Hrek

This is a fantasy world created by me and a local friend of mine a few years back. We had big plans for a very inclusive world with original races, lots of counterpart cultures etc., but worked out the background so much that it got so big we simply lost interest and shelved. Recently, we've come up with a new idea for it, so we've dusted off this old map and given it a nice new look. We rebooted the world itself though, so now we're focusing on creating a world that uses real-world cultures for the human societies while creating original ones for the classical fantasy races as well as a few inspired from folklore and mythology. This way we'll be saving the time it'd take to create "new" cultures, hopefully avoiding the problem of creating cultures stereotypes and mix-ups, while also allowing us to include every mythological and folkloric creature ever conceived. "Hrek" isn't its fixed name, but rather one given to it by one of its elvish languages, which we use for practical reasons. Its Anglophone inhabitant simply call it "Earth", just like we do our world.


MANNIME:
This is a vast continent dominated by steppes and moorland in the north, and deserts and savannas in the south, interspersed with large forests here and there, especially along the coast. Mannime is the birthplace of the manshes (humans), who arose in the southern savannas of the continent and slowly spread to ultimately cover the entire continent, whereafter they expanded into neighbouring Jetnime. Aside from manshes, it is also home to a large and old community of elves, whose ancient kingdoms already dominated Mannime when man first learnt till the land. Hobs can also be found in great numbers, having integrated themselves well in their manshly host countries. Orcs are common in the east and north, along the mountain range, where they often come into conflict with its other residents.

JETNIME:
The largest continent of them all, Jetnime is known for its vast steppes and fearsome inhabitants: the giants. Giants primarily live in small groups on the continent's flat inland steppes and so rarely come into contact with its civilized inhabitants along the western coast, which due to its more forested, hilly and mountainous nature is hardly appealing to the eight-metre-tall humans. Nomadic orcs and manshes, however, abound in the giants' home territory, where they lead precarious pastoral survivalist existences. Its southernmost reaches are blanketed with acres upon acres of rain forest, inhabited mostly by primitive hobbish tribes and civilization is limited to a small number of hobbish thalassocracies and city-states. In the north it becomes hilly again, but with a stable temperate climate moderated by the sea winds. These northern reaches are also home to a large and vibrant population of orcs, who have established many flourishing kingdoms in the area.

ELLIME:
The territory between the peninsula in the south and the mountains in the north is known as Ellime. It's northern and central parts teem are mostly covered in forests and woodland ranging from temperate to subtropical to tropical, while its southernmost reaches are a vast desert. Ellime is known as the home of the elves, who emerged in the subtropical forests close to the Great Sordic Flow. The elves are said to be the first race to arise, or at least the first to become civilized, and ruled much of the known world before the orcs and manshes rose from clans and band to organized states and conquered most of their home continents. While dominated by elves, the continent is also home to many manshly, orkish, gremlinch and hobbish peoples.

DECKELIME:
In the east a vast expanse of savannas, in west a giant tropical rain forest, Deckelime is a fairly unknown and uncharted continent to most elves, hobs and manshes. The eastern half is populated mostly by goblinch clans, with a few organized states to be found along the coast, broken up by communities of manshly clans and elvish city-states. The western half, wholly unknown to the rest of the civilized world, harbours many primitive and isolated elvish and goblinch bands and clans within its inland rain forests, while the coastal areas are home to many civilized goblinch polities. The geography of the continent has helped these cultures develop in isolation from the the rest of the world and their contact with elvish peoples is relatively recent.

CALASSET:
Calasset is the name given to the land between the Worldspine Mountains and the Northern Ice Sea, adapted from the name given to it by its sparse human population. A frozen trundra with little vegetation, Calasset is nevertheless home to a sizeable number of orcs. In fact, it is their home region. Many orkish kingdoms occupy vast tracts of barren hills and plains, based around lakes, along coastlines and near geysers and other warmer locations. Manshly settlements may also be found in the west, where both indigenous Calassetch manshes and newcomers of the Viking Migrations may be found. The latter's incursion and conquest of a large portion of territory between the mountains and the coast has brought the two races into a decades-long conflict with each other. Elvish realms exist in the continent's easternmost portions, while dwarven outposts dot the landscape along the more verdant mountainsides.

OFRETHMERE:
A barren and inhospitable continent mostly covered in laves, mosses and shrubs, it has nevertheless become the home of many orcs and gremlins. Both races having originated from Hrek's northern, frigid parts, they have developed cultures able to sustain themselves in Ofrethmere's harsh climate. Aside from orcs and gremlins, elves live in its southernmost regions, while giants have been spotted in its western fringe territories, which prompted the construction of the colossal Wall of Dürzaľelgrux to keep them out.

WEENSHOR:
A varied continent of many unpredictable weather, extreme climate changes and many varied biomes, Weenshor is despite its nature home to several hobbish, elvish and manshly cultures. Some ancient, descendants of people who settled there during the great migrations of prehistory, while others are the result of nearly three centuries of colonization. It's name derives from its lush and subtropical southeastern coast, whose soil and temperatures have made it into a world-famous wine region. It's western frontier is the home of colonial pioneers, outlaws and other stragglers, but most notably also giants, who thrive in the plains and prairies where they can hunt for other mega-animals.

BERITH:
A relatively unknown continent, Berith has been known for years but only colonized for little more than a hundred, primarily by elves and hobs and most on its western parts. It is otherwise populated by wights and goblins, who have know it as their home for millennia. It's northern parts a comfortable tropical or subtropical, while its centre consists of temperate woodlands and heaths. It southern shore, however, is bitterly cold and supports little beyond low vegetation and tiny rodents and insects when it isn't covered by snow. Despite these conditions, isolated wightish settlements can be found living off these resources, or goblinch villages sustaining themselves through fishing and hunting.

LANGWITHAY:
This faraway island is known as the distant home of the hobs, who from the lack of natural enemies rose to cover and dominate the island early in human history. There they founded flourishing civilizations and high cultures, and once they had learnt the art of navigating by the starts, quickly set out for new lands, sparking the Hobbish Migrations that came to spread the hobs all over the known world. Climate on the island is mostly temperate, with the terrain consisting flat or hilly plains and woodlands. It has a mountain chain running along its southern shore, which has a subarctic climate. The mountains are home to several polities of dwarves, who are relative newcomers to the island, and boast a unique and teeming ecosystem of their own.