Skyfell Geography: Piruna Fields
Skyfell Geography: Piruna Fields
I’ve posted a handful of blogs regarding my homebrew campaign setting I call Skyfell. The first was a general description that I wrote up for new players so that they could get a taste for its mood and general feel. I’ve also been blogging the sessions for the campaign I’m currently running in that setting. It is very much a work in progress. I wanted to share a little more about the geography in part to provide some more background for my players to latch onto but also to make more clear the gaps in the setting so that any of my players can explore and add to it. Previous installments have details both Akima Prime and Doraku. This installment is about Piruna Fields. I hope you enjoy it.
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| Piruna Fields |
Overview
The Piruna Fields is an extensive collection of islands and other geological objects spread across nearly three thousand miles of the Known Skies in a three-armed spiral. Common knowledge holds this mostly untouched wilderness was once a single continent that was destroyed during The Cataclysm. Its relatively large number of ruins support this theory, hinting at a more civilized history that scholars have romanticized as an era of powerful nature magic and mysterious fey beings. There are hundreds of islands whose landscapes tend to be quite similar--clusters of steep, rocky hills covered in evergreen rain forests dotted with small, open, flatlands. There are thousands of other objects too small to be called islands that vary greatly in size, shape, and carry capacity. Many are simply uninhabitable for one reason or another.
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| Forest of Fey Spring Source: Pixabay, with Digital Manipulation |
A vast assortment of fey creatures live in the Piruna Fields. It’s also the homeland of the firbolgs, tabaxi, and feral gnomes. While the feral gnomes and firbolgs tend to socialize more than either the fey creatures or the tabaxi, all races actively avoid and shun those from other regions of Skyfell. There have been numerous sightings of and even more rumors about giant air monsters skulking around the islands. These creatures, however, seem to only threaten airships that bypass the port at Baervan's Camp and attempt to enter Piruna Fields through some other route. There are, after all, many local legends that tell of these beasts smashing reaver invasion fleets.
Among themselves, the indigenous populations speak a pidgin they call Sylvan. In this language, familial terms such as “uncle” and “sister” are used to refer to all beings living on an island. (For example, a firbolg might use "brother" when speaking with a feral gnome living on the same island as she.) “Neighbor” refers to everyone living off island but still within Piruna Fields. (For example, that same firbolg might say "neighbor" when speaking with a feral gnome who lives on a different island.) “Outsider” applies to everyone else. Common is spoken in the few areas where there is sustained contact with outsiders, such as in Baervan’s Camp.
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| Fey of Piruna Fields Source: D&D 4e |
Indigenous settlements exist throughout Piruna Fields. The realities of air travel, however, present a risk that most would rather avoid. Many others don’t have the means to island hop. Because of this, news between islands travels slowly, leaving settlements fairly unaware of the goings-on of even their closest neighbors. Expeditions to other settlements do happen. They are carefully planned, though. The arrival of such an expedition is a special occasion filled with socializing and trade. Knowledge of anything outside of Skyfell is rare. Contact with outsiders is even rarer. Many still believe there is nothing outside of Piruna Fields other than The Tempest, making first-contact situations a delicate process.
To outsiders, the peoples of Piruna Fields are simple primitives. Terms such as "feral gnome" (which is used specifically to distinguish the indigenous gnomes from the more "civilized" gnomes in the rest of Skyfell), exemplify this attitude. To be sure, technological advances that are common in Skyfell have not found their way to the islands. Airships, for example, are only known to those who have had contact with outsiders. Instead, flying ostriches are used for travel. While the gnomes, firbolgs, and other fey peoples see these creatures as beasts of burden our mounts, they are an integral part of tabaxi culture.
Geography
Explorers, adventurers, traders, and other outsiders have taken to numbering rather than naming the vast collection of islands and other objects that fill Piruna Fields. Many objects don’t receive even that passing recognition. Airmaps and outsiders rely entirely on this numbering system. The indigenous populations and those outsiders who work closely with them, however, use the indigenous names. The following entries include both for your convenience.
PF-1 (Piruna’s Cradle) is at the spatial axis of the field’s spiral formation. It’s the largest of the Piruna objects, measuring just a little less than half the size of Doraku. It’s the home of Baervan’s Camp, a settlement that serves as the primary cultural touch point between the indigenous populations and the rest of Skyfell. Outside of this settlement and it’s immediate environs, the rest of the island remains virgin wilderness jealously protected by fey and other spirits. Those who wish to safely enter the wilderness are advised to acquire a travel pass that can mitigate much (but by no means all) of the risk associated with such travel. The island, like many islands in Piruna Field, also hosts a handful of archaeological sites. Kalraka School of the Weave is actively researching many of them.
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| Street in Baervan's Camp Source: Pixabay |
PF-92 (Moss Creek) is on the southernmost outside edge of the third-arm of the spiral. There is a thriving feral-gnome community here called Moss Creek. Over the past few years, its residents have had some minor contact with outsiders seeking trade. These proposals typically offer commodities, such as construction materials and consumer goods, in exchange for the herbal and medicinal remedies unique to the community. Very recently, the bards at The Hall of Words and Song have been relating stories about the burrow’s extermination. According to these reports, a follower of The Glutton murdered the entire population. This, understandably, has upset the gnomes of High-tunnel Grind in Highwater--doubly so with the rumors that a second follower is held prisoner in that burrow's temple. The stories have not yet been confirmed by any official channels, but that hasn’t stopped them from spreading beyond Doraku.
