Sniden

**Sniden** is a strange land with even stranger people. It's occupied by deformed humans, ogres, elves, halflings and hobbits, who despite all, somehow live in total harmony.

It's ruled by a giant worm-like creature with the head of a human being. This creature, known as "God-Emperor Adonis" by its inhabitants, has been around for a long, long, time. There have been mentions of this God-Emperor by the Elves of Elfwood almost 3000 years ago.

The manworm can speak every language in the world and has the abillity of prescience, being able to predict events before those happen. The inhabitants of Sniden worship the manworm as a God and offer him daily tribute, although it's useless to him.

The council of Sniden consists of caterpillar men who spend most of their day smoking hookah, inhaling a drug known as "scatterweed" that's said to be able to give its smoker the abillity to see glimpses of the future.

Trade is almost non existent in Sniden and only happens between villages and towns. Outsiders avoid this queer place, seeing nothing of worth in its grotesque inhabitants.

God-Emperor Adonis has been warning the people of Sniden of the "Krazylek", the imminent struggle between the ultimate forces of good versus evil that would lead to the end of the world as we know it.

## History

The region that is now Sniden has historically been associated with the Faerie Lords and the First Elven Empire in its various iterations, but was never an important part of the Elven Empire and instead was mostly home to vassal Westerling human tribes. At first, these humans were content to put up with Faerie Lord rule, but after seeing the success of the manogre rebellions, they decided to launch their own rebellion, first fighting against the manogres, and later with the manogres against the Faerie Lords.

This led to the creation of the human nation of Waldemaria, which in time fell under attack from waves of Northmen invaders and migrants who eventually formed the Zapalovach Republic.

Sniden was a minor Waldemaria barony which became even more desolate due to the large number of border conflicts that occurred there between Waldemaria and Zapalovach. It likely would have remained a disputed borderland if it wasn’t for the arrival of the Faerie Lord Adonis.

A powerful but secretive Faerie Lord, he was one of the guiding forces behind the Elven Empire for millennia, but didn’t become well known until after the Battle of Empires, when he got caught up in a political struggle that brought his name to the attention of the major human nations. It is unclear when Adonis broke ties the Elven Empire, but he showed up in Sniden roughly two thousand years ago and was easily able to seize control of the region with a small but powerful band of followers.

Since then, his rule of Sniden has largely been unchallenged, with Waldemaria and Zapalovach content to use Sniden as a buffer state, and the manogre tribes and later Mossovoy paying unusual respect to his power.

## Government

**Adonis** (referred to as the God-Emperor in Sniden) essentially rules over a fanatical cult made up of individuals who see him as uniquely able to avert future disasters via his clairvoyant abilities. His chief lieutenants are the Wolbede, caterpillar like men that were likely created by Adonis himself.

The inhabitants of Sniden are nearly all users of the drug scatterweed, made from a widespread plant that is said to have only shown up in Sniden after Adonis did. Most users become scatter minded and compliant, but some develop savant level thinking abilities, and a few develop mystical abilities.

Although to outsiders it may seem the followers of Adonis lack the ranks, titles, and bureaucracy normally found in authoritarian organizations, in their own way, the Adonis Cult is one of the most authoritarian organizations in the world, with the addle minded following the savants without question, the savants following those with clairvoyance without question, and all of them following the orders of Adonis’s inner circle without question, though Adonis himself rarely takes interest in all but the most critical issues.

## Economy

There is no capitalism here. The lesser followers of Adonis distribute their goods based on the instructions of more senior followers. Excess goods are often given to the most senior follower in the area as tribute (whether they need the item or not), or are left at makeshift shrines to Adonis.

Most goods produced in Sniden are low quality, but the savants are sometimes skilled craftmen or inventors.

## Foreign Relations

### **Waldemaria** and **Zapalovach**

They are content to let Sniden serve as a buffer between their two nations. Most people in both nations see the inhabitants of Sniden as drug-addled lunatics and freakish half-breeds, though Adonis has a few followers in both nations (rarely scatterweed users, instead those who respect his wisdom and prophetic abilities).

**Mossovoy**

The Vzdoruye have been trying to forge closer ties with Sniden for years as they see Adonis as a messenger of Zanzarah. However, Adonis seems ambient about them, and only provides insights to them when it serves his own purposes.

### **Petty Manogre Princedoms**

They generally fear Adonis’s abilities, but that doesn’t stop them from sometimes raiding Sniden. On other occasions, Adonis hires them as mercenaries, though he prefers to use his own manogre followers.

