A lot has happened in the kingdom of Pelegar since the gazetteer entry in the 2008 edition of the Realms of Chirak, and I am working on a proper update, but most of the material below is still current:
Pelegar
(Excerpted from The Realms of Chirak, 4E edition)
Cultural Level: steel
age
Population:
approximately 2.5 million
Government: alliance of city-states ruled by monarchy
Rulers:
Different by city state, but Vialle Dianeni of the Dreaming City is looked up
to by all.
Religions:
The faith of Pelegar is tested by its
haunting entities
Social
Titles: slaves, commoners, land owners,
knights, barons, lords, kings
Coinage: the
nick-name for coins in this land is “bones, “ Ex: “I’ll pay 3 gold bones for
that.”
Allies:
The Pelegar are isolationist and don’t like outsiders. They trade through
middlemen, and only deal directly with the Sabiri.
Enemies:
The Sabradan are the greatest enemies
of the Pelegar.
The only clear passage
through the Cossarit Mountains going east and west, and the only easily
accessible pass, Pelegar is poised in a unique position of being one of the few
readily available regions by which the east and the utter west can converge in
relative safety.
Pelegar is divided in to
three cultural groups which are all descended from the soldiers of the final
war of the Apocalypse that resolved in this region. Most populous of these
local groups are the western hinterlanders, a breed of private, uncouth
mountain men who dislike the people of almost all other lands and even refuse
to learn foreign languages. They live as herders of reindeer, build great
houses from the massive oaks of the forests that range along the lower slopes
of the immense Cossarit range, and fight their local wars with more bravado than
blood shown on the battlefields. The hinterlanders refuse to learn any other
languages, and dislike all foreigners, though they make excellent mercenaries
because of this disdain. Many enjoy levying heavy taxes on raiding caravans
that pass through the range. They are also hardened by the conflicts they
experience with the clans of Dalevar dwarves, Skull biter goblins, Blood fire
Orcs and the many giants in the mountains.
The Central Pelegar
culture, known as the lowlanders, are the old aristocracy of the land, men who
claim to have the oldest elite heritage in the land and a natural right of
rule. The lowlanders are driven by ancient politics and intrigue. They recruit
most of their forces from those who dwell about them in the mountains to continually
pursue their ages-old Machiavellian plots and wars of intrigue.
The westernmost culture
of the Pelegar is centered in the city of Tulos, and they are known as the
zealots, for the city of Tulos is a monument city of ancient temples and
shrines to the fallen gods, as well as to the demon gods and evil spirits which
haunt the lands of Pelegar. The zealots are seemingly more open and diverse of
thought than their brothers, but are in fact the most dangerous and xenophobic
of all. They are strong followers of the principles of the cults of the Lost
Gods, and believe that they are the only hope of salvation, of providing
sanctuary from eternal damnation for all those who have been left behind in the
mortal plane. The zealots are as diabolical in their devious schemes as the
lowlanders.
Pelegar labors under an
ancient curse, one which explains why the people of the land are so grim and
unhappy with outsiders. It is said that the land was cursed by the terrible
evils which were dealt to it, as the Battle of the West, where so many
countless demonic beings and gods fell, took place in this land. The ancestors
of Pelegar are believed to have been servants of the betrayer gods, followers
of Ga'Thon, and indeed Shaligon herself was said to have come from Pelegar in
the ancient days. When the war was over, the land was wracked with the residual
essence of evil as well as the mounds of the dead. The surviving men of Pelegar
were left to disperse throughout the remains of their fallen kingdoms, to carve
out a life for themselves branded forever as the men who sided with the
apocalyptic forces of destruction. All other men shunned them, and the very
essence of the dead god Ga'Thon seeped in to the souls of the men, tainting
them forever more.
Though two thousand years
have passed, and much of the old ages have been lost to memory, the curse of
the land still pervades all of its inhabitants, and ancient demon spirits
trapped in the mortal realm haunt the land. Creatures such as Gloom,
Shmaga'thael, and Molabal continue to taint the land, while finding that they,
too, are locked to it for mysterious reasons. To pass the time, these entities
play maddening psychic games with the inhabitants.
There are also two unique
species in the region of Pelegar: The Yakovi yak folk of the Tulos area,
and the Simviriin cat folk, who dwell throughout the Cossarit region,
but seem to thrive in the Pelegar area, and are tolerated as a nuisance by the
men of the land, like gypsies and mummers.
Throughout the woodlands
of Pelegar dwell small enclaves of elves, unseelie descendants called the
ithiri, believed by many to be dangerous entities who have a capricious hatred
toward humanity. Ithiri are rarely seen in the company of normal mortals and
usually feared by men when encountered. They are believed to have been
permanently affected by the close proximity of the Weeping Wall in the Cossarit
Mountains, where the remnants of the fey realm were expunged from the dying
flesh of Ga'Thon and frozen in stone forever.
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