad*
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Formerly the Province of Northern Sinder, Araad seceeded from Sinder in the early 12th century following a vote by its parliament.

### Archipelago

> *Main Article: The Archipelago*
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The proud nation of the Archipelago consists of three regions: the Ghost Islands, the Raag Isles, and the Saargal Isles. It is legendary, famous for the unrivaled corsairs and swift longships that sail many seas. Even though their relations with most of the North are always tense, to say the least, they are longtime allies of Norgard.

### Bohaem

> *Main Article: Bohaem*
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Bohaem is the second-oldest human kingdom of Pydwell and is located in the west of the continent. It is the second-largest nation after the United Kingdom; as a single kingdom, however, it is by far the largest. The country was founded by two human cultural groups, the Fents and the Engles, who sought to establish a realm independent of the Drakengard Empire. Since then, the Fents have seized almost absolute power over Bohaem, leaving the Engles with their city-state of Wesaxe, the largest city in Pydwell, in northern Bohaem. A second city-state, Lŷr, lies on a series of islands on Bohaem's western coast, and to the northeast lies the kingdom's sole autonomous province, the Grand Duchy of Vladland.

Bohaem is geographically diverse, with the Serric Desert to its north, the Bohaemian Plateau in its centre, and the Gnawed Mountains in the south; the Hertch Peaks - that is, the portion of the Gnawed Mountains within Bohaem - is home to Kaer Blyadd, headquarters of the Manticore Discipline of the Mercenary Guild of Draconis.

### Bwemer

> *Main Article: Bwemer*
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### United Kingdom

> *Main Article: United Kingdom*
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#### Kingdom of Medina

> *Main Article: Medina*
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Located in west-central Pydwell between the two Great Lakes, the Kingdom of Medina's economic and political power is rivalled only Niildard. Alongside Norgard, Medina makes up the United Kingdom.

#### Norgard

> *Main Article: Norgard*
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Norgard *("North Land")* is one of the two constituent kingdoms of the United Kingdom, alongside Medina. It is located on the northern and northeastern coasts of Pydwell, giving it significant naval power.

##### Harz

> *Main Article: Harz*
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The Free and Hanseatic City of Harz is the former capital city of Norgard before it gained independence by popular referendum.

### Thalmonian Empire

> *Main Article: Thalmonian Empire*
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The largest empire in Pydwell's history, the Thalmonian Empire is a cultural hegemony made up of several former southern kingdoms brought under the rule of Thalmonia and their religion, the Church of the Great Sun. It is located in the southern part of Pydwell and boasts both a thriving economy and a strong, well-trained army with talented commanders. It has expanded mostly through the conquest of foreign countries, which were then turned into provinces of the Empire.

#### Kiin

> *Main Article: Kiin*
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#### Niildard

> *Main Article: Niildard*
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#### Tarv

> *Main Article: Tarv*
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#### Thalmonia

> *Main Article: Thalmonia*
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Thalmonia is the core realm of the Thalmonian Empire and the home of the sole legal religion: the Church of the Great Sun.

### Sinder

> *Main Article: Sinder*
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### Historical

#### Avarlell

> *Main Article: Avarlell*
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The Kingdom of Avarlell was the home of the alders and was a mighty kingdom that stretched across the north of the continent. The kingdom was attacked by the Last Alliance of Drakengard, Bohaem, and Sinder, leading to the Collapse of Avarlell and marking the end of the Age of Madness. Within the next few decades, the alders were driven to extinction, but not before they supposedly cursed the humans sent to wipe out the last of their population, creating the legend of the Dead King and the Anathema.

## Regions

### Serric Desert

A hostile land sandwiched between Bohaem, Bwemer, Sinder and Norgard, the Serric Desert is the oldest and largest desert of Pydwell.

## Gallery

The snowy plains of the Gnawed MountainsThe Serric, Pydwell's largest desert
## Notable Factions

* Achipelagan Clans
* Anathema
* Black Blade Company
* Church of the Great Sun
* Circle of Magi
* College of Stormveil
* Crimson Rite
* Empyrean Church
* Everlasting Dragons
* Faceless
* Gesserit
* Hog
* Hollowborn
* House Felldragon
* House Keys
* Inquisition
* Knot
* Lŷrian Flame
* Northern Realms
* Omen
* Omenslayers
* Order of Wardens
* Skogarmaors
* Stringmaidens
* Thalmonian Empire
* White Orchid
* Wildlings
* Wild Lords

## Trivia

* At just over 13 million km2, mainland Pydwell has approximately the same land area as Siberia; the additional islands surrounding it bring the total land area up to just over 14 million km2.
* Pydwell is pronounced "Pie-dwell".