A lost Alphatian colony at the Beachhead in Norwold
by LoZompatoreThis is an elaboration of mine about a possible abandoned Alphatian humanoid-human hybrid colony in the coast of Norwold, on the coast north of Oceansend.
In short:
This abandoned colony is a semi-barbaric mix of humanoid and human (of northern stock) villages centered around the Beachhead location of M2 module, with a layer of more civilized human and non-human settlers emigrated from Alphatia (mostly from the kingdom of Limn) around AC 900. This colony was abandoned shortly after its establishment following diplomatic agreements with the Empire of Thyatis. It was made of 12 main settlements (including the Beachhead), each the seat of an Alphatian barony. The Beachhead corresponds to an ancient Antalian settlement called Zhorun which was a fledgling town sacred to Odin before being destroyed by King Loark's invasion of Norwold in ancient times. Today the location is still the seat of a major temple of Odin and acts as a connection point for the scattered communities of the region. The petty Alphatian nobles of M2 are descendants of the old rulers of the 12 settlements and, during M2 events, try to claim back their heirlooms.
A map of the region is provided below:
(click on the image for a larger view)
Of course all of this is not canon but it merges several pieces of info from the official supplements (most notably M2, CM1, GAZ10, DotE, PWAII and HW boxed set) in a possible coherent way.
See if you like it and if it may be useful for your own development of the area. Details provided below can be used as well to enrich the background of the War of the Crown, of CM1 module barbarian adventure hook (encounter 4) and of Alak Dool's motivations.
Here below a (quite long) discussion about all the official details and personal assumptions that led me to the above summary.
1) Size of the Beachhead and possible existing facilities:
This colony is kind of a failed attempt by the Empire of Alphatia in settling the central part of Norwold coast, an attempt performed about a century before Empress Eriadna claimed Norwold for Alphatia in AC 985. The main settlement of this abandoned colony is the Beachhead shown in M2 war map and highlighted in the annotated map excerpt below.
(click on the image for a larger view)
In M2 module the Beachhead is the coastal location of choice where the forces of Norlan disembark and fortify following the initial phases of the war (i.e. after Norlan, his Minaean and Thonian allies, and the petty Alphatian nobles try to conquer Oceansend, Landfall and Alpha, in this order). Notice, by the way, that the war detailed in M2 is the same conflict described at the end of CM1 module (the War of the Crown of Norwold) as most unit are identical; M2 provides further insight to the conflict and M2 and CM1 information can be easily merged to get a broader picture of the war (see for example an attempt of mine here).
In M2 description of the war the Beachhead is also where the Thyatian expeditionary force makes contact with Norlan and the treachery of this Alphatian king is finally revealed (following this event the Thonians decide to fight with Norlan anyway, while the Minaeans and the petty Alphatian nobles flee back to their homelands).
It must be assumed that the Beachhead is at least a very good harbor, where dozens of ships (from Minaea, Thyatis, Minrothad and the petty Alphatian nobles) can be accommodated at the same time.
Moreover, as detailed in M2, this location can also be quickly fortified (in a matter of a few weeks) and, for this reason, it can be inferred that the local land and can provide for food and water for several thousands of troops in case of a siege. All these point to some kind of settlement being already present at Beachhead, with at least some basic facilities that can support the needs of a large army.
2) Expected large population of humanoids in the Beachhead area:
This comes from GAZ10 humanoid migration map (in particular by King Loark's hordes) as shown in the annotated excerpt below:
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King Loark's hordes paused in this region for a while and, as per GAZ10 timeline, learning Norse culture (more on this in point below) while assembling the Great Horde. GAZ10 description of the invasion of Norwold is as follows:
Then (in Urzud) came King Loark, and his orcs and his goblins, and his trolls and his bugbears - hordes after hordes of them. They wiped out the warring chiefs, but there was still no knife to be found, and Yogo-the-Fool was long dead.
So, King Loark left, with his hordes and slaves to pull his wagons and war machines. They marched toward the sun for many moons.
He conquered Norwold and ruled its mountains. Thus, he created the mighty Great Horde. But, still, no one could find the Blue Knife.
