This is my map of the Ren Shaar region of Thule

History

Ren Shaar is an Atlantean colony established 400 years ago.  Over time, it and it's sister city of New Trius, became a rundown city, abandoned and fallen into disrepute.  When the autocratic government of Bal Shaar took ascendency in Atlantis 56 years ago, the twin cities of Ren Shaar and New Trius saw a resurgence when all the Atlanteans who found themselves unable and unwilling to be made official pets of the government chose to leave that doomed empire.  This was fortunate, because after the flood 16 years ago, it became the go-to destination for nearly every Atlantean who managed to escape the prophesied flood.

Displaced refugees, wanderers, outcasts, bandits, ne'er do wells and other assorted scum, were accompanied by the artists, poets, settlers, engineers, lawmen, scientists, doctors, wizards, holy men and priests of that fallen empire; all of whom desperately seeking a life away from the other, more autocratic and depraved Atlantean colonies and all the other various human empires hungry for opportunity, slaves, and in many cases, sacrifices.

Who they Are

If there is one common feature that all these people have in common it is that they do not like being told what to do.  They are an argumentive, loud, opinionated, and unruly bunch that for the most part no one else can tolerate, even themselves, but they make do because they all know they have to.

Unlike the other, somewhat more autocratic Atlantean colonies of Katagia, who hate them for their quaint obsession with individual choice, they believe in letting everyone go to Hell in their own preferred manner, rather than the government mandated fashion.  Yet unlike the savage Nimotheans, they also understand the value of civilisation.   Nor do they care much for the pleasure obsessed hedonists of Nith to the west.  And because they are neighbours with the warlike Lomarians, they realise they must be ready to fight and win at any time, and every time.  Because for these outcasts, there is simply no where else for them to go.

Certainly not into the stewpots of the Beast Men of Ur Grohm or the slave pits of Marg the Terrible!

Dangers

But this freedom comes with a price, as with their loose government, in addition to freethinkers and men of action, there are also many whose acts of depravity are so terrible that even the cruel autocratic governments of the other human colonies cannot tolerate them.  Depraved wizards, witches, warlocks, scientists, and priests of the more depraved of the star lords fallen from the heavens,  whose decadent rites and vicious experiments make them anathema to any who know of their actions.

Even ... even whispers of things far worse.  Those utterly demented madmen who serve and worship creatures of pure nightmare.  Things cast out from the deep void.  Ancient, terrible, and totally insane.  Things that Yah, Creator of All, left unfinished when He made reality itself, such that even both the terrible Shedim of the deep earth and the fallen Star Lords themselves fear, and that only the most pure and ferocious Sethite warrior priest of Yah would consider standing against.

So that with freedom, comes the responsibility of the traveller through Ren Shaar to take care of himself!

Geography

Ren Shaar is a small territory, at most a few hundred miles in any direction.  Yet it is a territory with nearly all forms of terrain and weather contained in it's borders, from the hot primordial jungles to the east and west, to the cold mountain hell of the north.  The southern territory borders the great ocean, and while this opens it's ports to the tree covered empires of Europa, and the Savage Lands of far off Azteca, it also opens it's sea routes to the depredations of the slave empire of Marg the Terrible to the East. 

The Slave Wars

Terrible wars and battles have been fought over the slave raiding of Marg.  Skirmishes and reprisals that take place even to this day on sea and land in spite of the uneasy truce between the two empires.

In response, the Ren Shaarans have enacted a penalty of death against any who enslave humans within their borders. And while they do turn a blind eye to enslavement of the beast men found in their territories, especially at the border villages and forts, even still, there is a decree that any ship or representative of Marg found in their borders without permission is to be killed on sight.  Nor do they allow escaped slaves to be retaken by their former masters.  An issue that has caused great consternation with Margian slavers, to the absolute contempt of the Ren Shaaran people.

This policy of freedom is not so much an issue with the Lomarians, as any slave who wishes to escape from Lomar to Ren Shaar must first cross over the Serex glacier, and that is assuming they can make it past the horrific Beast Man city of Ur Ghrom.  Who, while they do not take slaves, they do regard human flesh as a prized and sacred delicacy.  Pity the human who is taken as a slave by the Beastmen instead of sent to the sacred stew pots!

While the issue is less of a concern for the Lomarans, it is a cause of great contention with Ren Shaar's sister colony of Nith who live side by side with Ren Shaar just past the SouthSpine Mountains.  The Nithians, while not as autocratic as cruel Katagia, are powerful, and do not take kindly to the Ren Shaaran concepts of freedom for all.  Talk of war is regularly in the air, and if the Nithians could be bothered to rouse themselves from their drugs and orgies to fight, there is a great question as to whether the free cities of Ren Shaar and New Trius can hold them off.

War is less of a concern with the pirates of Ruritania.  Those cast offs and murderers are a nightmare for all men who wish to go on the oceans, especially the sailers of Nith who must pay a heavy toll if they do not wish to be captured and sold to slave pits of Marg.  In a way, the Slave Wars of Marg have benefited Ren Shaar, as they were forced to create a navy second to none such that even the Ruritan pirates are wary when entering the waters of New Trius and Ren Shaar.

The Sons of Seth

Yet for all their strength, courage, and cunning, were it not for the Sons of Seth, wandering warrior-priests of Yah, the region would have been overrun long ago.  After his brother Hevel was crippled by Cain, Seth, third born son of Adhahm and Hhawah, taught his disciples the ways of battle and prayer, and to this day they speak truth and fight for justice in the name of Yah.  Mighty and terrible in their fierce righteousness, these wandering warrior-priests of Yah, Creator of All, have declared their protection over the region; and woe to any who cross them!  The only downside is that they, like the average Ren Shaarian, are both extremely opinionated, and even worse, not afraid to share their opinions, usually with loud volume to the point where many who engage with them quietly wonder if it would not be better to face the warrior-priests blades and cudgels instead of their tongues!

If sailer tales, to sailer tunes

storm and adventure, heat and cold

if schooners, isles and maroons

and buchaneers and buried gold

and all the old romance retold,

exactly in the ancient way,

can please, as me they pleased of old

the wiser youngster of today

so be it!  and fall on!

if not,

if studious youth, no longer crave

his appetites forgot

Kingston, and Ballantyne the brave

or Cooper of the wood and wave

So be it also! AND MAY I,

AND ALL MY PIRATES SHARE THE GRAVE

where these and their creations lie!

WELCOME TRAVELLER TO THE PRIMORDIAL LAND OF THULE!