Lohwand: Mapping the Tharkallan Empire

 

The central Heartland Provinces:

Jharkor, Dharijor and Dharjiin,

Tharkallan Empire

It has been awhile since I last posted, but that does not mean that I have been entirely idle. I've been plugging away at a variety of things: my Armatura rules, background development and map-making. 

The above screencap shows some of the recent progress in three of the central "Heartland" Provinces of the Tharkallan Empire. Some may recognize Nemedia Province, to the east, with Belverus and Ilisi as its main cities. South of that is Voria Province, with Rinliddi as its capital, and also featuring Zoria, the "City of Free Love". As with so much of my inspiration, this comes from Glorantha, specifically the Life of Moonson series of supplements. I was so taken by the plot and by the characters that I have gone to great lengths to incorporate them. My hope is to build them into the running of Tharkalla - the development of my nobility, and Imperial bureaucracy, took a great leap forward when I decided to do this.

Southeast of Voria, down next to Vonlath, the province of Bisset is still largely unmapped. The only things I really know about it is 1) the capital is Yuthuppa and 2) that the province went into revolt as a result of the Comet passing during The Year of the Comet. 

Southwest of Voria is the Heartland Province of Jharkor, with the capital city of Thark (and the Imperial City-within-a-City of Glamour, and Vernkor, the associated port city.) 

I've added some geographic features not shown on my world maps. The Lake of Vermillion Mists is inspired by a blogger that I follow, and is lifted, not quite in its entirety from his blog: From the Sorcerer's Skull.

West of Jharkor is the Heartland Province of Dharjiin, with Jord, the Ebon City, as its capital. This is where I was tinkering today, adding the Shadow's Dance, the Shadow Vale and the Castle of Lead. All lifted from Glorantha and all Troll-related. Gloranthan Trolls remember - not the D&D variety!

North of Dharjiin is the Heartland Province of Dharijor, with Alkoth as its capital. Alkoth is the home, just as it is in Glorantha, to the bat-shit crazy, fanatical devotees of Shargash the Destroyer, God of War. What are they like? Hint: "Kill You" is the name of one of their auxiliary cohortes. Per Glorantha fluff, the Alkothi hate Darjiini! No "Happy Families" in the Heartlands! South of Alkoth is the Henjarl, a vast swath of reeds and marshes. Western Dharijor is the County of Spol, again inspired by Glorantha and specifically by the Life of Moonson Characters. Kitor is the capital of the County. To the west of that is Shadow's Dance, Troll country, nestled in the Rockwood Mountains. As one approaches the Shadow's Dance one notices the light gradually dims, even at high noon, until around Kitor and in the foothills there is perpetual dusk during the day. This is a magical effect and is attributed to the proximity to the Castle of Lead and the strong Troll presence in the region. For those that don't know, Gloranthan Trolls are Darkness creatures, originating in the Underworld. There are five Elements in Lohwand, just as there are in Glorantha: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Darkness. Darkness Elementals are called "Shades" and Shadow's Dance gets its name because it is said the shadows move there.

On the far side of the Rockwood mountains are the two Heartland Provinces of Kostaddi (in the North) and Karasal (with its capital at Torquas) in the South. I have only begun to think about developing these areas.

Also of interest on the map are some small diamond-shaped symbols. I am using this symbol to represent forts. In Dharjiin, Jharkor and Voria these are Amazon hillforts. 

These are once again inspired in part by Glorantha. In Lohwand Amazons are somewhat like Celts, warlike tribes with chariots and warbands of infantry and only a few cavalry. Though they resemble human females they are not, strictly speaking, human; or not entirely so, perhaps, is a better way of putting it. Possibly they are a branch of humanity. As in Glorantha they are strongly associated with Tolat, a God of War and Lust. Their entire biology relates to the God, and so it may be they are Children of the God, rather than actual humans. "God-Born", is that a good term to use?

(To further complicate matters Shargash and Tolat are often equated with each other.)

Tolati Amazons do not mate with human males. Instead their birth cycle is tied to the meteor showers, i.e. manifestations of the God, that occur twice a year. A certain number of Tolati will become pregnant during these events and will give birth a season later, with the young growing to maturity after another season. 

