The Outlands, Outland, Welmit, Gnomes and Halflings
Highlighted area: The Outlands Blue: Unaligned Areas Green: Outland Pink: Welmit Green Line: The Overland Crossroute Most popular candy: Mashncrumble (Candied berries with walnuts) A Brief History of The Outlands Prehistory In ancient times, halflings, gnomes and humans made their homes here, along with goblins and gnolls. The gnomes were the first to settle and develop the land, and ancient gnomish structures dot the land to this day. Some time before 1000 BCE, goblins were wiped out as casualties of the conflicts for the center of the continent between gnoll, gnome, and halfling.
Eventually a border was established between halfling and gnome territories and gnolls were pushed to the edges or off the mainland entirely. During The Isolation (997 BCE - 0 NE) As the power of magic stepped down and then continued to weaken throughout the Isolation, the halflings and gnomes retreated deeper into their own isolations.
The halflings recoiled from the world and became a culture of ascetics, mourning the loss of contact with the gods and nature to the point of dedicating their lives to preserving stories of the time of magic. A cultural shift occurred in late isolation (~300 BCE) and they turned toward stories and art as its own reason to be, and art from the late isolation period onward shows a distinct shift in tone toward celebrating life on its own terms.
Gnomish civilisation receded as well, but within the walls of their already ancient fortresses. Pragmatic and eternally curious, the gnomes saw the loss of contact to magic as an engineering challenge. Within their walls they tinkered and learned what principles of the physical world hold true without magical encouragement. By 300 BCE they had developed advanced farming techniques, materials storage and germ theory. By the end of the Isolation they were helping deploy a diesel-powered transcontinental railway in Haverness. As of 106NE The Outlands are a collection of islands centered around a continent west of Haverness. There are two major countries in The Outlands; The United Outlandish Nationstates (commonly simply “Outland”) in the east, and Welmit in the west, as well as a number of small nations and independent islands.
Outland is the ancestral home of gnomes, and the industrial capital of the world. Alongside gnomes, many of the world’s half-orcs and hobgoblins make their home here. The capital of outland is the vast city of Ottombad, and the western end of the Overland Crossroute.
Welmit is the home of halflings. Its capital city, Bottle-Drop, sits in the center of the Outlandish mainland on Nice Lake. Areas Outland Ottombad
Ottombad and its incorporated areas sprawl nearly 100km out from the port. The port and surrounding fortress are some of the oldest architecture in the world that is known to still be in use; the oldest parts of the fortress wall are thought to date back over 20,000 years.
The Old City was built in prehistoric times by gnomes and by the time a common calendar was adopted, the area was well settled by gnomes, orcs, hobgoblins, halflings and humans.
Located near the center of Melora’s Road, and at the west end of the Overland Crossroute, Ottombad is positioned as the number one port city in the world. There is almost no commodity of any kind that is traded anywhere in the world that doesn’t make its way through here.
A note about Paper Among other manufactured goods, Ottombad is the world’s leading producer of plant-based paper. The mulberry pulp paper produced here is a cheap alternative to vellum and is a must-have for anyone interested in producing books at scale; without this paper novels would be all but impossible.
Vellum and pigskin are still used worldwide for codices and scholarly tomes, but paper has made reading and writing accessible to many who would otherwise have no access; there is a growing trend worldwide toward literacy with more people than ever keeping journals and corresponding by paper mail. Atarikon The dungeon god known as Atarikon sleeps in the wilderness north of Ottombad. Last known to be active in 104NE, it was either slain or sated by a group of adventurers. Accounts differ on the precise details.
Welmit Bottle-Drop They have next to no material exports, although plays and novels produced in Welmit are known worldwide and it is considered by many in the know to be the fine art and entertainment world’s capital city.
This country is not especially diverse outside of Bottle-Drop; many people of all races make their way to Bottle-Drop but few manage to make it here and fewer still spread out to rural areas.
The Castle That Eats Guys The Castle That Eats Guys is a legend among the halflings of Welmit. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Populace Gnomes History Culture In The Outlands In the World
Halflings History Culture In The Outlands In the World