The Grand Duchy of
Karameikos

Karameikos is a deep, dark land blanketed with thick forests. The indigenous people called Traladaran originally settled this area long ago, and their past is shrouded with mystery. There were several disconnected villages, but much of the land remained hostile and unexplored. The Empire of Thyatis conquered these lands roughly 100 years ago, under the concern that another nation could perhaps develop these lands and use it against the Empire. The territory was sold to Duke Stefan Karameikos III about 30 years ago. The territory became the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, named after the ruling family, and is an autonomous vassal territory under direct authority of Duke Stefan.

Government and Politics

The Grande Duchy of Karameikos is a monarchy ruled by Duke Stefan Karameikos III. Officially, Karameikos is a Duchy within the vast and might Thyatian Empire, but retains complete automany. The Thyatian Empire would only intervine in the affairs of Karameikos if (1) Karameikos is invaded by a foreign nation, (2) at the official unlikely request of Duke Stefan, (3) removal of the Duke by internal forces or unknown forces, i.e. a power vacuum.

The Duke can grant land holdings, estates, and baronies to those that qualify and petition to the Duke. Those that own lands or an estate have are entitled as Lord or Lady while those that hold a barony are entitled Baron or Baroness.

The People

This section covers languages and religions practiced by various races and groups within Karameikos. There might be links to further information.

Races

Naturally humans are the most populas race devided between the indigenous Traladran [Wallachia, Transylvanian, Gypsie] and the conquerers the Thyatians [Byzantium, Roman, German]. The other races within the lands include dwarf, elf, hin (halfling), and gnome. There are abundant humanoid races including goblinoids and gnolls and there are many sylvan races including satyrs, pixies, brownies, sprites.

Population:
 Dwarves: 3,000,
 Elves: 71,000 (90% Calarii, 10% Vyalia),
 Gnomes: 12,500,
 Hin (halfling): 2,000,
 Humans: 351,000 (70% Traladaran, 10% Thyatian, 20% mixed and other),

Overview of the Races

These the break down of the various races in Karameikos. Information about the monsterous populations is not common knowledge, and should be treated as out of character. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather a summary of the most populas of races.

• Dwarves - A dwarf will be either from the prominent Stronghollow clan, a clanless dwarf, or from the homeland Rockhome.
• Elves - An elf will come from either the Vyalia or Calarii clan or can from the elven homeland of Alfheim. The PC can also elect to come from one of the minority clans: Asagarii (demon hunters), Dinarii (predators), Linarii (peaceful monks of logic), Selenii (infiltrators)
• Gnomes - All gnomes found in Karameikos will most likely from from Highforge. A rare few might come from the flying city of Serraine.
• Hin (Halfling) - A hin will most likely come from their homeland of Five Shires.
• Human - A human will be from either the imperial Thyatian rulers or a peasant Traldaran native. Optionally, a human can be from a nomadic folk or Dorine.

Languages

The commonly spoken language throughout Karameikos is Traladaran, which until recently did not have a written form. The official state language and the language spoken by the ruling class is Thyatian. Thyatian would be equivalent to Common, as this is spoken by several surrounding kingdoms.

Each other race has their own language. Many of the sylvan races will speak a form of elven, and the kolbolds, dragons, and other dragonkin speak a form of draconic.

Interestingly, the hin speak the surrounding common tongue, and as such all hin that originate from Five Shires will speak their own dialect of Thyatian. Some speak an ancient tongue of Lalor.

Religion

Religion is very important to the daily affairs of humans and other races. Each race worships their own pantheon of gods. The two most prominant churches within Karameikos are the The Church of Karameikos is the official sanctioned state language and is worshipped mostly by Thyatians, and there is the The Church of Traladara, which is naturally worshipped by Traldarans.

Below is a list of many of the gods operating within the Duchy. Characters would know of this information with ranks in Knowledge(Religion).

The Traladaran follow a set of rituals incorporated into three main gods of Zirchev (nature, magic), Halav (war, justice), and Petra (protector, strength). The Thyatians worship through the Church of Karameikos, which promotes the sun god of justice known as Mithras. Some Thyatians may worship a foreign god, such as Vanya.

Another religion is practiced in secret known as the Cult of Halav, which believes King Halav will be reincarnated. Little is known about this religion.

Religious Organizations

• The Church of Karameikos - This following was persecuted in other duchies within the empire due to the popularity of Vanya. They have come to Karameikos to start afresh
• The Church of Traladara - This church was setup officially after the establishment of Church of Karameikos. Using the newly developed alphabet (from the Church of Karameikos ironically), the church has documented the Traladaran history and promotes the worship of the famous hero Immortals: Halav, Petra, and Zirchev.
• The Cult of Halav - Hidden cult that believes Duke Stefan Karameikos is the living reincarnation of the legendary king Halav.
• The Order of the Griffen - This is a holy order of knights establish by the church of Karameikos.
• The Shadow Order - this is a deeply secret order whose interworkings are so secret that I will not mention any further.

Coinage

The Grand Duchy of Karameikos is the only known Duch in the Empire that is permitted to mint their own coinage. There is no platinum used, and so the imperial coin from Thyatis is used. Other foreign currency is wildly accepted as well.

Coinage

kopec (copper) crona (silver) halav (electrum) royal (gold)

Advancements

The Grand Duchy of Karameikos is lesser developed than other nations within the regions, both in technology and magic.

Technological Advancement

Before the Thyatian invasion the Traladarans were limited in castle building and siege warfare, and utilized iron works and mail weapons. The Thyatians have upgraded the level of technology to include steel, advanced castle and siege warfare, and an advanced navy using war galleys. The influx of trade helped introduce more advanced weapons including plate mail, crossbow, ship design, agriculture (3 to 1 yield), and from the gnomes: steam works.

Steam Works is essentially post-industrial revolution technology using the power of steam. The secrets in creating the intense heat to build the steam is a closely guarded secret. (Psst... it uses meta-para-elemental physics to create the wonderous effects).

Magical Development

Karameikos is very low in magical development and artificing despite the best efforts of Duke Stefan and the recent School of Magic in Specularum. There are a handful of wizards that practice magic in secrecy, as the conditions for this were ideal before Thyatian invasion.

The School of Magic does have an assortment of magic found in the Player's Handbook for spell levels 1 to 3. After that level, they are limited in the magic. Consult with the game master before picking spells of fourth level and greater.

Psionics

Generally, there is no known existence of pscionics within Karameikos. Both Thyatians and Traladaran are capable of possessing such talents, but the Darine, the gypsy population, are the only ones that distinctly show a talent for such arts.

Industries and Trade

Industries: logging, mining (gold and silver), agriculture, fur trapping

Character Generation

There are a variety of demi-humans, humans, and other groups within Karameikos. Provided here are steps for character generation to assist in developing a player character. This is a combination of much of the information spread throughout all of these pages.

• Karameikos Character Generation - character generation of human and demi-human characters within The Grand Duchy of Karameikos