Like I said, they are not human, strictly speaking. Whether they were in the past is another question. Of course, the Comet is an extreme event, being strongly associated with Tolat and resulting in a rapid [unlooked for and unwanted] population increase.

Most of the Tolati Amazons are in the Atlan Confederacy, to the east, off the map: Ologog, Oronin and Oraya are their Queendoms. But, as you can see, there are Tolati within the Empire as well. This roughly parallels the Gauls in Northern Italy during Roman times.

For figures I am using the Artizan Guild 3d printed Amazons, which I am up-scaling 185% to match my Expeditionary Force 60mm Romans. Note that LOD also make Amazons, but a number of things put me off. Firstly, when I attempted to order a bunch the online store claimed they could not ship to Canada (!) - this even though I had ordered online once before - and second, the poses are all based very closely on the art of various Ancient Greek vases. I said "very closely" and I mean it - I personally do not find many of the poses to be that useful. I am still going to get some: there is an Amazon Greek faction on Lohwand, and I want to mix the horse archers in with my Scythians.

Another mapping development is the mountainous barbarian land of Dunland. Inspired by? You guessed it: Tolkien's Dunlendings. Dunland is located on a plateau and consists of several tribes with a High King. The eastern tribal stronghold of Wintertop was stolen and taken over by The Exiles, the former nobility of Nemedia who fled there when their kingdom was conquered and incorporated into the Tharkallan Empire as Nemedia Province. This is once again inspired by Glorantha. :-)

Dunland

Dorastor and the Bossonian Marches

Lastly, here is the map of Dorastor. Gloranthaphiles will recognise the name as well. In Glorantha, Dorastor is a region steeped in Chaos, and most of the inhabitants are tainted by Chaos in some way, and so it is in Lohwand. 

The Tharkallan Empire takes much the same view of Chaos as the Lunar Empire does on Glorantha, though I want to stress that the two are not equivalents. I want the Tharkallan Empire to also have a bit of Granbreton from Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon series, and also Melnibone from his Elric books. But right now, this is a bit of its Gloranthan inspiration. 

Dorastor is almost an unofficial province of the Empire. But the Bossonian Marches still exist to guard against the Chaos threat from Dorastor and also the Wenelian Forest Tribes that dwell in the Great Forest of Rist, off-map to the north. 

This is a work-in-process map. Shown are the forts garrisoned by auxiliaries like the Bossonian Longbowmen, and others. The southern river is the Oslir River, while the Black Eel River is the northern-most one. Beyond the Black Eel River is the Bush Range - another idea borrowed from Glorantha.

Here are the regions:

The Bossonian Marches

B1.1 to B1.6 East March

B2.1 to B2.x  River March (not shown yet)

B3.1 to B3.x  West March (not shown yet)

B4.1 to B4.x  The Bush Range (not shown yet)

Dorastor

D1.1 to D1.8 Hellwood

D2.1 to D2.6 Riskland

D3.1 to D3.3 Bonewood

D4.1 to D4.3 Ash Wastes

D5.1 to D5.5 West Poisonthorn

D6.1 to D6.5 East Poisonthorn

Orthanc

The Dorastor regions are much like their Gloranthan counterparts. Hellwood and Poisonthorn Forest are both inhabited by Elves, those in Hellwood bearing a chaos taint. Riskland is a region with a few hardy, and brave, Steaders.  Bonewood is a forest of petrified trees, while the Ash Wastes is as the name implies. 

Orthanc represents the only built-up area in the region, other than the Marcher Forts. Also called "The White Tower", it is a remnant of the Keoish Kingdom at a time when Chaos was thought vanquished from the area, but to guard against its return. It is still a place of powerful magic and so the chaos taint is almost nonexistent within its walls. 

The Lord of Orthanc is called Ralzakark - immediately recognizable to Gloranthaphiles! He takes the form of a Unicorn-headed Broo, typically clad in long white robes, and is as soft-spoken, and seemingly mild-mannered as any pampered, city-born aristocrat. He has a treaty with the Tharkallan Empire:

• Under that treaty he ensures that the Riskland homesteaders are not molested - at least not on a regular basis, nor by any of his own forces. 
• He also keeps open the old Keoish trade route north through the Great Forest of Rist, at least as far as the Last Fort, where some limited trade is conducted with Wenelian, and other forest tribes, such as the Tusk Riders. 
• He guarantees that Orthanc remains disease free. 
• Lastly - and this is not commonly known - he supplies legions of Sword Broo to serve in the Tharkallan armies in Granbreton. These are also guaranteed disease-free.

