Lendleland

Lendleland
Geography
Type	Country
Region	Old World, Titan
Society
Races	Humans, Orcs
Politics
Gov't type	Monarchy (presumably)
Ruler's type	King/Queen

Lendleland is one of the major lands of the Old World, famous throughout Titan for producing the finest of all horses - whilst they are also the most expensive, reaching prices approaching 1000 GP - which will serve a person faithfully until its death. However, it is also noted for being one of the least successful of the civilised lands, despite being one of the nations that received the legendary Crown of Kings many years ago.

Introduction

Its people are poor and superstitious, its mining operations in the Crystal Lake are pitiful, its capital small and run-down, and its fishing grounds much less profitable than those of Femphrey in the Eelsea. Worst of all, tribes of Lendleland Barbarians inhabit its eastern hills and make regular raids on the outskirts of Femphrey and Mauristatia.

These raiders were primarily responsible for Lendleland's eastern neighbour, Analand, attempting to build a Great Wall around the entire country to protect itself. Despite this, the raiders were still able to demolish the entire first section of the wall and delay progress sufficiently to nearly bankrupt the entire country before the wall was physically completed.

Lendleland and Femphrey have been in a state of great agitation for decades because of these differences , despite the attempts of Chalanna the Reformer to resolve them, which included granting full rights of the Siltbed River to Lendleland as well as the gift of the Crown of Kings. However, the Siltbed is a poor prize, being tidal, so that there are a great many ships and barges and even simple fishing vessels that must all wait for high tide before rushing out to and back in from the sea. Furthermore, it is thick with minerals and waste from the Crystal Lake and thus not fit to drink.

Lendleland's people often suffer attacks from the monster-infested mountains called the Anvils of the Gods.

History

The earliest recorded event in the lands that would later become Lendleland is the crossing of the Siltbed River on Fireday 27th of Freeze, 402 OT, by Urdulph Pathfinder. Since this event occurred before the Splitting of Irritaria (see Titan's Timeline), the Old World, never mind Lendleland, was not yet in existence and the geography of the region was doubtless considerably different from what it was in more recent times.

Otherwise, almost nothing is known of the early history of Lendleland, with the first record of it being in the 17th century OT, when a trade route became established between Royal Lendle in Gallantaria and Arkleton in Analand. Among the dangers faced by the caravans plying this route were horse-nomads and primitives in eastern Lendleland, but whether or not Lendleland was a kingdom at this time is unknown.

Prior to that, the only other hint we have of the history of Lendleland is the occurrence of the place-name element "lendle" in two other places. Firstly, it occurs in the place-name Royal Lendle (formerly simply Lendle) in Gallantaria. It is said that this name was, in the time of Orjan the Builder, an old mountain-man word meaning "flat plain". Given that much of Lendleland consists of flat plains, it seems very likely indeed that it is the same place-name element, with a similar meaning, in "Lendle-land". It is possible that this suggests a historical connection between Orjan's tribe and the plains that would later become Lendleland. Secondly, the name "Lendle" occurs in the name of a popular piece of theatre in Port Blacksand in north-west Allansia - Halfhand, Prince of Lendle. What the connection is between this Lendle and Lendleland is again unknown, but since Halfhand is the surname of two of the earliest Human heroes in Titan, before the Splitting of Irritaria, it is possible that this place-name element has a very long history indeed, and is one which has been around longer than the Old World itself.

Analand and the Wall

It seems that although Lendleland was not a major player in the War of the Four Kingdoms, it too got drawn into the conflict. There is, in fact, some debate as to whether Lendleland was one of the four kingdoms after which the War was named - in some sources, the kingdoms are named as Gallantaria, Femphrey, Brice and the Northlands, whilst in one other source they are named as Brice, Gallantaria, Femphrey and Lendleland. Nothing is known of the role played by Lendleland in the War - we can only guess as to whether it was an an independent operator, an ally of Femphrey's against the powerful Gallantaria, or an ally of Gallantaria's against the common enemy Femphrey.

Geography

Much of Lendleland's land is pasturable land unsuitable for growing crops; instead, horses and other animals are raised in the country. The windswept steppe called the Howling Plains in the country's north, forms a natural boundary with Femphrey.

Places in Lendleland include:

• The Anvils of the Gods
• Canunie
• The Happy Landlord
• The Howling Plains
• Lake Cauldron
• Pollua
• Puss
• Rorutuna
• The Siltbed River

Demographics

Lendleland's population includes humans (both town dwellers and horse nomads in the country's east). In southern Lendleland dwell the Sea Nomads, a tribe of Humans who live on boats and hunt the Devilfish. The Sea Nomads use the Devilfish hides (which they call shagreen) to make sword scabbards and leather cuirass armour. Elves and Dwarfs also live in the country (most of the latter dwell in the Anvils of the Gods). Tribes of Birdmen live near the Howling Plains. Pollua has a number of influential wizards living in the city, including Alsander and Vanestin.

People from Lendleland include:

• The Kha-Khan Adessios Ryogax
• The wizard Alsander
• Aldar Ravenwolf
• Erlik Vinner, landlord of The Happy Landlord inn
• Garaeth, captain of the small ship Petrel
• Khaddan Khan, a Barbarian leader
• The Lendleland Barbarians
• The Throttled Skull Orc tribe
• The mage Vanestin
• Yargaas Skull-splitter, king of the Throttled Skull Orc tribe

Politics

Lendleland is a kingdom, and its capital is Pollua. The ruler of Lendleland is called the Kha-Khan, who sits on the Scarlet Throne in Pollua. According to one source, the current Kha-Khan is called Adessios Ryogax. Each tribe of the Eastern Barbarians are governed by Battle-Khans, who follow "a strict warrior's code." For relations between Lendleland and its neighbours, see History above.

Lendleland has a very strict caste system. At the top is the Kha-Khan and his family. Lower down are the Lendleland nobles, the urban middle class, the peasantry, and prisoners and slaves are at the very bottom. Rigid laws govern the caste system and dictate a person's behaviour within it. Social mobility is rare, although sometimes a person's caste may be changed as a result of their behaviour. A peasant who displays exceptional military valour may be rewarded by being raised into the middle class; conversely, a noble who commits horse-theft (regarded as one of the worst transgressions a Lendlelander can commit) can be demoted to the middle class as a punishment.

Relations with Barbarians

The Lendleland Barbarians are exempt from the restrictions of the caste system; the government allows them to travel freely across the kingdom.

Economy

Lendleland has a weak economy; its main source of income is the buying and selling of horses.

Appendix

Appearances

Gamebooks

• The Shamutanti Hills (book) (mentioned)
• Kharé - Cityport of Traps
• The Seven Serpents (mentioned)
• The Crown of Kings (mentioned)
• Stealer of Souls
• Legend of the Shadow Warriors (mentioned)
• Moonrunner (mentioned)
• Stormslayer (mentioned)

Adventures

• Crown of Kings (AFF) (mentioned)

Sourcebooks

• Beyond the Pit (mentioned)
• Return to the Pit (mentioned)
• The Titan Herbal (mentioned)
• Encyclopedia Arcana Vol I - Treasures (mentioned)
• Heroes of Titan (mentioned)

Magazines

• The Warlock Returns Issue 10 (mentioned)