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So, I'm starting to brainstrom some ideas for an Iron Heroes campaign setting that I will be running sometime in the indefinite future.  You guys are all welcome to toss any suggestions or ideas into the mix.

The basic idea stems from the very little bit of a suggested setting included inthe Iron Heroes rulebook...  The Swordlands.  For those who don't have the book, or are too lazy to look it up, here's a synopsis:

There was once a group of powerful beings who had control of untold magical power called the Masters.  They had floating cities and all that sort of super-magic jazz.  Humanity was essentially ensalved by the Masters.  A few humans, the First, were "enhanced" by the masters to be stronger, faster, smarter, better than ordinary humans, they too could wield magic to a lesser degree and acted as overseers for the Masters over their human brethren.

Eventually a magical war broke out amongst the Masters that devastated the world and killed all the Masters.  The world was thrust into a deep, dark age in which the remaining humans, sometimes led by one of the First, carved new kingdoms out of the resultant chaos.  Monstrous survivors, originally created by the Masters solely to wage war, still roam the vast wildernesses, still riddled with the ruins of the Master's glorious empire, between small pockets of returning civilation.

Got all that?

So what I'm going to do, is take that idea, and turn it into a mythical alternate Earth setting.  The setting is centered on Europe and the Mediterranean Sea during an analogue of the Dark Ages.  Atlantis will take the role of the Masters, with the sinking of Atlantis equating, historically, to the fall of the Roman Empire.  The Mythical Heroes of Antiquity (Jason, Beowulf, Arthur and such...) are substitutes for the First.

The world is just beginning to claw it's way out of the magical holocaust induced dark age it is currently suffereing from.  Many of the surviving civilizations are former provinces and colonies of the Atlantean Empire, and have managed to hang on to small bits and piences of Atlantean culture, knowledge, technology or magic, if even in a greatly reduced capacity.

So that's where I'm starting from...

First things first...

I'm going to define the general area of the setting with regional names.

I'm going to assume that the "known world", I think I'll call it Antediluvia, includes Europe, the Mediterreanean Sea, Northern Africa, and the easternmost parts of Asia.  Anything else (and even some of the regions within), at this point, is the subject of vague legends only.

I'd like to take a page from Robert E. Howard's style and his Hyborean Age kingdoms, and try to use geographical names that stem from mythical lands or from obscurely ancient names for lands...  I want it to have the feel of what the world might have been like, if the legends and myths had been true.

After a bit of poking about, here's what I've got so far for regional names...

Tyrrhenia - Italy/Rome
Iberia - Spain and Portugal (This one's a bit more common than I'd like, but I can't think of anything better.)
Hyperborea - Germany and maybe France (Unless I can find a better name for France.)
Thule - Scandinavia
Tashemau - Upper Egypt
Tamehu - Lower Egypt
Sopedu - Sinai
Albion (or perhaps Alouion, Prydain, or Prydein) - Britain
Fomoria (or perhaps Hibernia, Ivernia, or Iernia) - Ireland
Scythia (or perhaps Gerrhos, Ishkuzai, or Skolotoi) - Poland, the Ukraine and the rest of the eastern Russian steppes.
Hethite (or perhaps Hetti, or Nesili) - Turkey and parts of the mid-east.
Lemuria - All the unexplored jungles of southern Africa.
Mu - All the unexplored lands of the Far East.

I still need a good name for Greece and all its islands, and for the region that includes allt he East European Slavic countries, where all the undead will be hanging out.  A good name for France would be nice, but I can lump it into Hyperborea with Germany.

Quote from: CyclotronI still need a good name for Greece and all its islands,

How about Hellas?

Quote from: DackeHow about Hellas?

That could work...  like Iberia, it's an awfully recognizable name, though.  I may just have to suck that up for Greece.  It's just too popular as an ancient civilization, and all its old names are well known.

I was also considering using Achaea, ala the Iliad, as a counterpoint to using Ilium (or Ilion) as the "Trojan" city-state that will take the place of Constantinople.

I believe one of the old names for Ireland is "Eìre" or something...

Quote from: Name LipsI believe one of the old names for Ireland is "Eìre" or something...

No, that is the *current* Gaelic name for Ireland.  :p


Cyclotron: I do believe you are using the rules *exactly* the way they were intended.  Sounds like a cool idea.

I wouldn't be too wedded in getting names for the current European countries.  For instance, Charlemagne ruled over what is now Germany, France, and northern Italy.  If you're going for a dark ages feel, you could have an epic hero who has/is/will do the same.

So, which version of Atlantis are you planning on using?  One in the Mediterranean, or one in the Atlantic?

Quote from: CyberzombieI wouldn't be too wedded in getting names for the current European countries.

Oh, of course not...  I'm looking more at geographical regions than actual countries.  Modern country names just provide a convenient reference point on the map.

for my purposes, the difference between France and Germany would be the Rhine river...  Much like the division between the Gauls and the Germanic tribes during the Roman Empire.

Hyperborea would be the region east of the Rhine and north of the Danube, and eastward until the forest turns into steppes.

The "French" region would lie between the Rhine and the Pyrenees mountains.

Quote from: CyberzombieSo, which version of Atlantis are you planning on using?  One in the Mediterranean, or one in the Atlantic?

I'm not certain yet...  the Atlantic version would be more mythically traditional, but the Mediterranean version would make a little more sense.

Honestly, I don't know if it makes a difference.  Either way, Atlantis is long gone, and the means and location of its destruction may very be lost with all the other knowledge that vanishes during a Dark Age.

I found a few more names to fill in...

