Though generally a safe and pleasant place to live, Andoran is no paradise, and has its share of troubles.
The Darklands: The Candlestone Caverns are the major point of contact between Andoran and the Darklands, reason enough for most Andorens to avoid the area. While most Darklands denizens shun the harsh light of the surface, a steady stream of trade and cultural intercourse flows between the dark fey of the Court of Ether and the neutral and evil fey of the surface. Desperate fey who see their habitat being destroyed by logging are especially likely to make bargains with dark fey to secure aid and magical items to protect their homes. Many of the worst abuses of humans at fey hands are the result of dark fey “allies” taking things too far despite efforts by the local fey to moderate them. The Court of Ether knows that bad relations between humans and fey on the surface mean closer relations with their kin and more opportunities for the dark fey to exploit their surface cousins.
Fell beasts frequently enter the Candlestone Caverns from below, driven by some primal instinct to head ever upward. Rather than attempting to stop these creatures, the Black Claw kobolds of the caverns have created a series of one-way tunnels that herd destructive creatures up through the caverns directly to the surface. Local rangers and druids thus spend an inordinate amount of their time dealing with aberrations that should never have seen the light of day. There is a silver lining, however: while the kobolds change these routes to the surface often, wouldbe Darklands explorers with the know-how to track the aberrations back to their source can often find a direct and largely untrapped route into the depths of the caverns and the deeper levels beyond.
Foreign Agents: While Andorens are largely united in their ideology and love of common rule, foreign powers more used to intrigue see Andoran’s open system as ripe for exploitation. Foreign agents primarily focus their attention on displaced nobles, trying to get the presumably disgruntled former nobles to work against the Andoren government. (For an example of such meddling, see the Pathfinder Module Tower of the Last Baron.) For the most part, these blandishments fall on deaf ears. With the example of bloody Galt on the one hand and infernal Cheliax on the other, most of the former aristocrats of Andoran realize how good they have it and are as immune to foreign persuasion as anyone else in the republic.
Andorens have some inkling of the high level of foreign subversion that is being attempted and do not take kindly to it. In fact, the greatest danger foreign agents in Andoran pose is to the Andorens that they try to persuade. If the agent is exposed, they may well be able to flee, but the target, even if they rebuffed the agent or exposed him personally, may fall under a cloud of suspicion. Businesses have crumbled and good names been sullied by supposed connections to foreign interests, and any respectable Andoren will go to any lengths to avoid being tainted by such accusations.
Guilds and Monopolists: Andoran’s patriotic mythology centers on the little man, typified often by the yeoman farmer or the small business owner. Yet the reality of Andoran mercantile life is often that of powerful guilds, large banks, and monopolistic consortiums. Many representatives to the People’s Council push hard to restrain the large guilds and monopolies from acquiring more wealth and power, while the lobbyists and grandees of the Lumber Consortium, the Forester’s Endowments, and others work to persuade the ministers that prosperity for them is prosperity for all.
Kobolds: Kobolds haunt the forests and mountains of Andoran’s western and northern borders, from the Aspodell Mountains to Emperor Peak. Large tribes exist in the Candlestone Caverns, around Mount Kia, and until recently in Darkmoon Vale. Large or small, tribes mostly keep to themselves, fortifying their territories with numerous and deadly traps. Rangers and woodsmen in the area often become adept at spotting and disarming traps, though smart humans don’t disarm a kobold trap except at great need—disarming one trap guarantees that another will be set, and you might not know where the new one is.
The most numerous and ferocious kobold tribe in Andoran is the Black Claw tribe, centered on the Candlestone Caverns. Several smaller tribes live in the area as well, serving as tributaries and vassals of the Black Claws. The Black Claw tribe gets its name from a desperate combat tactic it uses in times of great need. When threatened, the tribe has its best warriors paint their talons with spider venom. This allows them to slay the enemy more efficiently, though the berserkers who don’t die in the melee eventually waste away from accidental contact with the poison, as it is difficult to wash off effectively. The Black Claw tribe fills an important niche in the Candlestone Caverns, serving as an occasional intermediary between Darklands residents and the surface dwellers above. The tribe understands that this lucrative position is based on trust, and those adventurers who know the special signs to indicate that they’ve come to trade are generally safe from the tribe’s depredations as long as they mind their manners and watch their footing.
