Caelcorwynn

[Laerme_phoenix]

I am currently, being inspired by this thread, working on Caelcorwynn island.

To give you a short summary:

The island was given by the Roeles to the Cael family (I wanted to continue the naming equalities between realm and family). As the Caels were members of house Roele (So to speak), in the same manner as the Dosieres are, their station is a bit different than the other realms.

They are ruled by a High Lady at present. This title I have not worked out, in regards to what it should be the equal of. I thought of making the family Princes and Princesses, as canon has established that there were Principalities ruled over by members of the Roele line, but I fear this might make for an unbalanced realm. Any ideas?

Another idea I have thought of involves the present ruler being daughter of one of the sisters of Michael Roele, this seventh sister married the Cael ruler a hundred years ago (She would be having the Long Life blood ability) and produced the current ruler. This gives an added flavour to the rather two-sided Avan-Boeruine conlict, without assuming that the present ruler of Caelcorwynn has to become the next empress of Anuire (Indeed practically all the duchies of Anurie have been touched by the Roele bloodline at some point!) :rolleyes:

The realm is made up of two parts: West Caelcorwynn, containing the capital of Lir Amar, and the eastern part called Forest of a Thousand Leaves. Many of the people are elvenblooded; not Half-elven yet touched by the immortal race (Think the rulers of Dol Amroth in Gondor!), as the Erebannien Sidhelien interbred with the Anuireans coming to the island.

Having the most favouarable climate of all of Anuire, the realm is also know as the Land of Summer; winters never touch the land, and much exotic fruit is exported to nearby realms.

The present ruler Penduiel Cael is a wizard, who seems to have a good grasp of certain Sidhelien techniques.

The main religion is, quite unusually, that of Laerme, Goddess of Beauty - the artisans of Caelcorwynn are highly sought after.

....anyways....comments???? :huh:

[A_dark]

Caelcorwyn is an elven name, so if I were to do anything with the island, it would include elves.

I also think you are adding too many "unique" things to the island it becomes too burdened by them... Elven-touched, long-life sister of roele, heir to the crown, a status similar to Dosiere's, Laerme... it all gets a bit too much for my personal taste.... Choose only a few of those and discard the rest.

I would keep the elven-touched perhaps, since it could explain why the island has the name of the court wizard of Rhuannach

[Raesene Andu]

I put a dragon on Caelcorwyn Island in my game, or rather the legend that a dragon lived there. Anyone else who travelled that way, used to vanish, and after a dragon was seen flying over the island it was assumed that it was a lair to the creature and it was killing anyone who set foot on its island.

As far as the Atlas of Cerilia goes, I would prefer to keep it a fairly mysterious island, with little known about it, rather than a new realm. Mainly because it wasn't mentioned in Ruins of Empire and the Atlas isn't about introducing new material...

Below is what was writen up as a rough draft for inclusion in the Atlas. This should probably be redone or expanded to fit in somewhere.

Caelcorwynn Island

Province Law Temple Guilds Sources
Caelcorwynn Island (0/7) — — — —

Abbreviations: None.

The uninhabited and unclaimed isle of Caelcorwynn lies in the Gulf of Coeranys. Lush, rolling grasslands dominate the island’s northeastern end while a dense, virgin forest occupies the southwestern end of the island. While merchants and pirates of all stripes have occasionally used the island as a base, its remoteness has prohibited anyone from claiming the island as their own. The Anuirean emperors never formally granted anyone a title to the land although it was generally considered to be a part of Anuire. In recent years, there has been talk within the Aerenwean court about claiming the island, though nothing has ever come of this.
Recently, a number of scouts returned to Calrie after surveying the island. While they reported that the northeastern plains would be an adequate place for civilization, they reported seeing ghosts haunting the southwestern woods and have advised against visiting that part of the island.

For a time the island was believed to be home to a dragon, and although that beast was driven off nearly a century ago, no one has yet made a claim on the land.

[Laerme_phoenix]

Thanks for the input!

Hmmm...I realise that nothing of what I write is canon, though through a few points I would like to open up to why I have chosen as I have:

1. Caelcorwynn was not mentioned in canon as being habited no...but that have not stopped people from including it in their games. This is of course their own choice and they have done with it what they desired.