This is why I referred to Dorastor as an unofficial province of the Empire. This is all pretty much as in Glorantha, I think, with some tweaks here and there. 

Lohwand: Rivers of the Northlands

 

The Northlands

I only show eleven rivers in the entire Northlands, eight of them on the northern continent. There are, of course, many others too small to show at this scale - and as yet undiscovered for the most part, as I haven't developed much detail! I have added a few in the Tharkallan Heartlands Provinces as I develop them, and also a few large lakes as well.

Here are the names of the large rivers shown on the northern continent:

You might recognize some of the names! My usual sources: Middle Earth, Conan, Glorantha. The Drancus and the Drava are a tribute to the Albertine imagination campaign profiled in "Wargamer's Digest" articles over 40 years ago. The Ilisi river I think I actually came up with myself! ;-)

Lohwand: Mapping Tharkalla and its Neighbours

 

Adding cities, towns, and political boundaries

I've started detailing my maps, adding cities, towns and political boundaries. I'm hoping to borrow from the Fief Management system in Chaosium's Pendragon RPG to manage my nation's resources. I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, otherwise I can see it could easily become "work" -  and I don't want that.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pendragon, it is a role-playing game set in the Arthurian World, the world of Camelot, Sir Lancelot, and the Holy Grail. The game has two features I am planning on using because I think they could potentially be very useful. 

The first feature is the fief management system. This allows the player knight to run his own manor in a multi-generational campaign. He inherits it from his father, or is granted it by some lord. The game progresses in years (with chivalrous adventures in between) and during each year the manor has its harvest and may suffer both set-backs - in the form of raids, famine or plague - or years of peace and prosperity. The knight is aided by his Steward who makes a skill roll that modifies the harvest result. The harvest is also modified by the previous years harvest, and also by any raids or blights that might have occurred during the year. 

The second feature is the system used to define the characters in the game. Not so much the physical characteristics, as more nebulous traits known as Passions. These describe the character with a series of opposed traits that describe his/her personality. The Traits are: 

Chaste / Lustful 

Energetic / Lazy

Forgiving / Vengeful 

Generous / Selfish 

Honest / Deceitful

Just / Arbitrary 

Merciful / Cruel 

Modest / Proud

Pious / Worldly 

Prudent / Reckless 

Temperate / Indulgent

Trusting / Suspicious

Valorous / Cowardly

Each of the paired traits is assigned a number and the total of the two must always equal twenty. These numbers provide a way to determine how a character behaves by using a D20. In the Pendragon game, player knights act as their player wishes, but always using their traits as a guide; and occasionally the Gamemaster may force a player to roll against a trait to see if his knight acts against character. i.e. a roll against "Vengeful" when an enemy knight is trying to surrender, or a roll against "Lustful" when enthralled by a Temptress. 

In my opinion these traits are in many ways similar to the sort of thing Tony Bath developed for Hyboria. I will borrow from both resources for my Lohwand campaign. 

In Pendragon, the player knight typically manages a Manor. This is obviously far too low level for my purposes. I pondered what levels to use for a long time. Pendragon uses medieval divisions: Manors, Baronies, Counties, Duchies and Kingdoms. This I thought would work fine for the Shield Lands - dropping the lowest level (manors), of course. I eventually came up with three basic forms, depending on the nature of the Nation in question:

Feudal Kingdoms - i.e. The Shield Lands: 

Kingdom (King) - Duchy (Duke)  - and/or - County (Count or Earl) - Barony (Baron)

With the provision that there might be lesser or greater Kingdoms, i.e. a High King or the odd "Pennath" about.

Empires - i.e. The Tharkallan Empire, Dara Happa, Umbar:

Empire (Emperor) - Province (Provincial Governor) - Prefecture (Prefect) - Estate (Praetor)

Recognizing that the titles will vary with the nation concerned.

