Oerth's unnamed fourth continent - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Oerth's unnamed fourth continent

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
extempus
May 15, 2008 19:35:54 It's appeared in a couple of maps that I know of (included with the Gazeteer and the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer)... well, actually, in the teeny tiny inset world maps anyway. It's also mentioned in passing in The Adventure Begins, p. 12:

The little-known and nameless fourth continent of our world is known to lie to the south in this region, but only divination spells give us knowledge of it.
#2
mortellan
May 16, 2008 0:02:36 I know from discussions on canonfire and elsewhere that the continent has no -official- name. I have heard it called Antaria I believe. Details are still up in the air for any aspiring writer though.

Fireland is also still hazy but I think we know more about that than the 4th continent for sure.
#3
ripvanwormer
May 16, 2008 9:53:17 People have called it AnaKeri, or Terra Anakeris, based on a land mentioned obliquely in the Oerth Journal #1. It doesn't have an official name, but that's the one I've been using.
#4
ripvanwormer
May 16, 2008 11:21:38 Here's a good thread on the Canonfire! forums: http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1984

Well, good until it becomes an argument about elves. But the first few pages are good.
#5
extempus
May 17, 2008 0:50:39 I'll have to check it out...

Fireland is also still hazy but I think we know more about that than the 4th continent for sure.

In the LGG (p. 106), we're told that Fireland is composed of 4 main islands: the Greater Isle of Fire, the Lesser Isle of Fire, Sfirta, and Berhodt. It seems that not only did Korund of Ratik visit Fireland in 565 (The Adventure Begins, p. 11), the Snow Barbarians founded settlements on Sfirta and Berhodt, but that was apparently centuries before...
#6
OleOneEye
May 17, 2008 9:21:17
I'll have to check it out...

In the LGG (p. 106), we're told that Fireland is composed of 4 main islands: the Greater Isle of Fire, the Lesser Isle of Fire, Sfirta, and Berhodt. It seems that not only did Korund of Ratik visit Fireland in 565 (The Adventure Begins, p. 11), the Snow Barbarians founded settlements on Sfirta and Berhodt, but that was apparently centuries before...

Fireland appears to be an analogue to Iceland. Iceland has a wonderful body of heroic literature thay you may want to research for ideas.
#7
extempus
May 28, 2008 1:28:13 I figured Fireland was analogous to Iceland... what has surprised me is the apparent lack of islands in the Solnor and the Sea of Storms (there are a few mountainous islands in the Sea of Thunder in Polaria, however), but then, those tiny low-res inset maps can't exactly show a lot of detail, lol.

So far, we've found that there are humans in Oerin, along with very civilized humanoids that are fairly intelligent and have a level of technology not unlike the humans. Seems they walked across a land bridge from Oerik centuries ago and displaced an ape civilization, and later, humans (descendants of survivors of the Twin Cataclysms... seems they went west as well as east) came by boat and drove the humanoids south.

From this, we learned some important things: sea level was lower at one point and/or there was subsidence and the land bridge disappeared beneath the waves, and it seems that the ancient Suloise genetically/magically tinkered with humanoids to make them warlike and mean (they did after all create the derro), so they would be useful as cannon fodder in the war between the Suel Imperium and the Baklunish Empire. Those who served as troops escaped to the east into the Flanaess, but the untainted stock appears to have originated in the southwest of Oerik and eventually ended up in Oerin... of course, we now have to deal with evil humanoids back home, thanks to the Suloise/Baklunish war machines...

Meanwhile, we discovered some years back that prior to the Twin Cataclysms, Oerth's axis was inclined at 5º from the perpendicular relative to it's orbital plane (in my campaign, Oerth orbits Liga, not the other way around), but today, it's inclination is 30º, so sometime in the last millennium, something happened that caused the tilt to increase by 25º, but no one knows what...

I don't know if anyone else has historical mysteries they like to solve, but in my campaign, we love trying to figure out how things came to be as they are...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 extempus May 15, 2008 19:35:54	It's appeared in a couple of maps that I know of (included with the Gazeteer and the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer)... well, actually, in the teeny tiny inset world maps anyway. It's also mentioned in passing in The Adventure Begins, p. 12: The little-known and nameless fourth continent of our world is known to lie to the south in this region, but only divination spells give us knowledge of it.
#2 mortellan May 16, 2008 0:02:36	I know from discussions on canonfire and elsewhere that the continent has no -official- name. I have heard it called Antaria I believe. Details are still up in the air for any aspiring writer though. Fireland is also still hazy but I think we know more about that than the 4th continent for sure.
#3 ripvanwormer May 16, 2008 9:53:17	People have called it AnaKeri, or Terra Anakeris, based on a land mentioned obliquely in the Oerth Journal #1. It doesn't have an official name, but that's the one I've been using.
#4 ripvanwormer May 16, 2008 11:21:38	Here's a good thread on the Canonfire! forums: http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1984 Well, good until it becomes an argument about elves. But the first few pages are good.
#5 extempus May 17, 2008 0:50:39	I'll have to check it out... Fireland is also still hazy but I think we know more about that than the 4th continent for sure. In the LGG (p. 106), we're told that Fireland is composed of 4 main islands: the Greater Isle of Fire, the Lesser Isle of Fire, Sfirta, and Berhodt. It seems that not only did Korund of Ratik visit Fireland in 565 (The Adventure Begins, p. 11), the Snow Barbarians founded settlements on Sfirta and Berhodt, but that was apparently centuries before...
#6 OleOneEye May 17, 2008 9:21:17	I'll have to check it out... In the LGG (p. 106), we're told that Fireland is composed of 4 main islands: the Greater Isle of Fire, the Lesser Isle of Fire, Sfirta, and Berhodt. It seems that not only did Korund of Ratik visit Fireland in 565 (The Adventure Begins, p. 11), the Snow Barbarians founded settlements on Sfirta and Berhodt, but that was apparently centuries before... Fireland appears to be an analogue to Iceland. Iceland has a wonderful body of heroic literature thay you may want to research for ideas.
#7 extempus May 28, 2008 1:28:13	I figured Fireland was analogous to Iceland... what has surprised me is the apparent lack of islands in the Solnor and the Sea of Storms (there are a few mountainous islands in the Sea of Thunder in Polaria, however), but then, those tiny low-res inset maps can't exactly show a lot of detail, lol. So far, we've found that there are humans in Oerin, along with very civilized humanoids that are fairly intelligent and have a level of technology not unlike the humans. Seems they walked across a land bridge from Oerik centuries ago and displaced an ape civilization, and later, humans (descendants of survivors of the Twin Cataclysms... seems they went west as well as east) came by boat and drove the humanoids south. From this, we learned some important things: sea level was lower at one point and/or there was subsidence and the land bridge disappeared beneath the waves, and it seems that the ancient Suloise genetically/magically tinkered with humanoids to make them warlike and mean (they did after all create the derro), so they would be useful as cannon fodder in the war between the Suel Imperium and the Baklunish Empire. Those who served as troops escaped to the east into the Flanaess, but the untainted stock appears to have originated in the southwest of Oerik and eventually ended up in Oerin... of course, we now have to deal with evil humanoids back home, thanks to the Suloise/Baklunish war machines... Meanwhile, we discovered some years back that prior to the Twin Cataclysms, Oerth's axis was inclined at 5º from the perpendicular relative to it's orbital plane (in my campaign, Oerth orbits Liga, not the other way around), but today, it's inclination is 30º, so sometime in the last millennium, something happened that caused the tilt to increase by 25º, but no one knows what... I don't know if anyone else has historical mysteries they like to solve, but in my campaign, we love trying to figure out how things came to be as they are...