Given the large amounts of humanoids involved in this migration it can be assumed that, even as of AC 1000, the Beachhead region has a strong presence of humanoids and the like.
3) Possible bulk of the ancient Norse culture in the Beachhead area:
This comes from HW post-cataclysmic migration map and from HW description of the Antalian culture. This will also match with GAZ10 quotes about King Loark's invasion detailed in point 2) above.
From HW migration map we know that the Antalians moved from south to north, ending their migration approx. in the Beachhead region:
(click on the image for a larger view)
Now, from HW description of the Antalian people in the Hollow World, we have the following pieces of info (pages 20-21 of DM's sourcebook):
The Antalian Wastes are hard-frozen mountainous lands in the northern hemisphere (of the Hollow World). The human inhabitants there, the Antalians, mostly live along the rugged coastline of the ocean the call Ostzee, to the east; some live inland, making their living as trappers and furriers.
...
Antalians dwell in small villages, each of which features numerous large halls. Each hall is the dwelling of an entire clan.
...
Woth larger or wealthier clans, these buildings can be quite enormous. They are never built more than one story high, though sometimes they are dug into the hard, frozen soil.
South of the Antalian Waster, along the shores of the Ostzee, are Antalian-descended communities of farmers and fishermen, who speak the same language as the Antalians but are not as warlike in nature.
...
The Antalians are a hard-living, rough rage. They exe out difficult lives hunting, fishing, pirating and fighting; many of them die very young, by the sword or the axe.
They love the sea. The highest aspiration of an Antalian youth is to be the captain of his own ship, sacking cities up and down the coast... and to die young with his patron Immortal's name on his lips.
...
A little less than three thousand years ago (BC 1722) the Great Horde, a huge mass of humanoids, rampaged into the Antalian lands. The Antalians resisted them mightily, but were eventually crushed, their civilization shattered. Before the light of Antalian culture was extinguished, the Immortals Odin and Thor... transported communities of Antalians to an icy range of coastland similar to Norwold.
From quotes above it is interesting to note that there are actually two different Antalian cultures in the Hollow World: an ancient, more primitive and warlike one, and a more recent, less warlike and more civilized one. Both cultures were moved to the Hollow World by the Immortals at the time of King Loark's invasion of Norwold.
According to the migration map above, it must be assumed that the more developed Antalian culture was in the Beachhead region, while the southern coast of Norwold and the Northern Reaches were inhabited by people belonging to the more primitive and warlike culture.
Given the intersection of King Loark's invasion route and of the Antalian migration it can be inferred that the more cultured Antalians suffered the most from the humanoids' hordes who, in turn, learnt from the Antalians several (relatively) advanced concepts about civilization.
From points 2) and 3) above we may conclude that the Beachhead area could be inhabited to this day by a mixed human-humanoid population, with humans descending from the long-lost civilized Antalians and with the local humanoids not so much 'barbaric' due to their ancient contact with the Antalians. In particular, I guess that in this region - as of AC 1000 - it should not be so uncommon to have scattered communities of humanoids earning their living as fishermen and raiders / pirates.
Moreover, there is this interesting piece of info about the Antalian Wastes from PWAI (page 13):
Notable Sites: The Antalians obey no central authority and so have no capital, but all show respect to the town of Zhorun, the Antalian center for the worship of the Immortal Wotan.
My guess is that, due to the static nature of Hollow World culture, such a sacred place should have a corresponding location in the Outer World. Moreover, as the Immortal Odin (Wotan) is still revered in Norwold, it can be assumed that his main site of worship in the region survived the invasion and is somewhere in the ancient Antalian lands. As, according to HW portfolio, Odin is a patron of wise rulership, I would place this site of worship in the most civilized (i.e. northern) part of the ancient Antalian territories.
Given the large natural harbor of the Beachhead (see point 1) above) the Beachhead itself can be identified with this holy location. If we assume that the Hollow World location is just a duplicate of the ancient Outer World site, then 'Zhorun' could be a suitable name for the ancient settlement at the Beachhead.
