Former Kingdom of Kinnog

A small jungle covered region north of Orc’eire, Kinnog was once a dwarven kingdom based around several major gold deposits, but the gold is now mined out, and the remaining dwarves reduced to small clans of sheep herders, bandits, and thieving nomads.

Alongside the dwarves, the area is now home to a mix of humans, drow, and sea elves among others. Most descend from exiles and persecuted minorities.

There is no central government, each town or village is essentially independent. The area is nearly economically worthless, and the few attempts to absorb it into larger nations abandoned due to high cost.

The area is too stormy and dangerous to attract much legitimate shipping, but some small scale fishing, piracy, and smuggling occurs. Likewise, the land is too rocky for anything other than small scale animal herding and jungle/swamp foraging. The main sources of wealth are shipwreck scavenging, wealth brought in by foreign exiles, and enslaving orcs from Orc’eire, though ironically, Kinnog is also a major source of slaves for Orc’eire.

## **History**

This region has changed hands on countless occasions, and at various points throughout its history have belonged to the Ancient Western Elf Empire, several iterations of the Ancient Azan Empire, the Kinnog Dwarves, and a string of Drow nations. However, aside from the dwarves, all the previous rulers of this realm have considered it a worthless peripheral territory, good only perhaps for a few coastal forts to protect trade routes. The drow city-state of Benzovarr was the last coherent nation to claim control of this area, but Benzovarr pulled its forces out over a century ago to focus on other matters, leaving behind a scattering of small plantations and villages.

## **Government**

Each community is essentially independent, and ruled by whoever is able to muster the most fighters, whether it be a dwarf clan chieftain, Hydra’s Eyes alchemist, exiled drow or human noble, pirate captain, or Three Sisters slaver. Most communities consist of crude huts built in and around ancient forts and mines, but a few modern villas and forts exist as well.

## **Economy**

Trade is fairly minimal. Some ships from Calcabra stop in Kinnog on the way to and from lands to the east, but most ships from Calcabra travel northwards instead. White Death production was a boom industry for a few years, but then new plantations were built closer to Moreelse, with the remaining ones in Kinnog mostly supplying Calcabra.

Supporting jungle expeditions (many of them secretly Hydra’s Eyes operations) is also a moderate source of income in some communities, as is supporting Triarchy and drow slaving expeditions to Orc’eire.

Piracy and smuggling operations are not uncommon, mostly targeting Calcabra shipping. The stormy coastal waters also lead to many shipwrecks, and maritime salvaging is popular and profitable.

Probably the biggest source of wealth is coin and jewelry brought with the exiled elite of other nations. Nobles from the drow city-states, Azan, Calcabra, and beyond sometimes go to ground here. Some are robbed blind on their first week, but many are hardened rebels and criminals who arrive with their own fighters, and a strong grasp of dealing with unstable situations. Some become pirates, others middlemen in smuggling and slavery operations, and others simply pay well to ensure their life in exile is comfortable.

Farming and fishing is mostly subsistence level, with some surplus sent to the larger communities. Coastal communities rely mostly on fishing, with some agriculture (pigs, chickens, bananas, breadfruit, rice, sugarcane and rum) and foraging (swamp melon, mud eels, giant leeches). Inland communities (mostly dwarven) rely more on sheep farming in ancient meadows, or subterranean mushroom farming).

## **Foreign Relations**

### *Orc’eire*

The communities of Orc’eire and Kinnog have been raiding each other for slaves for ages. Relations are poor.

### *Red Lotus Congregation*

The Cult has little interest in Kinnog and the feeling is mutual, though some runaways from the Cult end up in Kinnog, which has gradually soured relations.

### *Calcabra*

Calcabra is aware that drug smugglers and pirates operate out of Kinnog, but have made only sporadic raids against the communities they see as the worst offenders.

### *SonQo Temples*

Besides a few dwarf clans and explorers, few in Kinnog are even aware of the SonQo temples, but those that are generally avoid them.

### *Moreelse*

Officially Kinnog is of little interest to Moreelse aside from some “harmless scholars and archaeologists”, unofficially, the Hydra’s Eyes Syndicate is quite powerful in Kinnog, though they generally ignore anything that isn’t a threat to their operations, and in fact have investments in certain pirate and slaving operations.

