Kol Noth: The First Era
Foundations Play-Through and Review
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Check out the Table of Contents for previous games I’ve played and other stuff I’ve written.
In the beginning, there was one giant landmass…
Before there were people, the mountains rose, the winds blew across the land, rainforests and grasslands grew.
The First People, the Oriri, arose in the northeast while giant animals thrived in the west. Some of the Oriri drifted west, creating a community that followed these giant beasts. They were known as the Hirdi.
A great ice age came. Some members of the Oriri moved south to warmer climates, while others stayed. Those who stayed came to be called the Kaldir, while those in the south were known as Suudir.
A volcano erupted in the north-west.
Beasts of burden were domesticated. Oxen and cows provided food, fur and transportation, especially for the Kaldir. In more temperate areas, horses and donkeys were used by the Suudir and ranged across the land. An offshoot of wolves became unlikely companions to people, becoming hunting partners and loyal protectors.
A culture of nomads arose over time, traveling in great caravans across the land. They were known as the Faran.
More mountains rose up throughout the land in a short period of time, disrupting the land. The many groups of Oriri wondered if the gods were upset, coming up with reasons, stories and myths to explain it.
Magic began to be found within humans, giving them strange and unusual powers but often, also altering their appearance, depending on their ability. These signs may have been as simple as a minor feature, tufts of fur behind the ears, or a flower growing in their hair, to more drastic alterations, such as bark or stone-skin, animal claws, or even strange hybrids of human and Other. These people were believed to be cursed and were stigmatized. When found, they were banished or left their homes, living high up in a mountain community of their fellows. They came to be known as the Exul.
Here is where we are up to, at this point in the story of the world of Kol Noth. You can see the mountains in black, hills around them in brown. You can see two paths of powerful trade winds starting from South and South-West and heading North, where they meet and create an area of massive storms. You can see the rainforest in bright greens and blues in the south. You can see the dark blue horizontal lines which shows where the line is during this current ice age. Above the northern line and below the southern line, all is ice. You can see the peoples, in pink. These aren’t really settlements at this point, more scattered hunter and gatherer groups. The Kaldir live near the ice, the Suudir live in more temperate areas. The ones riding tiny animals represent the Faran nomads. You can see the giant beast in gray and the community of Hirdi that follows them.
This is what you get when you play Foundations by Leyline Press. You set up a deck of cards in a certain way (mostly just separating the suits and shuffling). You draw the cards and follow the prompts. The prompts make you alter the map and consider how these changes affect the world. It’s a really, really fun world-making game. I’ve only played it solo but I bet it would be awesome to play as a group. I played it in roll20, which is why the map looks the way it does.
Playing digitally makes some prompts difficult. For example, one prompt for the trade winds is to throw a pen in the air and depending on it lands on the map, that determines the line and direction of the wind. Digitally, I had to do my best to close my eyes and draw a random line. Still, it’s totally doable, but it’s clear the best way to play would be with a physical map(s) you can draw and play around with.
Considering my enjoyment, I would highly recommend this game.
The map above is still quite early in the development of the world, so let’s return to it, shall we?
If you’re wondering what those dark blue lines are that make an X, well, you’re about to find out.
The landmass splits...
Time passed and the land split into four continents that roughly map out to the four directions, Northern, Eastern, Southern, Western, each developing it’s own name by the Oriri.
Northern: Shamal
Eastern: Aster
Southern: Zuid
Western: Hesperos
Grasslands, hills and forests developed. A major river emerged in the North and another, as well as a large lake, in the East. A group of Suudir settled near the lake, and another by the river and coast on the western end of Aster.
A sentient animal species with humanoid qualities surfaced in the Southern continent. These beings were tall and muscular, with fur and horns, who walked on two legs. They were known as the Ibrida.
Writing came into being as more and more trade was being done between groups, necessary to keep track of transactions.
A group of Suudir developed a port on the Eastern coast of Aster, and a subculture of seafarers grew over time. The settlement and people eventually came to be called Saiwa.
