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Army Fluff Freebooters of the Havens (KoW Multiple Army Setting)

Discussion in 'Fluff and Stories' started by gb2098, Feb 3, 2019.

  1. gb2098
    Saurus

    gb2098 Active Member

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    Freebooters of the Havens

    South of the Successor Kingdoms, in that region known to scholars as The Drowned Republic, is an archipelago. Once the highlands of the province of Vantoria, of the Republic of Primovantor, these islands have become a wild, mysterious place, with only a pale shadow of the glory of the old republic remaining in the many ruins above and below the waters. Long abandoned, the surviving native inhabitants have regressed to a tribal state. Only in recent times have the great powers from outside the Archipelago given it much attention, yet it has never been ignored. The archipelago has long been a refuge for outcasts, madmen, the ambitious, and pirates. Not much has changed, though the great powers now seek to colonize and exploit it, bringing them into conflict with its inhabitants. Those that refer to the islands by their simple local name; The Havens.​

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    The archipelago stretches across the infant sea, from the realms of the Successor Kingdoms south to the Twilight Glades, and comprises 20 large islands, and countless small islands, sandbars, atolls, and seamounts. Much of the sea is quite shallow, and navigation difficult. Only a few safe routes through the southern islands have been charted by merchants, and those through the archipelago proper have been a closely held secret of the locals, who are experienced with the regions many challenges. Within the last century however the lures of the region’s wealth and resources have attracted many explorers, who have mapped ways through the rest of the archipelago, opening it up for proper exploration and colonization, as well as the eventual removal of the piracy problem once and for all.


    The region’s climate is subtropical, with warm rainy winters and hot dry summers. The northern most islands are dominated by scrublands and forests, transiting into ever denser jungles the farther south you travel. Some believe that the touch of The Green Lady lies on the archipelago, others say that it is some mystical remnant from the ancient forests of the elves, of which the Twilight Glades are but a shadow. It is clear some arcane effect is on the land however, as the region is far more verdant and lush than time and climate alone would allow. This effect appears to extend to the sea as well,
    Ancient ruins dot the islands, relics of the lost Vantorians, now long reclaimed by nature. These sites are still revered by the natives to the havens. Many of these ruins now lie beneath the waters, navigation hazards as dangerous as any reef, yet to the crafty seaman and diver, potential sources of profit in artifacts, gold, and jewels. Even more so the ruins on the land, which a stalwart explorer can discover and wrest from the primeval forests. The ancient Vanatorian province possessed great wealth, traded from across the known world, and that wealth which may remain to be rediscovered has become a great draw to adventurers and businessmen the world over.

    Yet the jungles, forests, and swamps have their own dangers. The island interiors are all but unmapped, with few trails. Many poisonous species of insect and snake call the islands home, and great beasts stalk the land. Large and often aggressive, many match tales of the saurians that once once thrived in the now drowned equatorial belt, although whether these are the remnants of those great jungles, or species introduced by others later that have gone feral is unknown. Beneath the waves too, there are many dangers. Beyond the navigational hazards, the deeper waters are home to immense crustaceans and krakens, and Water-Wyrms frequent the island shores. There are rumors also of terrible fish-men and seductive sirens, which strike without warning and cause entire ships and crews to vanish without a trace.

    Far more pressing a concern to the local kingdoms and would be explorers are the native inhabitants of The havens, which view all not of their tribes as outsiders and enemies. The natives are the descendants of the Vantorians and the Volcae and Albidosi tribes of the northern mountains, which had sought refuge in the republic during The God War. Having lost much of the ancient Vantorian’s knowledge, the survivors have regressed back to a tribal society. Despite wielding weapons of wood, stone, and bog iron, they are capable warriors. With their knowledge of the forests, swamps, and ruins, they strike without warning in lightning raids, only to vanish back into the wilds, leaving no trail. From their Villages, Crannogs, Hillforts, and stone Brochs, they fight to hold what they can from the outsiders and invaders, and no kingdom or colony has ever completely held the island interiors where they have their strongholds.

    Each island and its tribes stands alone, and without unity they will never drive out the invaders and outsiders from their land. At the heart of their division is a spiritual and cultural disagreement. In the face of invasion of their land, some have turned to worship of the The Green Lady as an avatar of nature itself, trading away independence and ancient faith for divine protection. Marching alongside the cult of The Green lady are bestial half-men and eldritch creatures, powerful yet inhuman. The followers of the The Green Lady desire to build a paradise where nature is revered above all things.

