The Keep on the Ecotones

12 Feb, 2026

I've been watching a lot of the Star Trek series Deep Space Nine lately, and it's awesome for two reasons¹. First, it's about the highs and lows of living in a tolerant pluricultural society. Yeah, it's weird that the Klingons can perform a mutiny by challenging their direct superior in honorable single combat. It's weird that the Ferengi have to make, like, five bribes to access their bank accounts. I'm not sure how anyone got anything done in 2370 with everybody being so quirked-up. But, like... we can't stop them, and we need them to survive. I tend to think that all we have on this earth is ultimata, and I think DS9 agrees. I can't kick you off the ship just because your headmate is making me uncomfortable, so both of us had better lock in.

Anyway, the second reason DS9 is awesome is that it's making me think a lot about tabletop's "keep on the borderlands" construct. Not the literal module from 1979, but the broader concept of a cultural crossroads in a strategic military position. First of all, a "DS9-style" keep on the borderlands solves the "why are the player characters a party?" problem-- you're all here because it's a liminal space, duh. If you're kinky like me, you could even run an ensemble cast where everyone creates multiple characters but only a subset of them "get the camera" at a time. Furthermore, I like games with relatively flat XP gains, so the military structure helps: diegetically moving up the ranks of the keep feels way better to me than leveling up.

More importantly, though, I think it would be a good setting to have a more true-to-life cast of fantasy cultures. I usually run human-heavy settings, because I hate it when the humans are a monoculture of normal guys, and the orcs are a monoculture of racist caricatures. (And God help you if there's an explicit racism allegory in a fantasy that's uncomfortable with the idea of multiple human cultures.) I'd be happier playing a world where fantasy races are more akin to, like, language families. Lots of governments, none of which are a recognizable cipher for any real-world group, and not all of which are elf ethnostates or whatever. More ecotones, more fuzzy borders. Someplace where conflicts don't spring up from "this guy is Fantasy Bin Laden", but from first principles: the general process of negotiating differences, overcoming prejudices and greed, and people in the wake of a cruel, uncaring history.

So let's do that. Let's imagine a keep on the ecotones. And after that, a smattering of fantasy states to populate it with, and for each one a "hook" that might bring someone from there to the Keep.²

The Ley River Keep

In the year 946, it was discovered that there existed a network of invisible leylines, spanning the entire world and seemingly beyond. With a spell so simple you could teach it in schools, it was now possible to journey between adjacent "leyline ports" in a matter of days, rather than weeks. This had massive implications. For one, the ability to travel low-risk between major cities, and the decreased usefulness of roads, intensified the distinction between settlements and wilderness. Furthermore, a handful of leylines went across the ocean, connecting the two major continents. Naval travel is a non-starter (the magical flux over the oceans makes most humanoids delirious, and that's if the krakens don't get you), so this discovery ushered in the possibility of intercontinental trade... or combat.

Amid well-founded worries of intercontinental war, several states on the eastern continent decided to pool their resources to create a Ley River Keep, an international base to manage their side of the intercontinental leyline. Now, in the year 1000, it is many things: the world's first real urban center, a trade hub, a military base, a mediating body for international conflicts, and the site of the biggest dungeoneers' guild on the continent. The Ley River Keep is always in need of talent: diplomats to manage relations, dungeoneers to carry out its dirty work, dormkeepers to keep the whole operation running (and, if worst comes to worst, self-sufficient and well-defended). In other words, it is the perfect place for adventurers to meet.

d8 Fantasy States

1. The Great Confederation of Citadels

The GCC, or the "Western Citadels", are a loose organization of plurality-dwarf city-states. Each is run as a command economy, where being assigned a job is part of coming of age. They take national pride in having "shed the yoke" of hereditary rule; government roles are just another job that can be assigned to youth who seem qualified.

Your job is your name in the Western Citadels. If disambiguation is necessary, use an adjective like "the Taller" or "the Fool". It is gravely impolite to use such a construct when it isn't absolutely necessary-- it's like telling them they should be fired, or at least calling them a mooch.

'Alish gets his name from the Dwarvish word 'ayal "to schmooze"; that is, he was assigned the role of diplomat. When his citadel collapsed due to mismanagement and corruption, he chose to get a lucrative job selling his services to the Ley River Keep.

