Coruvain
From RPGwiki
Coruvain is a large continent in the southern hemisphere, ranging from the southern tropical zone at its most northerly, to the Antarctic Circle in the south. Its three continental shelves are all drifting southwards, and scientists estimate it will collide with the Antarctic continent in around fifteen-hundred years time. It contains a large diversity of climates from temperate moor lands to tropical jungles, from wide open grasslands to forbidding mountain reaches. It is often considered slightly barbaric, an impression created by the long dark age that the land underwent following its first empire, but its rapid ascent during the period of the Resurgence enabled it to become a powerhouse of expansion in the last few hundred years.
The most prominent geological feature on the continent are the Carpathis Mountains which run east-west almost the length of the continent with a spur reaching north almost to the sea. They divide the continent into several distinct areas; the north-west coast, the north-east tropical zone and the southern steppes.
The north-eastern tropical zone was the homeland of the continent-spanning Draken Empire around two thousand years ago, but has rarely been able to unite in any meaningful way since. Today it is composed of several competing lands, primarily human and hobgoblin in make-up, which are dominated by the two would-be superpowers, the Keffen Republic and the Draken Empire, the latter only a shadow of its former self.
The north-west coast, running along the Laertian Sea, is currently the dominant area of the continent, politically speaking. For nearly one and a half thousand years after the fall of the Draken Empire its colonies along this coastline bickered and warred amongst themselves preventing any meaningful development. Around five hundred years ago though these lands underwent a surge of creative energy, as science, magic and the arts all flourished. What had once been known as a barbarous land plagued by almost constant warfare soon became known as a cultured land… plagued by almost constant warfare. Today the many kingdoms, democracies and oligarchies of this area live by a wary truce and press their competitiveness into trade wars and cultural imperialism.
The southern steppes are the one area of Coruvain where humans and hobgoblins are not the dominant species. Here it is the rhino men and the centaurs that dominate. Neither has any land where they predominate. Both races nomadic natures mean they spread all over the steppes long ago. The steppes are rather poorly named as they cover a vast area ranging from the kangaroo-infested desert lands of the tropics, through the more traditional grass steppes of the temperate zone through to the icy tundra lands of the caribou as you approach the Antarctic. While the steppes are divided into many lands these are less competitive than the lands of the north-west coast, because the massive steppes offer their inhabitants much more space than the cramped kingdoms of the north-west coast.