In present times Zhorun-Beachhead should not be very big in terms of population, both due to his tragic history of being ransacked and broken by King Loark's humanoids, both because otherwise it would feature prominently among Norwold settlements. Possibly the place is a collection of humanoid-human communities scattered around the natural harbor, with a main temple of Odin acting as focus of the whole area. In ancient times this location had the potential to become a thriving city, but the destruction brought on the Antalian civilization prevented its development (so far).
4) The inhabitants of Limn:
According to Limn description in DotE this kingdom was settled by monsters and humanoids around BC 1000 - before being assimilated into Alphatian culture some 500 years later.
DotE Player's Guide to Alphatia, page 9:
Two thousand years ago, semi-sentient monsters such as trolls settled here in great numbers. Fifteen hundred years ago, Alphatian magic-users interested in the way of the non-humans conquered this land - but did not subjugate the monster population.
DotE DM's manual, page 46:
Drushiye, about a hundred years ago, managed to convince the Emperor that rulership of his kingdom should be divided among two rulers-one for humans and demi-humans, the races accepted by the rest of Alphatia, and one for the other sentient races who are citizens only in Limn. When the Emperor accepted, he took as his mate and co-ruler Mellora, a powerful dryad druidess of the nation.
Relevant quotes from PWAI (pages 50-51):
Monsters who live there (in Limn) include:
...
humanoids like bugbears, cyclops, giants of all varieties, gnolls, goblins, gremlins, ogres, orcs, and trolls
Limn, originally a sparsely-occupied stretch of seaside territory, was made a true kingdom a little over a century ago when a Shiye-Lawr elf-prince named Drushiye and his lover, a dryad-druidess named Mellora, realized that there was no place in all the empire of Alphatia for monster-race magic-users to live as Alphatian nobles and contribute their unique magical perspectives
to Alphatian learning. They petitioned then-Emperor Tylion IV for royal title and possession of the Limn region and were granted.
the land by the Emperor's own decree.
Ignoring DotE's typo about Tylion IV being Emperor around AC 900 (according to DotE DM's manual page 52 he was born in AC 880 and took the throne from her mother Tylari III in AC 919) the kingdom of Limn is populated by the same humanoid races of King Loark’s horde (orcs, goblins, troll, bugbears, see point 1) for comparison) plus gnolls.
The region of Limn is opposite to Norwold across the Alphatian sea, so it can be assumed that the above humanoids came from the Beachhead region, possibly sailing across the Alphatian sea around BC 1000. A reason for this movement might be traced in the non-humans’ migrations that affected western Brun at that time, the same migrations that brought the gnoll invasion to Traladara. It may be inferred that a large horde of ferocious gnolls moved north along the coast of Norwold from their place of creation in the Northern Reaches; this warlike horde displaced the humanoids living in the Beachhead region, prompting them to migrate to the Alphatian continent. Some of the less savage gnolls were enlisted into the fleeing humanoid numbers and reached the region of Limn together with the rest.
Again, given the large natural harbor provided by the Beachhead, such a large migration should have started from this location. Humans of Antalian origin might have been part of the migration as well: once in Alphatia they dispersed among the native Yanifey people and of the Alphatian conquerors they were viewed as barbarian tribes just like all the other native humans.
5) The attempted early Alphatian colonization of Norwold:
This piece of info comes from DotE, Player's Guide to Alphatia page 7:
The Alphatian emperor Tylion IV, looking for a way to recoup some of the Empire's losses (in Glantri and in Ylaruam), began a colonizing effort in the long-forgotten lands of Norwold - and even so, not long after, Thyatians began their own settlements there, too.
DotE DM's Manual page 7:
AC 900: Thyatis' new emperor, Gabrionus IV, begins a new expansionist policy... The Thyatians conquer and settle more of the Isle of Dawn, put pressure on the Northern Reaches, and build and settle the city of Oceansend in Norwold.
