Language map

I have trouble applying the Lamentations language rules to the growing stable of languages. Since most of these were invented, or at least stolen, on the fly it's rather hard to figure out their relationships to one another.


So, to simplify:

• Everyone has a 1 in 6 chance of knowing any language, modified by intelligence bonus and language skill.
• Every character has a mother tongue.
• When you roll to see if you know a language, count the jumps between your mother tongue and the new language. That is your penalty to the language roll.
• If there is no connection, it is a dead or totally alien language and you get minus 6 to the roll.

The connections represent logical connections rather than common linguistic roots. Sokone isn't closely related to Yongardy or Calipygeon, but they interact a lot and would be commonly shared. Kairn has no relation to any of the other languages, but they live right in the middle of everyone so some cultural exchange has to happen.

The Empires

The Empires derivative common name for a fluid cultural area formally known as the Commonwealth
Characterised by ruins. People living out of the glory of the past, shattered by a tepid war to claim the seat of the Autarch. The succession war has carried on in its current state for generations, an amount of time so great that the common people don't think of it as a war, rather just the state of things.

The outside world knows them as mercenaries and adventurers. This blasted land produces them seemingly without end, the weary and the war-hungry, stumbling out of the dust looking for what they cannot find here.

There are more cities than this. The Great City was vast, stretching from horizon to horizon, so old that it's docks now sit far inland as the sea retreats from her. But this is some examples of her remnants.

The Empire and its neighbours

Link to the big version

Language
They speak a non-gendered language. This is cause for embarrassment when among foreign people, as they default to referring to everyone as women, and have great trouble differentiating gender linguistically. Possibly the source of the belief that Empiric mercenaries refer to everyone as women because of barbarian arrogance and a desire to demean other warriors as weak, but it's merely a matter of linguistic confusion.

Roads
There are extensive roads between the cities, but they are closed by order of the last Autarch. In disrepair and patrolled by ulans, who have royal writ to claim any belongings of trespassers). They are dangerous and avoided by all.

Ulans stalk the highways

Example City-States

Great Lady's house

White Ape City
Ruler: The Mighty Opener, Soul of Darkness,

If it were not redundant to call any city among the empires "ancient" White Ape City would earn that moniker. Temple city to the Great Lady Under Earth and at its highest peak her own residence and, by relation, entrance to the underworld.

Though not the most populous, it is opulent. Even modest citizens can live among the carven arches and endlessly repeating grotesques depicting scenes from the House of the Great Lady.

The city gains its name from the intelligent white gorillas that are allowed to lope around the city. They are considered to be guides to the underworld and contribute to the city's safety. Most people are hesitant to risk harming or angering them.

Carnifex
Ruler: The Carnifex
A cold and blasted hill, honeycombed with tunnels and cells. When the wind blows at the right angle and with enough spite it makes the city-hill moan with a thousand hopeless voices.

The wealthiest citizens live at the bottom of the hill in dark wooden houses, huddled together against the wind and noise. As you travel further and further up the mound they become poorer and poorer. The worst wretches live alongside the prisoners kept in the few functional cells left in the vast tunnels.

At the very top is the house of the carnifex and her apprentices. Masked and silent, she rules from on high. Her sword is the sum of the law, pray her masked agents do not take you in the night for breaking the unspoken law.

Gateway of Gods
Ruler: The Masterful Keeper of Gods

The twin rivers that flow through the Empires are the remit of The Flood-Storm, a god both OF and which IS the river system. The Flood-Storm ensures that the seasonal floods and other equally important river activities remain in place.

You will find the House of the Flood-Storm here, at Gateway of Gods, sitting atop the antiquated system of gates and channels that has the power to withhold and unleash the rivers. It's priesthood has evolved around its arcane operation, with the Keeper of Gods as its high priest, and bodily representative of the Flood-Storm when she is needed. At her command the waters were withheld and mountains flooded, thus both the White Tree Mire and Concourse of Copper was formed.

Gateway of Gods

The Gate of the Sun-Child
Ruler:  The Yellow Empress, the Power Perverse

The Gate of the Sun-Child is believed to be the closest point to the sun as it crosses the sky on its way to the underworld to determine the fate of the dead. At no other place is the Sun-Child's numinous power more apparent.

A caste of column builders call this city-state home. They mine the fine white stones from their quarries and fashion them into taller and taller pillars, upon which the wealthy clamber in order to be closer to the Sun-Child. Taller and taller columns require more and more advanced and elaborate constructions, all in order to prove the godliness of its owner and to allow them to look down upon others.

The construction of these pillars drives the city to expand and plunder.

