Telandria

One of my many passions in life is role-playing; games like Dungeons and Dragons, various Palladium games, etc. I also enjoy role-playing of the video game variety. I really don't discriminate. I've played as many a character in my day, going all the way back to eighth grade when I started out playing Heroes Unlimited (I believe... it could have been Rift) from Palladium games. My role-playing career spanned across super hero campaigns in Heroes Unlimited, fantasy campaigns in Palladium Fantasy as well as Dungeons and Dragons, post apocalyptic campaigns in Rift and Palladium's After the Bomb, as well as supernatural horror adventures playing as normal people in Palladium's Beyond the Supernatural. I was even once part of a group that played in the Wheel of Time role-playing scenario based in the D&D rule set.

Needless to say, every bit of these games sparked my imagination in ways that I've never really encountered before or since. Back in the day, my friends and I would take turns being the Game Master (GM, otherwise known as Dungeon Master, or DM, in the Dungeons & Dragons games). This lead to a major variety of stories that our characters had to play through, some more realistic than others. For some reason, I was always attracted to creating adventures that took place in alternate dimensions, alien worlds or other weird scenarios that, looking back on it, didn't really make much sense. I think they ended up being fun, for the most part, but they were just all a little weird.

Fast forward to my latest incursion in the field of role-playing: DM of a new D&D group. The excitement started building again, thinking back to those days role-playing with my closest friends. Eventually, it boiled down to the question of "What to do for this group?" What sort of campaign can I create to be both fun, satisfying and believable? Then it dawned on me, I already have the backbone of a world created from the beginnings of the fantasy novel I've always wanted to create! There wasn't too much to go on, though, just this crude map I had drawn at some point a while ago:

The world of Telandria

It was the perfect beginning. I already had a good layout of the lands my players could explore. I knew that they would begin life and adventures in the south-west continent. I knew that the northern continent was a land full of battle between the forces of man and the forces of evil that has been waged for centuries. The legends said that a great evil arose in the north and quickly cut out its own territory to the east of the largest mountain range in the world. To the west of the mountains the lands of men were devastated, displacing many people of all races, pushing everyone to the south-west continent.

Nearly two hundred years prior to the present day, the lands of the south-west continent created an army unlike any ever seen before and marched across the planes joining the two continents. Once the last soldier crossed into the northern continent, one of the many armies of elvish wizards joined together and created a dense, impassable mountain range known as the Mountains of Hope. This isolated the south-west continent from the north, but the army knew it needed to protect their homelands at all cost. Over the next two hundred years, this army and their descendants pushed back the evil horde and fought them to a near standstill. This ultimately lead to a standing peace among the seven kingdoms in the south-west.

South-West Continent and its capitols

Greyshore, a human capitol with the only port able to send ships to the north. Ironhaven, the Dwarf capitol city that is built almost entirely underground and in the mountains. Misthollow, capitol of the Elves, built among a great forest, using the trees themselves as buildings. Ormarsh, the Human capitol in the Ormarsh Swamplands. Southlake, another Human capitol that is a hub for trade between many of the other major capitols. The magnificent city of Valhaven, one of the greatest Human kingdoms in the land. And finally Wintersedge, the southernmost capitol in all the lands, ruled by Humans, they provide many of the ships that Greyshore uses to travel to the north.

This would be the lands that the players would know and learn most about growing up. Ever since the battles in the North, there has been no wars between these capitols. History had become legends, and legends soon became whispers. There was a time long before where the land fought against dragons, hordes of undead, monsters not unlike those from the North... as well as kingdoms fighting against one another. One area, in particular, was of interest to me. The heart lake area, directly north-east of Valhaven. This area appeared to be a perfect starting point for our heroes.

Heart Lake and its surrounding communities

It had a major fresh water source, a place were simple farmlands would thrive. It had mountains, the Heartspear Mountains, perfect for mining and protection. It had rivers leading to other lands, perfect for traveling. And it had plenty of forests, perfect for hiding any number of adventures for my players. Once this spot was picked out, I fleshed it out and created the layout of the towns, villages, forests, mountains. I figured out what type of people lived in each community as well as some of the history of this area. I tried placing towns where they logically would spring up. Heartglen and Tara's crossing made sense as they were at the base of the rivers fed by Heart Lake. Tara's Field is a collection of farming communities outside of Tara's Crossing on the south-east side of the lake. Silvara is south of Tara's Field, the main town that travelers who take the only road into the area will first encounter. Ardan, a mining village directly west of Silvara. Edgeview, another mining town at the northern tip of Heart Lake. And, for travelers going to Greyshore, the small hamlet of Forn is one of the first villages encountered on the way out of the area. Similarly, the road to Ironhaven begins at the village of Plainscrest, in the north-west of the area.

With this set in stone, I decided Silvara would be the perfect community for my players to begin their adventures in. At this point, it was just a matter of creating the characters and fleshing out the history of the area a bit more before we could begin our adventures. But that is a post for another time. This mainly was a post regarding the world building process I had gone through to create this land that my heroes would be exploring and, hopefully, fighting evil in. In the process of preparing for my role as the DM, I've also fleshed out the world that my novel is going to take place in. Two birds with one stone and all that.

As will be usual, I'm always happy to hear thoughts about this and future posts. Feel free to leave a comment or begin a discussion. Next time I'll be talking about the various characters that were created by my players as well as the need to flesh out the world more because of it.