# About Moria
A great place to find lore about the world of Moria, in the Material plane, and its various lands, notable figures, deities, and overall history.
# Global Glossary
RAG: Random Assed Guy - joined the party on a whim in Catherine on a journey to the infernal plane for a prison break.
GOAT: Greatest of All Time - also a literal sacrificial goat.
# Known World Maps
##### The Upper Western Hemisphere, The World of Moria, on the Material plane.
[](https://moria.websitesbyzoe.com/uploads/images/gallery/2025-09/KqAH5ixDgb2Qkgqk-moria-upper-western-hemisphere.png)
# Kingdoms List
## A List of all Known Kingdoms and Regions
### Shelton
The land of the Gnomes, Shelton has almost entirely been paved over with cobblestone, brick, or other masonry. The McGinty School of Engineering resides here. They are one of the top-rated engineering schools in Moria. One of their top graduates, Bob Elevatorton, is the inventor of the patented tongue-in-groove elevator lift for use in security applications.
### Lyria
Elves live here. It's mountainous, with sea ports to the North, South, and West, being that it’s a peninsula. Incredible trade community in this kingdom along the sea. Exclusive, xenophobic retreats on the mountain tops for Grey Elves and their kin.
### Throat of the Dragon
This land was occupied by exploring dragon-kin, and eventually became a small aristocracy of the Spellscales, Dragonborn, and other Dragon-blood and Dragon-like peoples. Even a few folks who just have an affinity for Dragons have been taken in as household servants for these settlers, who live in lavish, obsidian homes. The people of the Throat believe they have an economic chokehold on the lower continent for Shelton and Lyria, having made their small fortune facilitating travel and trade into the Galdestar Desert for more than a few desperate souls not able to bypass them by sea. And of course, they never let go of a dime of the earned treasure.
### Galdestar Desert
Legend has it that thousands of years ago a great dragon war was fought over the current location of the Galdestar Desert. Anushka, the great warrior gold dragon, fought back the black dragons and drove them to a land beyond the frozen wastes. Now, the scorched land is occupied by outlaws, creatures that love the heat and arid climate, sandstorms, and some would have you believe more than one Drow cavern system.
### Symbion Mountains (aka The Scar)
A vast mountain chain spanning the width of the western half of a continent. If it were flat ground, it would take you about 3 months to travel the length of it. With its rough mountain and snow terrain, if you survived the trip, it would take you the better part of a year to complete the journey from end to end. Few cross it on foot - most consult with the towns in Aria to traverse the southern point by sea or Shelton from the North, by sea. For the favored, by airship to a Gnome-friendly town in Clarity Plains or to Draconis Imperium. It is written that before the great cataclysm 300 years ago, the mountains were part of the flat, dry, stone transitional areas between the desert and the plains. The Great Void Creature passed over and pulled up the mountains from under the earth, scarring the continent for future generations to come.
### Clarity Plains
Largely home to tribal races, and some more "free-thinking hippies" from all sorts of races. The Gnomes of Shelton have several cousin families that live in a town here. They are less interested in engineering and more interested in a specialized type of agriculture for growing indoors and underground, and in otherwise unforgiving environments for plants. Produce from Clarity Plains is often circulated around all of Moria, found as far away as an abandoned explorer's camp in Pith. They were freeze-dried and wrapped in a thin, malleable metal sheet.
### Aria
This is Moria's bayou barony. Most of it is swamplands and stomping grounds for several clans of half-orcs. Watch out for serpents and sinkholes. The locals are a bit creepy in a dueling banjos sort of way. They mostly keep to themselves, but they trade what they trap with ships passing through on their way to Do'orikar or Faron from the West.
### Carintine
Largely a human kingdom, Carintine is the home of The Black Watch. Carintine is mostly a farming and rural region with a few castles for nobles and the like, but the majority of folks live simple lives in thatched roof cabins. There are few metropolis-sized cities, but a few notable towns exist. Aryana is a beacon for traders and sea merchants along the coast. Several monasteries and major divine temples have their headquarters in Carintine, since it is a fairly peaceful region.
### Do'orikar
Welcome to Orc country. And by welcome, I mean, what are you doing here? The entire island is overrun with jungle and barely any path or roads anywhere. The Orc tribes are constantly warring, and only the tribes near the sea on any given side of the island have any notion of civility from doing business with merchant ships. It's probably best that you move along, unless you're looking to pick a fight. The Orcs have a fantastic set of battle groups that train and provide a home for worthy warriors of all kinds.