City of the Emerald Throne
Ruler: The Amaranthine Vizier

Before the Gate of Gods redirected the Slow River, the Emerald Throne was home to only it's ruler and her staff. The great basalt ziggurat of the Emerald Throne is the seclusium of  The Amaranthine Vizier, who some suspect is THE Amaranthine Vizier, who advised the last Autarch and was suspected of being the true power behind the throne.

Since the arrival of the Slow River and its flood waters, others have come, flocking to live in the shadow of the ziggurat. Food is abundant and rival cities are fearful of the Vizier, who for now has seen fit to stay in her seclusium pursuing whatever it is brought him here to begin with.

Like this, but imagine cranes as well

Fort of the People at the Edge
Ruler:  The Manifold Gatherer

Sat on the edge of the Concourse of Copper, the starved river.

Once a vast port stretching for miles along its bank, now its inhabited area is largely confined to still operable loading cranes and the buttresses that once formed the solid walls of the river bank.

They maintain fields in the rich, damp soil of the riverbed, producing a vast surplus of food. In addition, they are the largest producer of Yellow Sun-Child, a thick, sometimes viscous, tea enjoyed by all levels of society. It numbs the senses and mouth, to which can be attributed the characteristic drawl and slow speech that foreigners associate so closely with the Empires.

The Impregnable City

Ruler: The Voluminous Shepherd, Eater of Hearts

Its name refers to the metaphorical nature of the city, rather than a measure of its assailability. Indeed, it has been taken and sacked many times since the beginning of the succession. Rather it is a statement regarding its origin as the necropolis of the Great City, which of course lies splintered every which way can be imagined.

Death can not be overcome, of which the residents are grimly aware. Their livelihoods are found in the acceptance and proper treatment of corpses. From all corners of the world people send their dead here. Great caravans arrive carrying dead kings from lands most people have never even heard of, all to be interred, burned, dismembered, preserved or otherwise attended by the citizens of the necropolis. Their knowledge of burial rites is immense and eerily up to date.

You can often spot the tell-tale rheumy eyes* of a member of the polis under foreign garb, just as they slip off the caravans and melt into the crypts and laboratories to report what they have learned. Ostensibly adding to their professional knowledge, but those ears can't help what else they may learn.

*Dark Water Corpse Dust, another source of wealth, is not good for the sinuses

Seven Orchard City
Ruler:  The Green Lion

Seven orchards for seven families. Not long ago it was simply Orchard City, and for miles at its approach you would be met with the sweet smell of pear blossoms, date palms row by row, tended by the armies of fieldhands.

Now there is little land left, the rows of trees are drowned in the White Tree Mire, a gift from the Gateway of Gods. As they give, they take away, or give so much you can take no more.


The Bear Tower
Ruler: The Unconquerable Monster, the Hidden Guest of the Bear Tower

The bear tower is a crumbling spire at the terminus of a meandering and shattered wall, at places scores of metres thick, clad in metal.

The Bear Tower itself takes in young children and raises them to become animal tamers. More than mere tricks, they can break any animal and produce extraordinary feats. At some point in life each tamer takes a lion or bear in marriage, after which they shun human lovers.

Under a member of the Bear Tower an animal will be tested and either broken or moulded into a focused machine, bent to whatever end it was intended for. Many die or are too wounded to continue and are thrown from the tower to be collected by the people living in the shacks and shanties below.

The Ven visit the House Absolute with diplomatic gifts of laser guns

The House Absolute
The seat of governance. Its palatial gardens are of such arcane and perfect design that those searching for it uninvited are unlikely to stumble across it.

Since the succession crisis the halls of the House Absolute have been a petty game of intrigue and jockeying for position. The rulers of the cities come in and out of favour among the courtiers, find themselves invited to the garden parties and dances less and less often.

Somewhere in it's halls is kept the Iron Sceptre of governance, left carelessly on the throne. No one would think to take it by force, only a man who believes he is Autarch, and with the will to make others believe it, can even find it. None so far have done so, regardless of their bombastic claims otherwise.



















Neighbours

Yongardy

A vibrant port city, teeming with humanity. Famous for its judicial system (fairest in all the lands) and being the place to stop for any respectable trade ship darting along the Friendly coast between it's grim storms and spasmodic squalls. Its enormous fortified harbour is a joyous sight, and the last one they will see in a good while for those headed north. No major ports exist in the Empires, where the coast has retreated from the ancient cities and been left to rough border towns to handle. And further, Calipyg's ports are strictly regulated by their mushroom overlords, each barrel and hold inspected and logged on entry and exit. Such a burden of time has meant that most skip it's once bustling waters and continue onto the frozen spires of Vornheim beyond the mountains.

