Unlukily the info I got come just from 5 issues of Imagine Magazine (# 19, 21, 25, 26, 27). I tried hard to get also the missing supplements but I didn't manage to find them, so far. If anybody has some more info about the setting is really welcomed to add its contribution.
As you may know, Pelinore is a fantasy setting that used Classic D&D rules (the BECMI set, basically) that was developed in the firs middle of the '80s by Imagine Magazine, a fantasy magazine from UK owned by TSR. The setting was developed in a dozen of issues - with a significant amount of details, I must say - but it was then discarded by TSR, that also shut down the magazine.
Pelinore setting is mostly focused on the County of Cerwyn, a small medieval-like nation with a very beaurocratic administration and its capital city, the sprawling City League (so called because it is a league across). Some nearby places are also cited.
This map of the whole setting (I don't know if there are larger scale map) is found in Imagine Magazine #25:
http://it.geocities.com/lutetius00/Mapp ... re_Map.JPG
Unluckily, the "Wilderness" areas actually represent other terrain types (mountains, steppes, hills and the like) from what can be deduced by reading the articles. So it is not very easy to have a definite map. Anyway, these are all the geographic info I've found:
- The whole wilderness in the east is actually a mountain chain, the Sarpath Mountains (as a reference, it is said that they begins about half a day riding east from Tellhalter).
- The town of Burghalter in the south is set in a mountain pass of the Sarphath Mountains, so the wilderness terrain should be hilly or mountainous.
- East of the Sarpath Mountains (off the map) there is a huge grassland, simply called "The Steppes". The steppes run at least from Darkmoor, near the coast, to Burghalter in the south and they were never crossed by the people of Cerwyn. As you may guess, the grasslands are inhabited by hostile nomadic horsemen tribes seeking a way to invade the County of Cerwyn and its sourroundings. Anyway, superstitions and religious taboos prevent the nomads to go west past the Red Finger, a geologic formation just soth-east of Burghalter. A legend says that the nomads would be able to invade Cerwyn when the sunset light would not shine on the Red Finger.
- East of Tellhalter there is a road leading to the Cirbell Pass, a major pass of the Sarpath Mountains. The road starts from Witchbold.
- There is a road connecting the City League with Abercornil, a foreign city east of Darkmoor (off the map). Darkmoor is built along that road.
- 10 miles south of Burghalter there is the dwarven free city of Vasarpath (off the map). The same Burghalter nucleus was built by dwarves and then sold to humans.
- Tellhalter is built on the hills, in a volcanic valley. It was an ancient fortress; now it is a free city, self-governed.
- In the mountains, somewhere near to the Cirbell Pass, there is the mytical City of the Wizards. Its precise location is unknown to the people of Cerwyn.
- Somewhere across the sea (off the map) there is the Merchantile City of Xir, a thriving slave market. Any citizen of Cerwyn who become a slave due to a justice court sentence is brought to the small port of Borth and then embarked to Xir, where it is sold in a public auction.
- It is cited another likely foreign city called Kosre, but its location is not stated.
- About monsters, we just know that the woods east of Darkmoor are inhabited by goblins, hobgoblins and gnolls. In the south, giants and an evil cult of rakhsasa raided and conquered the town of Burghalter in the past.
Luckily, most of the demographic info about the County are listed in the table below:
http://it.geocities.com/lutetius00/Mapp ... cities.JPG
The info about the City League population is missing.
About the City League, the most detailed map I was able to find is this (no higher resolution available):
http://it.geocities.com/lutetius00/Mapp ... _Legue.JPG
The city is divided in Districts, it is the seat of the government and of the huge beaurocratic apparatus.
Each District has its own District Court, its Game Arena and provides to fund and organize its own Distric Militia (police - often corrupt).
The lord of the County of Cerwyn is called the Katar. The Katar is aided in the government by the Administrative Council, made by some ministries and other important people of the country.
The Katar is protected by a knightly order called the Knights Oculus. This mysterious order acts (independently but at Katar's service) both as a "secret police" of the country and as a corp of bodyguard for the Katar and its staff. As a secret police, the members of the Knights Oculus dress as commoners and report to guards and judges any crime they witness. The Knights have their own judge court (the Court of the Ten Thousand Crows), wery swift in pass judjments. The order is almost as ancient as the City League and it is governed by the Master, a mysterious figure who is said to be immortal. It is also said that the order is very rich.