Well-established and traveled Trade Routes were established between three coastal settlements in the narrow sea between the Western, Northern and Eastern continents. This allowed these settlements to flourish. The one on the Northern continent consisted of Hirdi people, those who once followed the Great Beasts of the land. The settlement was called Manu. The other two were Suudir settlements.
More settlements popped up across the continents. Religions arose, polytheistic pantheons that grew and changed from cultural exchange.
A Saiwa conquerer called Setva took the area around the port settlement by force, coming into conflict with the Kaldir and Suudir.
Manu became a thriving city-state run by a powerful ruler, named Onam. Onam built three huge projects: a giant mound to serve as a tomb, an enormous zoo to hold some of the Great Beasts that had been captured, and Sprawling Gardens. Some in the city claim that the Great Beasts should be worshipped and allowed free, not kept in cages.
With the advance of society came the separation of classes, with most communities having some form of a ruling class. Some nomadic groups remained class-less, as did the wandering Faran.
Manu came into conflict with the western settlement and crushed them. The survivors fled south to uninhabited land on the Northwest edge of the Southern continent.
In Saiwa, a group of people learned how to use symbols, runes and incantations to summon magical forces, the outcomes becoming powerful and difficult to contain. Saiwa and the surrounding area are plagued by dark magical forces and creatures. Magic is banned and those who use it are executed. Those who use magic created a secret society, calling themselves Followers of Derkaz, in Saiwa.
The settlement by the lake on the Eastern continent is found to be abandoned. The people there were gone, with no sign of where they went. Mages and magic-users are blamed. It was now a ghost-town, rumored to be haunted and most stayed away.
Arts and Entertainment: Manu held regular circuses and parades, using the Great Beasts. A minority continued to claim this as heresy and wrong, but crowds and tourists loved it. Saiwa had great Tale-tellers, who moved, spoke, danced, sung and performed on stages for crowds. The Suudir settlement by the river held fighting bouts and feats of strength or dexterity.
The first empire
Saiwa became an empire. The ruling class had been infiltrated by the Followers of Derkaz, using their power to secretly influence and dominate others. They control the warlord and leader, Towak.
Manu increased it’s size and influence, invading and subjugating the river city-state on the Eastern continent. Those who are occupied named themselves the Riparia.
Raiders come from across the western sea, arriving at the northern edge of the southern continent, raiding, pillaging and settling. They called themselves the Ledera.
Roads were built between Saiwa and Manu, a great, long road around the mountains and through treacherous terrain. Settlements pop up as waypoints, marketplaces or tribal holdings.
Manu fell. The Great Beasts broke free from their cages, rampaging through the city. The societal structure collapsed and Manu faded into obscurity, it’s city filled with ancient ruins and monuments. Those who survived, lived as tribes and small settlements, continuing to worship the Great Beasts, believing it was the hubris of keeping them caged that brought about Manu’s downfall.
A holy war erupted between Saiwa and the Ledera. Battles were fought at sea and on land. The Saiwa followed dark gods, while the Ledera claimed to be warriors of Light.
Between losing battles and land to the Ledera, dark magical mishaps weakening the power structure, and a rising up of the lower class, Saiwa crumbled into five successor states: Sanu, Nomane, Lacen, Seadark, Heisten. The last remaining dark sorcerers led a group into the north to establish their own state. One of those sorcerers led a group of fanatics further north, becoming immortal through a dark ritual and building a great tomb in the ice.
Feudalism developed. In larger nations, ordinary people pledged to local lords who pledged to a grand ruler. Established settlements grew to cities or large towns. Minor settlements continued to exist and pop up throughout the land. Sanu and Nomane become united under a single lord, as do Lacen and Seadark.
With Manu fallen, the Riparia regained control of the river city and it grew into it’s own nation, Rivera. In it, a new faith believing that everyone and everything are connected, are One in the Flow, rose and spread.
The Ledera formed an alliance with the small island nation of Witu and provided military against the combined Sinu Nomane nation.
The Great Plague
A plague spread across the land. The Sinu Nomane nation was utterly destroyed.
