Mage wars borders

[aldarron]

So, after a fairly chaotic period at the start of the mage wars, Blackmoor was devided into three main polities of mage kingdoms. Any ideas about where the borders of each were?

[Havard]

Very interesting topic!

From my Mage Wars timeline I have the following factions from ca 820:

• Raddan Goss
  
• Vadaley Family
  
• "Two Others"
  
• Bystanders
  
• Skelfer Ard (Not yet part of the wars)

Although we have little information on where these realms may be, I have made the following assumptions:

• Raddan Goss == Blackmoor
  
• Vadaley Family == Duchy of the Peaks
  
• "Two Others" == Erak, Maus
  
• Bystanders == Bramwald, Vestfold, Archlis
  
• Skelfer == Archlis

BLACKMOOR:
Although I havent found any canonical evidence specifically stating this, I do find the idea that Raddan Goss controlled Blackmoor to be quite likely. Not only does this retain Blackmoor as the most important location of the setting through its history, but perhaps the source of Raddan's power could also be the magical rocks below Blackmoor mentioned in earlier sources. I also speculated in the past, that Goss could be identical to one of the more tyrannical rulers from the FFC (Castle history section).

DUCHY OF THE PEAKS:
The Vadaley Realm is described as "many leagues away". We do know that the Duchy of the Peaks was founded by mages, so it seems likely that they would be part in the war. Also, the fact that Vestfold becomes "neutral ground" made it likely to think that Vestfold would be between the two.

MAUS
Although I didn't know it at the time, the Maus Wizard has later been identified as Xavier the Grey Mage.

ERAK
No particular reason for this, but Erak was probably around at the time.

BRAMWALD
As with Erak above. Also, Bramwald seems to have a long tradition of staying out of conflicts in the North, so this would likely place them among the bystanders.

VESTFOLD
As mentioned above, Vestfold was considered neutral ground.

ARCHLIS
Archlis was the home of Skelfer. Skelfer only gets involved once Archlis is destroyed by the Vadaley.


OTHER PARTS OF THE NORTH

• DUCHY OF TEN: This realm is not founded until Year 925, Area previously controlled by Peaks.
  
• THE LAKES (Gloomy, Midges, etc): Wilderness. Thonia expands to Misauga in 925.
  
• THE NEW LANDS OF BLACKMOOR (Dragonia, Ramshead, Fairfield, Bosero): These were settled during the FFC era.
  
• BLACKMOOR OUTLANDS (Fel, Dukane): Not yet settled.
  
• BLACKMOOR HEARTLANDS (Glendover, Coot's Watch, Newgate, Jackport, Williamsfort, Kenville): some of these were surely established later. The rest would likely not have been prominent IMO. Probably under the control of Blackmoor (Goss) or others.

My impression is that the elves, dwarves and halflings mostly stayed out of the Mage Wars and that this was primarily a conflict between Human Mages.

GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES
It is my theory that the Sinking Lands started appearing when the Egg of Coot rose from the waters. Since that happened after the Mage Wars, it means the land has not begun to sink yet, and the Black Sea is not yet joined with the North Sea. By this assumption, the Elven Forest (Redwood) is much larger at this point and the Black Sea is smaller.



-Havard

[aldarron]

Brilliant Havard. I was thinking along the same lines as regards Raddan Goss, the redwood forest, and archlis. The idea of the peaks being controled bythe vadeleys is very intriguing.

I wonder how or if the "red coven" might be tied in, or if they might be tied to the wizards defeated by William of the Heath "in the northern fens".(TWC 17) I should think these represent descendants/heirs of at least one of the factions.

[Havard]

Brilliant Havard. I was thinking along the same lines as regards Raddan Goss, the redwood forest, and archlis. The idea of the peaks being controled bythe vadeleys is very intriguing.

Cool, sounds like we are on the same page with this.

I wonder how or if the "red coven" might be tied in, or if they might be tied to the wizards defeated by William of the Heath "in the northern fens".(TWC 17) I should think these represent descendants/heirs of at least one of the factions.

IMC, the Red Coven is tied to the Vadaley Family. What sources to have have on the Red Coven btw? I seem to recall them being mentioned on a map, but not much else?

Interesting question about the story about William of the Heath. I wonder if this was a reference to the original campaign or if this was somehting added in TWC? Generally I feel that TWC paid too little attention to the events of the original campaign, but this could be an exception...

-Havard

[Havard]

Another difference during the Mage Wars era is that before the Afridhi Expansion, the Peshwah had not yet been pushed so far east. Most tribes would have lived west of the Valley of Ancients, leaving only the Bortai in Eastern Hak.

-Havard

[Havard]

Moderator note: Discussion of the Red Wizards Coven has been split into a separate thread here: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8089&p=29256#p29256


-Havard

[aldarron]

What I'm leaning to at the moment is:

Duchy of the peaks/northern Ten = Vadaley
Central Blackmoor (roughly Rats lake to Coots watch) = Raddan Goss
Lands of Coot/sinking lands = Red Wizards Coven
Lands around Maus = unnamed faction (IMC The Grey Coalition led by Xavier the Grey)

Bystanders & Neutrals - Erak, Bramwald, Archlis, Pebbletown area - more or less as per MMRPG episode 20.

Note that per TWC page 7, one of the four factions is eliminated by Raddan in the final years leading up to Skelfer's war. That could be tied in with the destruction of the tower of Xavien at Maus.

"The Red Coven" wizards in the lands of coot may have surrendered to Skelfer, but they would still be alive and some of them may have eventually given rise to those "renegade wizards" the Blue rider dealt with. They might also have somehow been responsible for bringing about the Egg of Coot, perhaps trying to secretly tap into powers to overthrow the cable and return to glory days.

[Havard]

I like this alot Aldarron!

In my version, the Egg of Coot was awakened due to the massive magical energies released by the mages fighting eachother. But I suppose it could be an intentional summoning as well. In any case, I you have convinced me of having Red Mages in the Realm of Coot area during the Mage Wars.

Leaving Erak out seems like a good suggestion, as they do not seem like the magical kind.

-Havard

[Yaztromo]

OT: a non-canon mage that I used briefly in my campaign (and that was one of the first to be dispatched) was headquartered nearby Archils as well and was called Varrak Aslur: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=9120&p=36219