The Barbarian Kingdoms of the North

A small lore drop on the barbarian kingdoms. The term barbarian is reserved for all humans found outside the currently magically protected human territories. No matter if, at some point, they were part of the human territories.

This is the case for the Barbarians of the north, who are all descendants of humans found in the first layer, but couldn't escape before the passages got sealed. Leaving almost sixty percent of the population unable to escape the demonic onslaught.

With no escape, those poor souls somehow inflicted a devastating blow on the demons, showing that the infernal warmachine could be beaten. The demnic tide receded, withdrawing behind the river Portus and even further through the Gateway of Sin. Now boxed in, the survivors formed their myriad of tiny kingdoms and states. They would soon have to face another existential threat as the magical barrier that once protected them from the south dissolved, and hordes of monsters would flood through the mountain passes. With nowhere to run, the humans were forced to make a stand. With the power of cooperation and compromise, the Kingdoms managed to over the course of a few years, reduce the power of monsters. Retaking what was lost and setting up a system of forts throughout the southern mountains to guard from any large monster migrations.

The Kingdoms left to their own vices. With the campaign of the great army, the monsters merely became a nuisance, a dangerous one, but not an existential threat. With nothing left to unite them, they fell into their natural state, the myriad of tiny states squabbling over even smaller intrigues. The only things still preventing all-out chaos and war are the ever-looming threat of another demonic or monster invasion, along with an assortment of smaller threats that only afflict some of the kingdoms, like the goblin pirates menacing the many coastal cities, or demonic cultists coming from the southwest.

I hope you enjoy the little post. This is an example of stuff I love doing: creating small histories and stories for places. Next up will be a story centered around the goblin pirates and the league of cities formed to once and for all put an end to their antics. Along with an update on how the next version is coming along, and a concrete first look at the new project.