2. I do not see Caelcorwynn as being "Avanil-gone-Island" meaning that it does not have the influence of the mainland realms. Thus it could have been left out of canon; its rulers simply did not desire to become an active part of mainland politics.

3. Yes I very much myself like the elvenblooded concept, and would also dearly love to keep it :D

4. As goes for the "Far-out stuff" let me come with my comments: A church of Laerme is not impossible. She ahs shrines in the Imperial City, these could be staffed by priests of the Caelcorwynn temple. All the other gods have a presence in Anuire, she is the only one lacking. Giving her a few levels on an island, would not upset game balance, and the powerful haelynite temples would not see this as a threat....it´s a frivolous love goddess (At least to them) :rolleyes:
The bloodline of the Roele is "big", but as mentioned ALL the ducal houses have been touched by the Roele bloodline at some point. The Cael family (Gotta love that name), as presented in my view, were retainers of House Roele like the Dosieres, maybe being Falconers, Exchequers, Court Wizards or what else comes to mind, and having married a daughter off to the Caels every now and then does not seem inappropriate (Especially since it seems the Roele line was VERY prolific!)
Besides Long Life blood ability comes in about 20% off all Great Anduiras line (Maybe she was even a True bloodline?) so, a member of House Roele having Long Life would definately not be impossible!

5. I am at a 50/50 reagarding if the Atlas should present new material...I think that it should explore what has been left unsaid, maybe in a "You can use this if you desire" - a lot of GMs use that approach with canon material as well! For instance I wouldn´t mind seeing some material on the Baerghos ialnds, on the province of Sideath, on the Erebannien elves (Which I thought of touching upon) and on the College of Sorcery´s sources...

Hmmm more will probably come to mind... B)

[Danip]

Nice to see your ideas. Love the idea of Lhaerme getting a place.

As far as the name Caelcorwynn goes, Cael could be family name and corwynn could be some elven word attached. Like Pennsylvania (penn's woods). Might even rename on of the provinces corwynn.

My DM placed a maseatian ruin on an isle near Caelcorwynn.

Quite a bit of new material seems to be sneaking into the Atlas. One of the things that is good about the original works is it leaves much up to the DM to flesh out. One of the bad things about the original work is that it leaves so much for the DM to flesh out. A trade off with making canon material.

Is there a mechanism in the new Atlas to present things as optional or merely suggestive? Thinking of things like variant rules, sidebars, etc. DMs of course are free to work over their own worlds. But it might be nice to be able to present things which dont have the strength of canon. Perhaps even provide alternate versions of some entries. Provide the caelcorwynn description you have now, and have an alternate that Laerme Pheonix writes up....

Not trying to make extra work for ya. Just suggesting a way to get around non-canon debates like this. Provide everyone's version and more will be happy. Of course they have to write it up if they want it in...

[Lee]

In a message dated 2/15/05 7:05:17 AM Eastern Standard Time,

brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET writes:



<< I am currently, being inspired by this thread, working on Caelcorwynn

island. >>



Yours is good. I like that someone other than an awnshegh is shown with

the Long Life ability. I could see the place having a well-established

historian community, or at least a famous historian` reputation, as they would have

had an opportunity to interview someone "who was there." I like "Land of

Summer."



I ran the island briefly as ruled by a pirate-wizard-queen (before I got

HotGB and read about Zweilund Islands). My wife had a lot of fun with her in

the brief time that campaign ran.



Lee.

[Laerme_phoenix]

Wheeeeeee...supprt for my ideas haha :P

No seriously though, it is really nice to see both critique and positive comments. Peripheral areas have always been my favourite areas....here I get a chance to open one such area up...

Lee: I also like somone other than an Awnshegh having the Long Life ability, actually I don´t think I have seen a single regent having it (Maybe Ilien´s wizard rulers?), so giving it to a Roele would just be coooool :D

Danip: Laerme has always been an under-used goddess. Since canon goes that trade has risen, wouldn´t there also be money and time for aesthetic pursuits? I say aye...

I named the Western part West Caelcorwynn, simply put, but not everything needs to have elaborate names....the Eastern part has the more poetic name, so everything equals out hehe

Actually my fingers are itching to fully immerse myself with this.