### *The Triarchy*

Slavers from the Triarchy use Kinnog as a base to capture orcs from Orc’eire and the Kinnog Jungles. Slavers also sometimes attack the smaller communities of Kinnog itself, but it is generally not seen as worth it given that many Kinnog communities have powerful secret allies.

### *Terpsythea*

Officially Kinnog is far too unimportant to be of interest to the elite in Hithlone, but unofficially some councilors are customers of its slaving operations (via the Triarchy) or in the pocket of the Hydra’s Eyes.

### The Drow

The drow withdrew from Kinnog over a century ago, and show little interest in going back. A few drow slaving and smuggling rackets are believed to operate through middlemen in Kinnog, but likely only for high value goods.

## **Geography**

Kinnog is a foul, bug infested stretch of salt marsh, rock, and jungle.

The coastal areas are predominantly rocky ridges and small, extinct volcanoes separated by sandbars, salt marsh, and patches of jungle scrub. Inland is mostly the same, though the terrain is a bit more smooth, thus supporting some larger patches of jungle and a few hilltop meadows. In the highest regions, a few forests of red leafed trees thrive, imported from the far east.

## **Demographics**

Several different races can be found in Kinnog, including:

### *Humans*

From pretty much any ethnicity found in the west and southwest. Most still retain their old cultures, or get assimilated into the dominant culture in their village, but the old blood members of a particular community often develop their own strange traditions, worshipping strange sea spirits, believing in obscure superstitions, and sometimes even retaining bits of drow culture for those who descend from slaves.

### *Dwarves*

The remaining dwarves live in small, inbred clans. As they likely descend from former drow slaves, many seem a bit slow in the head compared to other dwarves, either living simple lives in the ruins of their ancestral homes, or living among the coastal communities with other races, though some of the more enterprising individuals try to make a living via petty theft, banditry, or joining pirate crews or becoming loyal enforcers.

### *Drow and Half-Drow*

Few pureblood drow live in Kinnog. Those that do live in caves and other sheltered places, and often rely on lackeys to serve them in the daylight. But drow are a fearsome race, and those in Kinnog are often the most dangerous kind of exile, almost inevitability high in the Kinnog pecking order no matter what they do to make a living. Half-drow are far more common. Although rare elsewhere, in Kinnog they make a significant portion of the population in some communities, and their appearance is rarely seen as noteworthy. Half-drow tend to assimilate into human communities unless they still have ties to the drow.

### *Half-Elves*

Generally hailing from Calcabra, western half-elves are among the last remnants of the almost forgotten Western Elf Empire. Long-lived, attractive, and intelligent, they are generally high status individuals in their homeland with little reason to come to Kinnog, though a recent power struggle in Calcabra has resulted in several hundred being dumped in Kinnog by unsavory smugglers.

### *Sea Elves*

The sea elves in Kinnog are said to descend from traitors who sided with the drow in some ancient war. They worship a cynical and bitter drow outcast god, and tend to be loners who make a living diving for shells, or scouting for pirates, smugglers, or slavers.

### *Eel-Folk*

Believed to be an offshoot of the now lost merfolk race, eel-folk mostly prefer to mind their own business, but find land dwellers fascinating, and can sometimes be bartered with.

### *Raider Races*

A catch-all term for semi-feral savages that live in the jungle. Some like the orcs and bugbears are believed to be native to the area, others likely descend from imported slaves. Usually seen as little more than monsters, though most communities have at least a few that have partially assimilated to “civilized” life. They are also a common sight among pirate crews, jungle bandits, and criminal enforcers.

## **Religion**

Mostly whatever the followed in their nation of origin, but some of the more criminal minded communities follow the Tri-Saints of Lust, Greed, and Wrath, and a few odd shamanistic traditions have sprung up in the more remote communities.

## **Military**

No central military, but most communities have a hardened militia to deal with raids and disorder, as well as creatures from the jungle like orcs, goblins, bugbears, ogres, trolls, hydra's eyes, and jungle dryad.