Source Land Geography

This article contains information relating to the Geography of the Source Lands Setting. See the article on Source Land Nations for specific information on individual Source Land Nations.

The World
The World of Source Lands features five continents, not mentioning the poles. The world is geographically somewhat similar to earth, but considerably bigger. Technology spreads very slowly due to the world being so much bigger - Also the technological advancement of the world was halted because a whole new field of interest opened up in what would have been the medieval period - magic specifically.

Westerlands
The Old World, as the Westerlands also frequently go by, is a fairly small but very fertile continent, with the inherent advantage of having few obstructions to travel and being rich in natural resources. The Westerlands are inspired by Europe. The Westerlands were very close to being a unified Empire at one point, and in theory still remains an Empire until the Colonial Era, but practically only on paper. The far north of the Westerlands are plagued by Goblinoids.

Talanthia
Talanthia is a massive continent, that is largely inhospitable to humans, due only small portions of the continent reaching south, and consisting largely of extremely rough mountain terrain as well as frozen tundras - however, apart from the Northern Coast (which is virtually non-existent, due to fusing together with the North Pole by means of iced-over ocean), all coasts of Talanthia are largely inhabitable and are home to a great many settlers.

West Coast
The Talanthian West-Coast is populated, primarily along the coast, and the territory does not stretch much inland at all, at least by comparison to the East-Coast. Inspiration: Cormyr (Forgotten Realms), Bretonia (Warhammer Fantasy), Northern Lands (the Witcher).
 * The Grail-Lands is a faction of Duchies the on the West-Coast, having liberated themselvesfrom the Talantian City-States at some point during the early Post-Imperial Era, and lasting well into the Colonial-Era, before they were eventually absorbed by the Talanthian Empire, which formed in that Time Period. Primarily settled by Orlesians and Dussanteans, prior to Orlais taking up the Cosmological Faith, and as such they are predominantly Helionites, although they primarily worship a local deity called The Lady of the Lake, as well as revering a local phenomenon known as the Eternal Flame. They remained technologically far behind the Westerlands, in part due to trade-blockades by their Magocratic neighbors.
 * The Talanthian City-States are not actually a single country, but, by outsiders, they were viewed as a singular faction, though to themselves, this was far from the truth. Originally, the City-States had been part of the same settlement effort that lead to the establishment of the Principality of Karesh, but when mages were drive out of the Empire for illicit use of Sorcery (a trend that did not stop when the Empire collapsed), Talanthia became known as a free-haven for mages, but that was relatively far from the truth, and those that arrived in Talanthia lived in fear from the reach of the wrathful Estheim and built the Slaver-States they ruled over to protect themselves, and so the Talanthian City-States remain a series of slave-based magocracies.
 * The Principality of Karesh consists of a number of Frontier-Marches (or Marks), and is actually (officially) part of the Mark Land-union, being the formal remaining Imperial provincial authority, technically speaking vassalized by Estheim, though in reality just as free as any of the other Westerland Nations, and even more so the case with Karesh, that does not in anyway politically find itself beholden to the decisions of the rest of the Mark Lands.

NOTE: due to using pre-made maps from the Witcher 3 in our current games, we've just defaulted to ripping off the actual place-names. This will likely change later!

South-Coast
The South-Coast of Talanthia is very short, and truly constitutes little more than a front-line between the Principality of Karesh on the East, and their Neferan-Allied Enemies who have colonized the Western-Coast. The inspirations listed below are in reference specifically to the Principality of Karesh.

Inspiration: Medieval Eastern and Central Europe, Dyrwood (Pillars of Eternity),

East-Coast
Unlike the West-Coast, the East-Coast is relatively short, and consists mainly of a very large dip, into the mountains, being largely open plains, and Tundra in the northern most reaches of this significantly sized piece of flat-land. It has been colonized by the Vrangar, but would later, in the Colonial Era, assimilate with the local population, and became the Tal-Vrangar, who no longer had much in common with the Vrangar on an ideological basis.

