World Background

The World:

Semferia is the medieval frontier. Peoples huddle together in tiny cities, walled and fortified against the terrors of the wild. Travel is dangerous, and news is scarce. Inside city walls or guarded mine entrances, isolated civilization develops. Outside them, bandits, rogues, wild magical forces and herds of beasts reign supreme.

Semferia may be thought of geographically in four parts. East of the Stonetower Mountains lie the greater civilzations--the mighty human kingdom of Westlay in the forested north, and the equally mighty and vile Yuan-Ti kingdom of Serpenti in the plains to the south. The far eastern forest is ruled by a mysterious clan of druids.

West of the Stonetower Mountains lie the lesser civilizations. Two small fortified human cities--Waeceft nearer to the mountains, and Tindell on the coast. The enchanted forest to the north is ruled by the elven clan of The Lost in Waiting, who are at bitter war with the Ghern--a hobgoblin tribe inhabiting the ruin of Jezrel.

The north of Semferia is referred to only as "The Icy North." It forbids all life but that which freezes easily. To the south, fully half of the land, is a desert known as "The Great Waste." Uncharted and unwelcoming, tales tell of supernaturally hostile regions which hate all living things.

In the War of the Ten Kings, Frost Giants invaded from The Icy North. With white dragons and massive wooly beasts, they crushed all resistance to them. At the time, there were ten civilized kings on the land, and none alone could withstand the onslaught. One by one, the northern cities fell, six to the west of StoneTower, and one to the east. Refugees fled south. In a last desperate alliance, the peoples of Westlay, Waecleft, and Tindell came together, with all that remained of the people of the seven northern kings. On the Field of Ten Kings, in a long and bloody battle, the giants were at last repulsed.

It is now late July, the one hundred and fifty-fifth year since the War of Ten Kings. The seven northern cities still lay in ruins, inhabited by wild beasts, opportunistic tribes, and silent ghosts of the past. The land is much as it once was--alliances distant, and news scarce.

At the end of the war, The Last Watch of the Ten Kings was founded. Elite soldiers from each of the kingdoms came together and vowed to watch the land, deliver news, and serve good peoples. They are a memory of ancient alliance should it be needed again. The Kingsmen patrol the land from east to west, from the coasts at Tindell to the forbidding mountans east of Westlay.