Arcadia (Endhaven Supplement)
Summary
- Moderately Wild
The Abandoned Zoo of Arcadia was once a Phoenix Imperial animal sanctuary of astounding size. The Phoenix Emperors, for generation, stocked this place with many unique and strange creatures. Since those days, this world has fallen into disuse. The creatures there now run wild, making this word a dangerous place indeed. This world is now popular with big game hunters.
For some odd reason, the preserve only has one natural landing point.
Warning: Giant eagles and other large flying fauna are present in the preserve. Flying in the preserve is hazardous and taken at one's own risk.
Statistics
| Name: | Zoo of Arcadia |
|---|---|
| Planar Size: | Colossal Plane |
| Influences: | None |
| Ruling Organization: | Independent |
| Government Type: | Council of Elders |
| Other Organizations: | None |
| Capital: | Game Warden Stockade (small settlement) |
| Languages: | Common |
| Religion: | Charystan Pantheon and Animism |
| Patron Deity: | Hart |
| Resources: | Exotic Creatures, Furs, Ivory, Unexploited Resources |
| Important Locations: |
|
History
The Phoenix Emperors and all the people of the Phoenix Empire enjoyed sport. The Emperors set apart this territory to act as a game preserve. This "zoo" is the size of a small continent, stretching across many types of terrain for a thousand miles. They put into the place fierce and dire creatures. The Emperors paid traders handsomely for any exotic animals that they could bring to the preserve. In this way, the land came to be stocked with an incredible number of dangerous creatures.
During the Wars of Law and Chaos, the Phoenix Empire crumbled. The Imperial presence was withdrawn from this area, with only those who voluntarily stayed behind to live there.
The only people who now live here are descendants of the Imperial game wardens. These druids and rangers maintain the preserve for the purpose of hunting. They also sell off these exotic creatures, trained or untrained, to those who can afford them.
- RECENT EVENTS
In recent times, the Blood Alliance has come to covet this territory. Up until now, no one in the alliance has had the manpower to retake the preserve. The Blood Alliance now thinks that it can take ownership, but taking ownership means carving the preserve up fairly, and that is a difficult deal to reach. Whoever gets the best parts of the preserve's landing point gains a significant territorial advantage. None of the alliance is willing to allow this. The Alliance has tried several invasions, but those were unsuccessful.
Planar Information
- GATES AND LANDING POINTS
The zoo has a landing point outside the Caretaker stockade.
- CLIMATE AND TERRAIN
The preserve includes all environments. It borders on the Savage Seas and Mount Kreta of the Great Dwarven Union. The landing point on this plane is in temperate hills.
- FLORA AND FAUNA
The Zoo is a temperate plane, ranging across most terrains. The flora and fauna of this land vary greatly due to its size. In general, an astounding number of dangerous creatures with low intelligence live here. This land has the highest concentration of dangerous creatures of anywhere known in the Endhavens, and is one of the very few places where dinosaurs can be found.
Politics and People
The people who live here are mostly the descendants of the Imperial Game wardens. They live in the compound that makes up the landing point. The compound lies atop an artificial atoll among rolling hills. This atoll is sufficient to stop most dangerous creatures from making their way into the central compound. They are proud of their tradition of knowing the creatures and this land. These people include many experts who are animal handlers or guides. Their leadership includes many druids and rangers, along with prestige classes that nature or creature oriented.
The culture of this world is rough and tumble. This is a land of permanent safaris. If you are not prepared to live in the wild, you are not prepared to be among these people.
- GOVERNMENT
There is no formal law here. If the wardens have a problem, the leaders expect them to work out their own solutions, or fight out their own solution. They frown upon deaths this way, but they are not overly concerned with these deaths.
Should this not be enough, the greatest wardens assemble and pronounce an order. Their punishments include a hunting quest of considerable danger, exile, or outright death. The wardens are generally smart enough to stop the troublemakers among themselves. They do not care if you are evil. They do care if you are foolish.
- FOREIGN CONFLICTS
The Blood Alliance is interested in seizing this land. It represents a huge source of wealth. Seeing themselves as the inheritors of the Phoenix Empire, the Alliance believes that this land rightly belongs to them.
If it were not for the vast number of horrid creatures in this land, the Wardens could not hold this place. Even now, they doubt that they can hold against a well organized assault by the Blood Alliance. If it were not for the near impregnability of the Stockade, the land would have fallen years ago.
- RELIGION
The religion of this realm, though descendant from the Charystan Pantheon, has moved in a very animalistic direction. The people here directly worship the great animal spirits, and their religious rituals often resemble those of primitives far more than the rituals of civil society. Their patron is the god Hart.
Among their most holy traditions is "bear wrestling." A naked person volunteers to go into a pit which has an angry and starving bear in it. To be a leader of these Game Wardens, you must be able to defeat a bear this way. The greater the bear that you defeat, the greater the leader that you become.
Lycanthropy is considered an honor among them. They welcome those who can control their inner beast. They exile those who can not control themselves until such time as they learn control.
Major Landmarks
- GAME WARDEN STOCKADE
This area is the town where the game wardens maintain the Zoo. It is built atop an atoll. This place is virtually impregnable due to the natural barriers around it. Several light assults by the Blood Alliance have failed to conquer the town. Their forces must either push through the zoo, suffering terrible casualties from the creature, or seize the Stockade, which also leads to bad casualties from the creatures.
- DEMON'S GARDEN
The Wardens do not know who built this city. They believe that the city is haunted, or inhabited by some sort of demons. The city itself is little more than crumbled walls and odd spires which have resisted most overgrowth.
Adventure Hooks
- Characters want a new exotic animal.
- Characters must gain a part of an exotic animal.
- A patron wants a live exotic animal given to them.
- A survivor wants the bones or possessions of a loved one, who died in the Zoo, returned to them.
- A group of people is lost in the preserve and the characters are hired to retrieve them.
- The characters mis-plane shift, leaving them deep inside the Zoo.
- The characters track a werewolf to the preserve.
- Explore the mystery of the Demon's Garden.
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