The Land of Gurdor in the Underworld is populated by Men and Orcs. It has a long history of racial conflict, as each race has traditionally seen itself as superior to the other, and sought to achieve domination by force of arms. The result has broadly been that Men control the Western half of the Land, and Orcs the Eastern half. Those who remain in the half where their race is inferior are either slaves, outlaws, or the lowest dregs of society, and persecuted mercilessly.
The West is divided from the East by the Tar-Filgh ("High Heath"), a barren wilderness crossed by only one track, which none hazard lightly. The populated areas consist of scattered settlements, mostly situated along the River Arn and its tributaries in the West, and the River Kuhr and its tributaries in the East. Only mines and the lairs of the Undead, or malignant Magic- Users and Clerics lie away from the Rivers. Mostly each town is independent, ruled by the most powerful local warlord who has gained ascendancy, but from time to time such magnates succeed in bringing whole areas under their sway, thus establishing petty, and usually short-lived Kingdoms.
The ambitions of such persons result in the Land being constantly torn by a series of small wars, which help keep down the population and produce the fighters who can rule the people.
It is a subsistence economy so far as food is concerned, for little grows in the Underworld, and animals are a valuable commodity, worth several women, or many slaves. Wood is too scarce to be widely used, and people are unskilled in its crafts, mostly using it to feed their fires.
But the Land is rich in mineral wealth: coal, iron ore, and more precious metals and gems. Metalcraft is thus well-advanced, although the finish is usually crude. The people of Gurdor have a practical outlook, and build functionally rather than aesthetically. The Rivers which are the arteries of the Land are plied by metal-hulled boats, propelled by the oars of slaves, or by sail, if the owner is rich enough to afford that much cloth, and if the wind is in the right quarter. Fires are fuelled mostly by coal, which is often to be found outcropping on the surface of the Land. Most tools and household goods are of metal. Buildings are made of stone.
Thus the wealth of the Land has come to be concentrated in the hands of mineowners, merchants and craftsmen, and those warlords who can seize it from them by force of arms. The peasantry eke out a living from the land, but the ravages of the warlords force many to flee to the safety of the towns, where they find themselves dependent on the local ruler and merchants, to whom they can offer only their labour. Many accept slavery, or sell their children, for they cannot feed another mouth, and need the money to feed those who remain.
The usual Gods are worshipped. Strongest are ALTIS, HAERIM and ZAKEL. Formerly SOROK was much worshipped too, and His power is still strong in the Land. One leaves the site of a battle hurriedly after the fighting is done, if one values one's place in the Karmic Order. Clerics are rightly respected and feared, and even the warlords do not challenge the great Temples lightly.
Although they are little spoken of, for their ears are in every shadow, the Thievish Brotherhoods are powerful in Gurdor, and many pay them for their protection and their black-market goods.
On the whole, therefore, Gurdor is a fairly prosperous, though disunited region of the Underworld.
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