Channel Cities and World of Ærnth

Welcome to the Channel Cities and the World of Ærnth that it is the most important city on. Home to the brightest lights and the darkest shadows within the World of Ærnth fantasy RPG setting.     The Channel Cities is the area around a channel that connects the North Sea and the Great Sea. The channel also separates two large continents at their closest point (think of the importance of Istanbul throughout the last 1,500+ years of history on our own world). There are several islands within this channel, as well as two rivers that empty into it. This is also the location of five large cities: Argentum, Gorled, South Shore, Martelain, and Dorgard. With all of the cities being separated by water there is only one permanent bridge (between Argentum’s main island and one of it’s small islands), and one semi-permanent bridge (between Gorled and Dorgard) across the Loudewater River. This second bridge is built out of wood and is burned every few years or so, when trouble flares up between these two cities. There are several ferries that cross the channel at different points and two that cross the Silver River between South Shore and Martelain.     Of the twelve islands around the Channel area, 2 are owned by one of the wealthy merchants in Argentum (one has his manor, warehouse, and docks; while the other is home to his shipyard (in addition to being one of the wealthiest and most successful merchants in the area, he also operates the largest of the three shipyards that supply vessels to the many merchants and shippers that comprise Argentums upper class). One is controlled by the family that operates the many ferries that service the Channel Cities, thus allowing them to keep clear of the political turmoil that often embroils the five cities and their governments. The remaining nine islands are controlled by a secretive and reclusive group of people who operate the most prestigious school in the world as well as being the unofficial historians and record keepers of the world’s history and events. These islands are known simply as the Isles of Stars.   The five cities have widely varying political systems and economics as explained below. Argentum is a Republic; however only landowners are considered Citizens with voting rights who elect a Council that oversees the city-state’s operations. It is also the trade and transportation hub of the world, and as such is home to many of the wealthiest merchants. Its coast is lined with warehouses and docks. Gorled is a large and militarily powerful Feudal Monarchy with a strong agricultural economy and some manufacturing. Dorgard is a smaller alliance of petty kingdoms, thus also uses a Feudal system, but with less of a hierarchy. It is also an agricultural powerhouse with its rich soil and great weather and growing season, especially in its southern regions. South Shore is the manufacturing powerhouse of the region with a very extensive and active system of artisan guilds, and is as close to a true democracy as exists within the world, with everyone who pays taxes a voting Citizen. It is also the only one of the five cities where slavery is outlawed and personal freedom is highly valued. Meanwhile Martelain used to be the manufacturing powerhouse and also operated some of the riches mines in the world, however the city fell to the Northern Empire many years ago and has since become the slums of the Channel Cities, currently ruled over by the “Governor” who is some outcast noble from the Northern Empire. Riots and unrest is common in Martelain, with an active but weak rebellion that is still trying to free itself from the oppressive rule of the powerful Empire. The Channel Cities and World of Ærnth setting includes several Religions (instead of just one as in a lot of RPG settings) with competing views and power-struggles between them, its own calendar (see below) and an extensive and detailed historical timeline (see below). Another source of information is A Travelers Questions, written as an introduction to the Channel Cities more than 20 years ago.   This endeavor is a compilation of over 40 years of creative work, and remains a work in progress, as any fantasy setting should be. After all, our own world is not a constant place, but is a changing, growing, and developing entity. I have tried to make the Channel Cities setting as alive and detailed as I possibly can, while at the same time keeping it open and available for change. As you will see, considerable detail has been incorporated into it, but yet, there are enough spaces and undeveloped areas that it still has a lot of room to grow and change. As a user of this setting, it is expected that you will use what you feel will fit your needs as a GM and will ignore other aspects of the setting. However, all setting information is copywrited and may not be used for commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of its owner (Aaron Smalley and other contributors as noted). It is also expected that you will fill in some of the areas that have intentionally been left blank to suit your needs. If you would like to contribute your ideas to the setting, by all means contact me and we can discuss and work out the details of doing so.     Special thanks are in order to all the people that have helped to make this setting as close to reality as a fantasy world can be. They include (but are not limited to): Patrick* ("Plans? We don't need no stinkin’ plans!") F., Tim* (“Rasyr”) D., Fabio P., Pedro (“The Flying Madman”) M., Dale* (MadMax) M., Hohn, Aran* M., Elliot, Ebony, David* (“Alignment? Sociopath!!!”) S., Josh ("Dwarf!!! What else is there?") W., Jeremy J., John B. ("the Ginsu Elf"), Jon L. ("the Hairpin Assassin"), John N., "Little" John, Mark M., Eric S., Mike C. Jr. ("The Naked Flying Dwarf" (don’t ask, it’s a disturbing story)), Mike C. Sr. (“Dr. DM”), Mike R., Sean S., Darrin M., Adrian M. (the human calculator), Tracy M., Harry ("I WILL conquer the world!!!"), David W., Melissa W., Carolyn S., “Lizard”, Jim, Mark, Jake, Stan A., Stan O., Olin P., and many others. Note: those marked with asterisks above were also contributors in some special way (usually at helping work out details, contributing idea, and text to this document) and as such deserve a special Thank You!         As stated elsehwere, please note that none of the NPC's (Non-Player Characters (which can be found listed in alphabetical order by both Channel Cities Alphabetical NPC's List by First Name and Channel Cities Alphabetical NPC's List by Last Name) are intended to indicate or mimic any real-world or historical figures, nor any fictional characters from other authors or sources. Nearly all place names and NPC names were generated by the specified authors to indicate fictional beings and places. If you see anything that may be a copywrite infringement, please let me know and depending on if the copywrite claim is valid (truly pre-dates the origin of the person, place or thing that is published here or in past versions of the source documents or past web-sites), they will be removed or modified to eliminate such infringement.