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Settlements around Ilsundyl's Gate

compiled by LoZompatore

Exellent maps, yellowdingo! I really like them a lot. Moreover, by using an 8 miles/hex scale the sheer extent of the area becomes very clear (you just mapped the northwestern corner and there is really a lot of available room in it!)

I'd like to suggest a few settlements around Ilsundyl's Gate. I don't know if they could fit well to the region, especially after what other posters wrote (I made those sketces before reading their comments), but they seemed to me logical add-ons to your setting:

About names: I tried to stay true to Cthulhudrew's idea about using "ancient Lalor" tongue for halflings settlements on Platea. I tried to name them so they sound similar to words Cthulhudrew suggested as being of Lalor origin (Zursannatch, Nixnoddle, Quaeromore, Xebel, Quizzinglas, Elintel, Lamintar, Ilingall, Upplemiir).

Quelinzel (2 hexes E of Ilsundyl's Gate): A small town about a day's walk from Ilsundyl's Gate (16 miles) where Dyr traders meet with their halfling (and other races') counterparts. A melting pot of cultures (although halflings are a majority), Quelinzel is home to permanent businesses from abroad, to semi-retired traders and to odd people of every kind (mages, adventurers, self-appelled "inventors", con men and so on). Wood drakes are heavily infiltrated in Quelinzel's population, closely monitoring (and hindering) technology transfers from Ilsundhyl's Gate: they often exploit natural traders' greed suggesting them to estabilsh a monopoly (based in the town) over any production technique they stumble into - some of such monopolies then fail due to unpredictable flaws in their products, or are hit by an impressive set of "bad luck" events. Quelinzel is notable in the whole region thanks to its Reinassance-like technological level: windmills, watermills, printing presses, lifting towers (medieval cranes) and blasting furnaces are known and someway widespread. The secretive attitude about processing techniques and the wood drakes intervention prevents such developments to spread too far from Quelinzel and surroundings.

Xaleris (8 hexes SE of Ilsundyl's Gate): A fortified halfling keep guarding the pass leading to Quelinzel and Ilsundhyl's Gate. Its main revenue comes from tolls and fees paid by traders crossing the pass (in both directions). It is ruled by an old aristochratic family without official ties with Quelinzel, to which shows a neutral attitude. Unbeknown to most, rulers and their army are secretly controlled by wood drakes, who use Xaleris' keep as a last resort to easily control the transfer of technologies and to prevent external invaders from getting too close to Quelinzel and Ilsundhyl's Gate. The keep was built by using relatively modern techniques (middle age standards), its garrison is well equipped with iron/steel weapons and armors, catapults and ballistae. The army here would be able to repel an army many times the garrison's size: thanks to the technological gap Xaleris' guards are actually no match for most of neighbouring militaries. Nevertheless, wood drakes inside the local court prevent any expansionistic ambitions of Xaleris' nobility (especially toward Quelinzel).

Nazaniir (a mountain hex just north of Karos Gap): A small, hidden, smugglers' village located in the valley south of Dyr elves territory. This settlement developed mostly to avoid Quelinzel/Xaleris' monopoly on technology trade. Nazaniir's exact location is actively searched by wood drakes, who try to stop such an unmonitored and risky trade, but to no avail, so far. It is believed that Nazaniir rulers are able to readily identify shapeshifters and keep them away from their village (it could even be possible that such rulers are actually other wood drakes who betrayed the cause). Smugglers' trade is very little compared with the regular traffic across Quelinzel, as large movements would draw too much attentions to the village. Some unscrupulous traders in Platea know how to contact Nazaniir middlemen in order to purchase "forbidden" equipments and technologies. Nazaniir shows an odd mix of contraptions and technological applications (usually from early reinassance to pre-industrial era), most of which are used to hide the city to foreigners.

About Reactor One: Inspired by this article I was wondering if it could be interesting to include a specimen of dark, intelligent (and perhaps mobile) fungus-like creature living in and around the ruins, feeding on radiations. Such a species would be limited to roam not too far to the old reactor, otherwise they would starve to death.