ANDARLAND -Realm of the Forgotten People

Andarland's Population
Andarland's population is approximately  240,000 persons.

4,800 residents are isolated or itinerant.
213,600 residents live in 306  villages.
21,600 residents live in 5 towns.

The average distance between villages is  3 miles.
The average distance between towns is 26 miles.

Andarland supports no Universities.

Andarland supports  528,000 head of livestock:  359,040 fowl (e.g. chickens, geese, ducks); and 168,960 dairy and meat animals (e.g. cows, goats, pigs, sheep).

The inhabitants of Andarland have been building castles for the last 2,000 years.  There are approximately 7 standing fortifications in Andarland.  5 castles are in active use, 2 castles are ruined or abandoned, 5 castles are located in settled areas, and 2 castles are located in remote areas, unsettled areas, or wilderness.

Government: Democracy (Ruled by an elected Senate)
Capital: Arens
Religions: Greek Pantheon
Imports: None
Exports: None

Major Geographical Features of Andarland

Cutting through the west side of Andarland is a low range of mountains.  Most of the island is covered with idyllic vineyards and sylvan forests.  Unicorns, nymphs, satyrs, treants, tritons, sprites, titans, and pegasi are commonly reported.  A string of small islands trail from the main island, and are part of this democratic nation.  These islands host fewer people and more "monsters" than the main island per square mile the further out away from the main island they are.  The final island in the chain doesn't have any human villages (although a few human recluses live there) and is called Monster Island and is the home of a great bronze wyrm.

Important Sites in Andarland

Arens is the capital of Andarland; it is a town with a population of 5,320 people.  It is located at the first fork of the river that runs between Zeusium and Raj.

Zeusium is Andarland's second largest town, with a population of 4,430 people.  

Life and Society in Andarland

Founded by Andar Tertictandan, High Priest to Zeus, Andarland is a small island nation just south of The Desert of Yam ibn Saud.  Most people do not even know it exists.  Indeed, the warships of Azrael sailed right past it, ignoring it on their way to conquer the world.  It does exist, however, but its people interact very little with the outside world.

Like Ingara, Andarland is Greek in culture and beliefs.  Their gods are the Greek gods.  It is also the only democracy on Inzeladun.  They speak Greek, which was taught to them by the gods through Andar.

The people of Andarland are peaceful fishermen and philosophers for the most part.  But they do fight each other, city-state vs. city-state.  So far as is known, all the city states of Andarland are democracies. 

Racial Modifiers for Characters

The people of Andarland prize art, poetry, and debating skills.  They consider all the rest of the world to be barbarians.   Characters from Andarland gain a +1 to any one skill using charisma due to their ability to use words and logic to sway people to their way of thinking.   Andarland characters may also add a +1 to one skill of choice that uses one of the physical stats because of the emphasis on sports in daily Andarland life.   Natives of this island realm may not take any proficiencies about the outside world.  Very little of the outside is known to these folk.  Art and craft skills gain a +1 to their check values.  Citizens wear their hair short, usually curly, and dress in togas.

Religion in Andarland

The Olympic Gods, did not create the World, but formed the third generation of ruling Gods. The current humans are the fifth generation of humans to inhabit the Earth. The first Generation were a Golden Race, the second the Silver, and downwards from that to lesser metals. The people of Andarland believe that their Generation, the Iron Age, is to be one of the last, and that Humanity is doomed because of it's own nature.

According to the priests of Andarland, everything eventually came from Chaos, the empty void at the beginning of creation. From Chaos came five entities: Gaea (Mother Nature), Tartarus (the Underworld), deep within the Earth, Erebus (the Darkness of Tartarus), Eros (the Power of Love), and Night (the Darkness).

Night, or Darkness, was one of the most mysterious and most powerful of the Creative Forces.  Night's name is Nux.  She was feared and worshipped even by the other Gods, as She had power over both Gods and Humans. Nux gave birth to Hemera (Day) and Ether with Erebus.  Nux is also credited with the births of Doom, Death, Misery, Deceit and Discord.  Discord would later give birth to Murder, Slaughter, Battle and Crime.

Gaea also gave birth, first to Uranus (The Sky), the mountains and Pontus, the Sea. This together formed Inzeladun;  everything came from Gaea and it was her who fed all life on it.  She was not only the Earth, but the source of fertility; She was Mother, gave birth and fed life, and it was Her who gave Life in the form of Life-force.  Her children were both Gods and parts of the Cosmos.  Looked upon as the giver of life, every new-born Ingaran child is laid on the ground for a moment, as an acknowledgement of Her power.

Ultimately, Gaea and Uranas gave birth to Cronos, who ruled all of Inzeladun.  During this time was Inzeladun's First Age, the Age of the Angustians.  Then, during the Dark Ages between the First and Second Ages of Man occured the revolt of Zeus, Son of Cronos.  Death, when it came, was a pleasant sleep, and men were transformed in to good spirits or demons, and were then appointed to watch over men on earth and to guard and guide them.

