The World of Kartharka

Behold the world of Kartharka! Land of Adventure!

Scroll to the bottom for a list of more Links on the world of Kartharka

A continent ruled by the Iron Emperor,

His lands stretch from the Valleys of Morning in the great desert wastes of the Southlands to vast sprawl of mountain strongholds in the frozen north. The world groans beneath the might of the Iron Emperors rule. None dare stand before him who controls all in the broken land of Kartharka, where the great turning of the seasons itself have been rent asunder. 

The Winterlands, a mountainous North.

Trapped in endless biting winter, would be doomed without the constant caravans of food from the south, supplied and controlled by the Emperor. For this food the Emperor demands the one thing found only in the Mountainlands.

Iron!

More valuable than gold in the world of Kartharka, precious Iron. Found only in the mines of the North the metal is needed for everything and completely controlled by the brutish and Hard Northmen who mine it. The men of the North, said to be descended from the first men, created by the gods to claw the iron from the ground for their own great machines.

The gods have abandoned men but the Iron remains and is lusted for by all. Indeed even the currency of the world is the imperial Longshank, thin strips of iron stamped with the Imperial fist.

The continent of Kartharka is vast, terrible, and dangerous.  All swear ultimate fealty to the emperor but as they say “the emperor is in the south” he cares not about the squabbles between the lords of Kartharka as they war amongst each other.

“The caravans pass” is the only true law of Kartharka.

Food flows to the north and Iron flows to the south, as long as this law is upheld the Lords may war for what other resources they wish. The world of Kartharka is a land of city states, each lord commands as far as his army can march and no further. With the tides of time some may claim an entire valley, hundreds of miles of coastline, or a single road through the wastelands.

When the caravans pass North they take the emperors due, Sometimes it is gold, sometimes it is cattle, wood, food, whatever the emperor demands is given without question without fighting. When the Caravans pass south their is only one thing the emperor demands. Slaves.

Some are taken to build the mighty walls of the empire, to till the fields, to break the rocks. Others enter the black citadels of the Emperor and are never seen outside them again. The empire is built and run on the blood of slaves, but none can stand before the Iron emperor.

Every few years a story is heard of another Lordling who refuses the South passing caravan. A lordling who has grown strong, has built a mighty fortress, has filled it with hundreds of brutal fighting men.

None know what truly happens after that but when the caravan passes on south there is not a stone left standing of the fortress and the dead are laid end to end for miles along the great road through what was once the lords land. The roads of a rebels country are paved with the bodies of their dead. So all pay the emperors price whatever it may be, whether it leaves them with nothing but a stone hut and barren fields they all pay, and build again.

In the wild warring world of Kartharka an adventurer with a strong sword arm may carve out a place for them self.  Fighting in an army, plundering a lordling, hunting down rich outlaws, or searching out the lost treasures of the first men.

Become one of these Adventurers in the world of Kartharka.

Links to more Kartharkan backgound:

The Winterlands
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