### Tiger Paw Keys
The keys are a strange geographical anomaly, so named for the shape and configuration of the group of small islands. No known groups of civilized people live on these small islands, and no commercial traffic exists. The occasional shipwreck occurs in heavy storms on the trade route from Clarity Plains to Blythe, but typically they're salvaged right away.
### Blythe
This Dwarven capital is away from the main land for several reasons, but primarily due to its smell. The isle itself originally was attached entirely to Clarity Plains. The Gnomes tell the story that they could smell the Dwarves all the way from Shelton, so they engineered its detachment from the mainland and jettisoned it off to sea. When the dwarves woke up from their drunken stupor, one of them tied a chain to his axe and threw it to the bottom of the sea and the island took anchor. The Dwarves say that the only way they could get any peace and quiet from the damn drum circles was to set sail for their own island.
### Archon
A veritable melting pot of culture, trade, art, magic, and religion, Archon is the happening hotspot metropolis-laden kingdom of Moria. Anyone who's anyone has been to Archon at least once in their lives to see the buildings, the performers, taste the foods, and see the culture and oddities of strange foreign lands from all over Moria. Archon is the home of the Glorious Dawn Citadel, where Knights of the Glorious Dawn are recruited and trained. The KGD work for the various kingdoms of the realm, sometimes acting out plans of the Grand Council on a global basis, and sometimes they are deployed to address acute situations.
### Faron
More swamp land, but run by cat-like bipeds known as the Ra-Haleem. Actual cats are entirely sacred to them, and they forsake most luxuries for an amount of secrecy. They are excellent at stealth, and excellent at acquisition and procurement.
### Ol'Kaan
A largely uninhabited island nearby Do'orikar. Not much of note besides small rodents and snakes. The waters between the island and slightly larger island are rough and choppy and shallow enough to sink larger ships during a storm. Typically, travelers and tradesmen avoid that corridor.
### Pith
It's a frozen wasteland. It's called Pith because your stay there will be very short. Much larger than pictured, it extends off the shown map into a much larger, frozen content of its own that spans the upper half of the two hemispheres.
# Deities List
#### The Revered Old Gods
Artemis - God of love, dedication, romance - (dwarves)
Raymus - God of science, education, technology, engineering (gnomes)
Amun Ra - God of light, war, the sun
Osirus - God of the After Life
Anubis - God of Death
Largus - God of nature
Amun Ro - God of the moon, peace, night
Falmut - God of animals
Satyre - God of performers, entertainment, laughter
Raz Al' Thum - God of thieves, criminals
Falis - God of Lust
Raygus - Keeper of the Veil, God of Arcane Power
#### Tribal / Other Deities
Orushnal - Orc God of War
Mynis - Fae, other embracers of chaos throughout the realm
Dragons / dragonkin / related dragon-based races worship their ancestors of note:
- Anushka - A great gold dragon that won many battles
- Genessa - A great green dragon who championed peace and understanding, reveling in knowledge and wisdom.
- Farukh - A great black dragon that revered death and the afterlife, who always said a blessing over his defeated enemies.
- It is worth noting that recent discovery of a Lastlight Gem revealed memories of a fallen dragonkin at a great battle thousands of years ago, in which the three dragon gods ascended from mortality into deity as they supplanted a great white dragon and a great silver dragon. The party has not yet learned the full story behind the battle or the names of these two dragons.
#### The New Gods
Azrael - once a powerful warlock, whose patron betrayed him and caused him to lose his mother twice as a younger man. He shunned his patron, who revoked his powers. Somewhere along the way, he met a mysterious witch who taught him to harness magic Not of the Gods - from a source that seems to be anything but good or natural. The rest of his story is largely unknown up until the Cataclysm, when he appeared on the scene to banish a giant void creature that likely would have ended life in Moria altogether. Many celebrated him as a legendary hero, and due to his many other magical acts of heroism, he is considered to be revered as a deity that many devoted followers worship. His influence is strong in commerce, law enforcement, government, and emergency services.
Hamish (Unaffiliated) - A grey elf master chef who lives in Anastasia, Lyria, makes food that is said to give the consumer "experience a heavenly paradise" when consumed on premises in his restaurant affectionately dubbed "The Temple" in Common. Many people pay tribute while visiting Lyria, and the locals sustain his practice with patronage and ask for his blessings with altars in their kitchens at home.