Pyrth

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> "Stay clear of the bog, don’t make trouble with the locals, and keep on the damn road. If you have any sense, going through shouldn’t be an issue.” Lee Calehort, Senior Courier of the Envoy’s League.
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## Geography

"Not every little knob or grove has a name, unlike the West or South. It's probably just going to be "the wood behind Lod's Inn" or "the mounds". Anyway, the hills are dangerous, woods are dangerous, swamp is dangerous. Stay behind your walls and palisades, it's safe not to go out unless you know the land."

Jasper of Braedon.

## Settlements

"Any settlement you see on the map of Pyrth are just belated hamlets. I wouldn't even consider them towns. They either have a bit of interesting quirk or have a few hundred people more than the neighboring backwoods dorp. Braedon's a nice place to go if you want to loose your hard earned gold in a luck hall. They are banned everywhere else, unfortunately. Lordskeep is where the Grand Lord lives, the Magistrates live, and the Castellan. So obviously, it's hated by most of the other little villages. When you think about Leperton, the name says all you'll ever need to know. I made the mistake of going there once, I met a fellow named the Plagued King, and quickly left the way I came. Widow's Crossing has the lengthy name from an old legend of a woman's husband who got killed in the Brosanid Tour. She's still supposed to be alive which is horse shit. Fortitude has come across a bit of prosperity for what was once a bunch of tents and an inn. I got a pair of shoes mended well there. The new Elder is a non-confrontational devotee to the Grand Lord, take of that what you want. Thornick is smaller and less off than Lordskeep, though relatively big compared to say Mernon or Rookthorp, though even the Grand Lord takes heed on what the Tribunal says. The cheese there isn't bad. The people there are not to be trifled with. Um, Mernon's ruled by some Druid or what not and I'll tell you the rest tomorrow, I'm tired."

Anonymous

## History

At the height of the Age of Oneir, when the Holy Kingdom of Indrid stretched from Haverin City to Steedflame, Pyrth remained untouched. The Leer empire was approaching it downfall. King Avan was planning on fleeing, and his once loyal Viscounts were being executed or revolting themselves. Throughout this turmoil, Pyrth remained untouched. Leer finally collapsed around 1900 AO. The Kingdoms of Inner Ennebrin began to emerge, with Lormeir as the catalyst Kingdom. Pyrth on the other hand, remained untouched. As Brenhalt the Brave conquered the Banner Houses, and the Honored Queen of Tollins drove out the Wilduns, Pyrth remained stagnant and untouched.

Like a stagnant pool of water, Pyrth does not change. The people do not like change.

We know this information from folk tales and old whispers.

When Leer fell and the viscounts established themselves as new Kings or were beheaded, Pyrth was ignored. A vastly unimportant swath of swamp, full of backward folk. This was the way the people of Pyrth liked it; they did not want any outsiders. As this went on, there was a change of leadership in Pyrth. The Archdruid of Pyrth, The Great Stag, told his loyal followers he must leave on a spiritual journey. The Great Stag set up a tribunal in the Old Ways of Three.

The Archdruid appointed a Warrior to defend his people, a Sage to appease the Gods, and a Scout to lead the way. This Tribunal rules over Pyrth from the village of Thornick. There is not much over to rule. Across the Telen lake was the fishing village of Mernon, almost as old as Thornick. Nearby was the quaint village Lindton, which has not yet been corrupted by disease. To the north, on the mouth of the river, was the small little hamlet of Crossing. This was all of civilized Pyrth, more than a thousand years ago and it was a sparse and lonely place. Men cowered behind their walls and stakes and palisades. Farmers would never harvest their crops without swords to protect them. To hunt in the wood or forage from the swamp would be a death sentence. Women clutched their babes close to their chest, and did not let them out of sight, even to play. For beyond walls, and stakes and palisades and ditches were Spirits. Yes, yes, I know what you think. Pagan talk, witchcraft talk. But I have been across Inner Ennebrin. I have seen the Great Tree of Tollins, I’ve feasted from the table of the Black Duke of Brosa, and I’ve ridden with the Crow Guard in Dor Aven. I am not a superstitious man, but the Fae and the Dae fill the ancient woods and bogs of Pyrth. Do not scoff at an old man. I only speak the truth.

It is the year 1930, Age of Oneir, Age of the God of the West. The Great Stag, Archdruid of Pyrth, who has protected the land for decades has left. Some say he abandoned Pyrth. It does not matter. What matters is that the Spirits reigned freely in the wood. These Spirits and the wild men and women danced and roamed and came dangerously close to the borders of the other Kingdoms. But they stayed within Pyrth. The brutish Bogeymen, the cunning Horned Men, the little Witchlings, the mysterious Leshen, the devious Rusalka, the Daemons and Faeries, they made Pyrth dangerous if not interesting. The Pyrthians traded with them, they spoke and ate with them, they befriended the Spirits. But what made the Pyrthians not dare to venture into the bog or forest, were the Great Spirits. The Old Ones. The Bloody Ones of Wood and Stone. He Who Knows the Name of All Things, who listened and watched. She Who Whispers, blowing harsh wind through the trees that spoke in a dark tongue. The Watcher in the Wood, who made the leaves of the trees open up with bloody eyes, and who caused blindness and rot in men’s eyes and brain. The Sher’a, known as the Black Mother, who caused babies to be stillborn, and gave children pox. Of course, there is the Tree that Talks, the Worm that Walks, and the others.

Some spoke of Wild Gods. I know it is bad to speak of them, Him of the Grove, the Horned King, and the others… but to understand Pyrth you must understand their superstition.

The Pyrthians believe in the Great Spirits, and they believe in the Strawmen and the Gnome folk. Let’s go back to history. It is 2000, the dawn of a millennium. The Scholar’s Calendar had not yet been established, but 2000 thousands year have passed since the arrival of humans on this continent. Yet Pyrth has not changed much since the humans arrived in the putrid swamps. Yet with their druid gone, their are whispers.

**WIP More To Come**