This rugged and uninviting region has a dark reputation, and for good reason: Most of its realms are ruled by free willed undead like vampires and lichs, and the rest are dominated by lycantropes and similar monsters, and the occasional mad wizard or two. Evil has a firm grasp on these lands.Despite the name of the region, most inhabitants are very much alive, but the merciless tyranny of their rulers makes many wish they weren't. The peasants are worked to near death in the fields, and those who cannot keep up are as often as not drained of their remaining life force by nexus towers. Strangers are distrusted, even - or perhaps especially - if they come with good intentions, for the punishments for those who aid would-be liberators are harsh. The only way to get ahead in life is either fleeing to friendlier regions, or suppressing one's fellow humans until you too become a monster in the eyes of the people.
Industries
Life and Society
Government and Politics
Groups and Organisations
Religion
Important NPCs
Major Geographical Features
Harvel Hills: The waters from the Eternal Storm mostly drain through this region, which might account for some of the oddities of both the land and the local people. Vegatation is often sickly or slightly off-colored and crop yields are poor. Population density is low, and the land is settled by isolated clans of extended families who are almost constantly engaged in some sort of feud with their neighbors. Deformities of both the mind and body are disturbingly common, but how much of this is the effect of the waters and how much the effect of the rampant inbreeding the locals are said to indulge in is difficult to say. Rumors abound of isolated families worshipping demonic entities, and it is said that they will try to sacrifice visitors to these beings if they think they can get away with it.Isle of the Black Priests: This island off the coast is shrouded in rumors. Eerie lights can be seen at times at night, and fishermen who get too close to it (something which most take care to avoid at all costs) swear that they can hear inhuman screams from time to time. The inhabitants of the island are reputed to be the so-called "Black Priests" - humanoids wrapped in dark robes that obscure all their features.
Few have ever seen these beings. But it is said that if you ask around in certain parts of the big cities, you can buy talismans made out of a strange metal. If you break these talismans anywhere on the coast of the Lands of the Dead on the night of the new moon, a metal ship with these priests will arrive within the hour. They will buy any sapient prisoners you have with you for 108 gold pieces of a peculiar design each. Those prisoners are loaded into their ship, and are never seen again by mortal eyes.
It is said that those who call them but do not have any prisoners to offer or otherwise attempt to trick them are themselves taken prisoner and shipped to the island.
Karelwood: This large expanse of woodland close to Nolvia is known to be the home of numerous tribes of lycanthropes. As of late, the loggers from Nolia have been cutting into their territories, and despite some worries there have been no counterattacks by these beings. Some observers claim that they are merely biding their time, while others suspect darker reasons...
Kurova Bay: This large bay dominates the geography of the Lands of the Dead. Much warmer than its northern latitudes would suggest, it has permitted the surrounding areas to become fertile agricultural centers feeding much of the region - although it does little to ward off the fierce blizzards coming in from the north during the winter.
Vuovi River: The major waterway winding through the Lands of the Dead, the Vuovi is a vital artery for trade. It is a far cry from the straightened Flannish rivers that almost look like canals; instead, it is shallow, winding, and has numerous sand banks and other hazards lying in wait for the unwary traveler.
A large number of halflings make their home in the marshes and side arms aof the river. They know the river better than anyone else, and ships manned by other races usually take care to hire a halfling navigator for most of the journey - not only because they know all the dangerous spots and how to move around them, but also because ships that don't hire a halfling are much more likely to be attacked by river pirates...
Important Towns and Cities
Ahort (Small Metropolis, 734,130): Also called "The City of Last Rest", this city-state ruled by vampires, lichs, and other undead is infamous for its hunger for life energy. Its agents constantly roam the world and purchase living, thinking beings. Usually, this means buying slaves, but these agents are all too willing to accept deals from the desperate who sell themselves to get their family out of debt, or worse. Sometimes these "body hunters" kidnap people themselves, but the rulers prefer that new victims are bought. Either they harbor a perverse joy from buying humans like chattel, or there is a mystically important symbology involved in these deals that outsiders haven't been able to fathom.Whatever the way these unfortunate souls arrive in Ahort, they are herded into special districts of the city where they live in spartan barracks and are forced to work hard under they die either from exhaustion, abuse by their guards, or the life energy drain from the nexus towers. Few prisoners last for more than a few months.
Gorok-mar (Large City, 372,154): This dwarfhold trades with all non-undead realms of the Lands of the Dead equally, but its surly inhabitants keep to themselves apart from these trade contacts and seem to be content in isolating themselves from the surface world. Their tunnels are reputed to reach far and wide across the region.
Nimur (Small Metropolis, 688,617): Many religions have odd notions about the afterlife, but the state religion of Nimur has surely one of the strangest. It holds that the afterlife for the city's inhabitants is actually located in the physical universe - and right below the city at that. At their funerals, the dead are dressed in their finest clothes and jewelry (if they were able to afford any), and then the priests - the secretive "Keepers of the Threshold", who are always shrouded in robes that cover their entire bodies - take them away to their new homes below the city, where they live on forever after (or so it is believed by the people). However, their new homes in the city of the dead cost money, and a fee must be paid to the Keepers - the higher the payment, the more luxurious their new homes and the higher their station in the afterlife.
Since nobody other than the Keepers is allowed to visit the City of the Dead, most outsiders suspect that this is nothing more than an extremely cynical and profitable scam to make the people of Nimur work hard for their lives for non-existant pleasures of the afterlife, and then steal all their money once they die. Most citizens firmly believe in this, however, and speak of dead relatives who come to visit them from time to time.
Nolwia (Large City, 337,030): This community, which mostly supports itself through its thriving timber businesses, looks normal and even pleasant enough during the day, for its streets are well maintained and its houses beautifully decorated, though a certain rough-and-tumble frontier atmosphere remains apparent.
