Abanasinia
Abanasinia found itself near the shores of the New Sea, created after the Fiery Mountain struck Krynn. Perhaps the most relaxed region of Ansalon, the plains are home to numerous tribes of plains barbarians, as well as the cities of Solace, Haven, Gateway and at least one hill dwarf community. Whilst the region is best known for it's wide and verdant plains, it also has a number of city states dotted throughout. Those from Abanasinia are called Abanasinian.
Assets
Que-Shu Village
The village of Qué-Shu lies slightly eastwards of Solace, along the base of the Eastwall Mountains in Abanasinia. A low circular wall surrounds the village, and there are a large number of tents, and permanent buildings setup within the wall. Major structures are in the centre of the settlement, including the village hall and the home of the chieftain. At the absolute centre of Qué-Shu is an arena, in which all physical contests are played out. Qué-Shu has traditionally been led by a chieftain, who is guided by a wise shaman. The village was burnt down and destroyed during the war, with non-human corpses hung from chains.
Que-Teh Village
Like the other Plainsmen villages, the structures of this town don’t seem completely permanent. The village consists of about one hundred family huts and primitive cottages, plus a small handful of permanent common buildings. The family dwellings were made from wood, bark, and tanned hides, augmented with mud and adobe; the common buildings are made from logs, adobe, and even some stone with thatched roofs. Many buildings were burned, and evidence of a brief and violent struggle was obvious; several human skeletons had been picked clean by scavengers, with broken swords and bows discarded nearby. Attempts to examine the area revealed the tracks of many lizardlike feet among the human footprints. They lead to the south, along with the tracks of many heavy wheeled carts.
Eastwall Mountains
Representing the eastern border of the Plains, these hills and ridges separate the Plains from the coastal strip.
Darken Wood
Darken Wood is an ancient forest that covers nearly all the land between Haven and Solace, from the White-Rage Cut north to Haven Road. The woods are bordered by mountains, except for the open maw of the south, and comprised mostly of aspens and oaks. The moment anyone steps into the forest, they become aware of an awe- inspiring power that seems neither good nor evil. There is anger and despair, and there is hope. Most living creatures avoid the area or, if they must enter, do so with caution. Darken Wood has a reputation in the surrounding lands for being haunted.
No light source, not even a magical one, can cast light in Darken Wood farther than 40 ft. (20 ft. at night), and the air hangs thick and heavy, seeming to diffuse even the brightest illumination. Neither elvensight nor darkvision work inside these woods, so even elves and dwarves entering must rely on ordinary vision. The forest is also blanketed by a confusion effect. While in the forest, all attempts at tracking, including retracing the path by which one has arrived, are made difficult due to the mysteriously shifting trees. Attempts to tell exact time usually fail.
This is where Riverwind found the staff, however the experience traumitised him and he recalls nothing.
Dryad Forest
The east of Darken Wood is comprised of the Dryad Forests and oak trees instead of aspens. The dryads are non- confrontational, leaving their safety in the hands of the centaurs or the spectral minions, but they are not above charming travellers to help them protect their groves, or to serve as their slave labor.
Unicorn's Grove
The central part of the wood is named Unicorn’s Grove and is considered the domain of the Forestmaster. Very few creatures enter the Grove, and few stay very long. An atmosphere of awe permeates the Grove, which contains a clearing and a ledge, aptly named the Forestmaster’s Ledge, on which the unicorn prefers to lounge. Whilst here, the party requested the aid of the Forestmaster and had a picnic - they were most impressed by the shapeshifting chairs they provided, which would shift to be the perfect chair for the user. The Forestmaster graciously agreed to help the party, summoning Pegasi to fly the party to the mountains outside of Xak Tsaroth.
The Swamp
Close to the ruins of Xak Tsaroth, the wet, mossy ground of the ironclaw forest gives way to marshes and swamp. The ironwoods grow thinner, broken up by fetid bogs and stagnant, algae-covered ponds. The foliage of the ironclaw trees blocks out the sun, casting the land in permanent twilight; at night, it is nearly pitch black as not even Solinari’s brilliant light can penetrate the tenebrous canopy. Even in this dank, terrible place, vines grown thick; travel is difficult through the swamp of Xak Tsaroth. Still black waters encircle islands of soggy ground. Narrow land bridges or slimy fallen logs connect the islands. Occasional ripples on the scum-laden ponds indicate that something lives beneath the surface.
Geography
The Plains of Abanasinia are not the largest on Ansalon, but to the provincial people of Solace and Haven, they seem tostretch on forever. The bulk of the Plains stretch north from Solace to the sea and an arm’s reach to Solace’s east. The Abanasinian Plains are the home of semi-nomadic tribal humans. The Que-Teh, Que-Kiri, an Que-Shu peoples settle in villages in the wide valley east of Solace for at least part of the year, the sites of these towns being well-established, as determined by mutual agreement reached hundreds of years earlier in an attempt to end the nearly constant low-intensity warfare among the tribes. With that fighting in the past, the Plainsmen live in relative security, though they are much more at the mercy of wind and weather than their distant cousins in the hamlets and farms around Solace, Gateway, and other Abanasinian towns.
That said, the Plainsmen continue to maintain a proud warrior tradition. They are descendants of the barbarian tribes who joined with Fistandantilus during the Dwarfgate War; martial skills (especially riding, archery, and wilderness survival) are still highly valued. The Plains are an untamed and dangerous place; wild beasts, bandits preying on travelers, and stranger things still are known to roam the grasslands.
The Abanasinian Plains are grasslands, stretching from the hills around Solace north and east to the sea. The land isn’t mirror-flat; the plains are gently rolling, broken by the occasional stream or rain gully. Two thousand years ago, the ancient Ergothians constructed a system of stone-paved roads across the Abanasinian Plains. Though now reduced to rough trails, bits and pieces of this network are still useable. The Plainsmen call it the Sageway , and it’s still used by travelers and nomads alike. The East Road, part of this ancient system, leads out of Solace, through the Kiri Valley, over the northernmost ridge of the Kharolis Mountains, and down into the village of Que-Kiri . Trails run from Que-Kiri to Que-Shu and Que-Teh, from Que-Teh to Gateway, and east from Que-Shu into the Eastwall Mountains. A road runs north from Solace toward the far-off coastal towns of Crossing and North Keep.
Climate
The temperate Abanasinian Plains have warm summers and cool, dry winters. In autumn, the time of year in which this adventure occurs, the weather turns somewhat unpredictable; the warm, wet winds coming from Southern Ergoth and Southlund are beginning to be replaced by the colder breezes coming from the towering Kharolis Mountains to the south. Thunderstorms can roll across the plains from any direction, depending on the whim of the winds. The morning’s reassuring northerly breeze can be replaced in the afternoon by the chill from the south, a reminder that winter’s night must fall soon.
Fauna & Flora
Tall grasses dominate, occasionally reaching up to four feet high; they average one to two feet high in most places, providing excellent grazing for large herbivores and good cover for stalking predators. Small copses and groves of windblown trees cluster in stream gullies, washouts, and other protected spots. The party spot small herds of wild oxen, bison, and (especially in the higher steppes close to the mountains) antelope, and some of the streams are large enough to support trout. In the region between Solace and the Eastwall Mountains, the herds aren’t large enough to support vast numbers of predators, but the Plainsmen have learned to avoid those that do exist.
Comments