The Geography of Essin - Rostlina and Grahnum

Bonus pronunciation guide for nerds!

In my last post, I mentioned how I originally sat down to write about the geography of our fantasy world, Essin, but I got sidetracked… Very sidetracked!

Well, now let’s try this again.

I became so sidetracked from the moment I typed out “…most famous fantasy worlds are… derived from mythical versions of medieval Europe.” When I wrote that, I originally intended it to be a jumping off point in outlining how Essin is different from those classical fantasy worlds.

Unlike Middle-earth, The Sword Coast, or Westeros, Essin’s geography and geographically relevant cultures are based on North America. Admittedly, a fantasy setting based on America may not sound too new or interesting. After all, D&D has Maztica/Anchôromé, and has been publishing material about those since 1991. Here’s where (we hope) we’re different: Essin is more like traditional medieval fantasy—that is to say, elves, dwarves, orcs, dragons, goblins, and the like—blended with aspects of contemporary North American culture. Sure, there’s some of that pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican influence as well, but we’ve tried to mix those with cultures from all over the world. America can be called the Great American Melting Pot, and Essin is a traditional-fantasy-setting take on that idea.

I know that sounds very vague, and I’ll certainly elaborate as I write about the peoples of Essin. For right now though, I’m going to stay on track and detail the geography of Essin, and where it might roughly correspond to in North America. I’ve also included a pronunciation guide at the end of this post.

There are seven major nations that make up Essin. Right now we’ll just look at two: Rostlina and Grahnum

Rostlina is the “Kingdom of Men” taking up most of the central and northeastern part of the continent. Rostlina is a kingdom comprised of four smaller “states,”—Parapetia, Rostland, Fyellkrid, and Everlynn—and is ruled from Castle Rostlina, just south of the great inland sea called Rempha’s Wash.

Parapetia is roughly analogous to the edge of the Midwest—Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It is separated from southern Rostland by the aforementioned Rempha’s Wash. For such a small landmass, it has quite a diverse array of biomes, ranging from rolling plains in the center, dense forests in the southeast, to cold beaches in the north.

Rostland—basically a compressed version of the remaining Midwest—is where the seat of power for all of humanity resides, and is separated from the elven lands of Alara by the Great River Barroth on its west. Like Parapetia, it has some variation in its environment, though its mostly plains and farmland. There are much more hospitable beaches on its southern shore, where the Great River Barroth meets Blackwater Bay.

The opposite river which comprises Rostland’s western border flows out into Blackwater, and separates Rostland from mountainous Fyellkrid. Fyellkrid, easily analogous to Appalachia, is rugged but beautiful country, rich in natural resources, and pretty much entirely subtropical in climate. Home to the majority of the halfling race—or bumpkin, as they call themselves—this land has very few notable settlements, and a jagged, mountainous border with its northern partner, Everlynn.

Containing the bustling Malum City at its northernmost point, Everlynn can be thought of as a wider, flatter New England. The settlements here control trade up and down the Azure Coast, and have grown significantly richer from it. The bay to Everlynn’s west, Vödest’s Cradle, flows in from a frigid northern sea, and facilitates easy trade between Malum City and the dwarves of Merrough’s Maw—but it also allows piracy from the barbarian tribes of men who inhabit the wastes even farther north.

Just south of Fyellkrid, crossing the treacherous River Burn, is the land of Grahnum. This barren land is only divided into two distinct regions, one simply called Grahnum, and the other, known by its ancient orcish name, is Ulkhar. The only government in these lands is the primarily human settlement of Starfell, who pledge allegiance to the Rostlinian Royal house, but operate independently due to their relative isolation.

Grahnum—both the region, and the landmass, for the two names are interchangeable—is not much but a windswept desert, comparable to the Sahara or the Gobi. Once these were prosperous lands tended by generations of orc civilizations, but a series of catastrophes drove most life away. Grahnum isn’t too closely based on anything in North America, though the dunes of the Mojave are a good approximation. Yes, it is odd that this desert land is on the east coast, when the Mojave is in the west… But this is fantasy! My idea was that the winds of the Azure Sea kept this area a desert once the catastrophes (which I will explain later) had devastated its already faltering ecosystem.

Ulkhar then, is the only consistently inhabited part of this entire landmass, and that’s only because of the city of Starfell. This metropolis got its name because… it’s built in the crater where a star fell. Well, a meteor struck, but you know how fantasy people are. This is one of the aforementioned catastrophes which rendered Grahnum so desolate. Anyway, since Starfell is built in a crater, it sits at a lower altitude and is pretty well protected from the constant sea breeze. The “shield wall” the impact created acts as a border between the rolling dunes of Grahnum and Ulkhar, and allows agriculture to flourish in a fairly large area to the west of Starfell. There are even more settlements in this area, including the sizable tiefling community of Pitai-Ya.

And that’s all I’m gonna write for now. Any more and I feel like I’ll just put people to sleep! Hopefully that’s not the case. Anyway, my next post will either be about the people of Rostlina—the humans of Essin and what makes them unique on a continent full of fantastical races—or I’ll take a look at the geography of southeastern Essin—Khapses, Suttari, and Yist.

Here’s a pronunciation guide for all the nerds like me who care about that stuff:

Alara (A- like “uh,” -lar- rhymes with “bar,” and another -a like “uh”)
Barroth (Barr- sounds like “bear”, -oth rhymes with “cloth”)
Everlynn (Ever- is just “ever”, -lynn rhymes with “bin”)
Fyellkrid (Fyell- sounds like “fuh-yell” but in one syllable, -krid rhymes with “rid”)
Gnorkott (Gnor- is pronounced like “nor,” -kott is pronounced like “cot”)
Grahnum (Grah- rhymes with “Shah,” -num sounds like “numb”)
Khapses (Khap- is pronounced like “cop,” -ses rhymes with “chess”)
Malum (Mal- as in “malpractice,” -um rhymes with “dim”)
Merrough (Merrough is pronounced like “marrow”)
Parapetia (Para- like in “parachute,” -pet- sounds like “Pete,” and -ia like in “chia”)
Pitai-Ya (Pitai- sounds like “Pete eye” -Ya rhymes with “Shah”)
Rempha (Rem- sounds like “rim,” -pha sounds like “fuh”)
Rostland (Rost- rhymes with “lost,” -land like in “England”)
Rostlina (Rost- rhymes with “lost,” -lina rhymes with “Tina”)
Starfell (simply pronounced like “star” and “fell”)
Suttari (Sutt- rhymes with “strut,” -ari like at the end of “safari”)
Ulkhar (Ul- rhymes with “pull,” -khar is pronounced like “car”)
Vödest (Vö- rhymes with “go,” -dest rhymes with “chest”)
Vyrden (Vyr- is pronounced like “veer,” -den is pronounced like “den”)
Yist (Yist rhymes with “List”)