2. The Silver League

From 940 to 951, due to well-intentioned reforms, the GCC as a whole experienced rampant corruption, unrest, and dead-weight loss. For this reason, on the dwarven Festival of Silver in 945, eighteen citadels signed a compact promising to do away with the traditional command economy. Their alternative was the "family economy", in which elders hold political power over those in their lineage, and convene to distribute jobs among their house. The GCC did not like this, and committed to embargoing the newcomers. But as luck would have it, the discovery of leylines in 946 allowed them to find trade elsewhere, enabling them to become self-sustaining.

A Silver League citizen's name is based on their family name, followed by their job or their place in the family.

Voyage was once Lehif Firstdaughter, a leyline operator in the Silver Citadel. However, after she was caught smuggling exotic livestock into the GCC, her grandfather Lehif the Butcher exiled her. She changed her name and became a spy for the Ley River Keep.

3. The Arcadians

When the leylines were discovered, many leyline ports near the elvish kingdoms were on land they considered uninhabitable. This is because six of the seven sexes of elves contract plains aches after a week outside the magical flux ecosystems of their native forests. As one idiom puts it, "death is the mildest of the plains aches"; other symptoms include "the eternal writhing" and "necropersistent dementia".

However, in 963, the entrepeneur Erillisarral built the first "hypostyle forest"-- a large grid of wooden pillars that simulates the magical flux ecosystems present in the forests. After it proved successful, he repeated this process to build an empire he called Arcadia around the leyline ports. This allowed him to colonize the leyline ports, make a fortune from international trade and travel, and eventually conquer or absorb many of the traditional elvish kingdoms. Today, Arcadia controls the western port of the intercontinental leyline.

In antiquity, the elvish kingdoms practiced "tree suzerainty". Under this practice, each elf's social status was dependent on the physical and spiritual well-being of a handful of trees. This tradition evolved into Arcadia's modern currency: the fungible ownership of shares of the hypostyle pillars. That is, rather than trade physical money, the elves trade fractional shares of pillars they are legal suzerains of. In practice, elves use verbal IOUs for small transactions, which they tally later at a ledger.

Illanto Padirrunal was sentenced to death by the mayor of Arcadia Prima. The terrorism charges (blowing up the hypostyle grid) were fabricated, but the four counts of theft and seventeen counts of blackmailing a ledger were real. He escaped to the Ley River Keep, where he serves as a consultant on North Elvish tactics and politics. He denies all claims that he performs a little theft on the side.

4. The Shallowloom Free City

In 990, the hypostyle city of Shallowloom declared itself a new nation, independent from Arcadia. The called themselves the "1681 Collective", named after the theoretical fewest number of hypostyle pillars necessary to prevent plains madness. They saw Arcadia as courting evils: isolationism, overexpansion, elvish supremacy, and forever-war. With help from nearby humans, the "Loomies" weathered an arduous six-year siege to win their independence. Currently they're in an unprecedented post-war boom, in part because of an influx of human refugees.

The Loomies named the evils of Arcadia "personal decadence": a combination of greed, masturbatory politics, and insipid individualism. Accordingly, they invested in a large and powerful judicial apparatus to quash those impulses. While Loomie law is broadly quite forgiving, the four "decadent" crimes are considered unforgivable: "decadent expansionism", "decadent isolationism", "decadent possession", and "decadent creativity". For example, using Arcadian "pillar money" is punishable as decadent creativity-- complexity for its own sake that bolsters the individual rather than the collective.

As a display of national spirit and a rejection of personal decadence, Loomies are required to have a standard outfit: a brown cloak with a simple white belt and white shoes. They are allowed one accessory, which they use as their name.

Red Boots, a human refugee and aspiring dungeoneer, got caught up in a movement to revive and update an old holiday called Sour Honey Day. The police charged Boots with decadent isolationism, but he escaped. Nobody knows where he is now, but it's rumored that an anonymous official in the Ley River Keep paid for a full reconstructive surgery to help him hide, in exchange for his assistance as a battle mage.

