Astrgolfel

Where the star Gol fell

"There are few stars where we're going..."
— Eygon Van Donnor, vampire hunter

Astrgolfel (pronounced: /a-STER-goel-fehl/) is an old name in the Duanish tongue that caught on during the Age of the Horizon. Translated literally, it means, "Where the star Gol Fell."

Overview

Astrgolfel is a bleak region dominated by vampiric overlords who rule during the night. The land is subject to the influence of the Shadowfell more so than any other.

Major Realms

Augustine, Dane's Halls, The Dark Houses, Delune, Duanland, Golz, Grisholm, Grissonant, The Holy Empire of Grimm, The Empire of Thorne, The Empire of Borboun, The Halls of Odeinvale, Midnir, Myradan, Soleil, Vance

Hallmarks

Scattered city states, vampires, gnomes, the Shadowfell, artifice, and invention

Three Interesting Facts

• Veils into the Shadowfell are present all throughout Astrgolfel, along with invading monsters from Gol.
• Astrgolfel is called home by infamous artificers and inventors. They live as hermits on the edge of sanity, creating advanced technology the likes not seen anywhere else.
• Angelic churches, though popular and widespread, are outlawed by the vampiric overlords who rule the region.

Characters from Astrgolfel

A Somber Few.

Astrgolfel is not a happy place. At the best of times, it is safe and protected, but it is not a land of good fortune. The people of Astrgolfel often carry heavy burdens in their hearts; the vampiric presence, hobgoblin raids, monster attacks, and war between nations has wreaked havoc for families and communities. Consider what your character may have lost in life, and how it may have affected them.

Hopeful Despite it All.

Life is itself a blessing, and so long as one lives, they are blessed. Despite their many hardships, the people of Astrgolfel find hope to go on. They are a willful people, with a determination not found in many others. They come together during hard times, and find warmth and comfort in unexpected places; in their outlawed churches, during hidden weddings, and with whoever they can find close to call family. Where does your character find hope?

Shadow-touched.

Hexes and infections spread from the seeping veils to Gol. The Shadowfell taints the land, and the people as well. Your character may be touched by the Shadowfell's presence, a fell omen on their future. Your character may be haunted, doomed with bad luck, or even stricken with vampirism or worse! What secrets are you hiding? What wounds are you not willing to show on your neck?

Contemplation and Meditation

The name "Astrgolfel" has lasted thousands of years thanks to the immortal lords who keep it alive. Most people these days refer to the region as "the Gols." Indeed, few stars may be seen through the dull fog that pervades the region save for the Dark Star Gol. Monsters grow old and powerful in the wilderness, and the sun never seems to shine through the overcast skies. It rains so commonly that farmers are known to curse the weather and pray instead for sun.
Unfortunately for the farmers, the sun fears the region of Astrgolfel. Many believe that the mere existence of the Night Lord to be a ward against sunlight. The region has been plagued by vampires for as long as anyone alive might remember thanks to the Shadowfell's influence. Seigneur dal Delune, dubbed the Night Lord by his sycophant court, has prevailed over his kingdom of Delune for nine-hundred years. His power in the region, whereas it has fluctuated in the past while battling competing vampires, is at an apex of power. The court of Delune holds dominion all throughout the mountain range known as The Grey. Other vampiric overlords preside throughout Astrgolfel as well, but none such as mighty as the Night Lord. All vampires are enemies of the Angelic churches, especially the Church of the Holy Avenger, whose mission is to put the fiends back into the coffins from which they rose.
Territories controlled by vampires tend to be safer against monstrous threats thanks to their overlords. The mighty Augustine, built around the dynasty of the first vampire, Count August the Red, is perhaps the greatest in sheer might, but lacks in real infrastructure or governing ability. The people of Augustine are ruled mostly by terror and terror alone. In contrast, the city-state of Golz is ruled by one Vidame Lucy the Invincible, who began a cult-religion centered around herself, granting thralldom to her most-loyal minions. Though her rule is tyrannical, she endeavors to isolate her flock from any would-be competitors, and thus endeavors to maintain living conditions that keep her citizens content.
Outside of the immortal governments of vampires lie scattered city states and small villages relying only on their wits to survive. The kingdoms of Grisholm and Grissonant for example, are ruled from their capitals in old elven ruins made by the Gris of The Dark Houses. The Empire of Borboun and the kingdoms of Soleil and Duanland are all mostly composed of humans and halflings. These kingdoms have bloody histories of war and conflict, but also rich cultural exchanges and trade networks across the Sea of Areppo.
In the more isolated hamlets are the remote artificers of Astrgolfel. Small and informal communities of inventors live around the region. The most well-known of these ascetics is the scientist, Dr. Quincy Morrison, who is said to live inside a great bronze golem, a mobile castle of belching furnaces and steam boilers. Some towns in Astrgolfel have been graced by the presence of such travelling crafstmen, and are equipped with tangled networks of copper pipes and wires, while others are protected by automatons built for battle. Other experimenters, of a darker breed, delve into the depths of the occult, losing their sanity in exchange for necromantic secrets. It is said that the ritual to create a Remnant was first performed in the dark of Astrgolfel.
And yet, even the mightiest automaton cannot protect a village from everything. The Hobgoblins of Thorne, are powerful enemies to both mortals and the vampires. Their host is mainly congregated throughout the islands known as the Western Gols. From their ports they launch raiding parties and pirate crews to terrorize the Western coasts from the Alabaster Sea to the north, all the way to the Zephyr Sea to the south.
But all is not lost for the people of Astrgolfel. Great nations, such as Dane's Halls, the Holy Empire of Grimm, Myradan, or Vance, are chock-full of Dwarvish protectors, Elvish and Gnomish scholars on the Shadowfell, and thousands of fetchers just waiting to get their hands on the glory and fortune waiting to be won from the hands of villainy.

Economy of blood? Corpses?
Example Adventures?

Geography

Astrgolfel is a temperate peninsula on the western coast of Mord bordering The Bellatorian Ocean to the west, and the Erdlands to the east. The region is home to an old mountain range called The Grey, and a series of islands off its west coast called the Western Gols. The region borders the Sea of Areppo on its southern coasts, and the Alabaster Sea to the north.
Astrgolfel is known for its overcast weather and a distinct lack of sunshine. It is believed that this fell curse was placed on the land long ago, when the dark star Gol came to hang in the sky above Astrgolfel. Nevertheless, the region is favored by its diverse landscape of temperate, forested mountains and hills alongside rolling grasslands and fertile ground.