Tribal Kingdoms - i.e. The Atlan Amazons, and other Barbarians:

Kingdom (High King/Queen) - Tribe (King/Queen) - Clan (Chief)

Allowing that there may be sub-kingdoms within a larger kingdom.

Zoomed in @ 150%

Here is my mapping progress so far. I've started in Nemedia, a province on the eastern border of the Tharkallan Empire. Shown on the map are cities, towns, prefectures and estates. These latter use a notation P1.1, P1.2, etc. This notation indicates: first prefecture, first estate; first prefecture, second estate; and so on. The actual names will be in the record information; there is just not enough room on my map to include it. 

To the East is the Atlan Confederacy, tribal nations. Another tribal kingdom is Dunland, to the North. Also shown are the Exiles, who are the remnants of Nemedia's pre-Tharkallan regime. Imther, which would be in the North-east, is not yet started. Khauran and Khoraja, the two small areas within the Atlanian lands have been started, but more work to do there yet. Milii, a small Umbarite enclave and city is also shown in the South-east.

I have decided on four levels of urban centers: Large Cities, Cities, Small Cities and Towns. I am not showing anything smaller than a town. nor have I yet defined what each means, in terms of population, fortifications, etc. It is assumed that those on the coast or rivers are also Ports. Note that some of the towns shown were former cities in the Great Kingdom of Keoland (as posted previously); these are: Hestol, Tharda, and Gerdon.

Map Symbols

The intent is that each city/town symbol will be shown in colours related to those used to define the borders of the estates/clan fiefs. 

The map scale shown has 50 km divisions on the far right, and 5 km divisions on the left. 

The estates and clan fiefs are intended to represent approximately one 10-hour day travel distance by ox-cart; in other words, the distance the slowest element of any army is likely to move in a day. Now the areas shown are not of equal size, but I think that is acceptable as it takes into account the variable terrain or road conditions that I am not showing, that level of information being far too granular for my purposes. There is also an element of "if it works, go with it"!

Lohwand: The Lormyrian League

The Lormyrian League

This region is intended to be my Greek City State/Trojan War area. I had thought initially that I would call it the Ilmioran League, but then I remembered that I should let the stats determine that:

The Stats

Looking at these I decided that Lormyr was a better choice for the head of the League. Ilmiora has "lack of imagination" for both past and future which doesn't say "leadership" to me. However, "Duty" for the present implies that they might back a league with perhaps Lormyr at its head. Lormyr also has "lack of imagination" for the past, and "shallowness" for the present, but its virtue is "Recognizing the Larger Problem" - which in my mind is Tharkallan aggression, so that puts them on top, IMO.

I should note that when thinking things out I had already decided that Nemedia was the first of these city states to fall under the Tharkallan yolk. So there is a threat, even if it is not immediate.

The green highlighted areas are ones where the results imply possible conflict. In the case of Ilmiora I think I highlighted it because of the soldier/duty reference. I've since changed my mind andI don't think that this means Ilmiora is currently at war. There is "peril" as a virtue, which might mean that the Tharkallan conquest of Nemedia has awakened them to the need to do something.

The other two instances are Sylila and Kroy, which are adjacent to each other; you might have already guessed that Kroy is my version of Troy. And - straight up, no fudging by me - "destruction" is part of Kroy's past! And the fault is "energy sapped". Sylila on the other hand, has "war: great effort" as its fault and its past is "energy". 

My interpretation is that Sylila and Kroy have recently fought a war, ending with the sack of Kroy, which is now a client state of Sylila. Furthermore, Corlay has a fault of "decline" with "inexperience" in its past and "weakness" as the present, but with "rebirth" as its virtue. So my reading is that Corlay is related somehow to the Krojans and that probably survivors have taken refuge there, hence the rebirth. I am also tempted to also categorize Ossary as a related nation as well, but their stats were so lackluster as to suggest they had first failed to aid the Krojans and then  probably turned any away that showed up at their shores. I do note that Ossary's future is "recognizing the larger problem" so perhaps they will support the league. Sylila's future is "indulgence" which I think means they are riding high after their victory and are likely to give the league short-shrift, even if they do nominally support it; Kroy's future is "nuture", which I take to mean that they are licking their wounds and no doubt plotting their revenge. Their virtue of "ceasing fruitless labour" seems to reinforce this view.     

