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Th e World of Thennla A Setting for MYTHRAS By Jonathan Drake Shores of Korantia, Taskan Empire and Thennla copyright © 2014 by Jonathan Drake and Used by The Design Mechanism with Permission ISBN: 978-0-9947589-6-5 Mythras is a trademark of The Design Mechanism. All rights reserved. This edition of Thennla is copyright © 2016. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without permission from The Design Mechanism, except as quoted for purposes of illustration, discussion and game play. Reproduction of the material in this book for the purposes of personal or corporate profit, by photographic, electronic, or other methods of retrieval is strictly prohibited. THENNLA Cred its Contents Created, Developed and Written By Jonathan Drake The World of Thennla 4 Production The Design Mechanism Places of Interest 8 Characters 14 Cartography Colin Driver Characteristics 14 Albirs 14 Archipelagans 15 Thennla is an introduction to the world explored in greater detail in the Mythras supplements Shores of Korantia Assabians 15 and The Taskan Empire, both available now in print and Dagomils 17 PDF copies. Jandekot Tribes 18 Find us at the following places online: Jekkarenes 18 Korantines 20 www.thedesignmechanism.com/products designmechanism.freeforums.org Orcs 20 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/4057/De- Taskans 21 sign-Mechanism http://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-drake/the-tas- Thennalts 22 kan-empire/ Magic 24 ISBN: 978-0-9947589-6-5 The Nature of Magic 24 The Three Realities 25 Supernatural Beings 26 Learning Magic 26 Types of Magic 27 Explore Thennla Further 32 CREDITS THENNLA THENNLA Thennla hennla is explored in two sourcebooks: SHORES OF with the vast majority of the sphere’s volume being beneath the KORANTIA and THE TASKAN EMPIRE, each providing earth’s surface, where the Many Hells are to be found. more detail on two of the great empires of the world. T One can walk overland from one end of the world to the other, This sourcebook extracts information from these supplements for there is only a single break in the encircling land-masses to give prospective players and Games Masters an introduction that separate the Inner from the Outer Ocean. Nobody, we can to Thennla before delving into greater details. It concentrates be sure, has ever done so; but Aristentorus of Hypata made a on the continent of Taygus, home to the Taskan and Korantine circumnavigation of the Ocean 300 years ago and confirmed cultures. this to be true. The Outer Ocean HE ORLD OF HENNLA T W T Lashed by epic storms, whipped up by divine powers and stirred Thennla is named after its primary earth-goddess, Theyna. by magical tides and currents, the Outer Ocean is unfathomably This world is one in which humanity is not only the dominant deep and makes for unbelievably dangerous sailing. Having said sentient race but, according to many, is the only sentient race. that, it is not such a broad ocean – the Edge of the World is disconcertingly close if you can survive the crossing. Geography The world is a disc upon which the major land masses encircle The Inner Ocean an Inner Ocean and which are, in turn, surrounded by the Outer Ocean. Beyond the Outer Ocean is the Edge of the World and The principal route of communication between human cul- it is variously reported that crossing over is impossible, is cer- tures, the Inner Ocean is generally kind to shipping, and its tain death, or offers transport to other worlds or dimensions. shores support the greatest concentrations of human popu- Above the world is the realm of sky, which stretches all around lation. The Ocean has its own geography of underwater vol- at least as far as the Edge of the World, and above that is the canoes, treacherous shallows, deep-sea trenches and stormy Vault of Heaven which, so far as is known, is solid and impen- capes. It is at its most violent and hazardous in the South where etrable. The distance from one side of the world to the other it meets the Outer Ocean. Powerful currents can help or hinder is about 11,265 kilometres. The Vault of Heaven’s height is the seaborne adventurer or merchant, and frequently dictate the unknown, but it is assumed to be dome-shaped and at least most commonly used navigation routes and the siting of key 1,600 kilometres high at its centre. Some scholars suspect that it settlements. is, in fact, the upper part of a sphere within which sits the earth, The northern and southern reaches of this ocean are different in character, and this includes the weather