The Motelands are a collection of flying earth motes held aloft by veins of Shatterstar (the ultra-valuable arcane ore that holds up airships). These Shatterstar-infused motes naturally occur over an area the size of a moderately large kingdom, and range in size from a number of feet across to the amount needed to support a large city bordering a lake, plus outlying farms (so about 10 miles across). A variety of peoples live on these motes, and indeed fight over jurisdiction. Here are d20 forces that live on the motes of the Motelands.
1 The Sovyrian Empire
This empire of elves, led by the druidic Key Conclave, seeks to dominate the Motelands in order to bring about a second Elvish golden age. Under Empress Zeor Glimmerhand, conquest is going better than it has in decades!
2 The Drakiirian Coalition
This society, composed primarily of Dragonborn and Gnomes, oddly enough, is one of the forefronts in the world of arcane advancement. Their coliseums and temples dominate the sky, and their rapid expansion is fueled by their acquisition of slaves.
3 The Bottom Feeders (roll again)
Clans of darkness-dwellers cling to the bottom of motes, acting as savage raiders and masters of crime. Drow and duergar and orc work alike to eke out a larcenous life in, well under the Motelands.
4 The Jalmirash Dynasty
Mastican and Kazzian colonizers long ago realized that they had much in common, and that they would be nearly unstoppable if they combined their efforts. This human-dominated power is now one of the most prominent forces in the Motelands, in great thanks to this cultural and political blend. Enethina Jalmirash, fourth in their line, is the current Pontifex.
5 The Jade Network
Wyldeborn clans ally with Elvish defects/rejects of the Sovyrian Empire have created this loose coalition of tribes among themselves. They are one of the few forces who have made good relations with the Skycaller and Suntouched, making them a powerful force in political machinations, which the Jade Network generally tries to stay out of.
6 The Hordes of Belzeken
The indeigenous Orcs and Goblinfolk of the region. In the shadow of the larger Kin empires and at war with the Skycaller and Suntouched Tribes, their existence often find itself hanging on the fate of a single skirmish. It is said you won’t find more desperate or more dangerous fighters than a Belzeken legionnaire with their back against a wall.
7 Houses Thrune and Cheliax
Long ago, these two noble houses were cast away from the Mardian Collection for infernal worship and illegal sacrifice. They have since moved to the Motelands, spreading their infernal agenda and leaving a trail of wanton destruction in their wake.
8 The Templars of Lastwall
This order of knights is pledged to “protect” the Motelands from “dangers that threaten the security of the good peoples who live there”. In practice, this often (but not always) means the extermination of the Belzeken, Skycaller and Suntouched. The Templars are currently led by Mother Aven Mesarchus, a silver-haired woman who’s as tough as nails and won’t take no for an answer.
9 The Moldun Pilgrimage
The shadow-wracked land of Hadaar to the north is a terrible place to live for everybody, but farmers in particular have a difficult time in the drought-addled plains of cracked red earth. Long ago, a messianic figure named Moldun led a group of farmers to the Motelands, calling it a promised land. The children of the children of the children of those farmers live now, under a weak rule by the clerics of “Saint Moldune”. Unlike most of the Moteland powers, the Pilgrimage is content with the space it has, not being a particularly expansionist power.
10 New Gorumn
From the far north, Dwarves from the glacial Karzan Empire seeked to forge the next great Dwarvish nation. New Gorumn may not be the supreme center of Dwarvish culture and industry, but the unparalleled Dwarvish skill in mining Shatterstar safely makes New Gorumn a trading giant among the motes.
11 The Sigileavers of Lissala (roll again)
The only “dead” civilization of the Motelands, some unknown cataclysm wiped them out an Elf-generation ago. Their vaults of rune lore and great magics remain, for the most part, unmolested, and the arms race rages between other civilizations as to who can armament themselves with the most Lissalian magitech.
12 The Skycaller Tribe
One of the two indigenous tribes that live on the motes and the lands below them, the Skycaller tribe have a long griot and oracle tradition. When the colonizing civilizations aren’t busy trying to wipe these fair-skinned, feather-wearing people off the face of the earth, they’re busy trying to get Skycaller prophets to perform their divinations.
13 The Suntouched Tribe
If the Skycaller Tribe is an arcane/divine society, the dark-skinned and red-clad Suntouched are warriors. Their training regimen and the drugs they use to put warriors into a battlefocus are nearly unmatched on the entire continent of Kamadara. Unfortunately, the Suntouched and Skycaller tribes are bitter ancestral enemies. As if the colonialism and the various civilization’s constant attempts to secure a Sountouched military force weren’t enough of a problem...
14-15 Roll again on the table below
1 Sovyrian Empire
2 Drakiiran Coalition
3 Jalmirash Dynasty
4 Templars of Lastwall
5 Moldune Pilgrimage
6 New Gorumn
16-18 The mote is uninhabited by the Kin. Why?
1 It’s too small to be useful, like, feet across
2 It’s inhabited by a monster
3 It’s cursed
4 Its Shatterstar is losing potency, and it could plummet at any time
19-20 The mote is contested territory, or two parties are coexisting. Roll twice