Lohwand: a First Look at the Southlands

The Southlands 

(unfinished)

Here is a look at the unfinished Southlands map. I decided to expand southwards because I wanted to expand Haradwaith and Stygia a bit, and also because I had places - and ideas for factions - that I hadn't used in the Northlands map. The Isles of the Ethereal Bells, for example, originally from the Judge's Guild "City State of the Invincible Warlord" maps ("Wilderlands of High Fantasy").

Its not finished. I need to expand that eastern mountain range southwards, and add some more major rivers, among other things.

I've also started "drilling down" - or "Zooming In" - and doing detail maps of regions, adding national borders. 

The Atlan Confederacy

(unfinished)

The Shield Lands

(unfinished)

Like Tony Bath, in his Hyborian Campaign, I am mixing eras, but I am also adding a bit more fantasy and allowing magic. Also note that, per Arthur C. Clarke, and in regards to early gunpowder weapons: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

On the large map "Baradur - the Cannon Cult" is shown. This is straight out of Greg Stafford's Glorantha (and Dragon Pass board game). In that the Cannon Cult is one of The Dwarf's gifts: a sect of human servitors who worship their great cannons as gods, the massive guns being drawn by blind cave-oxen. In my campaign, the Cannon Cult is a mercenary unit that can be hired out to various factions. The massive cannons all have names like Hellmouth, Deathspitter, Hellroarer, and similar. Baradur is also the source of the arquebus and jezzails used by some factions (in strictly limited numbers, of course.) These are all considered magical units in the campaign.

Regarding the mixing of eras, the Shield Lands is a series of Medieval kingdoms. Their principal adversaries are themselves, Thule (Vikings) and the barbarian tribes that ring their territories. A related faction, Dol Amroth does indeed have Swan Knights, which under my interpretation are something like the Knights of St. John. Maybe I will get a chance to do the "Siege of Malta" at some point! :-)

Ologog, Oronin, and Oraya comprise the Atlan Confederacy, and are Amazons. They were set up to be my primary "good" faction to fight the Tharkallan Empire, my primary "evil" faction. However, being "limited by the counter mix" the conflicts are probably going to occur elsewhere first, as I build up my forces. 

Also, per the Everway cards, the initial conflicts are pre-determined to a certain extent. Subject to my interpretation of the card results. For example, that snapshot of my spreadsheet (see below) shows the results for the Confederacy:

Everway Fortune Card results

I did a reading for the Confederacy as a whole and then for each country. The cards predict "War with Honour" in the Future, presumably with the ever-expanding Tharkallans. Oronin has "Destruction" in its Past, and the Present is "The Soul Prevails". I think I am going to interpret this as a civil war which tore the country apart, but has now been resolved. I'm thinking this was probably as the result of some dastardly Tharkallan intrigue. It also means I have a justification for using amazon allies - the losing faction - with possible Tharkallan forces in the upcoming war. I also note that the Present for Ologog is "Treachery"; what's that about I wonder?

This is why I really like the Everway Fortune deck: so much a source of inspiration. 

I suppose one might use a typical tarot deck, but I suspect the Everway deck has been slanted specifically towards gaming. Another example: the results for Umbar, which in my mind is my version of Carthage, shows its Fate as "Destruction"! I swear I did not fiddle the results in any way. This is straight up how it turned out!

Lohwand Updated

Lohwand Map

(updated June 28, 2020 - twice!)

I realized almost immediately that the map I posted yesterday was not the most current, and I've just been making changes again, so here is the latest version of Lohwand.

Latest update at 20:26 today. 

My Lohwand Campaign Map: Created in PowerPoint

Lohwand

A friend used to always say that PowerPoint was "the poor man's graphic program" and he was right! This is a map of Lohwand, or at least its current iteration. I've decided to give 54mm Toy Soldiers a go, and have decided to do something akin to Tony Bath's Hyboria campaign from way-back-when.