I'm going to name the region bounded by the Carpathian Mountains either Pannonia or Ercynia.  As stated above, this will the Ravenloft-ish region full of vampires, ghouls and other undead.

For the French region I'm going to either stretch fromthe Rhine to the Pyranees and call it Galatia, which is actually a Roman province in Turkey setteled by Gauls, but derived from the original Greel etymology for Gaul (gala: "milky"). Or I'm going to restrict the region to the area south of the Seine (or maybe south of the Loire) and call it Aquitania.

I'm still trying to decide between Hellas and Achaea for Greece...  I like them both, and it's a tough choice.

Quote from: CyclotronI'm still trying to decide between Hellas and Achaea for Greece...  I like them both, and it's a tough choice.

I prefer the latter, the former makes me think of an expression from northern californa (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hella).

Quote from: el-remmenI prefer the latter, the former makes me think of an expression from northern californa (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hella).

Good enough reason for me.

Damn it.  Now I'm going to have an image of Mr. T in a toga stuck in my head all weekend.

:mr-t:  < "Hella nice golden fleece!"

How mysterious is your world going to be? I know Iron Heroes is low-to-no magic, but you could make the journey to Atlantis something special - something more than just sailing there in a boat. Perhaps you have to sail into the center of a storm, and you can find Atlantis in the center, untouched by the bad weather. Perhaps the storm moves around, though the island seems stationary once you arrive.

Or you could go all-out weird and invoke the Hollow Earth theory, so you have to sail into a vortex and come out on the inside of the earth, and find Atlantis in the Inner Ocean.

Quote from: Name LipsHow mysterious is your world going to be? I know Iron Heroes is low-to-no magic, but you could make the journey to Atlantis something special - something more than just sailing there in a boat. Perhaps you have to sail into the center of a storm, and you can find Atlantis in the center, untouched by the bad weather. Perhaps the storm moves around, though the island seems stationary once you arrive.

Or you could go all-out weird and invoke the Hollow Earth theory, so you have to sail into a vortex and come out on the inside of the earth, and find Atlantis in the Inner Ocean.

Atlantis is dead and gone, sunk beneath the ocean waves.  All that remains of her once glorious empire are the half-rotten scraps of an sumptuous feast that was never cleared away.

Quote from: Percy Bysshe ShelleyI met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Quote from: CyclotronAtlantis is dead and gone, sunk beneath the ocean waves.  All that remains of her once glorious empire are the half-rotten scraps of an sumptuous feast that was never cleared away.

So you're shooting for a "Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of..." kind of game? "Let me tell you of the days of High Adventure!" :)

Quote from: Name LipsSo you're shooting for a "Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of..." kind of game? "Let me tell you of the days of High Adventure!" :)

Exactly.

Or a sort of "What if we replace the Roman Empire with the Altantean Empire, and all the old legends were true."

Quote from: Horace SmithIn Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desert knows: –
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand." – The City's gone, –
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder, – and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragments huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

For some reason, this reminds me of the old Dangerous Journeys setting, Aerth.  (Gygax, naturally.)

-O

Huh...  Never heard of that one...

I'll have to look it up.

So are you just thinking out loud here, or is there something you actually want help on?  :)

Quote from: CyberzombieSo are you just thinking out loud here, or is there something you actually want help on?  :)

A little bit of both...  If I don't actually write something down, I'll forget all my best ideas and never actually get anything done.  This is one place that I can easily access from both home and work.

Also, I'm mediocre at coming up with completely new and original ideas...  but I'm an excellent idea salvage artist.  I  get my best ideas by gleaning inspiration from lots of other people's ideas, mixing them up, and then adding a few new twists.

I don't need help on anything specific, but if anyone's got any neat ideas that might fit in with the setting, I'd be welcome to hear them.

Here's a preliminary map of the setting...  Names are subject to change.

"Mu" would refer to all unexplored lands off the eastern edge of the map, and especially the Far East.

"Lemuria" would refer to all unexplored lands off the southern edge of the map, and especiallt to the jungles of Deepest, Darkest Africa.

Shouldn't it be Hyperboria?

Quote from: DackeShouldn't it be Hyperboria?

Yes, it should.  If fact, it should be Hyperborea.  But it my world, I don't think it will be...

I kind of like the way Hyperbria rolls off the tongue better than Hyperborea...  Mr. Howard, after all, did one better and contracted it to Hyborea.

For that matter, Prydain doesn't normally end in an "E"...  :p

I almost forgot about this thread...  Time revive it and get back to work.

I need to make one more change to the general geography, before focusing on specific regions.  The area I've got listed as "Temahu & Tashemau" will be renamed Khemet, and the other two names will be saved for cities within that region.  Then, I'm going to name most everything west of there (the Sahara desert), Deshret.

Alright.

The first region I'm going to tackle will be Tyrrhenia, since it will be the default location for PCs to begin their adventuring careers.

I want Tyrrhenia to be much like a very early Rome.  The region is mostly agrarian, like much of the world, but boasts a handful of powerful city states.  These city states are loosely confederated and led as a republic by Senators in the Capitol City, Tiberium (?... Rome).  The Tyrrhenians have a strong military force of well-disciplined Legions.  They are also masters of practical engineering, having recovered many of the techniques of the Old Atlanteans.  Culturally speaking, they are the closest to the Old Atlanteans, worshipping the same gods, ruling with the same style of government, wearing the same fashions in clothing, speaking nearly the same language.  It is the hope of many Senators and Patricians use Tyrrhenia as a nucleus to revive the Altantean Empire.