Trade has made it rich, but it's cavalry has made it safe. The city sits in the corridor between the Yellow Kingdoms and the Empires, a plain occupied by nomadic Grass tribes (a rough and violent people), kept in check by decree of the governor and the court of directors. Dragoons are sent out regularly to pillage and burn the roving villages to keep them fearful and to ensure they never grow numerous enough to threaten the Fairest City.

The Bumptious Nomenclature of the Empires

Streets of the Emerald City

Portrait of the Invincible Overlord

The Empires, beyond the Fern Court, a land of mercenaries, Emperors, and egos. City states rise, swell and break like waves against each other, each insistent on their rightful place as inheritor of the broken Empire. If you were to catalogue all the significant actors in this farce your work would be long, thankless and entirely inaccurate by the time it was completed.

The Gate of Horn

Cities dot the land, many just rotting

Better to just appreciate the entirely ludicrous names the pretenders afford themselves.

	D50	D100	D2020
1	Absolute	Bane	Always at the Shoulder	11
2	Amaranthine	Baron	at the Crossroads	12
3	Black	Baroness	Bestower of Good Gifts	13
4	Dauntless	Beast	Crystallizer of Dreams	14
5	Deathless	Bestower	First Born	15
6	Endless	Bishop	he of Backward feet	16
7	Eternal	Bringer	He Who Felled the First Tree	17
8	Fearless	Commander	In the Forest	18
9	Gilded	Controller	In the Mountain	19
10	Glorious	Councillor	of a thousand stars	110
11	Great	Creator	of Abundance	111
12	Green	Despot	of Ages	112
13	Immortal	Destroyer	of Air	113
14	Indomitable	Devourer	of all	114
15	Infinite	Dictator	of all People	115
16	Invincible	Dispenser	of all Sources of Water	116
17	Invulnerable	Divine	of All Young and Growing Things	117
18	Lawful	Drinker	of Animals	118
19	Legitimate	Duchess	of Arcane Mysteries	119
20	Manifold	Duke	of Artisans	120
21	Masterful	Earl	of Ashes	21
22	Mighty	Eater	of Astral Fires	22
23	Multitudinous	Eminence	Of Balance	23
24	One True	Emperor	of Beauty and Charm	24
25	Onliest	Empress	of Beggars	25
26	Perpetual	Enemy	of Berries	26
27	Proud	Father	of Berserkers	27
28	Purple	Feeder	of Birds and Parrots	28
29	raging	Fiend	of Blood	29
30	Red	Fire	of Brilliance	210
31	Relentless	Firstborn	of Cannibals	211
32	Resolute	Fortifier	of chaos	212
33	Rightful	Friend	of Children	213
34	Unassailable	Gatherer	of chocking moisture	214
35	Unbent	Giver	of Civilization	215
36	Unbound	God	of Clouds	216
37	Unbreakable	Goddess	of Confusion	217
38	Unbroken	Guardian	of Corruption	218
39	Unconquerable	Guide	of Courage	219
40	Unfading	Guide	of Dark Magics	220
41	Unforgiving	Hammer	of Darkness	31
42	Unmoving	Harbinger	of Deadly Waters	32
43	Unshakable	Harvester	of Death	33
44	Untouchable	Healer	of Death and Rebirth	34
45	Unyielding	Healer	of Decay	35
46	Veracious	Herald	of Demons	36
47	Voluminous	Hero	of Destiny	37
48	War-Bitten	Inventor	of discipline	38
49	White	Keeper	of Disease	39
50	Yellow	Khan	of Disorder	310
51		King	of Dreams	311
52		Lady	of Earth	312
53		Lawgiver	of Earthquakes	313
54		Leader	of Eloquence	314
55		Lion	of Everlasting Worlds	315
56		Lord	of Every Flame	316
57		Magnate	of Evil	317
58		Maker	of excellence	318
59		Margrave	of Existence	319
60		Marshal	of Famine	320
61		Master	of Farmers	41
62		Messenger	of Fate	42
63		Minister	of fear	43
64		Minister	of Fertility	44
65		Mistress	of Fever	45
66		Monster	of Filth	46
67		Mother	of Fires	47
68		One	of Fires of the Earth	48
69		Opener	of Fires Under Earth	49
70		Overlord	of Fishermen	410
71		Overseer	of Fishes	411
72		Patron	of Flames	412
73		Persecutor	of Flies	413
74		Personification	of Food	414
75		Prince	of Fortune	415
76		Princess	of Frost	416
77		Protector	of Gamblers	417
78		Queen	of Gambling	418
79		Reaver	of Gluttony	419
80		Regent	of Gods	420
81		Rider	of Greed	51