As you can see by glancing at the place names, I've shamelessly stolen from a great many sources, be they Fantasy and Sci/Fi writers or role-playing games: Tolkien's "Middle Earth", MAR Barker's "Tekumel", Burrough's "John Carter of Mars", the "World of Greyhawk", Greg Stafford's "Glorantha", Michael Moorcock's Elric, Corum and Hawkmoon sagas, plus others. Some are from authors whose names I forget, and a few are even my own invention.

What is All Mine is the map, which as you can see, looks vaguely like Europe and the Mediterranean, only I didn't want to bother with a few thousand miles of Asia so I cut right through to the Far East. Its got "goodies" and "baddies", Law and Chaos, major protagonists and minor.

The map is made in PowerPoint. I sized the page to be 34" tall by 54" wide to give me plenty of space and went to work with the freehand drawing tool. I built it up in bits that are layered over one another. Using the fill tool I worked out a colour palette to show the major terrain types: generic open country, deserts, marshes, plains/steppes, dense forests or jungle, hills, high mountains, lakes, rivers and sea, plus active volcanoes.

I used the draw order tools to put things on top or in back as needed. The main background is a full sized rectangle set to be the very back/bottom of everything else. I added the red border to allow me to hide rough edges and give me something to align the edge bits against. Using edit shapes and selecting the edit points I could alter the freehand shapes as I needed, zooming in to 100% to make the task easier. Then checking how things looked by playing a slideshow. And not forgetting to Save Often. Nor the undo button, especially if I accidentally moved something. A proper graphics program would have a way to "lock" items in place, and maybe PowerPoint does, but I haven't figured it out yet.

This is still a work in progress, but I think the next step is to start detailing various areas. Maybe make a copy of the slide and focus on one area, deleting the rest and enlarging it to the size of the whole slide. Or perhaps take a screen cap of an area and use it as a background to layer more detailed information on top of.

If I tell you that the Tharkallan Empire is some sort of Dark Fantasy Roman Empire then there are enough clues on the map to work out most of the other protagonists. They "Celts", "Germans", "Greeks", "Persians", etc. Not everything is straight forward, of course, and I'm playing somewhat loose with timelines and "tech levels". I've always had an idea to play a campaign with the same areas and/or countries through all the various eras of history. Of course the details of the regions change but broadly speaking the landscape would remain roughly the same. So for this project I am thinking four or five  "Ages" - apologies to Tolkien!

First Age - The Age of Magic (with early gunpowder counting as "magic");
Second Age - The Age of Gunpowder (Pike & Shot);
Third Age - The Age of Reason (Horse & Musket);
Fourth Age - The Age of Invention (19th Century);
Fifth Age - The Age of Destruction (early 20th Century).
Sixth Age - The Age of Science (Sci/fi);
Seventh Age - The Age of Apocalypse (Mad Max or similar).

OK, that's Seven "Ages", but really they are all theoretical seeing as I am at the very start of number one.

For rules, I am thinking something with smallish unit sizes, so Studio Tomahawk's "Saga: Age of Magic", or Warlord Games' "Warlords of Erewhon", or one of the "Lion/Dragon Rampant" or "Pikeman's Lament" series of rules from Osprey. Or any of a dozen other less well known options. Its likely to be a solo affair, so I might cobble together my own set of rules as well. I need to look at my various Peter Pig rules again; they have a lot of good ideas in those rules, regardless of era!

At the moment, however, I'm more-or-less settled on "Saga: Age of Magic" and have been planning my factions based on those rules for fighting the battles. With modifications, of course! I've already been tinkering with the factions lists. I'll be ignoring some of the restrictions and adding some things of my own.

The "Tharkallan Empire" is being set up to be my main "evil" protagonist with the "Atlan Confederacy" (Amazons) as the main "good" protagonist. Tharkalla is patterned after Rome and I intend to use the Expeditionary Force figures, despite them being 60mm. I reckon they are just taller folk; obviously they are not patterned that closely on Ancient Rome! Ilmiora and Vilmar, and the others close by, are all going to be "Greek City State" proxies. Nemedia is, in my backstory, the first of the city states to be incorporated into the Empire. I decided to use the name "Nemedia" mainly so I could have my own "Nemedian Chronicle" as a sort of "Campaign Diary".

Anyway, that's where I got to so far. Lots more to do.