PWAI page 66:
History (of Oceansend): A century ago, the Empire of Thyatis built the city of Oceansend here - to give the empire a strategic site aimed at Alphatia. Alphatia promptly conquered the city and held it for forty years, until Oceansend's population revolted, kicked out the Alphatian garrison, and achieved independence
So, from quotes above, there clearly was an attempt by Alphatia to establish a colony in Norwold before the Thyatians founded Oceansend (as it is hinted above that Oceansend was established as a Thyatian reaction to this Alphatian colonization attempt).
Again, in DotE there is the same typo seen above (Tylion IV cannot the Emperor who orders to settle Norwold before AC 900; this honor should belong to his mother Tylari III) but it is clear that, by the early Xth century, the Alphatians set some colony there and also managed to include Oceansend in their dominions shortly after this city was established by Thyatis.
This Alphatian colonization attempt was not successful or was interrupted sometime in the Xth century, otherwise there would not be another claim to Norwold by Empress Eriadna in AC 985. That's why it must be inferred that there is an abandoned Alphatian colony somewhere in Norwold dating several decades before the events of CM1.
The Beachhead could likely be the main location for this early colonization effort, with facilities built to harbor a large fleet, early earthworks and walls erected for defense.
Non-human colonists from the kingdom of Limn could be sent to the area ease the pacification the local population.
Notice also (DotE, DM's Manual page 46) that, around AC 900, king Drushyie of Limn managed to convince the Empress Tylari III that the non-humans of Limn deserved better recognition in the Alphatian Empire and so he obtained the joined rule of the Limn together with a representative of the non-human (and not-demihuman) races. We might say that the Empress accepted this arrangement as a compensation for (or in exchange of) the emigration of some people of Limn to the Beachhead to gain the support of the locals.
6) The petty Alphatian nobles’ fleet of M2 module:
Further elaborating on this, it is worth noticing that the petty Alphatian noble fleet from M1 module comes from Trollhattan in the kingdom of Limn and they gather at the Beachhead shortly before king Norlan betrayal. My guess is that - in order for the Alphatian Crown to allow for an act of aggression among Alphatian kingdoms - the petty Alphatian nobles have some rightful claims in Norwold.
A possible theory is that the petty Alphatian nobles (all of them are listed as 'young', see M2 page 20) are actually descendants of the barons sent to the colony of Beachhead a century before, who were forced to abandon their dominions after Alphatia relinquished the colonization effort.
Notice, in fact, that from quotes above Alphatia conquered Oceansend shortly after the foundation of the city but no further colonization effort in the region was attempted until AC 985, so we must assume that, following the fall of Thyatian Oceansend, some kind of treaty with Thyatis was established. This treaty could have led to the neutrality of Beachhead colony and to a stop to further improvements of the settlement by Alphatia. Moreover, it may have led to the dismantlement of the early Alphatian baronies surrounding the Beachhead, its nobles being sent back to the homeland and becoming the 'petty Alphatian nobles' force of M2 (so, in M2 narrative, we can say that such nobles are just trying to gain back their old dominions from a rebellious Norwold). Several of such barons may be non-humans, as per point 5) above.
The non-human part of the local population may still find more affinity with the descendants of the old non-human barons than with the human king Ericall, that's why they allowed Norlan forces' landfall at the Beachhead and actually helped them in resupplying and fortifying. Later on, when the Thyatians disembark at Beachhead, the locals suffer the yoke of Thyatian occupation, while all the petty nobles that are still able to flee return to the Alphatian mainland.
From M2 module we know that there are 12 petty Alphatian nobles (see M2 page 20), all of them may have some claim to the region of Beachhead. As the Alphatian colonization of AC 900 ended at an early stage we could assume that the typical extent of such claimed region would be the size of a barony, say 1-3 hexes, 24-miles side, surrounding Beachhead and separated by at least a 24-mile hex of wilderness to account for future expansion. This could provide an estimation for the old colony claimed area in Norwold.
Finally, according to M2 module (page 21), a second location of choice for Norlan's forces lays further south in case the Beachhead is precautionarily occupied by units loyal to Norwold (meaning - by the way - that the strategic value of Beachhead is understood also by king Ericall and his generals before Norlan or the Thyatians make landfall). This secondary location may correspond to another humanoid settlement connected to the Beachhead people. This settlement should have a good harbor and be defensible in case of siege as it is a second choice it may be less fortified, and it may sport less inhabitants than Beachhead.
