Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 bobiago Feb 08, 2009 15:41:22	Personally, I have always found the northern orientation of the Lhazaar territories to be a bit of a struggle to visualize. My natural proclivities are to envision piracy as a warm-weather activity, yet the bulk of the Lhazaar islands are so, so far north it is difficult to imagine them as anything but frosty - maybe it's just me, but I can't reconcile the geography with the central conceit of the area. I can conjure images of whaling, maybe even raiding if you go with a whole viking motif, but I can't really get myself to piracy. In the old map, I think it was easier to picture the northern islands as being generally warm, perhaps due to some strange gulf-stream like effect, because the map depicted them as green. But with the new map it is pretty clear that they are arctic and sub-arctic. I'm thinking that when I restart my Eberron campaign in 4e I will move them south more and extend them further into the Dragonreach, with the eastern islands more wild and uncontrolled. I still like the idea of the northern-most islands as being very remote, xenophobic whaling/fishing communities, so I expect to keep them in, make them smaller and make them a contested territory between the LP, ancestral colonies of Dwarves from the Frostfell migrations and Claw-sympathetic Kaarns. For those who like the LP the way they are, how do you visualize those northern islands vis-a-vis the whole pirate conceit?
#2 ChrisTheS Feb 08, 2009 17:18:09	It's easier if you've read the Blade of the Flame series, which conveys the temperate climate quite nicely. Also it helps to envision them as Atlantic Canada. And if you drop the whole romantic concept of pirates as dashing corsairs who ply the seas in their mighty ships and start thinking of them as jumped-up thugs who exert heavy-handed rule over isolated communities and occasionally take to the seas to raid and pillage, it becomes much easier to adjust.
#3 yakman Feb 08, 2009 18:28:45	I see them occupying a broad range of temperatures, from arctic to tropical.
#4 azazyll Feb 08, 2009 19:54:43	Also, don't forget a much older word for pirate: viking. And check out the Lhazaar prince depicted on one of the first few pages of the current ECS: he looks ready for the snow. Personally, I never thought of the Lhazaar as having much in common with the pirates of the Caribbean, who were never very concerned with controlling territory or fleets (as all of the powerful Lhazaar Princes are), but with Vikings from the age of invasions, who were out looking to colonize and dominate, rather than simply plunder.
#5 answerquestionplease Feb 09, 2009 15:48:58	I see them as something like the Ironborn from the Asoiaf series by George Martin.
#6 nundahl Feb 10, 2009 12:59:45	What new map is this? Is it online or published?
#7 shady314 Feb 14, 2009 1:23:42	Personally, I have always found the northern orientation of the Lhazaar territories to be a bit of a struggle to visualize. My natural proclivities are to envision piracy as a warm-weather activity, If there are boats and trading there will pretty much always be pirating. yet the bulk of the Lhazaar islands are so, so far north it is difficult to imagine them as anything but frosty - maybe it's just me, but I can't reconcile the geography with the central conceit of the area. I can conjure images of whaling, maybe even raiding if you go with a whole viking motif, but I can't really get myself to piracy. You are imagining perhaps a romanticized swashbuckling johhny depp sailling the caribbean. Those pirates were rarely anything close to that. They were terrible murdering thugs. Their most common weapon was NOT a cutlass or sword of any kind. It was an axe. Swords were expensive and most were not trained in their use. Axes were cheap and simple. Also in a fantasy world of magic who knows what sort of warm water and air currents may pass through the Principalities at certain times of the year. In the old map, I think it was easier to picture the northern islands as being generally warm, perhaps due to some strange gulf-stream like effect, because the map depicted them as green. But with the new map it is pretty clear that they are arctic and sub-arctic. Which stops their ships from sailing? Pirates give up because they have to wear a sweater? I'm thinking that when I restart my Eberron campaign in 4e I will move them south more and extend them further into the Dragonreach, with the eastern islands more wild and uncontrolled. I still like the idea of the northern-most islands as being very remote, xenophobic whaling/fishing communities, so I expect to keep them in, make them smaller and make them a contested territory between the LP, ancestral colonies of Dwarves from the Frostfell migrations and Claw-sympathetic Kaarns. Hey whatever floats your boat but if I were a Swede, Norwegian, Dane etc. I'd be a little insulted. Just because it's icy the people there must automatically be pathetic? For those who like the LP the way they are, how do you visualize those northern islands vis-a-vis the whole pirate conceit? I haven't said anything others haven't already pointed out. The pirates of Lhazaar are real pirates. They're vikings. Keith Baker even had them, just like real vikings coming to the North American continent, being the first human settlers to Khorvaire. Change your definition of "pirate" to hardy warriors AND sailors raiding and pillaging the coast.
#8 nthdegree256 Feb 14, 2009 12:11:00	The recent Ampersand article in D&DI, "Wizards and Worlds", has a small preview of the map of Khorvaire for the 4E Eberron campaign setting book.
#9 superdeadsmurf Feb 14, 2009 12:15:18	What new map is this? It was in Amperstand I think? And will be in the new ECS. It looks very good. Less "cartoony" than the 3.5 map, but basically the same to my eye. funny that the 4E FR map is more "cartoony" and the Eberron one is less so. As for the northern climes of the Lhazaars, what a previous poster said seems to be about right to me. Climate would range from say a Maine/Nova Scotia-like summer/winter cycle in the southern areas. Temps ranging from -20 deg C to about 30 deg C. Pirates were very active in this area in the height of the piratical ages, due to the number of coves and islands they could hide on. Sounds pretty lhazaar to me. As you go farther north the weather would be progress to a more newfoundlandy pattern near the coasts (-25 to 25 or so) with a lot of cold rain and near constant fog. Winter would have large snowfalls, but it would seldom stay on the ground for more than a week or so. Even farther north, look at greenland for inspiration. All these areas in real life were used by Pirates or vikings very often, and would all like to go south in the winter for the long voyages often required of pirates, to avoid the winter, then be able to enjoy their homelands in the warmer seasons and/or target the inevitable more northerly shipping that accompanies the warmer months.