Capital:
Carrenthium
Population: 426,710 (56% Centaur, 28% Minotaur,
10% human, 2% Halfling, 1% Dwarf, 1% Gnome, 1% Elf)
Government: Theocracy
Religions: Halleana
Imports: Armor, weapons, pottery, spices, wine
Exports: Hides, livestock, ivory, iron
Updated to: 2806
The verdant plains of Brythnia are home to an amazing variety
of life, from vast herds of antelope and wild horses, to the great
cats that follow those herds. But it is two intelligent species
that give Brythnia the title "Land of the Beast-Men".
The plains are home to a kingdom of centaurs, all loosely ruled by
a semi-divine priestess-queen. The hills of the east are inhabited
by fierce minotaurs who live in widely-separated independent
communities but who owe fealty to the centaur queen from ancient
times. These two races, seemingly with nothing in common, forged a
union that was autonomous under both Conorrian and Miletian rule,
and which has, in more recent centuries, stood off challenges from
nearly every one of its neighbors.
The Plains
The centaurs of the plains live in semi-nomadic tribes, spread
out across great distances. The centaurs make encampments of
hide-covered huts for a few months at a time, then move to follow
the migration of the great herds. For the most part, the tribes
are peaceful, living in a harmony with the land and spirits of
nature. But when aroused to violence, they can be very dangerous.
Their strength and speed make them formidable opponents in war.
The plains are also home to a wide variety of wild animals,
including bison, elk, wild horses, mammoths, ground sloths,
dangerous great cats and large, flightless birds.
The Hills
In the east, the great plains rise up to meet the distant
Edgemoor mountains, and in between is a wide, wild, region of
rocky hills and scattered woods. This misty land is the home of
the minotaurs, and loosely scattered families of trolls and hill
giants. The minotaurs of the hills are wilder than their cousins
who live in Carrenthium, and can be unpredictable. Yet these wild
hill tribes have held to their alliance with the centaurs for
hundreds of generations.
Though wild and savage, the minotaurs are smarter and more
civilized than the trolls and hill giants, and make their homes in
fortified villages or isolated hilltops, and are masters of the
land. They do not welcome visitors gladly, but may grant passage
to those who show proper respect and pay a toll (for keeping the
troll population down, as they will tell anyone who asks).
The Brythnian hills are dotted with ancient, crumbling temples
and carved runestones of unknown origin. Legend has it that the
kings of lost Numanthaur are buried in these hills with all their
fabulous wealth and ancient secrets.
HISTORY
The centaur and minotaur tribes have
dominated the plains of Brythnia since time immemorial; perhaps
even dating back to before the Wrath of the Gods. Roughly
eight centuries before the start of the Conorrian calendar,
the two species united in an unusual compact, both agreeing to be
ruled by the Priestess-Queen.
In -298, warriors of the Connor tribes first
crossed the Lydodan into the wide Brythnian plain. At first,
their settlements were few, but by the time of the Empire's
founding, the tribes were in full control of the Lydodan region
and had founded the city of Carrenthium on what would one day be
the Via Brythnia.
The subject centaurs and minotaurs became
troops in the Conorrian armies even before the founding of the
Empire, and the area slowly became dominated by Imperial citizens
as the veterans retired back to their homes. Brythnian shock
troops were a part of every Conorrian campaign for the next
eighteen hundred years.
The crossroads location of the province
assured that it would not long remain isolated. By the
fourth century, small towns and villages dotted the Lyodan and the
shores of the Golden Sea. But the interior remained wild,
dominated by the nomadic tribes of the plains and
hills.
Although Brythnia was isolated from the
fighting in the Beltene Wars, the overall command of the Empire's
armies west of the Lyodan was with Urdox Meltias, a minotaur
general renowned for the loyalty and elan of his troops.