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| Feral Gnome of Moss Creek Source: Players Handbook, 5e |
PF-188 (Little Roots) is a small island in the southern curve of the third-arm of the spiral. It's home to a feral gnome community that has periodic contact with the Moss Creek and Misty Mountain communities. The gnomes of High-tunnel Grind in Highwater have heard rumors of Glutton incursions into this community as well.
PF-366 (Annam's Isle) is on the eastern outside edge of the third-arm of the spiral. Its terrain can be most simply described as being a single mountain, Mount Annam, and the rugged foothills that skirt it. The island is dotted with a handful of small, well-rooted camps, villages, and strongholds that constitute the firbolg heartland. While it remains a wilderness, the firbolgs have certainly encouraged specific floral and fauna to thrive over others. This has produced a bountiful paradise that supports their hunter-gatherer culture. The largest village, Lichens Grove, is located on the northern slope of Mount Annam. It is the home of Hunters’ Rest, a center of worship for the firbolg goddess Hiatea.
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| Firbolg from Annam's Isle Source: Volo's Guide to Monsters, 5e |
PF-623 (Misty Mountain) is a decently sized island on the eastern arch of the second-arm of the spiral. Contrary to its name, the island's topside is rather flat with rolling hills. Its underside, on the other hand, is disproportionately large and perpetually shrouded in swirling mists. The island's flora are particularly "wild" and include species that have not been recorded elsewhere since before The Cataclysm. If the rumors and conjecture are to be believed, this is because the island is situated in a tear in the boundary between Skyfell and the Feywild. A clan of firbolg called The Dew Branch tends the island's flora and fauna, and care for an evermore tree known as Thel-Pai Leetha.
PF-1620 (Stony Hill) is on the northernmost point of the second-arm of the spiral. Its terrain consists of natural escarpments littered with ponds and scattered thickets. It is the closest thing there is to a tabaxi homeland, at least that is what their own stories tell them. Though the island’s carry capacity cannot support any permanent settlements, the entire tabaxi population (sparse as it is) periodically returns to the island for what they refer to as The Confluence. These grand conventions, which can go on for days or even weeks, are a mix of performance, carousing, trade, political intrigue, and reproduction. The gathering doesn't really end so much as fizzle out as wanderlust slowly overtakes the participants and they wander off. (There's always one or two stragglers who never really notice everyone else has left.)
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| Tabaxi from Stony Hill Source: Volo's Guide to Monsters, 5e |
PF-2358 (Fey Spring) is near the relative center of the field, midway out the first-arm of the spiral. It is a dangerous place where wild magic shapes and reshapes reality at its whim. Its hills are covered in thick forests whose deciduous trees are draped in hanging mosses and whose undergrowth is filled with gargantuan, thorny vines and fungi. Outsiders know nothing about what lies in the darkest parts of these forests. That ignorance is not from a lack of trying. Airmap beacons left there cease working. Anyone foolish enough to plunge into its wilderness are never heard from again. Some certainly have been killed by the fey creatures who viciously defend their home, creatures that are found nowhere else in Skyfell. Others are presumed to have fallen to the wild magic that saturates the stone and the air. And there is the mysterious fog that periodically rises out of the ground to veil the entire island. That alone is enough to dissuade casual adventurers from even approaching the island.
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| Deep Inside Fey Spring Source: Dungeon Master's Guide, 5e |
Settlements
Baervan’s Camp. This is the only location in all of Piruna Fields to be marked on every standard airmap. Perhaps that’s why the overwhelming majority of outsiders believe it to be the only settlement in the entire region. (Such an assumption is, of course, incorrect.) The town began as a ramshackle harbor several hundred years ago, set up by a gnome merchant lord to exploit both its native people and its natural resources. That harbor has since grown into a port that oversees all legal travel into and out of the Fields. The town that grew up around it is a haphazard assortment of residences, shops, industry, and taverns. It is surrounded by wooden defense works, including concentric walls, high towers, and artillery battlements all crisscrossed with catwalks. Many areas are quite welcoming to the indigenous peoples who visit the city, especially those hawking consumer goods from their homeland. Other areas wallow in a xenophobia that periodically boils into violence.
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| The Walls of Baervan's Camp Source: Neverwinter Online |
Yellow Fern burrow. The original location of the harbor at Baervan’s Camp was chosen for its proximity to the Yellow Fern burrow more than any other reason. This settlement is the largest of the feral-gnome burrows in all of Piruna Fields. The burrow is thought to spider beneath the entire island, containing hundreds of chambers. It is also the site of a rather popular temple devoted to Baervan Wildwanderer. No one is quite sure how many gnomes live here, but it is certainly far more than what most outsiders would suspect. Unlike many other populations in the Fields, the people of the burrow were willing to establish and maintain contact and trade with the rest of Skyfell. Perhaps that’s why the peoples from other areas of Piruna Fields view the residents of Yellow Fern with nearly as much suspicion as any outsider. The burrow's construction is similar to other burrows made by the feral gnomes, rough-cut passages and chambers reinforced by natural root growth and sure willpower.
Glossary
feral gnome - A phrase in Common to distinguish between the “uncivilized” gnomes that live in the Piruna Fields and the “civilized” gnomes that live elsewhere in Skyfell. This is used only by outsiders and not by the gnomes, firbolgs. tabaxi, and other denizens of Piruna Fields. To those beings the "feral gnomes" are simply gnomes.Note About the Header Graphic
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