The Ellniss Mainland
Human life, and those of allied non human races, tends to be concentrated in the centre and west, particularly on the western coastline. The numerous destructive wars with the orcs, snakemen and so on have at last reached an uneasy truce; humanity is fairly secure in its small homeland and has abandoned the south, east and most of the north of the continent. Though there is no way of saying how long before it is threatened again, the current security has lasted over a hundred years now. The lands it holds have been heavily fortified in case of future invasions, and the civilisations centred around castles and well-defended cities. Partly because of the militaristic nature of the societies, life in the human enclave is hardly tranquil. The politics are volatile and wars between human armies as common as they are on Teraf.
Teraf nowadays views Ellniss almost entirely in terms of trade. Broadly, exotic herbs, foods and spices, as well as magical goods, come from Ellniss and gold and manufactured goods flow in return. Christoté and Kakranfé, the most important Terafan powers now, sometimes interfere in Ellniss politics and both have their favoured nations but serious conflict across the ocean has never been practical. (The wars on the island of Courn Tall are the only heavily military activity launched outside Teraf). Occasionally diplomatic ties are severed and pirate activity is encouraged but all nations try their best to keep the trade routes open; grudging co-operation is the most common stance.
A number of the Ellniss nations are city states, chiefly ports on the western coast. North to south the ports are Darnula, Belgarn, Jalna, Kadiri and Quilon. Kadiri is the largest, though currently not the most powerful, and is the port used for the annual flotillas of merchant ships sailing to and from Christoté. Described as 'East Labrial only ten times so' it is a turbulent and anarchistic city, home of an eclectic blend of humans, Elves and centaurs from both continents. Other city-states exist away from the coast, the largest Raichur and Negombo, both in the north east. The centre of the human lands is dominated by a more agrarian, feudal structured nation called Isill March. It has existed in one form for the other for nearly three thousand years and its spiritual capital, Pradesh, is the oldest human city in the world still inhabited. History counts for nothing of course, and Isill March is bankrupt and slowly disintegrating into total chaos, hijacked by a string of bloody but ineffectual dictators. North of Isill March are several Dwarf and Elven countries, who generally reserve their energies for fighting one another. The largest is the Elven nation called Gallana which, unlike Yelen, deals freely with humans and allows them to settle there at times. Further north the land is less habituated, with little central authority, and just scattered villages and farmsteads before orc country begins. Clustered around the south-west coast is the Nayaso Ring, a federation of five city states. It was formed ten years ago, much to the consternation of Christoté (the Nayaso swallowed the city of Trippur, one of its old allies). Huwdone House's main Ellniss policy these days is to try and prize the Nayaso Ring apart but it has held firm and has grown to be one of the main powers on the continent. Its south west neighbour is Vachur, another large, mainly agrarian nation. South of Vachur lies desolate hills and badlands which turn into the vast desert where the snakemen live. Accordingly, Vachur's southern border is dotted with a series of huge fortresses-cum-monasteries. They are manned by warrior priests of a cult called the Balsar Khas, a weird combination of military discipline, austere religion and magic who are the self-appointed protectors of humanity. The fame of the Balsar Khas has spread to Teraf, where they are seen as the epitome of foaming-mouthed, bloody-minded fanatics.
Cuorn Tal
A large island which is generally lumped in with Ellniss though not properly part of the continent. It is one of the nearest points east of Teraf, but nothing like the volume of trade exists as with the Ellniss mainland. Even in times of peace, Cuorn Tal generally prefers to have little contact with outsiders and is strongly self-reliant. There are believed to be a host of valuable minerals on the island, which partly explains Kakranfé's interest (below), but no satisfactory arrangements to exploit them have ever been made. Cuorn Tal has been long settled though remains fairly desolate, a mixture of mountains, many of them volcanic, and rock deserts, with the coastal areas the most habitated. The population is a mixture of humans, ogres and a race thought to be a blend of human and goblinoid. They live together with a degree of peace, though mainly confined to separate areas on the island. There is little central authority, though a theoretical capital, Tuelonos, and a council which rules when the island as a whole is threatened. The council is made up of representatives from the hundred or so different tribal groups. Fishing constitutes the bulk of the industry and Cuorn Talans are skilled sailors and boat builders. Other technology remains highly rudimentary and the tribes are generally conservative and not conducive to new ideas.
Cuorn Tal has a bad reputation for sending pirates to raid the Terafan coast, but its main fighting recently has been its on-off conflict with Kakranfé. The problems began when Cuorn Tal sided with Labland in the 1000's war, chiefly to try and grab Sardac, which it always saw as its property, and several of the outer Asats. It fell out with Labland after the latter grabbed Sardac for itself, sided with Kakranfé in the early stages of the Second Asat War, then switched sides again to emerge on the losing side after Christotan intervention. Cuorn Tal then disintegrated into a series of unusually bloody tribal wars, whilst Kakranfé was consolidating its gains and strengthening its own navy. From 1164 onwards a series of Kakranfan fleets were launched against the island, various naval battles were fought, mainly on and around the Cunit fortresses on the outer Asats all of which were eventually taken or destroyed by Kakranfé. After a period of uneasy peace, pirate activities gave Kakranfé and Christoté excuse in 1227 to launch a huge joint fleet and capture the island of Westleigh, just to the west of Cuorn Tal. Kakranfé used this as a base to launch an invasion of Cuorn Tal itself. Lasting 1227-45, the invasion overran much of the north and west and besieged Tuelonos 1238-9 from the sea. It was eventually called off after problems with the long supply line and the threat of Labland calling Kakranfé's attention away. Westleigh was garrisoned as a Kakranfan fort until 1269 when a rebellion swept the conquerors out. It was briefly recaptured by a large fleet in 1286 but most of the troops were withdrawn in the 1290's when Kakranfé aided Christoté in the Ten Years War; Westleigh was taken again by Cuorn Tal shortly afterwards.
(from The Innocents)