I think that you could say there were alternatives, like the thrad suggests: Some things, such as Caelcorwynn, could be "Use either a desolate island, or an island nation as you choose"....

Feed me more :unsure:

[OsricIlien]

Phoenix- yes laerme could definetly have temple holdings in Anuire. INMC my character is the Duke of Alamie. Ruinil Alam has deposed his uncle Carolan and in having done so is trying to change the general alingment of his people. Part of that was introduing an organized church of Laerme to the people. Ruinil&#39;s wife is the High preistess and she controls about half of the Temples in Alamie, sharing them with the IHH for their assitance in the Liberation of Alamie. Laerme&#39;s faith has also spread throughout Tournen(my character having spent his exile there). I&#39;ve noticed that the faith of Laerme works well in any realm were the arts are a major factor.

[Laerme_phoenix]

A little something I wrote about Caelcorwynn´s capital:

Lir Amar: In the Sidhelien tongue Lir Amar is “Graceful Waters” Situated in a crescent shaped inlet, the city has several islands creating a feel of the Imperial City, even though Lir Amar is not wholly built on islands. The unique architecture of the islands shine through, as the islands´ Sidhelien heritage can not be hidden. Gardens and small groves abound in the city and villas and houses are as frequently built around the trees as in them.

These treetowers and houses are cosy, inviting and spectacular – and very resistant to normal fires. Often the resident druids and wizards, of which there are some, have shaped the plantlife, so that treebranches have become spiderweb like bridges and walkways, leaves forming to give shelter as roofs, and stairs protrouding from trunks of age old beeches. It should be noted that the vast majority of the trees are not towering giants as in the Elven woods, but rather mediumsized, sturdy trees.

The rather unusual living areas seem strange to most other Anuireans, while the Sidhelien do not understand why the islanders do not fully live in the trees. Yet the elvenblooded have chosen a hybrid form of living and it suits them fine.
People hang up windcharms outside their wooden homes, so the seabreezes can create a clear ringing winding through the city every now and then. This makes all parts of the Lir Amar seem alive, also at night, where the ringing lulls the residents to sleep.

The city´s mayor is Council Leader Keren Cilcobare (MAn; Ro1;Unblooded; NG). The Council Leader is elected every five years, and Keren is currently on his fifth term, having served the realm ably for some 23 years now.

[Angelbialaska]

I&#39;d still like to know why it&#39;s Caelcorwynn, the same name as the Elven Wizard.

Also wasn&#39;t there some emperor who fought El-Arrasi by the name of Caercorwynn or something like that?

Personally I believe that Caelcorwynn carries the name of it&#39;s lord, just like many other realms does that. It&#39;s a hiding place and the home of the Court Wizard of Rhuannach, that he set up for himself, before he fell in love with Fiona.

[Osprey]

Here&#39;s what I did with Caelcorwynn in my campaign:
Caelcorwynn is the secret home of a tribe of Sidhelien - the remnants and descendants of the ancient tribes of the Erebannien. Perhaps once a pristine island retreat, it became a haven that was set with powerful warding magics for the last of the elves fleeing the genocidal wars with the Andu. Few humans have ever stepped foot in this place and left again.

Over the past millenia the elves of Caelcorwynn have adapted to their island home. Some have developed the arts of shipbuilding and sailing, along with mages skilled with the elements of wind and water. Some of the more fiery-blooded elves have taken to these ships and become marauders against the human vessels plying the trade routes through the Suidemere and Gulf of Coeranys. Like their mainland cousins, these Sidhelien still carry their bitterness and hatred of the humans, and preserve the sagas of genocide and flight. The Corsairs of Caelcorwynn are the Gheallie Sidhe of the waters, striking like ghosts from the mist to plunder and sink the hapless human ships and their crews.

The humans know only of the tendency of ships to disappear around the waters of the isle, adding to its reputation of mystery and danger.

