| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Demzer |
Posted - 24 Dec 2013 : 15:46:43
I'm going over my sources for the Shining Plains region and i'm confused by Urml. The confusion arises because the infamous Swords of the Iron Legion claims that Urml is a human village of artisans and scholars in the Orsraun Mountains while The Vilhon Reach states it as being a grippli village in the Wetwood.
Normally i would ignore the reference in the infamous source but my problem is that the Wetwood is home to feral lizardfolks that kill anything else on sight and i have a hard time picturing a community of grippli surviving there. On the other hand i have a hard time imagining a small village of scholars and artisans surviving in the mountains on its own against the goblinoids and dragons that infest the Orsrauns.
Any help? |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 24 Dec 2013 : 21:39:57
If I remember correctly from SotIL the Grippli of the area wield smokepowder weapons - though I could easily be confusing the source with Gold and Glory. |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 24 Dec 2013 : 19:58:06
Perhaps the human scholars/artisans reside within a monastic fortress near the grippli village, in a sort of odd mutually beneficial arrangement? The humans could provide access to manufactured goods, knowledge, medicine, steel, magic, and trade; while the grippli could provide raw resources, food, labour, and fierce warriors. More impossible things have happened, and it‘s a way to explain an advantage these Urmlites have in surviving their unhospitable region.
Although Markus‘s solution is workable, too. It doesn‘t even strictly require that the human settlement be destroyed - the humans could prefer to remain largely anonymous to the world, able to pursue their own (evil?) agendas uninterrupted. |
| Demzer |
Posted - 24 Dec 2013 : 18:35:43
Oh well, no definitive answer means i can go with a village split in two parts (one in the mountains and one in the bogs) with human scholars and grippli teaming together for protection.
Don't know elsewhere but here in Italy we have a lot of XXXX Alto and XXXX Basso (meaning "High XXXX" and "Low XXXX" respectively, with relation to the geographic position) to point to settlements that share the same name but are located at different altitudes (one on the mountains and the other in a valley, one on a hill and the other on nearby plains ecc...).
So i would come up with High Urml that's the human settlement and Low Urml that's the grippli settlement, they are very close and they share a multi-racial militia for protection.
This way i can have the grippli surviving against the lizardfolk due to superior weapon-making (thanks to the crafters of High Urml) and the humans surviving against the goblinoids with a little extra muscle granted by the grippli warriors.
Does this sound too unreasonable? |
| Markustay |
Posted - 24 Dec 2013 : 16:34:28
On my maps, I have taken to using the 'ruins' icon for the older, human settlement, which I presume was destroyed during the war detailed in SotIL.
In fact, the FRIA even changed the name slightly - the human settlement was called Ermul. Homebrew: When the grippli moved into the region they named their settlent Urml (being illiterate, the spelling really didn't matter). Thus, texts (our FR sources) inaccurately use the newer grippli spelling when referring to the older human settlement in the same area.
I tried to correct some of the weirdness of SotIL in some other thread once. We theorized that one of Yamun Kahan's sons (or generals) carried out a small campaign against the Old Empires (it didn't get very far), and that one of his sub commanders (the Khan in that module) fled from a lost battle into the Akanamere region, wherein his entire army was swallowed-up by an ancient portal (possibly Sarrukh in origin?) that they accidentally triggered. They appeared several hundred miles to the west, in the region of Serpent's Holding, and continued their campaign of raiding and just being jerks. One can even surmise that either Yrkhetep or Anthraxus put into motion (and triggered) the events that brought the Tuigan into the Erlkazar region. Later, a group of Druids from the Emerald Enclave stepped-in and used another mass-teleport to send the remainders of the Khan's army to the Whamte Isles, after it was found that the daemonic influences had spread the same madness (inflicting those isles) to the Khan's troops. Thus, I married together two pieces of crappy lore into a half-arsed fix (because their are also khans in the Whamites!)
However, looking back, I realize it may have been better to use a Calishite-related Khan from the 'Land of the Lion' , which is sandwiched betwen serpent's holding and The Arnaden (Lake of Steam coastal region).
Regardless, as hashimashadoo has already pointed out, the FRIA has already rectified the problem. |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 24 Dec 2013 : 16:01:23
This topic has cropped up before in another scroll. The upshot of it is that the Interactive Atlas tried to reconcile it by having two settlements named Urml but otherwise, the human village isn't mentioned outside SotIL. |
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