Rivera left it’s homeland, moving over the mountains near the lake to resettle.
Populations are halved or worse over the entirety of Kol Noth, though those on separate continents fare somewhat better.
A number of people across the world have dark, prophetic visions. A cult of Doomsayers emerged because of this, calling themselves Prophets of Dormr.
The western continent had for centuries been left less populated and less settled than other continents. The nomads living there, over time, developed a look dissimilar to the Oriri of the past and on other continents. They had green-ish skin, tusks and horns. There were different subspecies as well, some smaller, others larger. The people on the other continents came to fear these people and claimed they were vicious savages, though that was untrue. Though they did not built great cities or settle the land like others, they had complex cultures and traditions. The truth was they were passionate in all things and this included warfare. At this time, one leader rose to prominence, gathering other bands and tribes by force, trickery, or politicking. They called themselves Ordu, after the name of their great leader and became a horde. Ordu built a central fortress.
Three powerful new settlements arose in the aftermath of the plague, independent nations with their own laws. One, on the western continent, paid tribute to Ordu in order to survive. This was named Niwe. The second, Orme, on the mainland of the southern continent, came often into conflict with the Ibrida still living there. Turris, the third, east of Manu over the mountains.
The Great Thaw
The ice finally retreated as the world warmed, opening up new areas to the north and south.
In many nations, pushed to revolution, peasants rose up against the ruling class. In most cases, they were defeated but given more rights than they had previously. In some places, such as Witu and Turris, the lower class become the rulers, creating new types of society and governing.
A settlement within the Ledera became a home to a secretive warrior group dedicated to finding and killing dark sorcerers and magic-users of all kinds. They called themselves the Vordir.
The nomads who roamed in the lands of Seadark were forced to become vassals to a local lord.
This is the end of The First Era.
The End of the Beginning
There we have it, a fully-fledged and created world. Full of cultures, peoples, settlements, nations and places. I would recommend using new papers/drafts more often than I did, or else everything gets pretty cluttered and difficult to parse!
Each moment you read about was prompted by the pull of a card. Having played this game twice now, each time went very differently. It’s a very fun game and leaves you with an incredible world. The hardest part? It wasn’t making choices or decisions or explaining why things happen, it was coming up with names for everything! Luckily I found https://www.etymonline.com/. It basically tells you where words came from and I used it to find really cool words to name places and people. Making names is important as you need a way to track who is where.
There were also things I knew I wanted to include in my world, so I made sure they happened. I knew I wanted magic-touched folk who had specific features on them or hybrid animal-people (I love werewolves), so I decided those first who were affected by magic became those. Then, I knew I wanted ‘greenskins’, (orcs, goblins and the like), so I decided the nomads in the isolated western continent became them. I also wanted something like gnolls from dnd, so those became the animal-human hybrids of the southern continent. Of course, I want to make clear all of these beings are sentient and people. Some may be more prone towards violence than others but none are evil. They all live, have culture, language, trade and love. It’s an important idea in my world that no group of people or species is ‘evil’. That’s too simple.
What’s Next?
I’d like to create a better final map of Kol Noth. That might be a hex-map, or something hand-drawn, I haven’t decided. It’d be nice to have a better picture of the world of Kol Noth as it currently exists.
I asked my Paid Subscribers what world-building game I should play next to further flesh out the world, and the results have come in:
A tie! I’ve decided the first game shall be Microscope, and then I will follow that up with The Quiet Year.
For Microscope, the question is where to begin? I could do a game about one of the empires that rose and fell during the Beginning Saiwa or Manu, perhaps, delving into the detail of what happened in those empires, or I could follow one of the current nations and move forward in time from now. The Ledera or Ordu or even Rivera could be fun to follow and see what happens in The Second Era. What are you interested in seeing? Regardless if I get to it now, I may always return to places and peoples that readers are interested in.
If you are a Paid Subscriber, you get to decide by voting on Manu, Saiwa, Ledera, Ordu, or Rivera.
To allow time for the voting, next week will be something different, before returning to Kol Noth for the Microscope game.
Thanks for reading!