    While others eye the magic, weapons, and sciences of the outsiders, and desire to gain that power and rebuild the kingdom of their ancestors, even if it means changing their way of life. It is not uncommon for such visionaries to make deals with outsiders, trading knowledge of the islands or revered Vantorian artifacts for steel and gunpowder weapons with which to arm their clan. Sometimes seen as traitors by their tribes, those who seek such power never the less are a potent force. Yet while willing to deal with outsiders, they still view them as invaders, and many visitors to the islands have found themselves under attack by the very weapons they traded on a previous expedition. The divide between these ideological factions is deep and sore, and it has seen families torn asunder and bitter feuds between clans and tribes, furthering the divide.​
    Located on the islands of Hofn and Floi, the Nordvegr Kingdom of Sudreyjar is an oddity for The Havens. The Nordvegr inhabit from the far north on the shores of the Ardovikian Plain and Mammoth Steppe. They can trace their ancestry back to the same northern tribes which produced the Varangur, yet unlike their distant cousins, the ancestors of the Nordvergr migrated south to escape the Jokulsfella, the glacial death which claimed their original homeland of Asgeirsa in the far north. Sudreyjar however is far from the Nordvergr lands, and its inhabitants have little direct contact with their kin.

    The saga of Sudreyjar began over two centuries earlier, with Ketil Brokennose of the Wendlas, who’s clan feuded bitterly with that of Halvdan Yngvarsson, the Wægmunding. The Wægmunding were a powerful clan, and the feud an old one. When Ketil ambushed Halvdan and slew him in the battle of Karnsa, the Elders exiled Ketil and the households of all his allies in the clan as punishment. Sailing south in their two hundred ships, and portaging across to the Vale of Imlar, Ketil and his followers entered into the shores of the Successor Kingdoms. Taking up lives as mercenaries, they raided their way to the south, to escape the reach of the angry Wægmunding’s. In time they sailed passed the Brokenwall Islands and the Port of Lantor. With fewer kingdoms with which to hire on, Ketil and his people turned to piracy, and eventually made their way into The Havens. Finding an island of good soil and sweet water, they chose to settle, naming their new home Hofn, and establishing the first settlement of Sudreyjar, now the port city of Ketilseyyr. With good farmland and abundant lumber for ship building, the Nordvergr of Sudreyjar had a secure base, and they quickly learned to navigate The Havens as well as the natives. Allowing them to raid distant villages and passing shipping with impunity, and trade their booty with nearby kingdoms. Word of their prosperity and activities spread, even to their kin in the north, and they have become a haven for Nordvergr outcasts and brigands of all kinds.​


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    (Road to El Dorado Concept Art by Yoriko Ito)

    Emberfall Sanctuary
    The oldest and largest colony in The Havens, Emberfall Sanctuary is a power to be reckoned with in the western Infant Sea. Emberfall was founded four centuries after the fall of Winter, although it has only emerged as a regional power in the last few centuries. Located on the island of Emberfall, so named after the salamander name for the active volcano which dominates the southern half of the island, the colony is comprised of a sizable port-city located on the coast, surrounded by lush jungle, parts of which have been incorporated into the city planning. The resulting city appears to emerge from the jungle itself, a blend of aesthetics not often seen in Salamander cities. The city has spread to encompass the edges of the entire sheltered bay, and in many places canals replace roads, allowing for smaller watercraft to travel directly from the bay into the city and its markets. At the center of the city, lying directly on the edge of the bay, is the Temple of the Martyr, a temple complex comprised of three grand structures built in honor of The Three Kings and central to the colony’s faith. Around city are many smaller communities; farming, ranching, and mining villages which support the needs of the city. Many of the tamed species which Salamander society relies on for civil and military labor have been introduced to the island, along with a number of wild species brought over for sport. These species have gradually spread across the islands from escapees until you can find Kaisenor Raptors, Jrooka, Rhinosaurs, Lekelidons, Komodons, and even Fire Drakes living wild in The Havens, alongside a number of other megafauna the Salamanders found already living in the islands.
    The colony had its beginning with the Corsair Lord Cholchax, who led the first grand exploration fleet to circumnavigate The Infant Sea. His hundreds of ships reached The Havens at the beginning of the storm filled winter season, and Emberfall was chosen as an overwinter point for the fleet. The first ramshackle city on the site was built from local materials supplemented with the remains of damaged ships from his fleet. When spring came and the fleet was safe to move on, a number of crews chose to remain, having found the island remarkably like home, and not wanting to risk shipping out on a shrinking and increasingly overcrowded fleet. Cholchax, seeing wisdom in having a wayport for the trip back, allowed anyone who wished to stay, and dispatched several ships back to The Three Kings to attract additional colonists in hopes of turning the settlement into a self sufficient community. Sanctuary has attracted many colonists, in particular Arkosaurs and the other races seeking greater social and economic freedoms. The colony has grown into a major trade hub and naval power as a result. At one time it had been home primarily to Corsairs, and preyed on trade passing through the southern islands of the havens on their way to the eastern half of the Infant Sea, with the rise of other piratical kingdoms and ports within The Havens, it turned to mercenary work, selling protection and escort to merchants passing through the region. Which encouraged the rise of trade, as those merchants found Sanctuary to be as valuable a safe port as Cholchax did centuries prior.




