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The Rifenmist Peninsula is a landmass on the southern end of the Tal'Dorei continent. The Beynsfal Plateaus in the southern reaches of the peninsula are controlled by the Iron Authority's tyrannical empire, but north of that is a large area beyond the rule of the Authority, the Republic of Tal'Dorei, or Syngorn. The small camps of the Mornset Countryside are known as a "free" land, often used as a place of refuge for those wishing to live beyond the law, and in the Rifenmist Jungle lay lost and forgotten ancient places, buried by time or forgotten by design.[1][2]
Geography[]
The peninsula is sunny and often swelteringly hot.[3]
The gateway to the peninsula, bordering the Verdant Expanse, is the Mornset Countryside, which is marked by rivers and rolling hills.[4]
Much of the Rifenmist's lowlands are covered in thick jungles, partly bisected by the rocky Stormpoint Mountains. The Stormpoint range runs north to south, and is obscured by low clouds or fog nearly year-round.[5] Hidden in the Rifenmist Jungle are the ruins of the Qoniira Tetrarchy and its last remaining city, Niirdal-Poc, which has been protectively sunk into a deep basin.[6]
The Beynsfal Plateau, stretching around the southern reaches of the continent, is a cracked volcanic landscape of relentless heat and black basalt rising above the lush Rifenmist Jungle below, dotted by crude iron towers. It is home to the Iron Authority and the massive city of Tz'Arrm.[7]
History[]
Before the Founding[]
Before the gods arrived in Exandria, a primordial titan seed was planted in this region; it remains unborn and slumbering, and its energy is responsible for the extraordinary overgrowth of the Rifenmist Jungle.[8]
Qoniira Tetrarchy[]
The Qoniira Tetrarchy is ancient even to other ancient civilizations of Exandria;[9] it was believed to have fallen years before the Calamity[10] or when the Calamity hit.[11] Its four remaining cities and ruins are hidden in the Rifenmist Jungle.[12]
The Calamity[]
During the Calamity, the Strife Emperor Bane and his goblinkin armies battled repeatedly with the Wildmother Melora and her Free Children. In battle, Bane took the form of an almost unimaginably large giant, clad from head to toe in pitted iron. The Wildmother finally defeated Bane at Beynsfal Plateau and he was banished, but the site of his defeat was reduced to rock and ash, and plants will never grow there again. The Strife Emperor's armor remained and crashed to the ground.[8]
Post-Divergence[]
Following Bane's defeat, many of his goblinkin followers remained on Tal'Dorei, still under the Curse of Strife. The goblins scattered across the Rifenmist Peninsula and beyond. Several kingdoms of hobgoblins asserted their authority over the squabbling tribes, and around 722 PD the Iron Authority conquered the Beynsfal Plateau, then kept expanding over the next decade to control all the hobgoblin kingdoms of the region under Tz'Jarr, the Iron Emperor.[2]
In the meantime, many people who preferred to flee rather than stand and fight against the tyranny of the Drassig dynasty during the Scattered War ended up in the distant, isolated Mornset Countryside.[13]
In 792 or 793 PD, Thordak began to raid caravans and the autonomous villages of the Mornset Countryside, at the edge of the Tal'Dorei Council's influence. The people of the area asked the Council for armed assistance, describing a "nightmare of fire and malice," but Sovereign Odellan Tal'Dorei found the rumors too vague to justify the great expense of sending a regiment.[14]
Around 794 or 795 PD, Thordak destroyed half of Byroden and killed a third of the population.[15] By that time he had bent the Outerfolk of the Countryside to slavery and claimed dominion over the land. Emon finally sent its forces to do battle, but it was Allura Vysoren's adventuring party and the Arcana Pansophical who were ultimately able to stop Thordak by sealing him in the Elemental Plane of Fire.[16][17]
By 812 PD Byroden had been rebuilt.[18]
Exandria Unlimited[]
In early 843 PD, an adventuring party later known as the Crown Keepers arrived in Byroden, many southbound travelers' first stop on the Rifenmist Peninsula. Among these travelers was Opal, a native of Byroden. They traveled into the Rifenmist Jungle in search of the ruins of Qoniira and found their way to Niirdal-Poc, the last remaining city of the Qoniira Tetrarchy.
Politics and religion[]
The patron deity of the Iron Authority is Bane, the Strife Emperor.[19] Outside the Iron Authority, both Avandra, the Changebringer and Erathis, the Lawbearer have prominent followings on the Rifenmist Peninsula. Several other gods have minority followings on the peninsula: Melora, the Wildmother, Sehanine, the Moonweaver, Zehir, the Cloaked Serpent, and—established sometime between 812 and 836 PD—Asmodeus, Lord of the Hells.[2][19]
Iron Authority[]
Mornset Countryside[]
Emonian merchants would like to bring the Mornset peoples into the Republic of Tal'Dorei, but the Free Folk of the Mornset are ambivalent about wanting the Republic's protection and yet not wanting to open the door to being governed from afar.[20] Orroyen elves who tire of that nomadic life sometimes move into Mornset settlements.[4]
Orroyen tribes[]
The Orroyen and Syngornian elves have a close bond, so Syngorn's delegation on the Tal'Dorei Council helps to keep the Republic of Tal'Dorei from interfering with the Orroyen. Like the Mornset peoples, the Orroyen are torn between wanting the Republic's protection against the Iron Authority and worrying that inviting the Republic's military would be the first step toward being dominated by that government.[19]
Qoniira Tetrarchy[]
Qoniira was founded by, among others, clerics of the Wildmother, druids, and arcanists. The civilization made little distinction between Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods, other than that the former were invoked for blessings and the latter for curses, and the Tetrarchy effectively removed itself from the world rather than take part in the Calamity.[21]
What remains of the Qoniira Tetrarchy after the fall of its satellite cities has been isolationist from the Calamity to at least 843 PD.[6][22]
Economy[]
In 812 PD, the peninsula was largely autarkic, neither importing nor exporting in significant quantities.[23] But by 836 PD, the peninsula as a whole was both an active exporter and importer of spell components. It also exported produce and rare metals. In turn, the peninsula imported arms and armor as well as stone and masonry.[19]
Trivia[]
- Raishan came originally from the jungles of this region, and met Thordak for the first time during his raids through the South of Tal'Dorei.[24]
References[]
- ↑ See "What Lies Beneath the Surface" (1x81) at 3:15:38.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 76.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 118.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 114.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, pp. 118–119.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 116.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 76–79.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 79.
- ↑ See "A Glorious Return" (E1x03) at 1:54:55.
- ↑ See "A Glorious Return" (E1x03) at 1:52:14.
- ↑ See "A Glorious Return" (E1x03) at 1:55:20.
- ↑ See "A Glorious Return" (E1x03) at 1:51:34.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 112.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 11.
- ↑ See "Desperate Measures" (1x40) from 2:38:22 through 2:38:36.
- ↑ See "Desperate Measures" (1x40) at 2:36:36.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 11–12.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 77.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 113.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, pp. 112–113.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, pp. 115–117.
- ↑ Niirdal-Poc remains isolated and secretive in Exandria Unlimited Prime when the Crown Keepers visit in early 843 PD.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 76–77.
- ↑ See "Trust" (1x70) from 0:13:40 through 0:19:15.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of the shores of Rifenmist, by Clara (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official map of the Rifenmist Peninsula, by Andy Law from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.