The Bonebrow kobolds of Mount Kia are less numerous than many tribes but cover a much larger territory. Bonebrows are fanatically territorial and believe that everything within 20 miles of Mount Kia belongs to them. Legend has it that an extremely reclusive red dragon named Susturthys has encouraged them in this belief just to keep other creatures away from her lair on the mountain. This legend is supported by the comparative wealth and sophistication of the tribe. The traps set by the Bonebrows are unusually numerous, and many have secondary traps that spring when the first trap is disarmed. The territory around Mount Kia is so laden with traps that it remains largely uncharted, despite the enticing ruined structures near the base of the mountain.
Regional Trait
Kobold’s Neighbor (Andoran): You grew up in wilderness where kobolds make their homes. You learned early on how to find traps before they find you, how to disable them, and when you should just walk away. You gain a +2 trait bonus to Perception checks to discover traps and a +1 trait bonus to Disable Device checks.
Piracy and Slave Raids: The Inner Sea is a dangerous place, and the Andoren coast is no exception. Andoran’s ardent abolitionism is no protection from slavers—in fact, most slavers relish the opportunity to enslave citizens of the nation that makes their livelihoods so much more difficult. Consequently the small towns of Andoran’s coast have to be constantly on alert for slave ships. Pirates pose a similar problem, though the coast towns have developed several ways of defending themselves, usually including young men employed as lookouts. If a ship is confirmed to be a slaver or pirate, or simply heads toward town when no ship is expected, the town evacuates into the local “badger den,” usually an old redoubt or cave system, ready to wait out the invaders. The town militia stays outside to pepper invaders with arrows until such time as they are forced to seek shelter with the rest of the town. Most towns have booby traps in major buildings, set up in such a way that they can be activated by the fleeing militia, posing no danger to townsfolk in the meantime. Usually the militia’s harrying, the booby traps, and the lack of easy plunder keep the towns secure. Additionally, the merchant marine often keeps its convoy routes close to the coast, and many slavers have finished their raid only to find an Andoren merchant convoy bearing down on them.
Verduran Defenders: One of Andoran’s most persistent problems is the friction between Andorens and the druids and fey that live in Andoran’s forests. Logging is a major industry in Andoran, fueling shipbuilding and many other important aspects of the economy. Andorens are generally comfortable allowing the wholesale logging of forests to reach its logical conclusion, as it has in the Arthfell Forest, which is now a small fraction of its original size. While Taldor has an agreement with the Verduran druids, Andoran has no such agreement, and the druids tasked with the preservation of the forest and are often willing to fight to hold back the tide of civilization. Fey who live in the remaining forests generally do not think so long term, but when they find themselves suddenly living on the edge of the forest instead of in its depths, they may take violent defensive measures. Loggers and woodsmen die under suspicious circumstances as ordinarily peaceful fey lure them into bogs and under widow makers. Mill operators lose life and limb in strange equipment accidents. All the while, lumber camp life is made practically unlivable by minor inconveniences and hassles that start cropping up every day.
These aggressive tactics on the part of the fey occasionally work to drive the humans to another part of the forest, but often the loggers just deal with the danger and continue cutting. Sometimes, however, anger and resentment at the deaths and indignities reach a fever pitch. In those circumstances anti-fey pogroms can erupt. Whole camps head out into the surrounding woodlands, axes and torches in hand, looking for any sign of fey residence and destroying it. Circles of toadstools get kicked apart, rivers get dammed to destroy waterfalls, and ancient trees may be chopped down before their time just for spite. Any fey who show themselves under these circumstances are likely to be killed on the spot. In the wake of these pogroms, the surviving fey often flee in search of deeper places, but sometimes the remaining fey are so embittered that they escalate the situation, launching a new assault on the camp, the loggers, and their families. Such “forest wars,” once ignited, do not end until the last fey have fled into the heart of the forest or the last logger’s wife convinces him that the money isn’t worth the danger.