82		Rider	of Growth	52
83		Ruler	of hatred	53
84		Ruler	of Heaven	54
85		Seducer	of Heavenly Fires	55
86		Shah	of Hell	56
87		Shepherd	of heroes	57
88		Sky	of Horrors	58
89		Smotherer	of Human Sacrifice	59
90		Sovereign	of Ice	510
91		Sultan	of Illusion and Masquerade	511
92		Sword	of Immortal Evils	512
93		Symbol	of Immortal Wisdom	513
94		Tamer	of Impurity	514
95		Teacher	of Infants	515
96		Turner	of injustice	516
97		Vizier	of Insanity	517
98		Warlord	of Insects	518
99		Warrior	of insolence	519
100		Watcher	of Inventions	520
			of Invincible power	61
			of justice	62
			of lands	63
			of Languages	64
			of Law	65
			of Liars	66
			of Life	67
			of Light	68
			of Luck Through Hard Work	69
			of magic	610
			of Magma	611
			of majesty	612
			of Man	613
			of Many Names	614
			of Medicine	615
			of Men	616
			of Men's Fates	617
			of Mercy	618
			of Metals	619
			of Might	620
			of mischief	71
			of Misfortune	72
			of Mists	73
			of Monsters	74
			of Moons	75
			of Mountains	76
			of Nature	77
			of Navigation	78
			of Near and Close	79
			of Necromancers	710
			of Nothing	711
			of oaths	712
			of order	713
			of Ostentatious Ornament	714
			of Outcasts	715
			of Pain	716
			of Patience	717
			of Penitential Torture	718
			of Pestilence	719
			of Philosophy	720
			of Plagues	81
			of Plants and Trees	82
			of Poetry and Song	83
			of Poison	84
			of Primeval Depths	85
			of Primordial Waters	86
			of Rain	87
			of Reason	88
			of Revelry	89
			of Riches	810
			of Rivers	811
			of Sailors	812
			of Shadows	813
			of Silence	814
			of Sin	815
			of Sins	816
			of Smiths	817
			of Soldiers	818
			of Souls	819
			of Spiders	820
			of Spring and Sunlight	91
			of Stellar Lights	92
			of Storms	93
			of Strength	94
			of Suffering	95
			of Suicides	96
			of Taint	97
			of Terror	98
			of the Abyss	99
			of the Black Wind	910
			of the Blessed Lands	911
			of the Breath of Life	912
			of the Bridge	913
			of the Celestial Bodies	914
			of the Cities	915
			of the Clouds	916
			of the Coral Towers	917
			of the Crafts	918
			of the Crossroads	919
			of the Dawn	920
			of the Dead	101
			of the deep	102
			of the Desert Sun	103
			of the Desert Wind	104
			of the Dying Forests	105
			of the East Wind	106
			Of the Eight Winds	107
			of the Eternal Forest	108
			of the Eternal Sea	109
			of the Forest	1010
			of the Forest that Thirsts	1011
			of the Forges	1012
			of the Four Winds	1013
			of the Freezing Winds	1014
			of the Frozen Waste	1015
			of the Gallows	1016
			of the Gods	1017
			of the Harvest	1018
			of the Healing Arts	1019
			of the Heavenly Fires	1020
			of the Hiararchs	111
			of the Host	112
			of the Hostile	113
			of the Hungry Earth	114
			of the Hunt	115
			of the Iron Sceptre	116
			of the Lands	117
			of the Emerald throne	118
			of the Morning	119
			of the Mountain Springs	1110
			of the Night Sky	1111
			of the North Wind	1112
			of the Obsidian Blade	1113
			of the Ocean Underneath	1114
			of the Ocean's Surface	1115
			of the Oceans	1116
			of the Open Road	1117
			of the Plague	1118
			of the Pole Star	1119
			of the Raging Seas	1120
			of the rich	121
			of the Rock	122
			of the Sacred Eye	123
			of the Scorching Winds	124
			of the Skies	125
			of the Sky	126
			of the Smouldercone	127
			of the South Wind	128
			of the spheres	129
			of the Spring	1210
			of the Sun	1211
			of the Tablets of Destiny	1212
			of the Unbound Flesh	1213
			of the Void	1214
			of the wastes	1215
			of the Water Dead	1216
			of the Waves	1217
			of the Ways	1218
			of the Wells	1219
			of the West Wind	1220
			of the Wild	131
			of the Wildlife	132
			of the Winds	133
			of the Winter Realms	134
			of the World	135
			of the Wounding Spear	136
			of the Years	137
			of thieves	138
			of This World	139
			of Thunder and Lightning	1310
			of time	1311
			of Tremors	1312
