Making this thread as a compilation of some ideas I’ve had for the setting I plan to use for our D&D online game. Please reply with any neat ideas you have! We’ll stitch them together somehow.
Basics:
The setting of the game is the former territory of the lost Hyrcanian Empire. That is: coastal Tund, which includes the wealthy but precarious city states of Sirion, Arambys, Gargano and Opsikion.
To the west is Varkana, the former heart of Hyrcania, with its ancient capital, Zadrakarta, which means “yellow city” in Old Hyrcanian. You probably have never met anyone from there. They don’t seem to travel much.
Most know the Dragonborn, who are almost never seen, were the honor guard and sacred soldiers of Hyrcania. They were crafted by magical artifice long ago. Though the common people trust them because of the legends of their deeds, they are barred from Tund and Kush and bounty hunters seek any report of them.
To the south is Kush.
To the north, just off the Arambene Peninsula, lies the vast Isle of Kommagene, where ancient Hyrcania built the colony city Tylos. The heart of the massive isle is still largely untouched by civilization, full of swamps, jungle and forest, and high mountains.
Between the Arambene Peninsula and the Isle of Kommagene is Liar’s Bay.
On the north side of the Isle of Kommagene are a few smaller cities and villages, which broke away from Tylos in a bid for independence. Tylos has too much to worry about to wrangle these trade competitors. Malat is the biggest city on Kommagene’s north coast.
Somewhere in Liar’s Bay, no-one knows where, is the hidden Pirate Republic.
To the north, somewhere past pirate-haunted Liar’s Bay in the deeper Sea, lie the Jeweled Cities, island trade nations. Some of them are: Beryl, Corundum, Opal, Cymophane, Tourmaline, Carnelian, Chrysoprase, Heliotrope, Citrine and Hylophane.
Somewhere to the northeast across the sea is the Kingdom of Anga. They say gods like Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Agni and Kuvera came from here. Vanaras live somewhere here. There are more impossible kingdoms beyond Anga, somewhere up there, amidst Rakshasa-haunted jungles and the lost Naga kingdoms.
Somewhere to the south is The Empire. It is ruled by the Coral Empress from the fabulous, gargantuan and impossibly old capital of Bis’en. There has always been an Empress on the Alabaster Throne. She goes nowhere without her Deathless Guard. It has been long since the Empire turned its Legions and its dauntless Myrmidons outward to annex new land, but some reports say they marshal again. The Imperials worship strangely familiar yet foreign gods like Mithras and Cybele.