The first of three great tragedies to strike
Brythnia came in 1242, in the midst of the decades-long Wars of
the Fishermen Emperors. The Shadows of Marador struck
suddenly at the great city of Deriolanum. In three days of
horror and evil, they destroyed the city, slaughtering its
inhabitants and raising them at the next full moon as strange,
ghoulish monsters.
The second great tragedy was the Battle of
Blackstone, fought in 1801 between the forces of Markimillien
Shadowstaff and Longarrow the Warlock, during the Mage Wars.
Thousands of Brythnians fought on both sides of the battle,
including Varelse the Priestess-Queen (who fought for Longarrow).
A terrible plague was released during the battle that spread
through the minotaur ranks like wildfire. Many centaurs were
also killed, but not in the numbers of their brothers.
Within hours, not a single minotaur was alive in either
army. Within days, the plague had appeared in the wild
minotaur population. By the following year, 90 percent of
the minotaur population and 5% of the centaur population had died.
The survivors, it seemed, were immune.
In the wake of the Mage Wars, the
now-prostrate Brythnia became part of the new Miletian
Empire. The region suffered the least of all Miletian
regions when that empire succumbed to the Darothic Hordes five
centuries later.
In the year 2326, the third great
tragedy struck Brythnia - the reign of Vallordraumoth the
Emerald. A great and powerful green dragon of exceptional
cleverness and cruelty. For two and a half centuries, this
ruthless wyrm extorted slaves, gold and absolute obedience from
the people of Carrenthium and the terrified nomadic tribes as
well. Only the few minotaur tribes of the hills managed to
partially elude his greedy grasp. Vallordraumoth's reign of
terror was ended abruptly during a battle in the skies over
Carrenthium in the year 2690. History reports that a flying
pyramid and several lesser dragons were involved.
In 2743, Brythian centaurs acted as scouts
for the Crusader armies bent on reconquering the Empire from the
Orc Dominion. These armies, under the command of Tirgonian
Crown Prince Aurelian, met their doom at the Battle of the Lyodan
later that year.
Currently, the rising chaos to the west,
north and south has yet to reach Brythnia, and the Land of the
Beast-Men desires only to be left out of the affairs of men.
MAJOR POPULATION CENTERS
Carrenthium (Small City; population 24,540) The city of
Carrenthium is wealthy because of its location. Although the
Brythnian natives trade in hides, metals and carved wood, it is
the trade passing through the city from north and south that makes
it important. Laying at the eastern terminus of the Golden Sea,
the city also lays astride the Via Brythniana, or Great
Northern Way, the road the runs from the Conorrian heartland north
and finally terminates in northern Tirgonia. Whether by land or
sea, most of the trade between the north and south passes through
and enriches this city. Almost half of the city’s population are
human traders. Most of the rest are centaur scholars, artisans,
clan factors and the priestesses of the Queen. A few thousand
minotaurs make their home here, mostly mercenaries between
employment.
IMPORTANT LOCAL SITES
The Sea of Grass - The area around the eastern end of
the Golden Sea is alive with great herds of animals, flocks of
birds and centaur nomads. In the summer, the animals migrate to
the north in search of water and the shelter of the forests. In
the winter, they migrate south, seeking the lush grasslands and
protection from the northern snows.
Ironfang Keep - An ancient tower carved from a rock
spire over two hundred feet tall and standing at the border
between the Sea of Grass and the Brythnian hills. It considered
cursed by minotaur and centaur alike, and its sight is considered
an ill omen. Though legends abound of the tower and its demon
warden, no tale records who built the tower, or when.
The Forest of Whispers - This pine forest on the misty
western uplands, while technically in Brythnia, is not inhabited
by either centaurs or minotaurs, but by a collection of goblin
tribes who occasionally war upon the lands to the east and south.
A small colony of elves also makes its home in the eastern woods. The
Ruins of Deriolanum - This city, which suffered a horrible
fate during the Wars of the Fisherman Emperors, is overrun with
the ghoulish former residents. It is given a wide berth by
all travelers. |