Inspiration: Mongols at first, later Cossacks.

Rahamra
The Rahamra is a very long continent that stretches for impossible lengths to the South. A Mountain chain separates the Northern Rahamra from the large Rahamran Desert, that draws a nearly uncrossable line across the continent. The Central Rahamra, on the other side of the Desert, is largely jungle, but in the Southern Reaches, and along the coasts, the Umbayan Nations are found.

The Free-Cities
The first humans to break free from the Elves were the Nordmarians, but they fled North to escape the wrath of their creators, and left the Westerlands largely unpopulated, except by Elves. Not long after, the humans of Northern Rahamra rebelled against their Overlords, and a great many of them migrated to the Westerlands where they found themselves unopposed, and while those that went to the Westerlands formed an Empire, the Free-Cities of Northern Rahamra, remained a series of independent City-States, that would eventually became the main staging points of the Holy War that would plague Northern Rahamra for centuries.

Influences: Antique North-Africa, exception Egypt

The Sacharan Sultanate
The Sacharans were once part of the Neferan Empire, but were plagued by wars against the Westerlands. They constitute the North-Eastern corner of the Rahamran Continent. The Sacharan Sultanate is extremely fanatical, and guards uncounted ruins of the former Empire, and are extremely oppressive. See the Sacharan Sultanate for more information on this subject.

Influences: Their past by Egypt, but their present is mostly fantasy.

Umbayan Nations
The Southern- and Central Rahamra is home to a number of tribal societies, and even a few petty kingdoms that have reached impressive ages and advanced far as societies. Whether by Elven design, or by chance, the Umbayan people who reside in Southern Rahamra have strong Goblinoid Heritage, which has hindered their ability to advance as a civilization, due to the tainted and corrupted blood that flow in their veins, but toward the mid- and late post-imperial period, these people slowly begin to overcome the taint, and impressive petty-kingdoms start to sprout up between them. Influences: Tribal Africa
 * The Central Umbayan are unintelligent due to their goblinoid heritage, but the very same heritage has made them physically powerful. They tend to have large square jaws, broad flat noses, yellow eyes and skin colors of brown or green hues, and survive primarily on raw foods.
 * The Southern-, and Coastal Umbayans are different from their Central Umbayan brethren, and are much more civilized.
 * The Southern Umbayans are usually completely black of skin, being very tall and lean of builds with very regal features, having been left to rule their City-States virtually alone, dominated, through trade-dependencies by the Coastal Umbayans, they are effectively vassals. They are often extremely superstitious and rarely seen outside of their small territories. It is believed that these Umbayans took up residence in former Elven outposts and mated frequently with elven slaves, which quickly served to counter-act the Goblinoid taint, but they came to be culturally dependent on their secluded Cities, and did not expand much.
 * The Coastal Umbayans look very similar to ordinary Westerlanders, but tend to be of dark brown or close to black skin colors, though do not outright differ in any other ways. The Coastal Umbayan settlements fell one by one to Riveran Colonization Efforts prior to the Colonial Era, with only a few remaining on the Northern stretch of the East-Coast.

The Orient
The Orient is found to the east of the Talanthia, but reaches further south than Talanthia, thus neighboring directly both with Rahamra and one can also sail straight across to the Westerlands. It was colonized, by humans from the Rahamra, at the same time as the Westerlands, but unlike the settlers of the Westerlands, the settlers of the Orient found that they were sharing the Continent with other people who did not hail from the Rahamra.

