Building A Skyrim Style ACK Setting - Part 3: Nation Building

Building a Skyrim Style ACK Campaign Setting - Part 3: Nation Building

Now it has come time to start populating my campaign map. Since I want a campaign world similar to Skyrim, It should be a sparsely populated realm with humans, elves, dwarves and orcs scattered across the land slowly expanding their influence. 

In Skyrim, the province of Skyrim is part of a greater empire and is further divided into 9 Holds each ruled by a Jarl, with one of these Jarls elected to the role of High King. Below the Jarls is the next rank of nobles called Thanes who are granted land that they can build a hall on. Serving the Thanes are the lowest rank of nobles the Huscarls, they often run the farms and household for the thanes and jarls. Then there are the freemen farms. There are a wide multitude of races but they are mostly citizens of the empire.

I really love the High King, Jarl and Thane dynamic and I want to have that in this campaign, just without the civil war. J

Developing the Realm

For this campaign, I am going to have one primary human, dwarf, orc and elf realms. In addition there are going to be tribes of giants, goblinoids and wood elves who also live in the land. The human kingdom is going to be the backbone of the campaign. The adventures I am planning center on this kingdom.

Proposed Background and Names

“The history of the land known as Norðrodor (Anglo-Saxon Northern Sky) is one shrouded in mystery. Once upon a time it was home to an ancient civilization that collapsed ages ago. Much of the island was buried under glaciers during the Age of Ice, preserving many remnants of this civilization. Dragons, giants and primitive cave men were the only intelligent creatures that still lived there during this time of ice and snow, surviving on the herds of mammoth and elk who gathered around the hot springs.

5,000 years ago, the world started to warm again and the glaciers retreated. The region was soon filled with all manner of plant and animal life. The first new race to migrate here were the dwarves, who built a series of vaults under the mountains of both mountain ranges over the course of a millennium. They clashed with the brutish cave men, giants and dragons on occasion but overall they avoided them as much as possible.

The next to arrive were the humans who came from a distant land in the east sailing the cold seas looking for more fertile lands. They arrived on the eastern shores of the land and soon began colonizing the river lands and fjords. The elves and orcs came next, both of whom started colonies in different regions of the land.” 

 Let the race wars begin!

The Four Nations

The four largest groups in this campaign are as follows:

The Kingdom of Somerset, a human “Kingdom” that posed a bit of a quandary, while it has a High King and is called a kingdom, it actually is not one. What it actually is is a collection of semi-independent duchies and counties who select one of 9 earls to be the High King. Some thought will have to go into this. This kingdom is going to be the primary focus of the campaign. The humans are known as the Sælíðenda or Wave Riders, a human maritime-based culture with a strong warrior tradition who colonized the eastern coast several hundred years ago.

Trisagion Dominion, an elven empire whose collected colonies in Norðrodor would equate to a Duchy. This empire controls a massive empire to the south where they have subjugated most of their rivals. Many other races toil under the Dominion’s banner as either slaves or second class citizens. They are moving north to continue expanding their empire.

The Free Cities of Gaunt, a dwarven republic which is composed of 5-7 Vault-States that has been in a slow decline, there several that are now in ruins. The northern city-states have started trading with the humans of Somerset in the hopes of forming a buffer against the encroaching elves. The southern city-states are being tempted by the Dominion with honeyed promises in return for an alliance.

The Thamūd, a tribal alliance of orcs, has come to these lands fleeing an ecological disaster in their own homelands across the sea to the west. In the face of famine, one orc leader led several tribes across the sea hoping to find a new home. They arrived on the western shore of Norðrodor and quickly set about building settlements. They are just recently making contact with the other races.

Political Divisions and Titles of the Four Nations

ACK			Somerset			Trisagion
Division	Title		Div	Title		Div	Title
Empire	High King		-	-		Empire	Tri-Lord
Kingdom	King		Kingdom	High King		Province	Exarch
Principality	Prince		-	-		Principality	Primarch
Duchy	Duke		Earldom	Earl		Duchy	Nomarch
County	Jarl		Shire	Sheriff		County	Legate
March	Reeve		March	Reeve		March	Tribune
Barony	Thane		Herred	Thane		Barony	Castellan
-	-		Hide	Yeoman		-	Citizen

ACK			Gaunt			Thamūd
Division	Title		Div	Title		Div	Title
Empire	High King		-
Kingdom	King		-
Principality	Prince		Vault	Vault Lord		Nation	Warlord
Duchy	Duke		?	Champion		Tribe	Chieftain
County	Jarl		?	Guardian
March	Reeve		?	Sentinel		Clan	Sub-Chieftain
Barony	Thane		?	Defender		Sept	Champion
-	-		-				Warrior

Political Boundary / Population Dispersal Map

This is just my first pass, it will undoubtable change as get into the nitty-gritty of the ACK Realm Building System.

In the next Part I will go into developing the Kingdom of Somerset