6 Dec version
INTRODUCTION TO A LOW FANTASY CONTINENT
This introduction serves as a primer for sandbox wilderness play in a low fantasy, mythic Antarctic region. It is intended for referees using rules light systems such as Knave, Into the Odd, Cairn, or more traditional B/X, Basic Fantasy, Old School Essentials, or similar systems.
The Brinemarch Run
THE BRINEMARCH RUN is a low fantasy overland hexcrawl set on a greened Antarctic coast. Consider approaching it differently than a trek through the mythic arctic or northern Eurasia, except nearer the South Pole
The icecap is gone, and global weather is severe and unpredictable. Thunderstorms arrive without warning. Cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons can harass the land at any time of year. What we call 100-year storms strike every year at random locations. In the fiction of Brinemarch it is understood that the Great Thaw of the South Pole was caused by annual South Pole asteroid strikes. Larger meteorites started tsunamis, broke up the ice shelves, and stirred up volcanoes. It was all just fast enough and just strong enough to uncover the coastline in time for the first people to arrive at a thriving green coastline around 8,000 BCE. At the same time, it happened slowly enough and gently enough that our Neolithic ancestors were not wiped out, and their descendants could not get masonry established in the various hearths of so-called civilizations. Convenient, right?
Circa 8,000 BCE the first humans came from regions in South America we recognize as Tierra del Fuego and the Andes. By the time the descendants of those first people arrived in the area of 70º latitude on the Antarctic coast, they called themselves the Canoe Folk and the People of the Tide. In their tongue, they called it the “Land of the Woven Shelter.” To you, it sounds a bit like “Brinemarch.”
Since there has been no ice cap at the South Pole since the Neolithic Age, there has been no the conveyor of ice-cold water from Antarctica to churn the ocean and the atmosphere at predictable intervals. While one might speculate how this might result in dramatic changes in world history due to cascading differences in harvests, recipes, songs, cooperation and conquest (to say nothing of the cooperation needed to cope with civilization-upending deluges), world history will have worked out in any number of ways that leave a wonderful range of possibilities for world building and speculative fiction.
One assumption in the world of Brinemarch is that anyone who has access to maritime lore knows all the continents and that they are all inhabited. This is because Antarctica has been sending memos about its existence in all kinds of forms: animals, seeds, art, technology, and songs, textiles, etc., etc. Every maritime culture in the southern hemisphere has received those memos for thousands and thousands of years.
The Brinemarch Run takes place in an age of imperial expansion. Assume [the Empire] has 1. sea-worthy caravels, 2. solved longitude, 3. is surveying the land for resources to exploit, and 4. maintains a fortified sea port in Brinemarch. 5. The locals call them the People of the Flag. Optional: gunpowder, clockwork devices, magic, recklessness, and intention to settle the land. This could be any kind of empire; it does not need to be something like our human history.
It is assumed the player characters will either be part of [the Empire] or [the Company]. Playing a character from a local community is allowed, and a worthy exploration of the human experience. Within the bounds of the game as written, know that one cannot both know the druidic secrets of Brinemarch and practice the activities of hexcrawls. Hexes and Druids are anathma. Outside of the game, decide how important it is, and do as you like.
So What's With the Magic?
Where is the magic? Where are the elves? Are elves low fantasy? What mythical beast does a rogue get to stab?
The greened Antarctica did not thaw completely. It remains only mostly thawed. There are still small glaciers and deep bands of permafrost. Under the ice, older history. That story ended the moment the ice age began, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Survivors call that moment the Abominable Sleep. The whole planet went to sleep covered in thick ice. Since then, as most sleepers wake up angry and confused. They cough, they flail, and they die within hours. This is has been happening since the dawn of humanity, but no one remembers because the only place it still happens is in Antarctica.
Antarctica is the only place where anyone survived the thaw. They are a sensitive lot. They abhor the sun and the stars, and the rain. They live in hidden places in strange conditions. These are the gnomes, orcs, elves, dwarves, a dragon or two, and beasts from legend. Of them, only the orcs come above ground, for they are the only ones to marry into necromancy.