A suitable name for this location may be 'Brog'. This name is taken from PWAII (page 86) army list for the settlement of Alpha, from a group of mercenaries (Brog's Crushers) fighting for king Ericall against the Heldannic Knights invasion. Brog could be the name of the leader (as per the other mercenary units listed in this section of PWAII), but it could also be used as a location name.
7) The role of Alak Dool:
Placing Alak Dool barony close to the Beachhead region may provide some extra details on his background and explain his quite peculiar army composition.
According to CM1 and M2 army roosters, Alak Dool (officially loyal to Norwold, until his true colors show up during the War of the Crown) builds up quite a large army of humanoids for his dominion. Even if Alak Dool is an accomplished wizard (and so it is better to be left doing as he pleases) it is indeed strange that such armies were left unchecked by the crown of Norwold, especially in the wake of the crisis between Alak Dool and the Norwold barbarian described in CM1 module (see below).
Possibly these humanoid units were not disbanded once detected because there was some kind of agreement between Alak Dool and the crown of Norwold. Let's assume that Alak Dool volunteered to settle a difficult region of the Beachhead populated with a mix of old settlers from Limn and 'civilized' humanoids. In compensation for this effort, Ericall allowed Alak Dool to create and keep the humanoids' units, in the spirit of checking the non-humans with other non-humans and with the secret hope that such units would help the integration of the region of Beachhead within the larger kingdom of Norwold.
Notice that, according to CM1 (page 29), if Thyatis wins the War of the Crown Alak Dool becomes king of Norwold, so my guess is that he should be an accomplished leader and at least an average-competent ruler.
Under the above assumptions it is also possible to elaborate on Encounter 4 of CM1 (Barbarian's Battle). Here Alak Dool is preventing the barbarians of Barkal the Red from crossing his dominion. Given that the barbarians should be able to easily bypass Alak Dool dominion we could assume that:
a) Alak Dool dominion is located on some bottleneck (a mountain pass, along a river, etc.) preventing an easy circumvention.
b) The local humanoid tribes surrounding Alak Dool dominion are allied with Alak Dool and are also blocking the barbarians' movement, forcing them to a wide deviation from their intended route.
The reason for this showdown at Alak Dool's dominion is never explained in CM1. A possible reason is that Alak Dool does not want the barbarians to see too much while they are crossing his lands. As this showdown happens in the first year of CM1 events, maybe he is secretly hosting Thyatian warriors and merchants to train and provide weapons to his growing army of humanoids. On their side the barbarians are possibly on a forced path and need to cross Alak Dool's dominion to reach their destination (a pilgrimage to Zhorun could be a reason). Notice that CM1 encounter never solve the issue of crossing Alak Dool dominion: if the PCs help defeating the earth elemental summoned by Alak Dool (the wizard is invisible and flees if the elemental is defeated) they are invited to the barbarian camp for a feast, a wrestling match and possibly an alliance, and this is the end of the encounter.
8) Summarizing everything on a map:
Here is a possible detailed map for the region which takes into account all details discussed above.
I added the ruins of King Loark's fortress in Norwold. The arid hills guarding a heavily forested valley looked like a suitable location to me. Most of the fortress may actually be underground and unexplored since ancient times.
I placed Alak Dool dominion on a mountain pass separating the river from Zhorun, and I assumed that the dominion is placed on a pilgrimage route of Barkal the Red tribe. The tribe usually roams the plains north of the Great Bay (as per M2 module page 23) but I assumed in times of crisis it embarks on longships (again, see M2 page 23) to reach the mouth of the river and travel upriver and across the mountain range to reach Zhorun, looking for advice at the temple of Odin. This is far from being the most practical or direct route but this is the traditional route and all hardships encountered are part of the pilgrimage.
Finally, I included also the settlements of Longtooth and Max the First, in locations not too far from Alak Dool dominion and close enough to each other to get mutual support.
(click on the image for a larger view)
Hope you liked this!