Welcome to the continent of Rhean, my setting for fantasy games and tales. Herein you will find many familiar elements: dwarves and elves, orcs and trolls, wizards and priests. But Rhean also holds some secrets of its own, mysteries for players to discover and explore. Ideally, games set in this world emphasize this process of discovery, whether in the form of exploration of the world or exploration of the self.
Rhean was originally designed for use with the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, published by TSR, inc. House rules for AD&D specific to this world can be found in the index under rules changes. Rhean also has its own set of rules, developed by its creator to better capture the feeling of the world. Please see A New System for more information. Most of this site, however, is dedicated to supplying information for characters: the physical nature of the world; the races and cultures live here; the great powers of the world, from guilds to nations to the gods themselves. To that end, there is a table of contents listing the major subjects covered in this guide. At the bottom of each page is a figure of a circle with two pointers. The left pointer will take you to the previous entry; the right to the next entry. The circle links to the table of contents.
Rhean is a large continent found in the northern hemisphere of an Earth-like world. It spans approximately 4700 miles east to west and, in the east, 2400 miles north to south. The East therefore covers nearly thirty-five degrees of latitude, from ten degrees to forty-five degrees north. The continent is generally divided into the East, stretching from the coast to the Great Wall mountains, and the West, which extends across the great peninsulas that surround the Enclosed Sea. West of Rhean is the continent of Jardaa, which is considered uncivilized by the inhabitants of Rhean. Between Rhean and Jardaa are the Windward Isles, a large archipelago known for its dragons, its pirates, and the large amount of trade that passes it, carrying silk and spices to Rhean, and metals and foodstuffs to the west. South and east of Rhean are vast oceans, considered uncrossable by most individuals of the Common Era. In past times, various humans and elves have crossed great distances of these oceans, but little is known of this when campaigns begin.
The world that Rhean exists upon is orbited by three moons. The
largest is about the size and color of Luna, and is called Xere (after the god Xeres) or the Great Moon. The other two are smaller, perhaps one-fourth the size of Xere. Each of these has a tint, one red and the other blue. The red moon is called Halalye, the Lovers' moon; the blue moon is Zenelais, the Traveller's Moon. Each of these follows a unique orbit. Xere follows a similar pattern to Luna, marking out the months by being at its fullest on the first day of the year (Coldsun 1) and every 28 days thereafter. Halalye is full every three months for one full week, thus indicating festival days. Finally, Zenelais is full on the first day of each week, dividing the months into four seven-day weeks. This gives the following calender, consisting of twelve months, each of twenty-eight days. Every three months there is a week-long festival.
Although the moons' exact time-keeping causes most civilizations to use a similar calendar, the roll of years varies considerably. The oldest calender known on Rhean is the calender of the Eastern dwarves, which was begun with the founding of their Second Nation, 7161 years prior to the nominal start for campaigns. Years in this measure are referred to by a "DY". In the 5230 DY, the elves fled their ancient homeland and began a count of the years; this began the "EY" measurement. The Rheen emperor Xeramon began the Rhe Year (RY) count with his founding of the Rhe Imperium in 5380 DY, and the Yarrins measure from 5435 DY, when they founded the Nation of the Tribes of Yar.
Those human civilizations that are on the Enclosed Sea use the "Common Year" (CY), which was begun with the founding of Destend in the 6597 Dwarven Year. When campaigns begin, then, it is the Common Year 565, the Yarrin Year 1626, the Rheen Year 1681, the Elven Year 1931, and the Dwarven Year 7161.
The common language of Rhean is a human trade tongue, generally referred to as "Common". It was formed by a blending of several elements, most notably Allitoian and Yarrin, and began to exist about 550 years before campaigns begin, when these two races met at the eastern end of the Enclosed Sea. At the same time, common systems for money, time-keeping, and weights and measures began, so that now, in the 565 common year (CY), these are generally standardized around the Enclosed Sea. Elsewhere on the continent it is very possible to find people who do not speak Common, or who use different monetary systems. Throughout this guide, Common names are very frequently used, especially for those areas where Common is actually spoken. For example, Lindon is the name used for the nation at the eastern end of the Enclosed Sea everywhere except in the Elven guide, where it is still referred to as Avea'lindor.
The name Rhean, the Common name of the Continent, is, of course, derived from the name "Rhe". The -an ending is Yarrin in derivation, indicating "land of". Compare this to the Allitoian -an ending, which indicates "people of". The Rheen people traveled across Rhean extensively prior to settling in the south, and rumors and stories of their power reached the ears of those who would become the Allitoians and Simeans. When the Yarren people reached their new homeland, they found the Rheen people already present, and so they began calling the greater land Rhean. When the Yarren and Allitoian peoples began to mix, the Allitoian peoples were still referring to the east, and particularly the southeast, as the legendary site of Rhe, and so adopted the name Rhean, which then came to mean all of the continent. The Simeans call the West "Simeas" which the Allitoians adopted and also use; in both of these languages "Rhean" refers specifically to the East.
A quick note on the endings of human race-names:
As mentioned above, the -an that is found on the end of Rhean is Yarrin and refers to "land of", while the endings of Allitoian and Simean are both of Allitoi derivation and refer to "people of". The -en used for Rheen is the Yarrin form for "people of". Thus, when talking about the people of Yar, one should really use the form "Yarren". However, the Yarrins also possess the -in form, which means "of the people of", i.e. referring to a language or other attribute of that people. In both modern Yarrin and Common these distinctions have become blurred, so very often the Yarrin form is seen referring to the people themselves. Of course, in ancient Yarrin these forms receive a separation from their stems, as in Yar'in or Rhe'an.
Other notes on languages:
The human languages of Rhean are related to some extent; they are all part of the same language family, analogous to Indo-European. Likewise, all Elvish languages are related, and much more closely; their differences stem more from differences in viewpoint, attitude, and experiences among the sub-races, rather than any true drift; they do qualify as separate languages, however. The dwarven language has diverged only slightly since the Second Parting, although anyone familiar with this tongue can instantly determine which branch a particular speaker belongs to. Fluent speakers can determine the area that a particular individual is from; the Ironholt dwarves frequently decry the speech of Lindon dwarves, despite the near-identical sound of the two to a non-dwarf. Halflings and gnomes both have a fair amount of regional variation in their tongues, and they often include other races' words and constructions to boot. Goblins and hobgoblins have a number of different languages, although most know one of their primary languages, from the region of the Great Wall near Aenia, the Goblin Marches west of Lindon, or the Lost Land in the northeast.