Skyfell Geography: Teskos
Skyfell Geograpphy: Teskos
I’ve posted a handful of blogs regarding my homebrew campaign setting that 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 geography installments have detailed Akima Prime, Doraku, and Piruna Fields. (There are also posts for the guilds of Highwater and the organizations of Highwater.) This installment is about Teskos and the Teskos Chain. I hope you enjoy it.
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| Teskos and the Teskos Chain |
Overview
Teskos is a system of landmasses in the Lenitu Skies with its outermost boundaries 3000 miles apart. It is composed of Teskos and the Teskos Chain. Teskos is the largest landform. It is the traditional home of the minotaur. The Teskos Chain is a collection of thirteen much smaller landforms that curve out from Teskos like a scorpion’s tail. It is the traditional home of both orcs and goblinoids, though the orcs dominate the cultural, political, and physical landscape of the chain so thoroughly that the goblinoids are often forgotten.
The minotaur of Teskos are renowned for their shipbuilding and skyfaring. It is such a deeply ingrained aspect of their culture that it is said every minotaur is born with an airship blueprint in one hand and an airmap in the other. (These are, in fact, common gifts to new parents.) Their language is peppered with metaphors about airships and sailing. Their iconography is dominated with symbols of the same. Airships figure prominently at every birth; a minotaur born on a ship is considered especially blessed and so many expectant families go out of their way to ensure their children are born aboard one. Airships also play a key role at death, acting as the vessel that carries the spirit of the fallen to join Mogis in the afterlife. Family is a crucial part of the minotaur culture, but guild membership shapes and informs an individual’s identity so much that a minotaur is more likely to use their guild name rather than their family name when introducing themselves.
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| Minotaur of Teskos Source: Mythic Odysseys of Theros, 5e |
The orcs of the Teskos Chain are forever embroiled in conflict. If they are not engaged in all-out warfare with their minotaur neighbors, tribes are battling each other for rulership over their island, and individuals are jockeying for leadership within their tribe. Brutal combat is the preferred method for achieving dominance, but political intrigue and assassination (carried out by a duplicitous network of Red Fangs of Shargaas) are often used just as effectively. A tribe's relative power within orc civilization is reflected by the position of the island that the tribe inhabits. The most powerful tribes are at the head of the chain (starting with the island closest to Teskos). The weakest tribes are at the tail. As a result, orcs often refer to any rise up through a hierarchy as an act of “climbing The Chain.” The tribes currently ruling each island, in order from the head to the tail, are: Burning Eye, Rotted Foot, Heart Eaters, Banded Claws, Rust Blade, Bloodied Tusk, Iron Fist, Black Blood, Razor Fang, Blood Tusk, Head Crusher, Stone Skull, and Shattered Bone.
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| Orc Tribal Leader Source: Player's Guide, 5e |
The minotaur and orcs cycle through long periods of brutal warfare and enmeshed peace with each other. This volatile and intense history has transformed and interwoven the cultures of both races so that they have more in common with each other than they do with the rest of Skyfell. There is, perhaps, not a more concrete example of this bond than the prevalence of orc/minotaur persons. These individuals are celebrated while the two races are at peace but are so thoroughly scorned when the races are at war that they must flee their homeland. The result is that folks living outside of Teskos are as likely to meet a person of mixed orc/minotaur ancestry as they are of meeting orcs and minotaur who do not claim such a family history.
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| Warrior of Orc/Minotaur Ancestry Source: HeroForge, Designed By Me |
Geography
Hetapede Pelanti is a range of mountains that bisect Teskos into northern and southern halves. They culminate in the Plateau of Mogis, a broad expanse of land that is said to have been formed when the minotaur god Mogis sliced off the mountain peaks to rid Teskos of Grummsh and his followers once and for all. According to the legend, these severed peaks would later become the Teskos Chain. Piraeus, the largest settlement on and the center of culture for Teskos is here.
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| Hetapede Pelanti Mountains Source: Pixabay |
Blood Forest is a vast expanse of wild growth at the heart of the first island in the Teskos Chain. It is believed to be a place of dark magic and evil beings that consume and destroy anyone foolish enough to enter. There have been more than a few orc tribes to attempt full-scale invasions of the forest. Their intent is always the same and always quite simple--destroy the forest's magic and slaughter its denizens. (What else is a mighty tribe to do but attack a threat?) Every one of these campaigns didn't just fail, however. They were catastrophic. The tribes' populations were decimated by such fell events that no orc is willing to talk about them for fear of bringing the same fate upon their own heads. Still, every tribe ruling the first island eventually eyes the forest as the next target for conquest.