Vrangar Hordes
The Vrangar Hordes were unified, presumably by Neferans. They primarily worship the Old Gods, but after a war with the Neferan Emirate, they were forced to adopt, at least formally, the Church of the Divine Light. Inspiration: Mongolian Empire.
 * The Vrangar Hordes are referred to as such as a matter of tradition, but are actually a Tribal Kingdom with complex traditions.
 * The Vrangar are a Caste-Based society, with the majority of their people being either nomads, slaves or soldiers - but there being a small caste dedicated to the clergy. and one to craftsmanship, with the slaves (mainly farmers and laborers) being the bulk population of the citites, serving the Craftsmen and the Religious Caste.
 * The Nomads travel around their territories, which are for the most part harsh mountain climates, tundra and plains, with dry sandy clayish soild where little other than grass will grow.
 * The Vrangar raise a special breed of Horse, known as the Vrangan Bull-Horse, which is stands right on the border of being a pony in height, but is very stout and seems to grow faster than the average horse, reaching slaughter-age very fast, and with the females developing udders if they become pregnant for the the second or third time. The male-horses are particularly aggressive, unless neutered, so only a select few are selected for the breeding regime, some are taken as riding animals and a large quantity of the males are butchered when the reach the age of 1.5 years of age - the meat is processed into dried or salted products.
 * The Bull-Horses require water and grass that cannot be spared around the cities where the slaves farm, and as a necessity, the Vrangar Nomads travel large distances.
 * The slaves are primarily Rahamran, Talanthian or Westerlanders, who were sold into Slavery by Neferans or Harachans.
 * The Neferens did not desire the Westerlands to obtain a new front against them from the Talanthian East-Coast, so they pushed their Vrangar Vassals to cross the sea and colonize it. This was an effective strategy, that protected the Orient from Westerland Influence on that front until well past the Colonial-Era, even if the Vrangar were incapable of maintaining a Colony in reality, and their colony ended up forming into a separate nation, which the Neferans had no control over.
 * The Tal-Vrangar were culturally similar to the Vrangar, and appeared around the time of the Late-Post Imperial Era, and the start of the Colonial Era, but were ideologically different and did not endorse any ties to the Neferans.

Neferan Emirate
The Caliphate is a small religious state of orthodox Oriental, being the Primary proponents of the Faith of the Divine Light. Extremely advanced, they are also a closed state, but once held both the Harachan and the Sacharan nations in vassalage, but was forced to cede these nations out, though remains in a union with both. Inspiration: Ottoman Empire
 * The Caliphate has been locked in a cold war with Estheim since the times of Septiumus.
 * The Neferan Emirate is also very active in the fight for the Holy Lands in Northern Rahamra.

Harachan Caliphate
The Harachan Caliphate consists of a number of lesser territories, many of which are severely under-developed and remote. It would be incorrect to call the Harachan Caliphate an actual nation, as it is more of a religious union of various self-governing states, held in vague alliance by some semblance of shared culture and religion.

Inspiration: Middle-East.

Marrakesh
Marrakesh (meaning roughly, the "Union of Marraks") is a large Empire, found between the West-Oriental nations and the Far-Eastern Oriental Nations. Marrakesh consists of a number of "Marraks" (principalities), ruled by Marrakaras ("Princes"), though ultimately, all fall under the authority of the Kesh-Marran. Inspiration: India.
 * There are some, largely rural mountain nations found north of Marrakesh, but they are largely underdeveloped or far too distant to be of interest to anyone.

The lands of Jade
The Lands of Jade, a rough translation provided by the locals, of the particularly difficult to pronounce name of the nation (if it even is a nation) found furthest to the East of the Orient, and by far being the largest Oriental Nation, rivaled only by Marrakesh. Inspiration: Mythical China
 * The Lands of Jade are fabled among travelers, being a mysterious realm where everything is different.
 * The Lands of Jade prefer to trade with their neighbors, so most of the Sprice and Silk trade from them go through Marrakesh, though in reality, the Lands of Jade do not produce much that they are interested in trading, but they do trade in Sourcery, and expanded trade-relations with them, during the Colonial Era, was largely believed to have been the primary reason for sudden change in policy during that era, regarding Sourcery.

Shintao
A single Island Nation of humans have cut their ties with the elves that seem to be the spiritual leaders of the humans in the far east, and show interest in cooperating more directly with the other human nations - Called the people of Shintao.

