I am curious what you all think. What kind of nation do you think would be built by outcasts, runaway slaves and refugees?
It would be a nation founded by legendary heroes of old, but built by the unwanted masses, the wretched outcasts of distant shores - a self-sufficient democratic republic, where the oppressed and the abused people of the world live in peace and prosperity.
I am thinking of a nation that is almost a fable in and of itself, a legendary place, that features in stories and songs that are meant to lift the spirit, bring light into the darkest days and give hope to all those who have none.
It would be a semi-mythical lost place like Camelot, Agartha, Atlantis or Avalon.
What would you expect such a place to look like and do you have any tips of world-building this nation and introducing it into my world?
It sounds like you've already described what you're looking for.
Refugees and former slaves historically tend to be very poor so my mind went to a poorer island Nation that has had to hide itself from the world for fear of attack. Maybe it is rich in material resources or is a naturally magical place. Perhaps the oppressors and slave owners want their 'property' back.
Structures are nice but made if cheap materials like bamboo. They are only semi permanent and perhaps largely lifted off the ground suspended in trees. Big tree houses and structures with walkways between are hidden by the first canopy. You wouldn't see it from the water but it is highly defendable due to the height advantage. The forest would be littered with traps as to help defend it or provide animal meat for the inhabitants. They would only leave to help the oppressed as the island provides everything the need.
There are plenty of places from history that are similar to what you describe. Australia was ones a penal colony. The Caribbean islands are largely former slaves colonies. A place like Nassau could be an interesting pirate twist. The island faught for it's Independence and became an unruly place but not totally uncivilized. Other places like The Barbados or Saint Kitts and Nevis were more civil. United States was founded as a colony largely by refugees fleeing religious persecution. I think any of these places circa 1700-1850 would be good inspiration.
If you really want them to be wealthier, consider Themyscira as inspiration (as seen in DC comics). You can see it in the Wonder Woman movie. It's heavily Greek influenced. They weren't persecuted though it does give an interesting take on the rest of the concept you're looking for similar to Atlantis.
As weird as it sounds, I'd use Goodneighbor (from Fallout 4) as inspiration. It already has the feel of a place populated by outlaws, outcasts, and former adventurers, it has an ideological focus on liberty and not being pushed around and being independently tough. They have all the problems a country like that would, bad reputation, thriving criminal enterprise, general lawlessness, so it's not all sunshine and daisies like you might think from a former hero's utopian ideal nation, so it's a little more complex and gives the aspiring adventurer something to do. All you need to do is scale it up from a back alley shantytown to a full on main, without needing to change much on a macro scale.
I don't know how deep your players will look into things but I would have some questions.
Did no one else want to live in a city founded by legendary heroes? Did they not know about it? Was there some event that caused the heroes to distance themselves from the general population?
How did slaves and outcasts have the means to reach such a place? Was it a secret spread to only those who needed to know or was it a desperate flight across uncharted territory chasing the rumor of a better life?
Answering the above questions might leave you with some interesting bits of lore to play with.
As for the people, I picture a motley bunch, tough as nails and naturally unruly though kept together by a shared background. It could be some fun culture shock for the player characters.
While I like thinking of my own ideas typically, I have to say this made me think of a game, sequel to one of my favorites. Ni No Kuni II.
It's a high fantasy setting, with some darker areas. You build your own kingdom, it has some themes of being an outcast, but due to some bad circumstances, and you get people from other kingdoms. While they aren't all oppressed, some citizens have had problems with their old ways of life, and wanted a new kingdom where everyone is much more happy.
Some of what I'm going to say will be somewhat spoilers for the game, so be warned.
The main characters would be from different leader backgrounds. A prince from a kingdom that was taken over, a chief of pirates and his daughter, the assistance to another great leader, and I kid you not. The best example of a leader with a democratic republic background, the president of America who came to their world. While it doesn't have a definite design, there's only so much you can do with the kingdom, so it gives you a good idea of what it looks like if you use it.
I couldn't keep myself from mentioning this, it just seemed to fit so well to me.