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| Blood Forest Source: Pixabay, with Digital Manipulation By Me |
The Splintered Skies is the area of the Open Skies that is ringed by Teskos and the Teskos Chain. Through the centuries it has been the primary naval battlefield when the orcs and minotaur are at war. As such, the area is littered with centuries’ worth of shipwrecks. It is also the setting for numerous stories about legendary heroes and magical devices lost in battles past. Not surprisingly, scavengers routinely scrounge The Splintered Skies for its salvage. Adventurers seek its legendary treasures.
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| The Splintered Skies Source: Pixabay with Digital Modifications By Me |
Settlements
Piraeus is the political and economic center of Minotaur civilization. Legend has its origins as a frontline fortress in the Highland Purge, the three-hundred-year war that led Mogis to slice off the thirteen peaks of Hetapede Pelanti to rid Teskos of its orc infestation. Indeed, the oldest parts of the city are clearly the remains of a once imposing military post defiantly standing watch over the entire mountain range. The modern city hasn't lost any of that edge. Its thick, angular structures, gridwork layout, pillared temples, and staggering defense works would set every visitor on edge if not for the opulence softening what could only be described as their overt aggression.
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| Piraeus Source: Mythic Odysseys of Theros, 5e |
Piraeus is home to the Alkebia Shipyards, a vast collection of docks and factories that construct three-quarters of all airships in Skyfell. The leading shipbuilding guilds are headquartered here, including Nephus Shipwrights, Warships of Thanos, Gansus Airworks, and the Axiotis Group. These organizations tend to spend more resources on trying to one-up each other than they do on actual manufacturing activities. The Grande Sky Tour, a decennial airship race that circumnavigates Teskos, was started by these guilds as nothing more than an opportunity to outshine their competitors. The elegant vessels that participate in the contest are built for speed and first impressions. They represent a huge investment because they use only the finest materials and take advantage of the latest magical theory. (Though they do stop short of the careless inventiveness of the Deep Hearth gnomes on Akima Prime.) The winning vessel becomes a highly sought-after prize across the Known Skies by the elite while the guild that built it enjoys a bump in their sales and prestige.
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| Symbol of Mogis Source: Mythic Odysseys of Theros |
The Arena of Mogis is a massive temple complex on Teskos, rivaled only by the Temple of the Wyrmking on Akima Prime in its grandeur and size. It is the primary worship center for Mogis, the minotaur god of slaughter, violence, and war. Its political power waxes and wanes in parallel with the rise and fall of tensions with the orcs of the Teskos Chain. It is a place where young minotaur go to prove their mettle in a series of deadly trials. It is said that Mogis rewards only those who nurture a bottomless hatred and rage for their enemies. The survivors of these trials often become leading figures in the political and economic fabric of minotaur society. When the minotaur go to war with the orcs, the declaration is made from this temple's largest arena in a ritual of combat. The news is then carried out from the temple to the rest of Teskos by priests whose foreheads are marked with the blood of the loser of that combat.
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| Arena of Mogis Source: Mythic Odyssey of Theros, 5e |
The Tribute to Gruumsh is a sprawling orc city on the first island of the Teskos Chain. It is the prize that all orc tribes covet as they climb The Chain to dominate orc civilization. The winner of that climb occupies the city, expelling (or, more likely, murdering) the previous residents as they consolidate their power. This constant turnover of leadership, and the warfare that leads to that turnover, has left the city in a permanent state of disrepair. Every occupying tribe focuses on fortifying their position rather than rebuilding the city's infrastructure. There is wisdom to this strategy. Even the minotaur see crushing the city as an extension of the will of Mogis to annihilate the followers of Gruumsh and so there is strong motivation to fortify first and repair later. One might think all this potential for bloodshed and destruction would turn power-thirsty eyes to other treasures. One would be mistaken. There is no greater tribute to Gruumsh than a city built upon the bones of the dead and every orc is eager to add theirs to that glorious offering.
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| Throne of Gruumsh Source: Neverwinter Online |
Bloody Links is the collective name for the capital cities on each of the islands of the Teskos Chain except the first. Much like the Tribute to Gruumsh, these cities are seen as a symbol of power and so are always targeted when a tribe seeks to take control of an island. While an occupying tribe might name the symbol of its power after itself, none of the other tribes are ever willing to acknowledge them. Those higher up the chain feel no need to waste their time with the weak. Those lower on the chain have no desire to soil what they see as their eventual (and rightful) possession. And so, the Banded Claws tribe might call their city on the fourth island City of the Banded Claws, but every other orc will simply call it The Fourth Bloody Link.
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| Orc on Guard at the Fourth Bloody Link Source: Neverwinter Online |
Note About the Graphics
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