			of truth	1313
			of turmoil	1314
			of tyrants	1315
			of Unchallenged Victory	1316
			of Unexpected Pleasure and Sorrow	1317
			of Unnatural Lust	1318
			of Untimely Death	1319
			of Vegetation	1320
			of Volcanic Fire	141
			of Volcanoes	142
			the Fever Moon	143
			of War	144
			of Water	145
			of wealth and power	146
			of Wind on the Waters	147
			of Wine	148
			of Winter	149
			of Witchcraft	1410
			of writing and speech	1411
			of Youth	1412
			of Youthful Vitality and Violence	1413
			Opener of the Wells	1414
			of arbitrators	1415
			of iron and machines	1416
			of merchants	1417
			Pivot of the Universe	1418
			the Master of War	1419
			Sky of all the People	1420
			of Walls	151
			soul of darkness	152
			the Adversary	153
			the Afterthought	154
			the Arbitrary	155
			the Armourer	156
			the Baleful Eye	157
			the Beast	158
			the Bloodlusting Lord	159
			the Bloody Mistress	1510
			the Boiling Spirit	1511
			the Breathmaker	1512
			the Brilliant God	1513
			the Broken Mind	1514
			the Burning Soul	1515
			the Collector of Souls	1516
			the compassionate	1517
			the Corn	1518
			the Cunning Man	1519
			the Dead and Undying God	1520
			the Destroyer	161
			the Divine Scribe	162
			the Divine Shepherd	163
			the Divine Smith	164
			the Earth Monster	165
			the Eater of Hearts	166
			the Essence of Fertility	167
			the Eternal Judge	168
			the Even Hand	169
			the Everburning One	1610
			the Evil Minded	1611
			the Evil Prince	1612
			the Evil Princess	1613
			the fallen	1614
			the Far Traveller	1615
			The Flame Bitten	1616
			the Fortifier	1617
			the Fountainhead	1618
			the Grey One	1619
			the Mountain Hammer	1620
			the Harvester	171
			the Heart of Darkness	172
			the herald	173
			the Hidden One	174
			the Howler	175
			the Hunger Without Thought	176
			the Hungry Earth	177
			Who Brought Down the Moon	178
			the Infernal Sovereign	179
			the Inventor of Science	1710
			the Key to the Gate	1711
			the kindly one	1712
			the King Above All	1713
			the Knotted One	1714
			the Lawgiver	1715
			the Leaflord	1716
			the Leech	1717
			the Leeching Darkness	1718
			the left hand of knowledge	1719
			the lover of war	1720
			the Loyal Master	181
			the Lurker at the Threshold	182
			the Lurker in the Crypt	183
			the Maker of Mountains	184
			the man eater	185
			the Mountain Lord	186
			the Narrow Faced	187
			the Night Hag	188
			the Obsidian Butterfly	189
			the Old, Old One	1810
			the once and future king	1811
			the one who sets boundaries	1812
			the Persuasive One	1813
			the Pillar that is Purity	1814
			the Pockmarked Saviour	1815
			the Power Perverse	1816
			the Queen that Hungers	1817
			the Rice Giver	1818
			the Ring Giver	1819
			the Sea Mother	1820
			the Self Created Master	191
			the serpent mind	192
			the Shadow	193
			the Star of the Dead	194
			the Stealer of Corpses	195
			the stillness of death	196
			the storm	197
			the Stump	198
			the Summer Lord	199
			the swamp	1910
			the Sword Hungry	1911
			the Terror of the Tomb	1912
			the Thrice Damned	1913
			the Unconquerable Sun	1914
			the Undeceivable	1915
			the Unjust	1916
			the Unmoving Master	1917
			the Unshakable	1918
			the Unsleeping	1919
			the Whirlpool	1920
			Turner of the Flood	201
			Warrior Against the Sun	202
			Who Confuses the Way	203
			Who Conquered the Sky	204
			Who Contains Everything	205
			Who Dreams	206
			Who Holds the Fate of All	207
			Who is at the Center of All Things	208
			Who is Crowned with Wisdom	209
			Who is Twisted by Jealousy	2010
			Who Loves not the Light	2011
			Who Makes Clear the Way	2012
			Who Mounts the Clouds	2013
			Who Opened the Box of Woe	2014
			Who Sealed the Gates of Death	2015
			Who Should Not Be Named	2016
			Who Stole the Fire	2017
			Who Tempers the Spirit	2018
			Who Waits	2019
			Wind of the North	2020