Pettylin

Pettylin is a region of division and isolating geography, located in the lands once known as the Great Northern Forest. The land is a mishmash of hundreds of small-scale kingdoms—leading to the Great Northern Forrest being renamed the Land of Petty Kings by outsiders, or Pettylin for short. It is full of tall mountains, thick forests, and treacherous swamps. The best mode of transportation is by river, but even then the river system is not extensive. Roads tend to be, at best, little more than wide dirt paths between settlements.

There is nothing even resembling a central authority or uniting institution. Kingdoms and tribes tend to consist of half dozen small to medium settlements or bands—there are no cities in Pettylin. These communities are at constant war with each other over food, natural resources, and generations old slights. The people of Pettylin fall within one of four cultural groups. Alliances are endlessly shifting and it is common for members of one group to join with members of another group to fight their own kind.

The four main cultural groups of Pettylin are as follows:


 * 1) Saxangles - The most populous and powerful of the groups, Saxangle societies are predominantly human, but often have large Halfling and Dwarven minorities that work closely together.  They live in walled villages and have an economy centred around agriculture. They are ruled by kings—usually humans but occasionally dwarves.  Some kingdoms on the larger rivers, such as Lundene and Wintanchaester, do substantial amounts of trade as well.
 * 2) Dwarf Purists - Some dwarven clans continue to reject the idea of living among humans and instead live within the mountains, maintaining a traditional way of life closer to that of their forebears.  The societies of the Dwarf purists are primarily pastoral, but they also grow some crops that can survive with no or little sunlight. They are ruled by kings or clan chiefs. They practice much less commerce with the outside world than the Saxangles, and are more suspicious of outsiders.  Such societies tend to be poorer than Saxangles.  Craftsmanship is held in particularly high esteem, and a substantial number of Pettylin's finest craftsmen can be found amongst the Dwarf purist societies.
 * 3) Wood Elves - Wood Elves live within the deep forest or in the swamps. Their societies are tribal and semi-nomadic, moving from one settlement to another on a seasonal basis.  Wood elves do not worship gods but instead have a druidic culture and revere the high-fey of the Feywild. They are ruled by tribal councils in some affairs and druidic councils in others.
 * 4) Gnomes - Gnomes are known to live in the deep forest, but stay away from Elven territory. They have a highly insular culture, and tend to actively avoid all other people besides other Gnomes. Gnomish society is organized in a unique fashion, as part of communities called "universities", and governed in, what is to outsiders, a similarly unique and arcane fashion.  Gnomish society is the only culture that is not constantly at war. If their community is discovered, they leave and find a new home.

Beneath the sun-lit lands of Pettylin, the tunnels and caverns of the Underdark sprawl and wind their way seemingly endlessly. Within the Underdark, other civilizations reign and war, beyond the ken of the surfacedwellers. Such civilizations include that of the Drow, the goblinoids, and other, stranger things. While some particularly intrepid and courageous merchants do trade with such civilizations, they do so cautiously, as life in the Underdark is cheap, and mortal danger lurks around every corner.

To the south of Pettylin lies more developed civilizations and societies, such as the Franian kingdoms and the Tillian city-states.