[Thonia] Cirkhosia, Maritz, Botulia, Lendore and Sea Princes

[Havard]

(Excerpt from my upcoming World of Blackmoor Map)

Talking to Rafe and Rob a bit got me back into thinking about the Thonian Empire.

IMC, I made Cirkhosia one of the 10 provinces of the Thonian Empire. The recent discoveries of various versions of the Great Kindgom Map has made me rethink some of the ideas I have for the Thonian Empire, but lets just say I am working to adapt to multiple interpretations of the world map for this.

Aldarron made Cirkhosia a separate country, quite far away from both Blackmoor and Thonia. While this is a totally fair interpretation, my take is going to be rather different. Aldarron also has Salik as a city within Cirkhosia, while in my campaign, Salik is one of the Provinces of Thonia, on the border of the Desert Realm.

What is known about Cirkhosia from published material?
Not much. From DA1 know that Cirkhosians have traders, some of whom have made it to the Skandaharian lands. This makes me think that they have to be excellent sailors and merchants.

The new Great Kingdom maps revealed new locations such as the Kingdom of Botulia and the Duchy of Maritz. While nothing is known about these realms AFAIK, it is speculated that in Greyhawk, they later became turned into the Lendore Isles or the Sea Princes. In my campaign, Greyhawk specific things do not exist, but proto-Greyhawk concepts will be found. Since the Provinces in my take are made up of 2-3 duchies each, I decided to revise Botulia and turn it into a Duchy. Both Botulia and Maritz are now part of Cirkhosia as shown on the map above. Beyond this we have very litte. I'm thinking about borrowing some ideas from the Lendore Isles and the Sea Provinces of Greyhawk, but my GH fu is fairly sparse. In any case, I prefer slight nods over ripping off things completely.

I'd also like to tie this into Blackmoor specific lore about Ships and Merchants in general. I wonder if Nichols the Merchant would have contacts in Cirkhosia. Skandaharians might later have raided these coasts, once they became aware of the existence of these islands. Captain Castagere (DA4) might have visited. Perhaps his ship was constructed in the Cirkhosian Shipyards? The FFC story about the attack of Sea Monsters might work well here. Perhaps lore about Sar-Aigu and those sea monsters from the D20 Blackmoor sourcebook could have some influence here?


Ideas, suggestions?

-Havard