Mendia Map

Glossary

Adjutant
The logistical/administrative leader of a Red Wardens company.
Alkai
The Dwarven name for the Outsiders.
Anima
The life energy left in the corpse. Used by Shrouded of the Gray Void to empower spells.
Bloom
The third Month of the Mendia year.
Chimerics
Amalgam creatures created by the Outsiders. Found in the Scorch.
Common
The shared language of the Humans and Elves. Dwarves use Common when speaking to other races.
Company Rolls
The formal record of a Red Wardens company membership.
Craul
Insect-like creatures used by the Outsiders. Found in the Scorch.
Cycle
A time period of 14 days, measured by color shifts in the Roots of the Great Wheel.
Dark
The third Cycle of each Month.
Day
One rotation of the Great Wheel.
Dire Beasts
Natural animals enhanced with great strength, size, and ferocity. Found all over the western continent of Mendia.
Discordant Conjunction
When the Great Wheel and Lesser Wheel align but spin in opposite directions.
Dwarven
Dwarves use their native tongue among themselves.
Emorine
Consort to Shar, Queen of the Glaudrim.
Fade
The second Cycle of each Month.
Fall
The setting point of light in the Great Wheel. South.
First Molt
The transformation of a Glaudrim Wyrm to Wyrmkin.
Glaudrim
A race of powerful draconic beings.
Glaudrimin
The native tongue of the Glaudrim.
Goblinese
The language of the Goblins. It shares many roots with Common.
Great Wheel
One of the sky features of Mendia.
Great Wyrm
The third life stage of the Glaudrim. A true dragon.
Harmonious Conjunction
When the Great Wheel and Lesser Wheel align and spin in the same direction.
Harvest
The seventh Month of the Mendia year.
Heart of the Tree
One of the sky features of Mendia.
Kobolden
Used by Kobolds and Trolls.
Lesser Wheel
One of the sky features of Mendia.
Mendia Calendar
The time cycles of Mendia.
Month
One rotation of the Lesser Wheel. Marked by the rising of the Three Eyes.
Nilatha
The Outsiders name for themselves.
Nilathan
The Outsiders name for their language.
Outsiders
A race of evil humanoid slavers with advanced technology and magic.
Prelate
The religious leader of a Red Wardens company.
Red Veil
Days when the Three Eyes align with the Heart of the Tree.
Rise
The first Cycle of each Month.
Roots
Twisted streamers of green light in the Great Wheel.
Second Molt
The transformation of a Glaudrim Wyrmkin to Great Wyrm.
Shar
Queen of the Glaudrim.
Source
The rising point of light in the Great Wheel. North.
Swarms
Semi-permanent groups of Walking Corpses that gather around intelligent undead.
Three Eyes
Three bright reddish points in the Lesser Wheel.
Veiled
Days when the Lesser Wheel crosses the Heart of the Tree.
Wither
The eighth Month of the Mendia year.
Wyrm
The first life stage of the Glaudrim. A carnivorous serpentine creature.
Wyrmkin
The second life stage of the Glaudrim, a draconic humanoid.
Year
Once 378-day cycle of the Heart of the Tree.

Physical World

Mendia is a broad, roughly disk-shaped world. Huge mountains border the outer rim, and the warm, shallow Green Sea divides the world into eastern and western halves. The Windy Isles cross the sea from the southwest to the northeast, like stepping stones. They are mainly populated by Elves and Humans. The Eastlands are heavily forested and home to many Elves. Parts of the Eastlands never fell under the sway of the Outsiders or Glaudrim and here the World Tree's wounds are barely perceptible.

The western continent is divided into thirds by two mountain ranges that split off the Encircling Peaks. The Dragon Spines run from the northern rim to the coast, surrounding the northeastern quadrant of the continent, the Dry Lands. It is here the Glaudrim first appeared, and both the Dragon Spires and the Dry Lands remain desolate and wild. They are home to Trolls, Kobolds, Walking Corpses, and worse.

A second mountain range. the Cloud Dividers run from southwest reach of the Encircling Peaks to the shores of the Green Sea. The lands south and east of the Dividers are a mix of forest and open plains and home to most of Mendia's human population. Many Dwarves inhabit the rocky slopes of the Dividers and, for the most part, live in peace with their Human neighbors.

The land north of the Dividers and south of the Dragon Spines, the Wild Plains, is mostly rolling hills and prairie. spotted here and there by sparse woodlands. The lands nearest the Dividers are inhabited The further west one travels, the drier the climate. Eastgate and the ruins of Hismir lie on the western edge of the Scorch, a desolate, rocky desert west of the Cloud Dividers and the Wild Plains.

Time and the Calendar

The following measures of time are common on Mendia.

Weather and Climate

Mendia has a temperate climate with moderate seasonal variation. Average temperatures are highest in the southwest, coolest in the northeast. Spring is generally warm and rainy, particularly along the coasts of the Green Sea. Hot and dry weather is typical in summer, but occasional severe storms bring flash floods, tornadoes, and hail. Autumn is cool and dry, and early snows in the northeast are not uncommon. The relatively short winter brings snow to most parts of Mendia.

The Skies of Mendia

Three main features define Mendia's night sky.

Great Wheel

The Great Wheel is a band of golden light shot through with twisting streamers of green that crosses Mendia's sky from north to south. It is the primary source of illumination for the realm. The light it produces varies over two time periods, with changing ripples of intensity traveling from north to south (Source to Fall).

Conjunctions occur when the Great Wheel aligns with the Lesser Wheel. Discordant Conjunctions happen when the two Wheels spin in opposite directions, Harmonious occur when they spin in the same direction.

Day and Night

Every 24 hours the Great Wheel turns through a 12 hours of light, 12 hours of dark cycle, creating the day-night cycle.

The Cycle

A slow secondary pulse travels through the twisting streamers of green light (the Roots), which go from nearly transparent to clearly visible and back on a 14-day Cycle.

Lesser Wheel

The Lesser Wheel is a filmy band of blue filaments that wobble across the sky and turn in a slow cycle of 42 days, the Mendian month. The month begins when the Three Eyes, a cluster of bright reddish points caught within the web of the Lesser Wheel, rise.

The Three Eyes rise on the first of the month, reach the top of the Lesser Wheel on the evening of the 10th, and set on the 21st. They are hidden for the remainder of the month.

The ends of the Lesser Wheel rotate through the points of the compass, completing a cycle every 181 days. As mentioned, conjunctions occur when it aligns with the Great Wheel. Discordant Conjunctions happen when the two Wheels spin in opposite directions, Harmonious occur when they spin in the same direction. The Lesser Wheel also passes in front of the Heart of the Tree, dimming its light. Days when this happens are Veiled. Red Veils occur when the Three Eyes align with the Heart of the Tree, tainting its light. Grovekeepers close their businesses and remain indoors on Red Veil days.

Red Wardens believe the largest of the Three Eyes is Skystone, and hold their monthly services at dusk on the 10th day of each month.

Heart of the Tree

The Heart of the Tree is a stationary feature in the sky of Mendia, a disk of pale green light with many radiating tendrils. It is located about 45 degrees west of the Great Wheel and 65 degrees south of west.

The illumination provided by the Heart of the tree is dim, but it generates warmth and energy that feeds the plant life of Mendia.

The Seasons and the Year

The energy provided by the Heart varies over a cycle of 378, the Mendian year. It also determines the ebb and flow of the seasons.

Greater Hismir Region