Tangor
by Marco Dalmonte English translation by Gary DaviesThe Shapechanger/Korotiku - Liberty, guile, cleverness, wisdom, cheating and subterfuge, fun, clear thinking
Gorrziok - Oceans, winds, natural phenomena, creation and destruction
Karaash - Humanoids, war, victory, conquest, tactics, strength
Macroblan - Prosperity, trade, money, wealth, greed
Pyrak (Ixion) - Light, sun, fire, strength, war, magic, balance
The Celestial Traveller (Sinbad) - Travel, exploration, adventure, courage, overcome any barrier and border
Ka the Protector - Rakasta, stone giants, wisdom, healing, prosperity, knowledge, magic
Sumag (Terra) - Balance of the life cycle, nature, fertility, agriculture
The Celestial Architect (Polonius) - Architecture, magic, arts and crafts, creativity, tradition
Surt (Zugzul) - Fire, power, conquest, war, necromancy, darkness
Zalaj - Cloud and mountain giants, knowledge, magic, strength
Nicktu (Nyx) - Darkness and obscurity, night, necromancy, secrets
The Infernal Judge (Masauwu) - Intrigue, deceit, fiction, thieves, spies, illusions, manipulation of the minds of others, corruption
Mother Nature (Djaea) - Survival, natural balance, respect of life, druidism
Notes:
1. The region of Tangor is divided into two different areas: the northern part is the Tangor Chain, a predominantly mountainous area; the southern part is the Tangor Peninsula, similarly mountainous but with fertile areas derived from volcanic lava sediment and well spread wooded valleys. In the prehistoric age, the first homo sapiens proper were born in Tangor, and afterwards spread into the rest of the continent travelling northwards, and later into the rest of the world. At the Age of Blackmoor, the Tangor Peninsula was a real archipelago (see the maps of the Hollow World boxed set): the Tanagoro that lived in that region became skilled sailors and founded a flourishing civilisation based on exploration and on the domination of the sea proper in order to resolve the problem of their natural isolation. In the course of time, the maritime Tanagoro civilisation was able to also found colonies in northern Tangor, Oceania, Vulcania, Izonda and in the Serpent Peninsula, thrusting to finally colonise the Pearl Islands in 1000 BC, final important migration to depart from the archipelago before the collapse of this civilisation. The decline of the of the Tangor archipelago was probably down to natural causes, when between 900 and 800 BC the entire region was shaken by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that caused the mountain chain that ultimately connects the Tangor archipelago with Skothar to emerge from the sea, forming the Tangor Peninsula. In 700 BC, the arrival of hordes of humanoids and minotaurs contributed to destroy those remnants of an advanced and rich civilisation, plundering the communities and subduing the natives who were unable to flee. The ogres decided to remain in the Tangor Peninsula and they appropriated some of the Tanagoro knowledge and technology, ended up forming a new nation and giving life to a race of half ogres, the tanagogre, which afterwards took control of the region deposing the ogres and become a prosperous and ambitious people, began to trade with Brun and with the northern areas of Skothar and to found commercial ports far from the motherland, as had happened thousand of years before the Tanagoro.
2. In the Tangor Chain survive communities of Tanagoro descent of those that escaped from the humanoid conquest. Many of these Tanagoro were later made slaves by the more ruthless giants that live in the mountains or by the humanoids that reached there afterwards, and their descendents still live isolated and burdened for generations. Others instead managed to gain the protection and the help of the communities of rakasta (pardasta and tagh sherkasta), faeries and peaceful giants that lived in that region, and have been able to lead till now an independent and free existence, although the fact of the hardships and continued dangers (given that they are threatened by the existence of clans of giants in all the mountain chain, as well as from the incursions of the more warlike tanagogres and of the Nentsunian raiders, and from the existence of monsters of every type), live hidden in the most secret mountain valleys and in subterranean complexes built by them. The cult of Korotiku is common to all the Tanagoro of the mountain chain, usually siding with those of specific racial Immortals (like Ka, Zalaj or Djaea). The subterranean Tanagoro also worship Nicktu (Nyx) as patroness of the darkness that hides them and permits them to survive, and have adopted very particular rituals, often grotesque and macabre, in order to be able to lead a life marked by the adoration of the darkness and night.
3. In the Tangor Peninsula, dominated by the tanagogre civilisation, the tanagogre cult is popular that the Shapechanger (Korotiku) over all the other Immortals, and that derives in part from the ancient humanoid beliefs and in part from the ancestral religion of the conquered Tanagoro, which have been assimilated and revisited by the same ogres in the passing centuries. The tanagogre civilisation is very prosperous and the most powerful of southern Skothar, and has colonies both in the Arm of the Immortals (Gombar and Suma’a) and in the eastern coast of the Tangor Chain. The domination on the Sea of Brun is however placed in continued danger by the raids of the Nentsunian pirates coming from the north, which abused every occasion in order to pillage the tanagogre merchants and storm the coastal forts, carrying away supplies of food and precious minerals extracted from the Tangor Chain, which were later sold to the Alphatians and Thonians in the north.
4. Giants of every type live in scattered, not particularly populous fiefdoms on the Tangor Chain, attempting to keep control of the more prosperous regions and fight between themselves and with the other populations in the area. These giants follow different Immortals, based on their race: Zalaj (cloud and mountain), Gorrziok (sea and storm), Zugzul (fire and hill), and Ka (stone).