The Second Age of Man, was brought about by Zeus and Prometheus, and were a new Creation of men and elves (at this point, elves were shorter than men.  Elves created by Cronos were noticeably taller than humans.)  The Humans at this time were strong and powerful, but they were impious, defiant, and mentally weak. When they died, they lived under the earth as spirits, but Zeus did not confer on them immortality, which was one of the gifts of the First Age.

The Third Age of Man was a period where Zeus tired of the impiety and defiance of the humans, so he destroyed them and brought to Inzeladun the ancestors of the modern Ingarans.  Hailing from another Prime World, they called themselves Greeks, and they brought culture to Inzeladun, and a golden age of magic and wonder blossomed.  This was also a period of war, violence, savagery, and strife, in which strong men – stronger than those in the Second Age – destroyed each other. In this era, when men died, they stayed dead.

The Fourth Age of Man is also known as the Heroic Age.  The age of demi-gods and heroes. Superior to both the Second and the Third Ages, it is the period associated with the Confederation and World Wars.

The War of the Gods occurred at the end of the Heroic Age, and Inzeladun was all but destroyed.  It was not merely a period of struggle and hard labor, but of labor degraded into toil. Crime was common, and all the qualities that we hold up as ideals, truth, modesty, virtue, honor, decency – were stifled. Day and night were made miserable by care and worry. Mean and selfish purposes dominated men, who used the earth’s wealth in mean and selfish ways. The qualities that we are supposed to be ashamed of were the ones that were uppermost: fraud, deceit, violence, and hatred. The world was red with blood, and civil and foreign wars were as common as crime. With the world in such a state, one can hardly blame Zeus for his decision to drown the world and its inhabitants in vast seas of ice.

After the Ice retreated, Zeus created the present race of man.  The elves still dated back to the Second Age, as they were not as offensive as humans were, and had been allowed to survive the Scourge of Ice by Prometheus, who protected the elves with fire.  This Age of Man was quick to discount the powers of the gods, but those living in Andarland preserved the old tales, and regarded them with truth, despite the fact that modern priests lack the ability to tap into the divine powers of the gods like the previous races could.  Legends tell that a group of heroes will be sent by Athena and will give this race of man the power to wield divine magic once again.

Regional History

The island nation was founded by Andar Tertictandan, and he ruled as their high priest of Zeus and Athena during the Fourth Age. The people who came to his island were largely illiterate farmers.  Little is known of this early period, as there were few written records; the whole corpus of tradition was largely transmitted orally, with successive generations of taletellers presumably memorizing the words of their elders.  This early period is regarded as a golden age, but whether that is true or just a rose-colored vision of the past is unknown.  Regardless, tales tell that early Andarland was an island empire nourished by warm- and cold-water springs; its fertile plains yielded every variety of food in abundance, while its forests were luxuriant enough to support all manner of wildlife, and its people build a fine capital city containing great waterways spanned by handsome bridges, walls coated in precious metals, palaces glowing with stones in a variety of colors, and an ivory-roofed temple furnished with statues of gold.  However, for some reason, Zeus saw fit to punish them and sent the Cataclysm.

After the Cataclysm, Andarland's various indigenous groups developed along relatively independent lines from the rest of Inzeladun.  They had the evolution of a strong political organization, and art and technology were central to their development.  The appearance of new styles of pottery, architecture, and burial practices (as well as a new language, taught to them by the gods) indicate the significant upheaval the ending of the ice ages brought about.  The next 300 years was a new bronze age.  Local leaders calling themselves kings ruled over small, tightly knit communal groups, which would eventually become city-states.

The next 250 years showed increases in population and prosperity.  New temples, designed in the classical styles preferred by the Olympian gods, appeared, decorated with continuous friezes and columns.  Lyric and elegiac poetry, both personal and emotional, supplanted the more stately verse of the past.  Intensified commerce among the peoples of the island nation promoted the widespread use of the re-invention of coinage.  The largest city-state reformed and codified its laws to promote justice and equality, opened its ruling councils to more citizens, and laid a foundation for democracy.

The following 177 years was marked by an explosive efflorescence of art, literature, philosophy, and politics.  Virtually all citizens, regardless of their financial status, became eligible for public office and were paid a stipend for their service.  Publicly funded sculptors, architects, and dramatists produced works that remain triumphs of human achievement.  Philosophers, historians, and scientists set the standard for rational, theoretical analysis.

The return of Andar from the past was a defining moment in the history of Andarland.  Although the democracy remained, Andar was given enough power to be the de facto ruler.  He ruled peacefully for several decades before his death at the end of the Seventh Age.  Currently, bitter disputes have arisen between many of the city-states, and Andarland seems on the verge of an intense civil war.

Plots and Rumors

The temples of the Olympians god seem charged with true divine energy recently.  Soothsayers and oracles predict the coming of Athena's chosen to restore the priesthood to the glories of the past.

Major NPC's

Deinochares, Speaker of the Senate in Arens (12th level aristocrat).

Menander, High Priest of Athena in Arens (15th level expert)

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