People seem to like the wild elves, so I drew up a map of the island they’ll be living on. The elves will occupy the left side of the island and their yet-to-be-decided neighbors will be on the right. I don’t know what’s going to be happening on that little island at the top, but we’ll figure something out.
My wife has asked me to name the elven ruler after her and I told her I would. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean we’re getting a Queen Stacy or Queen Kathleen. My wife is named after Niamh of the Golden Hair, daughter of the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir, the lord of the Tuath Dé and ruler of Tír na nÓg. So I think her name should fit the theme pretty well here.
Anyway, I thought I’d post this to see if it inspires any more ideas on who the elves might be sharing the island with. There have been some excellent suggestions and I’m planning to compile them into a vote before too long, but I want to give everyone another chance to propose some more ideas. I feel like the other civilization will probably be relative newcomers to the island, but they don’t have to be.
Anyway, if you’ve got any thoughts on the neighboring civilization, let me know in the comments or shoot me a message!
The neighbours could be a group of dwarves who have dug their way into the island from the Underdark below
That could work, thanks!
yea the right side being moslty flat land/planes makes me stand with my my mongolian nomad idea, with maby what little hills there are being use as holy sites/burrial places
and maby making them being a little bit ”viking” like mostly in the exploring/trader sailing sence not the raiding, being crashed on the island and not alloud to use the trees for wood for ships cause of the elven religion/culture
I like the idea of them having crashed on the island and being stranded there. They could sort of be “accidental invaders.”
Westerners could be based on Mediterraneans. I have my own brand of orcs based on a splicing of Roman/Spartan culture but maybe another subrace of elf could fit the bill without as much of the militaristic aspect
Really any culture with some maritime significance could fit the bill, like the Zheng He treasure fleet or Indians to tie in with the Fort
A treasure fleet could be an interesting way to go with it. Maybe they found some treasure and ended up building settlements to gather it?
Yeah, I think I can picture something like this. I’ll work it into one of the ideas on the ballot.
The islands used to be ruled by evil storm giants, who were long ago imprisoned beneath the hills on the small NE island when one of their number betrayed them to their tiny elven slaves.
The obviously have complicated mythological epics about this, as well as holy relics of their liberator, and there are a few megalithic ruins on the island hinting at this past.
The prison is maintained by the magic bound into the trees on the big island.
The invaders consider the elven religious insistence on maintaining the woods superstitious bs. Many of the elves are reluctant to go to war over stories their grandma told.
Don’t worry, I’m sure the PCs will be able to deal with 100 angry storm giants.
That’s a really cool idea, thanks!