Interesting Points

Today I'd like to talk a bit about an issue that's been going around the OSR. Ha! Just kidding! Here's a bullet list of hopefully interesting things about the (since 1989!) setting in which lies the ruined Morvalian edifice, Castle Nicodemus.

• The Ancient Morvalians are mostly known to academics, mages and other wackos. A few people have heard of The Old Wizard Kings, but most common folk in Anglia just know about Some Old Ruins Nearby.
• Boorman's Excalibur, Bakshi's Wizards and plenty of Dragonslayer.
• Men (as in humanity) began settling Anglia in earnest a little over two centuries ago. A lot of nasty orc and goblin blood was spilled in the process.
• Your typical clergy at churches and cathedrals don't cast spells.
• The King of Anglia, who rules from his seat in Freeport on the southern coast, technically owes fealty to The Grand Theodic Emperor across the ocean to the East.
• Anglia is in the southern hemisphere of its planet.
• Trolls are big, fat, and turn to stone in the sunlight.
• The most commonly practised religion in Anglia is based on Scandinavian paganism.
• Elves and dwarves are only rarely seen abroad. They stuck to their own small territories before humanity arrived, and they mostly still do. They don't mind that humans killed off or chased away a ton of orcs, but it didn't really do them much good either.
• Magic is not all The Devil's Work, but it's unusual and often viewed with surprise and suspicion.
• Castles were built by the Anglish to command the borders. Towns have sprung up around most of them.
• Humans in The Empire of The East, The Grand Theodic Empire, have a much longer and richer history of dealings with elves. Legends say that elves were already there when humanity arrived. Elven influence is responsible for a lot of advances in metalworking. In recent centuries many elves in The East have distanced themselves from humanity.
• The overwhelming majority of People In Charge have no class or level to speak of.
• Currently extant humans in this world are here due mainly to dimensional fissures encountered by the Germanic Tribes during the 'migration period.' A handful of Celtic peoples preceded them, but were far less in number, most of them considering the dimensional weak spots off-limits for one reason or another. This isn't general knowledge, of course, but things hint at it.
• Priests of chaos and anarchy plot against the current establishment.
• Armies of orcs are invading from the north, occupying villages and imprisoning people. Their ultimate goal is unclear.
• Hobgoblins are nasty little townies, like a combination of brownies and goblins.
• There is a lot of Old Forest in Anglia which has yet to be intruded upon by humans. Dark & Mysterious.