The isle itself is constantly warded by magical mists, the lasting legacy of great magics laid down before Deismaar. These mists ensure that most mortals will become lost and turned around, never managing to reach the shores of the isle at all.
DM notes: the Corsairs of Caelcorwynn are small, sleek sailing vessels. They are agile and sturdy ships, cunningly designed and strengthened by arcane magics. Their crews aren&#39;t large, with 10-30 Sidhelien on a ship. However, given that a handful of these are true mages, most human ships become easy prey for them.

[Laerme_phoenix]

Angel: I find that the island being the hiding place of Caelcorwynn of Rhuannach somewhat strange....in that: Would the other regents of Anuire accept a foreign power so close to their realms? What about the wizards like Aelies and the Aglondiers? Why would Caelcorwynn move soooo far away from Rhuannach?

As goes for the name, I have tried with naming the ruling family Cael, as far as the last part -corwynn, yes it could be elven, but who says it has to be a name like Richard or James? Maybe it is a suffix meaning "Shore of" (Cael) or "Beloved of" (Cael) or something else? And when the Elvenblooded came to the island, they chose to name it in the Sidhlien tongue rather than the Anuirean, which stuck. As goes for Rhuannach´s wizard, his prefix Cael might also mean something like "Magic", "Nature" ,"Hope" or something (Shore of Magic, Beloved of Hope etc.).

Not everything needs to go hand in hand IMHO.

[irdeggman]

Originally posted by Danip@Feb 15 2005, 08:22 AM
Quite a bit of new material seems to be sneaking into the Atlas. One of the things that is good about the original works is it leaves much up to the DM to flesh out. One of the bad things about the original work is that it leaves so much for the DM to flesh out. A trade off with making canon material.

Is there a mechanism in the new Atlas to present things as optional or merely suggestive? Thinking of things like variant rules, sidebars, etc. DMs of course are free to work over their own worlds. But it might be nice to be able to present things which dont have the strength of canon. Perhaps even provide alternate versions of some entries. Provide the caelcorwynn description you have now, and have an alternate that Laerme Pheonix writes up....

Not trying to make extra work for ya. Just suggesting a way to get around non-canon debates like this. Provide everyone&#39;s version and more will be happy. Of course they have to write it up if they want it in...
Noticed that didn&#39;t you? That is something I have been concerned with from early on. The BRCs and Atlas should not be a collection of house-rules. They should be a baseline that people can use as a standard when tailoring their own campaigns.

Once someone&#39;s house-rules end up in the the BRCS or Atlas then it becomes very difficult to attempt to draw a line and say no more we have enough variations.

IMO the Atlas should not have optional text sections that are written to be discarded or used as seen fit. The DM has the option of using or changing anything he/she wants to - we don&#39;t need to restate that. The Atlas should not be dumping ground of rules that people want to squeeze in. It should instead be a where the full color of the setting is expresed, focuing on prose and descriptions to better explain how the game-mechanic rules are they way they are. for example in the elven section including an expanded text covering their origins and how time flows different in the elven woods is very appropriate and adds the color and painting that the setting cries out for and cannot be simply givenin a mechanic section (i.e., rules).

the Atlas was originally planned to follow a modified Player&#39;s Secret format with some potential plot uses and adventure seeds given but not a whole lot of detail on them, along with the assets and inclinations of the domains and existing regents. Inserting prestige classes into the various areas makes a lot of sense since most of them have a cultural or regional base and thus add color to that area.

One issue was brought up a long time ago about the size of th documents (specifically pertaining to download times). Some were concerned that since they only had 56K modums it was taking forever to download the BRCS-playtest. Well now the BRCS is definitely growing insize, mostly becasue of the variants and options included there. I would hate to see the Atlas likewise be bogged down.

There is plenty of room on the site topost individual visions of things that allow people to use and discard what they want without giving any "official" tag to them.

I agree with Ian that the Atlas should focus on the documented regions and only gloss over the other, if even that. As someone else pointed out part of the beauty of BR was that a lot of it wasn&#39;t written and was left up to the DM to create. I am not even certain about the rumored dragon Ian talked about. Is it necessary to lay such a potentially heavy thing into the setting? Maybe, maybe not - too early to tell.

