Newur

Recently discovered by Ithulvanian Dwarves seeking the Fountain of Inebriation, Newur is the industrial heart of the western side of the Fractured Continent.

Factories powered by recent developments in Steam Daemono-Eclectic power produce as much as ninety percent of the manufactured goods on the Western end of the Fractured Continent.

The economic recovery of shipping and transportation quickly followed, as the logistics of brining raw materials back from Newur demand larger, faster, and more-difficult to sink ships (see also, sea monsters). With it, there also emerged thriving new ventures in piracy, privateering, press-ganging, and pointless warfare at sea.

The main cities of Newur are Mememerdre and Autrejour, each located on a coastal isles east of the main continent of Newur. These cities are in a state of perpetual siege from the primitive inhabitants of the mainland. Steam Daemono-Eclectic energy, being sufficiently dangerous to be outlawed on the Fractured Continent, is not especially welcome to primitive — and by that, mostly we mean peaceful, wise, and educated — peoples of Newur.

Lawyers and mercenaries are in great demand, as are coffin makers.

Geography

Newur is a large, and largely unexplored, continent across the Sea of Bad Decision Making. 

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Some anthropologists have suggested that the inhabitants of Newur defending the content from, what they might reasonably call, “the invasion” might hasten to point out that “the continent is quite well explored, thank you very much.”)

Off the eastern coast of Newur, a line of coastal islands stretch from the north to the south. The two largest islands are the principle locations of colonial Merdreterre. 

Initially, both were Dwarven settlements with sparse populations, because of the lack of precious metals and gems found in the mines they started coupled with the amount of drowning they experienced in the endeavor. Both settlements were ceded to Merdreterre formally in a diplomatic negotiation featuring Two Pair, Jacks High.

The settlements were re-named Mememerdre and Autrejour.

After Ur Mergerd forbade the use of Steam Daemono-Eclectic power (following numerous industrial incidents resulting in demons running amok all over Ur-et-Scatia), enterprising industrialists realized the bug infested, mud soaked, and miserable settlements were ideal places to accidentally let demons run amok from time to time.

Each city quickly grew in population and industry, with the older established families settling in Mememerdre and trading on the Newur Yearly Settlement Emporium (NYSE); the Nouveau Gauche of the Sub-Urs on the eastern side of Ur-et-Scatia settled on Autrejour, trading goods on the Newur Alternative Settlement Distribution Authority and Control (NASDAC).

More and bloodier law suits are brought over bringing new manufacturers into one or the other of these organizations (see economy, below).

Sea travel to and from Newur is extremely dangerous, what with the sea monsters, pirates, press-gangs, and the occasional interference of bored sea-gods. 

Economy

The economy of Newur is dominated by manufacturing, transportation, law suits, and donations to various temples in the desperate attempt to tilt the odds of survival in the favor of the newly and devoutly faithful.

As manufacturing using Steam Daemono-Eclectic power is strictly forbidden in Merdreterre, Newur is all industry and no agriculture. 

With transportation, it’s all turnips to and finished good fro.

Sea transportation has advanced substantially with the reintroduction of sea-faring ships of the pre-Cataclsym variety to replace the long ships and triremes that had been the primary source of transport overseas.

Craftsmen building long ships and triremes mostly apply their trade in recent days to building coastal raiding vessels designed to “take the cargo of the sailing ships the rest of the way now that the hard part has been seen to.”

The legal sector is a thriving, as manufacturers are continuously bring frequent laws suits against each other. Manufacturers have taken to hiring out the Trolls, who followed the Dwarves, to Newur on retainers to enforce largely specious claims to prior-art (e.g. “That is made of wood, and we have a patent on wood, so DIE DIE DIE!” and that sort of thing).

The remaining Dwarves in Merdreterre and Autrejour have mostly shifted from their traditional monetary interest of digging up metals and gems to currency exchange. While this is generally looked down upon among the denizens of Ithulvania, the dwarves of Newur couldn’t care less what they think in Ithulvania. That is, they reason, “who is the smarter? The dwarf struggling through hard rock for gems and metals in Ithulvania through mining or the Dwarf collecting metals and gems in Newur through interest?” Many of the Dwarves of Newur can be heard singing a popular tune among the community there:

“You owe, you owe, so off to work you go
You work all day, we take your pay
You owe, you owe, you owe, you know
There ain’t no trick, to get rich quick
The loan you sow will make them owe”

EDITOR’S NOTE: While little is known, and even less is understood about the economy of the Primitives on the mainland of Newur, what do know is strange and terrifying, speaking significantly of the dangerous nature of these inhabitants.

It goes something like this:

Say there is a boot maker who is known to make the best boots in the valley. If you wanted a pair of boots from her, what you would do is go find some community need and fulfill it. Say, for example, there is a family struggling to eat after illness befell the village; you might go forging or surrender a portion of your harvest to that family so that they might eat; and, you would do this in the name of the boot maker. Now, if the book maker felt this act worth of a pair boots, she might give you a pair from her stock in gratitude for the gift given in her name.

Wealth is accumulated by individuals as the public acknowledgement of all of the acts of service and charity done in that person’s name. It was witnessed that an entire town stopped their activities to stand in salute to an elderly teacher who was paid several winter-proofed long-houses in a village destroyed by floods in exchange for lessons on the philosophy of truth.

Madness such as this is to be feared, and where encountered, destroyed.

Culture

The Dwarves on Newur are hated by practically everyone, including other Dwarves.

Law

See “Law” in the travel guide to Merdreterre for information on law, such as it is, in Mememerdre and Autrejour.

EDITOR’S NOTE: of the law among the Privatives of Newur, there is very little written law that can be found. There are no courts, dungeons, prison ships, or public tortures.

Laws seem to be based on pragmatism and tradition, which is closely tied to the economy. While this is a somewhat perplexing notion, one anthropologist explained it this way: “assholes need to be experts at doing everything by themselves if they’re going to survive there.” We’re still puzzling that one out. We think they might be talking about Bards.

As far as violence and insurrection, this appears to happen from time to time. It is met by community forces who operate by a policy of “Pacify, Pardon, and Educate.” 

As all of this is impossible to imagine, we dismiss it all as poppycock designed by anthropologists to make these Editors looks like fools.