Hi, guys
I am curious what you all think. What kind of nation do you think would be built by outcasts, runaway slaves and refugees?
It would be a nation founded by legendary heroes of old, but built by the unwanted masses, the wretched outcasts of distant shores - a self-sufficient democratic republic, where the oppressed and the abused people of the world live in peace and prosperity.
I am thinking of a nation that is almost a fable in and of itself, a legendary place, that features in stories and songs that are meant to lift the spirit, bring light into the darkest days and give hope to all those who have none.
It would be a semi-mythical lost place like Camelot, Agartha, Atlantis or Avalon.
What would you expect such a place to look like and do you have any tips of world-building this nation and introducing it into my world?
Thanks
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
It sounds like you've already described what you're looking for.
Refugees and former slaves historically tend to be very poor so my mind went to a poorer island Nation that has had to hide itself from the world for fear of attack. Maybe it is rich in material resources or is a naturally magical place. Perhaps the oppressors and slave owners want their 'property' back.
Structures are nice but made if cheap materials like bamboo. They are only semi permanent and perhaps largely lifted off the ground suspended in trees. Big tree houses and structures with walkways between are hidden by the first canopy. You wouldn't see it from the water but it is highly defendable due to the height advantage. The forest would be littered with traps as to help defend it or provide animal meat for the inhabitants. They would only leave to help the oppressed as the island provides everything the need.
There are plenty of places from history that are similar to what you describe. Australia was ones a penal colony. The Caribbean islands are largely former slaves colonies. A place like Nassau could be an interesting pirate twist. The island faught for it's Independence and became an unruly place but not totally uncivilized. Other places like The Barbados or Saint Kitts and Nevis were more civil. United States was founded as a colony largely by refugees fleeing religious persecution. I think any of these places circa 1700-1850 would be good inspiration.
If you really want them to be wealthier, consider Themyscira as inspiration (as seen in DC comics). You can see it in the Wonder Woman movie. It's heavily Greek influenced. They weren't persecuted though it does give an interesting take on the rest of the concept you're looking for similar to Atlantis.
As weird as it sounds, I'd use Goodneighbor (from Fallout 4) as inspiration. It already has the feel of a place populated by outlaws, outcasts, and former adventurers, it has an ideological focus on liberty and not being pushed around and being independently tough. They have all the problems a country like that would, bad reputation, thriving criminal enterprise, general lawlessness, so it's not all sunshine and daisies like you might think from a former hero's utopian ideal nation, so it's a little more complex and gives the aspiring adventurer something to do. All you need to do is scale it up from a back alley shantytown to a full on main, without needing to change much on a macro scale.
I don't know how deep your players will look into things but I would have some questions.
Did no one else want to live in a city founded by legendary heroes? Did they not know about it? Was there some event that caused the heroes to distance themselves from the general population?
How did slaves and outcasts have the means to reach such a place? Was it a secret spread to only those who needed to know or was it a desperate flight across uncharted territory chasing the rumor of a better life?
Answering the above questions might leave you with some interesting bits of lore to play with.
As for the people, I picture a motley bunch, tough as nails and naturally unruly though kept together by a shared background. It could be some fun culture shock for the player characters.
While I like thinking of my own ideas typically, I have to say this made me think of a game, sequel to one of my favorites. Ni No Kuni II.
It's a high fantasy setting, with some darker areas. You build your own kingdom, it has some themes of being an outcast, but due to some bad circumstances, and you get people from other kingdoms. While they aren't all oppressed, some citizens have had problems with their old ways of life, and wanted a new kingdom where everyone is much more happy.
Some of what I'm going to say will be somewhat spoilers for the game, so be warned.
The main characters would be from different leader backgrounds. A prince from a kingdom that was taken over, a chief of pirates and his daughter, the assistance to another great leader, and I kid you not. The best example of a leader with a democratic republic background, the president of America who came to their world. While it doesn't have a definite design, there's only so much you can do with the kingdom, so it gives you a good idea of what it looks like if you use it.
I couldn't keep myself from mentioning this, it just seemed to fit so well to me.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.