gods who rule the 4 THENNLA skies above. In the north, Palaskil drives the winds in a more or meandering slightly on its way. Depending on where in the less anti-clockwise direction, while in the south Somadsil drives world it is viewed, the sun’s orb has a subtly different hue; only them the other way. Both these deities appear to be banned from Korantia does it appear to shine with a pure, golden-yel- from a stretch of ocean east of Fierla, known as the Doldrums low light. The night sky contains both stars – which do not of Hiolanta; Hiolanta is said to be the divine mother, yet she is move – and planets, which look like stars and do move (which not an entity that anyone worships. is how you can tell the difference). Some planets travel around the sky in set patterns, others stay static but change their aspect The Continents or appearance as they turn on their axes. Planets are agreed to be living entities and for many people they are gods. The (See map, page 3) stars are mostly thought to be there for decoration, each star Reading clockwise from the southernmost, the continents are: or constellation set in its place to serve as a memento of some legendary event, or as the heraldic badge of a god rather than Uxmal the god itself. The moon is stationary and, as the world is flat A southern land comprising of a huge, cool, central plateau and nothing is ever over the horizon, it is always visible on a pierced by rivers and surrounded by forested mountains clear day unless blotted out by the sun’s glare. It does, however, descending to hot tropical lowlands. The people of Uxmal are look rather small if you are on the other side of the world from known cannibals, and while the ruling caste keeps many lesser the point above which it is anchored, Methalea. The moon has folk in thrall and treats them as livestock, foreigners washed up phases, but this is the result of changes in the glowing light on their shores make for an exotic alternative. emanating from within as it rotates, marking out the months of the year. Jandekot A warm, humid land, much of its interior covered by a vast The Year tract of rainforest and home to the greatest concentration and A Thennlan Year is 366 days long, measured by the time it diversity of life, but thinly populated by humankind. takes for the sun to complete a full cycle of the various sta- Kasperan tions he may visit on his daily travel across the Vault of Heaven. His gradual shift from one path to another and back again is A land of sparse vegetation with a near barren interior, which is the primary cause of seasonal changes. For most people this dominated by a chain of fierce volcanoes. year is divided into 13 months of 28 days each, and two addi- Thurina tional days are inserted (‘intercalated’) at the end of the year to make 366. However, for the Jekkarenes, the year consists of Framed by tall mountain ranges to East and West, at its centre 13 Lunar months that conform directly to the phases of their is a forest of massive pines surrounded by broad plains. Thick moon goddess, and two of these months are 29 days long: an glaciers spread across its north-eastern reaches. extended full moon in mid-winter and an extended dark moon Taygus in mid-summer. Legend has it that the Lunar and Solar years were once completely in harmony at 364 days, but upon the Temperate lands of rolling plains, hills and forests give way to divorce of the moon goddess and sun god some 1,200 years hot subtropical lands in the South. Considered the most amena- ago they became fractured, and the moon was forced to alter ble to settled life and home to perhaps two-thirds of humanity. her step to prevent a disaster of cosmological misalignments. At its heart is Lake Taygus, the largest body of fresh water in There are some cultures, such as the Jekkarenes, who do not use the world. the Solar Calendar at all. Rasputana A day is 24 hours long, and a seven-day week is a measure of The hot desert interior is thought to be the driest place in the time traditional in Korantia, based upon the observance of world, but the southern tip is home to lush forests. certain astrological cycles, but little used elsewhere. In Tarsenia the month is divided into nine-day ‘weeks’, the 9th day and the The Sky additional (28th) day of each month being reserved for market and holidays. Seasons are experienced in all parts of the world Every day the sun follows a path from East to West across but they are not necessarily the same seasons at the same time. the sky, passing just South of the centre of the world and 5 THENNLA that lycanthropy is rife.