They live a Source-Free existence and are very opposed to the Source, but their faiths are incidentally quite similar to the faiths of the rest of the Far-East, suggesting they original hail from the mainland there.

Influences: Japan

Acanasia
Acanasia is a continent found south of the Central Orient, and very far south at that, with its northern most point being on the same latitude as as the border to the region defined as "Southern Rahamra", and reaching almost as far south as the Southern Source Lands. Largely covered in jungle, it s a wild and untamed continent, full of strange creatures and inhabited by the Acansians, a species of large amphibious humanoids.

The Source Lands
The Source Lands is a continent far West of the Westerlands that was discovered quite some time ago, and while some colonization effort has been made, it's recently exploded. The Source Lands are named as such, because magic is very much untamed and runs wild on that continent. The natives of the Source Lands are barbarians and Goblinoids mainly. The barbarian savages co-exist with some elven exiles that arrived there long before humans discovered the continent.

North Source Lands
The Northern-Source Lands are largely inhospitable, but these lands do house a sizeable Nordmarian Colony. Not much is known about these lands, as they do not produce anything worthy of trade, except furs.

Orlesian Source Lands
The Orlesian Source Lands are a significantly sized colony, that was actually first settled during the Imperial Era, but the settlement effort was given up on, and the first settlers were largely left to fend for themselves. They developed into small Feudal Principalities, or petty Kingdoms even, and many Westerland Nations tried their hands at resuming the settlement effort and uniting the budding Feudal Nations - though ultimately, it was Orlais that succeeded, in the beginning of the Colonial Era.

Inspiration: Canada and New-England

Mid Source Lands
The Mid Source Lands are immediately south of the North Source Lands, and the land-masses are quite attached to each other. Inspiration: The United States of America.
 * These lands are still packed full of native Source-Landers who oppose the recent colonization efforts. The people involved in the colonization of the Mid Source Lands are mainly private corporations from Orlais, the Carnala and the Mark Lands.
 * The Mid Source Land territory is owned by Orlais and is regarded as a self-governing province. Wealthy land owners and business owners call the shots there, and the Orlesian Continental Army has next to no presence in the region. The Mid Source Land Provincial Army has many forts scattered across the land, but their loyalty to Orlais has often been drawn into question.
 * Generally quite law-less, the people protect themselves and live hard lives on the frontier, carving out their existences while living in the shadow of the wealthy land- and business owners. Banditry is very common, and every man there carries a gun and a knife.
 * Many settlements are land locked, as the original mission was to provide for the Continental Military, and as such agriculture has been the focus. Now, factories are dotting the landscape, and the produce mostly goes to feed the factory workers.
 * Travel across the land is possible by river boats and by locomotive train - but horseback is the most common means of transportation, followed closely by carriage - pretty much every grown person owns a horse in the Mid Source Lands, and people ride daily.

The Southern Source Lands
The Noveran conquest pushes on in the attempt to colonize Southern Source Lands, but the native resistance is much more fierce in the South than it ever was in the North. The south has historically been easier for the natives to defend against Goblinoids, and has been more fertile.

Inspiration: South America

The Sky Lands
The North and South Source Lands are divided by what appears to be the result of a massive source-corruption. Land-masses have ripped from the earth, and caused small islands to float in the air - or rather hover high up in the sky. Inspiration: The Caribbean Islands
 * Laws of physics do not appear to apply properly in the region, water does not abandon the hovering islands, and the sea seems to simply stop underneath them, merging with a mysterious white misty fog that never lifts.
 * When the Islands were first discovered; all of the Westerland countries with no exception but Estheim, set out to colonize these Islands. Orlais and Novera more or less have the discovered islands split evenly between them - Rivera does own a small cluster, Nordmar owns one or two and the Mark Lands own a few - but the majority of Islands have not even been explored yet.
 * The islands are all home to indigenous populations and new mysteries and ancient elder ruins that are unspoiled.
 * Technologically, the Sky Lands is a frontier for new technology and magic - Imagination is the limit.