### **Elfwood**

It's still ruled by many of the same Faerie Lords that drove Adonis into exile. Although they dislike him, they respect his abilities, and sometimes aid him as long as they don’t feel they are being manipulated into taking losses for the greater good of other nations.

### **Hereby**

Hereby gets along fairly well with Sniden, mostly because there are some family ties between hobbits in Hereby and hobbits in Sniden, and the Sniden hobbits are generally the most normal of Adonis’s followers.

### **Fairy Woods**

The Fairy Woods and Sniden do have some minor linkages, mostly due to old ties between Adonis and Brambleghora. Senior followers of the two have been known to help each other out on occasion.

## Geography

Sniden has a cold climate, and is covered in mixed forest. In some area, massive mushrooms grow. It is sparsely inhabited and most inhabitants live in crudely built hamlets and homesteads.

## Demographics

### Humans

They Make up the majority of the population and are mostly of Westerling descent, with a few Northmen. Their closest relatives are the humans in Waldemaria and Zapalovach, both of whom feel the Sniden humans have essentially allowed themselves to be enslaved by Adonis. Some humans in Sniden have strange builds or odd deformities, which are typically seen as the result of having some non-human ancestry or due to magical alterations done to them or their ancestors.

### Elves

When he went into exile, Adonis brought with him a number of elves of various sorts (wood elves, bearded elves, horned elves, drow, half-elves, etc.). They tend to be among Adonis’s more senior followers.

### Halflings, Mongrels, and Fake Humans

In most regions, “Halfling” is synonymous with “Hobbit”, but in Sniden it usually refers to human-halfling hybrids or human-ogre hybrids that aren’t odd enough looking to be considered “Fake Humans” or “Mongrels”. “Fake Humans” tend to have both human, hobbit, and ogre ancestry, while “Mongrels” tend to have gnome, goblin, and/or animal-kin ancestry as well as human, hobbit, and/or ogre. Many of them are long time inhabitants, but some arrived more recently, drawn to the sense of purpose provided by Adonis, or perhaps simply fleeing discrimination in other lands.

### Hobbits

Hobbits are fairly common in Sniden. They are often considered the most “normal” inhabitants as hobbits are innately resistant to scatterweed. Some are fanatics of Adonis anyways, while others are long-time inhabitants that see no reason to move. Hobbits tend to fill a useful niche in between the addle minded and the savants as messengers, craftsmen, and specialty farmers.

### Ogres

Although relatively rare in Sniden (though more numerous proportionally than in any other civilized land), even having a few in a village will make a major impact as each can eat, work, and fight at the same rate as several men of other races. Almost all are manogres (also known as manskin ogres), generally considered the most civilized of the ogre races, not that that is saying much. Ogres that aren’t heavy users of scatterweed are often seen as a threat to others in Sniden.

### Wolbede

These caterpillar-like fey are few in number but very politically powerful in Sniden. They often rule settlements and form ruling councils in larger regions due to their mystical powers and close association with Adonis.

### Miscellaneous Fey

A few other fey and fey associated races can be found in Sniden, including gnomes, goblins, animal-kin, dryads, and nymphs.

## Religion

Most people in Sniden worship Adonis as a powerful, all-knowing god, though some just see him as a really wise Faerie Lord and an example to be followed.

The general premise of the Adonis religion is that he is uniquely able to pick the strands of fate that will allow the world to avoid various major disasters. The most recent prophecies relate to the “Krazylek”, an epic battle between good and evil that Adonis’s followers claim only he can safely navigate.

Outside his core group of fanatics in Sniden, Adonis has some followers elsewhere in the world who just see him as a powerful Faerie Lord whose visions should be respected.

Many others in the northeast of the world acknowledge the validity of his visions, but don’t trust him to accurately represent the pluses and minuses for each faction or nation that would result in assisting him in manipulating fate. Adonis has a tendency of misrepresenting things for the “greater good” though it is unclear how he weighs the well-being of one individual over another.

## Military

Sniden doesn’t have much of a military. On the rare occasions Sniden comes under direct attack, Adonis uses his lesser followers as poorly equipped fodder (particularly the manogres) to slow opponents down while other followers (guided by the visions of Adonis or his followers with mystical abilities) deliver the fatal blow.

For his countless operations outside Sniden to manipulate fate, Adonis relies on a small but widespread network of hidden fanatics, foreign sympathizers, aspiring clairvoyants, old associates who owe him favors, mercenaries, and manipulated dupes.