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    notes:

    These are still WIP, and some details like names subject to possible change in the future. I've tried to give credit to the art i used.. i hate plain walls of texts, and like to use art to give the eyes something to rest on for a bit. i tried to pick art that fit both the setting and KoW.

    I've always been something of a world builder, making backstories and such for my figures even when it'll never get shared, because i suck at narrative fiction. Getting into KoW, I've decided to indulge myself and work up a setting where i can stick the armies i'll be building (because i know i'll at least be starting several). Since the first army is a KoW Historicals Viking army that will double as a kingdoms of men army, i wanted somewhere that was somewhat nautical. sadly the KoW setting doesn't really have a Scandinavia type region, or anything like the Orkney's and Hebrides, which is the theme i'm trying for on the army, so i went looking around for alternatives. thus Sudreyjar was born. which was the Norse name for the Irish "kingdom of the isles" (The Isle of man and the Hebrides) during the later part of the 11th century, but since it means "the Southern Isles" i figured it would fit. though i tried to leave the ethnic flavor mixed enough you could have vikings, Barbary corsairs, Caribbean style buccaneers, and all sorts of other elements present, to allow the full range of Kingdoms of Men army options if/when i expand the army later.

    Emberfall Sanctuary is what i decided i would call my next army.. a salamanders army i'm planning to make using GW Lizardmen/Seraphon as the core, but with Reaper Reptus and other non-GW figures for flavor. i tried to walk a line between the Mesoamerican Lustria feel and the KoW piratical reptiles.

    the natives combine some stuff i liked from my historical research (Celtic, Irish-Celtic, and Pictish stuff) with less (the darker skinned Vantorians for example, which could be anything from native Americans, to SE Asians, to Arabs, to Africans. whatever would be fun, or heck, all of the above. mainly i wanted to avoid the "all white fantasy world" trope), with the stuff from the KoW "Forces of Nature" and "The Herd" added in for fun. (that was one of the armies i considered doing, and might end up a 3rd or 4th army. probably The Herd, i always liked the idea of Beastmen, but didn't like the GW anarchist chaos angle.) i was tempted to call The Herd the Formorii, but figured that might be a reference to far, even if it does fit the Irish mythology.


    If anyone wants to make suggestions based on the KoW factions for additional colonies, kingdoms, or just threats, feel free to outline them. no promises i'll use them though.
    one thing i'd like to add is an undead pirate threat, perhaps tied to the (currently little used yet often mentioned in the KoW fluff) big bad Necromancer Mhorgoth.
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
  2. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    This is lovely fluff. I meant to comment earlier but the story contest has been occupying much of my time here.

    The artistic choices are excellent. I did take the liberty of adding spacing whenever I saw a paragraph break in order to break up the wall of texts (and I fixed some spelling errors, I'm just addicted to editing).

    Fomori are a fascinating fantasy creature type but they are very much tied to Celtic Europe. They would seem a bit out of place in a fantasy version of Mesoamerica.

    There are tons of fascinating Native American myths. I think the Camasotz (batmen) would make fascinating stand-ins for the Herd, but since Camasotz models are hard to come by, they would not mesh well with most people's collection unless you had an army of conventional Beastmen and just made Camasotz your command models.

    While Camasotz are specifically a Mesoamerican myth, it would not be hard to adapt mythology from tribes of Native Americans who never lived anywhere near the lands of the Aztecs.

    Tlac'Natai created some homebrew Beastmen based on American fauna as opposed to the European style goat and minotaur Beastmen. It might be a good mine for inspiration.

    Now we have another entry in our Lustriapedia's Kings of War section. Hopefully it will keep growing.
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2019
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  3. gb2098
    Saurus

    gb2098 Active Member

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    well i wasn't going mesoamerican for the The Havens specifically, though between the Caribbean and Lustrian influences that probably snuck in there too. (i used them for the salamanders, but since the salamanders are at least two thirds Lizardmen in terms of origin.. ;) )

    i actually had more of a south east asian flair in mind for the pre-flood region, mostly because i liked the visuals from peter jackson's version of King Kong as lost world tropes go. but i was using Celtic and Pictish influences on the natives as well ("write what you know" so to speak) via the idea of population migration from all the cataclysmic events in the settings history, and one of the traits of the Formorii was said to be having the heads of goats. which is obviously also a trait of many members of The Herd.

    honestly setting wise this could include a fair bit of options in terms of cultural aesthetic elements, and if/when i end up doing an army for a faction or just have a really good idea for one i might narrow it down further. (or if someone offers to convert this into a supplement.. which seems unlikely. :) )
     
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