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The Land of Kythe

Beginnings

The Land of Kythe was a project that started in 1989, during my GCSEs. I had a big pad of A2 paper, and as a distraction to revision started sketching maps for a fantasy world. Some time later, I obtained a large sheet of A1 hex paper, and draw what was to become the map for the first campaign set in The Land of Kythe, using the newly released 2nd edition AD&D, using the Temple of Elemental Evil adventure as a base.

It made heavy use of speciality priests (basic Clerics didn't exist), and also made use of the weapon specialisation rules that I'd ported from the D&D Master rules.

Some years later, I wrote my own game system called Myths, and ported the setting to that. Though it went through at least one major round of terraforming, the campaign lasted about six years, until I grew tired of high fantasy and wanted something a bit darker and grittier.

The background was mostly written using Impression Publisher on RISC OS, and the later maps were drawn using Artworks. I no longer have anything capable of reading those files, so most of the information is now lost to digital history. However, what was converted to HTML has been reproduced here.

Overview of the Land

Introduction

What follows is written for you, an inhabitant of the planet Earth, sometime in the late 20th century. Much of what is related here is easier to explain when put into some 'real' context with which you are familiar. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it is easier for me. The second, is that it is easier for you.

A second note, is that everything here is given from the point of view of a sage of Atharia, though one with knowledge of our own world. Because of this, there is much of Kythe which is not related here, for the simple reason that it has yet to be explored.

Kythe is more or less Earth sized, and its sun is quite similar to our own, though very careful comparison will show it to have a slight greenish tinge, and that it is slightly hotter than our own. Finally, Kythe has but one continent - that of Alabahn. It is similar in many ways to pangea, the super continent of Earth before that split up into its present day form. There are other differences, which will be related as they are come across, but otherwise, Kythe is very much like our own World of Earth.

The Land of Kythe

The Land is the common name for the continent of Alabahn, on the northern hemisphere of the world known to its inhabitants as Kythe. Not all of the continent is inhabited, indeed, only a small fraction, on the northeastern corner, can actually be called civilised. This region is named Eumeria by its human inhabitants, and this name is often used when referring to the entire continent, though correctly it applies only to the northeastern part.

The rest is inhabited only by nomads and barbaric tribesmen, if at all. This uninhabited area is often called the Dark Lands by humans, for they have yet to be explored, and many fear that these lands are the home to evil civilisations, worshipping demons and other dark powers. Whether these stories are true has yet to be discovered, though it is known that the inhabitants of these areas are rarely friendly.

Alabahn covers many climatic zones, stretching from 80 degrees north to about 30 degrees south, its equatorial tips covered in thick jungles - home to many mythical lost civilisations. The continent is about twenty thousand kilometres wide, almost a full half of the globe, Some say it stretches even further, and that to reach its western edge a mere short hop across the ocean to the east is all that is needed.

Of course, many people still believe that the world rides on the back of a giant whale, the sun and moons kept aloft with the odd flick from the giant creature's tail. Most more knowledgeable sages hide their smiles when they here such tales, for it would not do to have the ignorant peasant versed in the true nature of the world, would it?

Geography

Eumeria is a collection of many different climates and terrains, ranging from frigid arctic wastes to sun bleached deserts and temperate forest belts. The largest single area within Eumeria is the Kingdom of Atharia - a human country for the most part united by religion. The land here is temperate, cool to the north,

kythe/index.1352323975.txt.gz · Last modified: 2012/11/07 21:32 by sam