The Court of the Ten Thousand Crows is the only civilian court that may issue death sentences (death sentences may be issued also by religious courts, see below). The court is so called because it is alwas sourrounded by crows (some hundreds of them, not really ten thousands) who cover the building with guanus. Death sentences are few, but it is said that the souls of those who die are reincarnated inside the bodies of the crows.
It was the Knight Oculus who discovered and neutralized the last plot to overthrow the government and the Katar. The attempt was made by the Jade Serpent Cabal, a group of 9 wizards of level 10-15 who were all arrested or dead within two hours from the beginning of the plot.
One of the most odd laws of the County of Cerwyn is the rule that any Edict issued by the Katar cannot be repealled anymore in the future. For this reason the law system of Cerwyn encompass many hundreds Edicts and many thousands (over 30'000) Collateral Laws (laws issued by the government) that try to specify and refine the previous legal system. This is the main cause of the huge (and often inefficient) bureucratic apparatus of the country.
Many gods are revered in Cerwyn. The whole list is showed below:
http://it.geocities.com/lutetius00/Mapp ... e_Gods.JPG
Five of these gods (I don't know who are them) keep also a Religious Court in the City League. Religious Courts may only judge for the crime of blasphemy, but the definition of "blasphemy" is so loose that often many innocent people were sentenced to death, especially during periods of conflict between religions. It is said that most of the death sentences of the country are due to the Religious Courts. The most notorius of these courts is the so called "Temple Without Doors" where the death sentenced is dropped from the top of a tower to the ground below. The other Religious Courts prefer the "ordeal" system: the death sentenced is dropped, naked, in the District Arena where he will confront three monsters in sequence, more and more dangerous each time. If he survives he is fred from the death charge.
Gods not revered anymore are Mordrenn, an ancient god of love, and the bird-god Xnath-pi-Xnath, whose cult was declared extinct 300 years ago. Its main temple became the Court of the Ten Thousand Crows.
Lastly, some info about the other organizations of the City League:
Guilds: The city is full of Guilds, each of them seeking for profits and caring for its personal interests. Among them the Guilds of Merchants, of Thieves, of Banks, of Warriors, of Fishermens, of Moneychangers. Most of them fund their own Guild Militias. The Bank and Moneychangers Guilds have the biggest militias of the country made of more than 1000 men each.
The Puntillio: This organization is another police corp of the city, actually acting more as a military than a police. It is under the direct control of the Katar, its members are well trained and well equipped (it is said that the Puntillians - as they call themselves - are better equipped than most of the neighbouring countries' armies). Their leader is a knight who swore eternal loyalty to the Katar. Nevertheless, in the past there have been two failed attempts from the Puntillio to seize power in the contry and create a militar dictatorship. Since then the Puntillians has lost part of their powers.
The Corps of Private Conduct: Another private police that is funded by some dozens of rich citizens of the City League. They act as bodyguards of these rich people.
The city has a main Arena who is founded personally by the Katar.
About the history of Cerwyn we just know that the Katar institution was estabilished some centuries ago (more than 300 years, because the temple of Xnath-pi-Xnath was closed by a Katar). Before this time we know that the lands of Cerwyn were part of a larger empire, called the Almete Empire. The city of Tellhalter was an ancient garrison of this empire guarding the Cirbell Pass. It was home of some 20'000 soldiers.
The Almete people revered Mordrenn and kept a cult called "Religion of Warriors and Death", now extinct.
We also know that the region of Burghalter was settled by dwarves 1283 years ago.
Finally, the last question: may Pelinore/Cerwyn be set on Mystara?
Honestly, I don't know. From a fluff point of wiev it is said that the Old Calendar of Cerwyn was made of 350 days, 50 of which were holidays. This Old Calendar was recently substituted by a New Calendar (of which I do not know anything) with a diminished number of holidays. As you know, Mystara has a calendar of 336 days.
Anyway, I did not find any info about the Pelinore setting being a flat world so, if we drop the Old Calendar issue, we may state to place the County of Cerwyn somewhere in Mystara. Notice, also, that the area shown in the general map is quite small (just some 3-4 24mi hexes) so it my be set virtually anywhere.
) on February, 20th, 2006.)
