An Overview of the Lunar Lands

So, before I get ahead of myself, I feel like it would be useful to put out an overview of my setting. This will help provide context for a lot of the subjects I'll be discussing later on. I will make posts to explain the different parts of the world in more detail later on, as well as some of the overarching themes and design decisions, but for now, consider this a primer on the important details.

I've been plotting out this setting as a hobby project of sorts, ever since I was in school, and starting many years before I even ran my first game in it. It started out as a mashup of a lot of things I liked, but it would be revised over time, smoothing out the junctions and creating a more cohesive whole. I've run multiple games in it, through multiple editions of D&D as well as a few other systems, but I try to carry over plot points from one game to the next, allowing my players to make their impact on the world. In this way, it's grown and changed as time has gone on, and I always find new corners of the setting to explore.

Some general notes:

• There are three moons, one larger moon with two smaller ones off to the side. This is why my players started referring to it as "Three Moon Land," and the name stuck. This is just a small background detail, really - I will fully admit that I made this decision in the name of one-upping one of my foremost inspirations, the Elder Scrolls games (these moons are in fact natural satellites made of rock, and not the constantly decaying-and-regrowing flesh of a dead god, mind you).
• I am a self-described armchair medievalist, and I like my settings to be grounded in a historical mileu. The general look and feel I'm going for is Europe somewhere around the mid- to late 15th century - swords and armor predominate on the battlefield, but new technologies are still being made, and gunpowder is present in an early form (nothing beyond cannons, bombs, and arquebuses), as well as the printing press. There are occasional aspects borrowed from earlier and later than this period here and there as far as the Rule of Cool allows, but to a point - a knight straight out of Durer's engravings might fight a Viking, or sail on a galleon, but you won't find anything like Waterdeep's Flintstonian horse-drawn buses.
• On that note, I try to portray the world as something with at least relatively more in common with the ways of the past than those of the present. Sociological and political factors are designed with influence from the pages of history books, because I'm the sort of freak who reads those for fun, and to lend the world more versimilitude and set it apart from modern life. If you're looking for a genuine historical simulation, though, look elsewhere. In general, I want to portray a world that feels distinct and authentically medieval, but only insomuch as it's fun and creates worthwhile story details to explore without making certain character options a chore to play - so feudalism and guilds are in, rampant gender inequality and religious persecution, not so much.
• The general magic level is low, more so perhaps than 5e assumes. Anyone can learn magic, but doing so generally requires the time and money that most people don't have and can't be bothered with. Everyone might know someone who's met a wizard, but actually seeing magic performed, even in the most advanced and cosmopolitan cities, is rare in most areas. It's not prevalent enough to significantly shape society, and magic items are to be obtained through quests and journeys, not by simply buying them at the store - and if you did buy it at the store, that store will usually be a cluttered hole in the wall at the back of a dusty, odd-smelling alleyway, run by a mysterious old man who can't quite tell you what the thing you just bought does.
• There is no such thing as an adventurer. There are people who go on adventures, sure, but they ideally have some reason to, and if they have organizations they'd resemble a mercenary unit, a guild of thieves, a knightly order, or a coven of magic-users more than anything that seems to have been constructed to justify game mechanics after the fact.

Next up, an overview of the major powers:

For best results, click to enlarge

• The Vardessian Empire forms the central part of the continent, and is perhaps its strongest realm - although the Imperial authority is limited; while the Emperor rules the Crownlands directly, a land so vast needs many hands to govern, and there are many Dukes, Counts, Barons, and other feudal lords that hold territories beyond their reach, often functioning as nations in their own right - such as Redwald, the Sonderlunding thanage signed over to the Empire in a pledge of loyalty after a war; the mountainous land of Halvardy, and the Freikantons, a confederation of fiercely independent villages and small holdings that produces (and is to some degree run by) many mercenaries. Analagous to the Holy Roman Empire.
• Togarmah is a diverse place, with treacherous mountains and impenetrable forests to the south giving way to grassy plains to the north, and with many different ethnic groups calling the kingdom their home. In a practice rare in the northern lands, the king is elected through a vote among the various noble houses. Analogous to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• Kvesland holds itself as the last bastion of civilization against the North, though some would scoff at the suggestion. Originally formed from a few Togarman tribes, the ruling class is of Northman heritage, and even if they have largely abandoned the ways of their forefathers, they still practice traditions of magic and martial valor. Also here are the Levic Marches, a coastal region of thick forests and deep swamps where the mercantile League of Three Crowns holds stead. Analogous to Kievan Rus', as well as the early days of the Russian Empire and post-Viking Scandinavia.
• Beyond Kvesland, there are a number of so-called barbaric lands, inhabited by the Northmen, who sail longboats to the more fertile lands to the south for trading and raiding; the Ukians, a nomadic people who live off the rivers and forests; and the Northborn Orcs, who - like other orcs - are driven by the quest to achieve glory in battle. Respectively analogous to the Vikings, the Finns and Saami, and the various Siberian and Mongolian cultures (as well as some Also Vikings, But Orcs).
• Sonderlund, a rugged land known for its harsh weather and the rough men and women it breeds, is not a single kingdom, but a group of thanes and their various holdings that govern by mutual agreement. Beyond their territory lie the Highlands, where settlements are few and many live by the sword and the druidic ways as followers of the ancestral Old Faith. Analogous to Scotland.
• The western isles of Gul Braich are even less tame than the Highlands. Though a few villages and fields hug the coasts, the inland regions are covered in dense wilderness where only the elves and their fey masters rule, and the rocky islands are dotted by menhirs and stone circles where the druids meet. Analogous to Ireland.
• To the south lie the City-States, centers of culture, trade, and scholarship - though the name is a bit of a misnomer, as they range from true independent cities to larger kingdoms and republics. All tend to be based from a single city, with others being subjects thereof. The most prominent of these are the naval powers of Alcasse and Fiora, as well as the Holy Kingdom of Lescatie, the center of the cult of Voltan and a major forum of discussion between the ambassadors of different lands. Analogous to renaissance Italy, although the northern City-States are more French - and the free city of Karkossen, off of Vardessy and possessing great wealth from their trade routes, is more Dutch.
• Taldameer rivals Fiora for the status of the dominant naval power in the Great South Sea, though while Fiora has a wealthy and extensive merchant fleet, Taldameer's is a formidable fighting force. The kingdom is also known as a religious powerhouse, with multiple gods having cults based here. Analogous to Spain.
• Off the coast of Taldameer is the Republic of Valossa - founded originally by pirates exiled from Taldameer, it has since grown, not without scandal, into a mercantile center in its own right, though it has earned its reputation as a cesspool of crime and villainy, both from the corsairs that ride its waves and the bandits that prey on the scattered communities inland. Analogous to some unholy hybrid of the Balearic Islands and a gleefully anachronistic colonial Mexico - this one is going to get its own post later.
• Golnir, a kingdom that sits among the ruins of a bygone empire, is a hotbed of scheming and intrigue, as ambitious nobles attempt to gain favor with the decadent court. Analogous to the Byzantine Empire.
• Last but not least is the vast desert region of Quel'Ahma, governed by a caste system in which mortals toil over the land, while genasi run businesses and oversee local government, and the noble genies rule over all. The capital of Tasshen is said to soar above the clouds, with only genies laying eyes upon it its walls; the rest of the land is dominated by four emirates, all aligned to one of the four elements, though a few smaller kingdoms and city-states, including those of man, may still be found hugging the fertile coast. What unites these people is their worship of the elements, as well as their devotion to knowledge and trade. Analogous to the Middle East in general; the Abbassid Caliphate would be the closest comparison.

These sketches should give you an idea of the continent most of my games have been set on. There are, of course, lands beyond these ones, but that is a story for another day...