[A_dark]

Parenthesis

Long Life has appeared in non-awnies in canon material

Gavin Tael has Long life Major, described in the BoR

There&#39;s a bunch of Avani priests/paladins livin on Torova Temylatin, secluded in the mountains, guarding the Sielehr. They all have Long Life. From BoM

End Parenthesis

[geeman]

A_dark writes:



> Long Life has appeared in non-awnies in canon material

>

> Gavin Tael has Long life Major, described in the BoR

>

> There`s a bunch of Avani priests/paladins livin on Torova Temylatin, secluded in the mountains, guarding the Sielehr. They all have Long Life. From BoM



IDHtBIFoM, but doesn`t Aelies also have Long Life? It`s also possible that

the Chamberlain has it as well if one believes the rumors (and in gaming the

rumors are usually true....)



IIRC there is a fairly high percentage of the awnsheghlien who have the LL

ability. That would seem disproportionate if it weren`t really rather

sensible given that some of those characters are meant to be iconic villains

who have been around since Deismaar. Personally, I think there are a few of

the awnsheghlien who probably should have that ability to explain their

existence and power than is probably the case for most of the write ups of

those characters in the BE text.



Gary

[Laerme_phoenix]

...and we gotta love those iconic villains :P

[Osprey]

IIRC there is a fairly high percentage of the awnsheghlien who have the LL
ability. That would seem disproportionate if it weren`t really rather
sensible given that some of those characters are meant to be iconic villains
who have been around since Deismaar. Personally, I think there are a few of
the awnsheghlien who probably should have that ability to explain their
existence and power than is probably the case for most of the write ups of
those characters in the BE text.

Gary

Yep. This was one of the reasons I went back and re-arranged the random tables for bloodline abilities in the BRCS Ch 2. The old tables made it so that about 1 in 4 scions (rough guestimate) ended up with some level of long life&#33; They were re-arranged so that:
1. Scions of Azrai frequently gain Long Life. Major and Great scions also get Bloodform rather easily...
2. Scions of Vorynn and Reynir gain Long Life more easily than most others...and also have a slightly higher chance of gaining Bloodtrait, too (and maybe becoming ershegh). This ties into Vorynn&#39;s magical nature (wizards always live a long time in most every fantasy setting, including BR...), and the vitality of life and nature in scions of Reynir.
3. Other scions were reduced to have Long Life become exceedingly rare - only about 2% occurence in each of the categories (mi/ma/gr). They were also the least likely to become ershegh.

Such was the reasoning behind the current incarnations of "random blood abilities by derivation" in the revised Ch 2.

Osprey

[Angelbialaska]

Caine looks like a man in his 40s, but if rumors are true, then he lived at the same time as Richard Endier, which was in 1200-something MR, making him somewhere between 3 and 400. Other than Caine, we also see Aelies possessing some sort of long life. Sure he can live longer as a half-elf, but he has been struggling with the Aglondiers for many years. Torele Anviras disappeared for a hundred years and returned without having gotten older.

[Benjamin]

Well, Aelis and Torele Anviras are two very special cases in canon that don&#39;t fit the rules. Well, sort of don&#39;t.

Neither has Long Life, but both lived with the elves. We do know that time passes differently among the elven forests than elsewhere. Torele vanishing for 100 years means he probably aged a few days at most while among the elves. That&#39;s a handy trick I wish they&#39;d teach me how to do. ;)

Aelis runs along the same principal. The power of the Erebannien keeps him young, as if it were still an elven forest. Not sure how that is, since there aren&#39;t any elves left in it (allegedly). Makes me wonder if any of those forests in Rjurik, Vosgaard and Khinasi have the same effect...

[Earl_Ingwe]

To Danip: I think you have an compatible DM (in cases of fantasy and transparence
To Benny :ph34r: -further: i´m going to shake those cursed forests unto the plain&#33;
..or shake those ugly grasps if u are able to.. :D while i cast the "Deathdeseases"..
B) "SERIOUS": Did thou ever teleport in thy lifetime Benjamin? -(I did..) :rolleyes:

[Earl_Ingwe]

But at least i know that the hidden lady (really ruling) was from the sunken island near Talinie (meaning the sister-island to the still existing one..)

[Earl_Ingwe]

But at least i know that the hidden lady (really ruling) was from the sunken island near Talinie (meaning the sister-island to the still existing one..)