But during the night, a strange procession of ghosts and animated skeleton - not all of them even humanoid - appears on one end of the Main Street and slowly moves through the city, only to disappear at the other end one hour later. The locals, who refer to this "Night Parade" only in hushed whispers, have learned to live with this phenomena and manage to ignore the ghostly lights and the cackling bones (although only the cheapest of apartments will be found on the Main Steet - something that often turns into an unpleasant surprise for newcomers). But all doors will be closed at midnight and no one will be let into a house after this time, no matter how he begs.
Needless to say, the city's night life is rather subdued.
Pyarekat (City, 193,221): Unlike many parts of the Lands of the Dead, the countryside around Pyarekat is not dominated by powerful monsters. However, many travelers claim that this is not much of an improvement, for instead large clans of extended families squabble over who controls which spot. Blood feuds that date back many generations, if not centuries are common. Pyarekat is the logical culmination of that principle - gangs that belong to one clan or another patrol the streets and look for the chance to beat up smaller groups belonging to a different clan. Travelers rarely come here, for the locals take slight at the slightest provocation. The only reason the city is able to support itself is that many of its inhabitants hire themselves out as mercenaries and return here when they have accumulated enough wealth to retire - if they come back at all.
Road's End (Large Town, 23,472): All across the world, many people flee their homes. Often it is children running away from their parents, but it can also be criminals running away from the law when their misdeeds were discovered, wives fleeing an abusive relationship, or husbands fleeing from their debts. Some people become refugees when their homes are destroyed and they were driven away at sword point. But others had a choice between staying and trying to work out their problems in one way or another, or just running away from each all.
Of the latter, many feel a strange, subconscious compulsion to travel to the dreary city of Road's End. Upon arriving there, they immediately settle into an empty house or apartment and start working in a new job. They gradually forget everything about their old lives, including their names. They are polite but distant to strangers, and stop asking questions about their lives. No one seems to organize anything - everything just gets done somehow without any supervision. When asked about who rules this town, they will refer to a "Mayor" but never elaborate.
Young runaway children arrive all the time in Road's End, but no babies can be found anywhere in the city.
Thornstone (Metropolis, 1,314,220): This city was founded more than four centuries ago by a group of wizards fleeing persecution in Dartmouth. It has been ruled by wizards, especially necromancers, ever since. It survives and even thrives amidst the dangers of the Lands of the Dead through the might of its rulers, and its policy of strict neutrality. Anyone who comes in peace is welcome here, and anyone who stays within the city's walls for a year and a day is considered a citizen, no matter what he or she might have done elsewhere. Slaves and serfs from other parts of the region often try to flee here, which sustains a large number of bounty hunters who drag these unfortunates back to their owners for punishment.Important Sites
The Elf Roads: Strange trails wind themselves through the Lands of the Dead, reaching from the Turaveen in the east to the Norfjell Wastes in the west and beyond. They don't follow straight routes and often seem to vanish entirely for many miles, but odd vegetation can be found near all of them and they all glow softly in moonlight. It is said that the elves and fair folk use these roads when they wish to pass through these lands. It is also said that anyone who manages to reach one of these roads is protected from any creatures of darkness as long as he stays on it. However, he then has to deal with the Fair Folk, who might not appreciate an intruder into their domains...The Graveyard of Souls: This pit with a diameter of half a mile was discovered twelve years ago. It is filled with myriad bones - mostly of humanoids, but also of animals, beasts, and the occasional giant monsters. It is unknown just where these many million bones came from, but that hasn't kept Melkoth Thrumbor, the head of a major merchant house from Thornstone, from securing the site and selling the bones to necromancers all over the Lands of the Dead and beyond. Since the pit is haunted by strange and terrifying ghosts, Thrumbor uses animated skeletons as laborers within the perimeter.
The Yellow Monastery: Named for its yellow-clad monks, this locale serves as a safe haven for travellers. As long as they come in peace, anyone is allowed to stay for three days, after which he must either join the monks or leave.
The monks worship all gods, whether good or evil, equally, and have shrines to almost any religion in the Known Lands. They have one of the best known libaries on religious matters, and many scholars seek them out.
Regional History
For a long time, only fierce nomads - most of them orcs - made this region their home. Then human settlements started to spring up around Kurova Bay. Life was often harsh and orc raids were a constant danger, but eventually, most grew into stable and reasonably prosperous communities that were capable of defending themselves. For a short time, the region was claimed by the Atalan Empire, but in practice it was too inhospitable and too distant from the capital to support a formal garrison, and only the occasional trader came in from the south. When the empire collapsed, the locals barely noticed it.However, then a plague of ghouls began to spread, infecting more and more people. What's more, those ghouls, under the direction of their ghast leaders, were more organized than it was typical for such creatures - they managed to restrain their appetites for long enough to treat the living as livestock. Groups of ghouls began to rule small regions openly. They visited each town in turn during the winter, and forced all newly adult men to fight each other to the death. The corpses of the losers were taken as food by the ghouls. The winner was sorcerously branded and permitted to live to sire the next generation - though if the local group of ghouls had lost a member recently, they would transform him into a ghoul instead. All adult women who hadn't given birth to a child within the last three years were also killed, thus making sure that there were plenty of newborn that would eventually feed the hunger of the ghouls.
This dark perversion of feudal systems eventually spread across the region. However, the ghouls eventually came into conflict with the hobgoblins of the nascent Dominions to the south, who saw this as the threat that it was, and who then began a war of extermination against the ghouls. After a long, hard struggle, the superior tactics and coordination of the hobgoblins prevailed, but they were too exhausted to make good of their territorial gains, thus leaving the humans of the Bay to rebuild their shattered society.