5. Tauh iShika

While many practice the religion of Shika, only one political entity calls it their official religion: Tauh iShika, or the Shika Monastery League. A core belief of Shika is that immoral deeds require absolution, in the form of prayer, good works, and self-flagellation. However, tradition implies that these acts of salvation are transferable. For example, mothers are expected to fast and self-flagellate on behalf of their very young children. Thus, the mission of the Tauh iShika is to continuously perform enough prayer, fasting, and self-flagellation to spiritually absolve the entire world.

The Tauh government provides basic income, housing, and schooling to anyone willing to perform acts of salvation and obey cleanliness laws (e.g. "don't use tools or utensils not made by you or someone in your family"). Thus, while Shika began as an exclusive orcish ethnoreligion, it has become a world religion, and the Tauh has become an attractive place to live for a variety of people. Over the past two years, however, official communications from the government have become more and more inflammatory. For example, they tend to call other states "spiritual mooches", and explicitly deny the existence of orc cultures that don't practice Shika.

Saaja naiShikah moved to the Tauh as a young adult, hoping to live frugally off the basic income and study medicine. They served as a "line doctor" for thirty years, treating routine flagellation wounds, but longed to put their knowledge to better use. When the Ley River Keep was established, they moved and became a senior combat medic.

6. The Wakta Goblin Duchy

Legally, the name of the Wakta Duchy changes with the six goblin seasons; for example, presently it is the Wakta Duchy of First-Thaw. This is because the Duchy, and the labor role of each citizen within it, changes with the seasons. At the start of every season, a carnival is held where everybody rotates jobs. For example, the members of the old ruling council becomes the head chef, sword-sharpener, and tutor to the new ruling council.

While historically the seasonal calendar was an artifact of oppressive rule under the fae queen Wakta K'ta, today it is a matter of goblin pride. It's said that the calendar cultivates a culture of humility, adaptability, and lifelong learning, and works better than formal schooling for teaching children. While some goblin political commentators suggest switching to a system that allows specialized labor, others praise that no goblin gets stuck doing low-class labor such as library management or fishing their whole life. To the Wakta goblins, it's not so bad to be a dishie for a few months if you'll get to decide the menu next season. Besides, it's better than navigating the complex class mobility of the other duchies.

During melting-season, Iki Iki sailed away, hoping to escape a season of boring, thankless scribe work. It attempted to return in disguise, but was blown off course. Lost at sea, it learned the value of discipline, and resolved to return to do the work it had shirked. Alas, it wasn't welcome back. So a newly mature Iki Iki moved to the Ley River Keep and became an editor of meeting minutes.

7. Metalknot

The human and orc settlement of Metalknot began as a lucrative copper mine, known across the western continent for both the quality of its product and the brutality with which it treated its workers. In the 940s, tensions hit a boiling point. This eventually resulted in a singularly bloody revolt, led by a woman known only as "Aunet the Realizer". Overnight, ownership of the mine and its associated company town transferred to Aunet and her faction, and it nominally became a worker co-operative.

Aunet falsely played up the unlikeliness of the victory to anyone who would listen. She credited it to her religious practice of repeating 44 phrases four times a day, such as "victory is a mentifact of bodily embedded righteousness". When Aunet died, her elected successor expanded these catechisms into a formal martial faith called the Cult of Valor. Today, it is the de facto religion of Metalknot; most citizens carry ceremonial weapons, and it is taboo to say the words "defeat" or "loss" rather than euphemisms. Perhaps Metalknot is best known for its traditions surrounding names: whether and how you may address an individual depends on whether they are your direct superior, your indirect superior, your peer, or your inferior.

Eloi Jaret, Born of Bear became an rank-and-file guard in the Ley River Keep, as part of a deal in which Metalknot would get special trade privileges in exchange for some conscripted labor. Over time, he rose the ranks and became the keep's Deputy of Port Security and Preventative Analytics, while keeping the Cult of Valor traditions alive. To this day, he frustrates many of his staff by refusing to respond to merely "Eloi", "Jaret", or "Deputy".

8. The Orionites

Januses are nigh-immortal giants from small islands on the far shores of the west continent. They are anywhere from four to forty times the size of most mortals, and have anywhere from two to twenty faces. They practice water magic, often tending whirlpools around their islands for sport, and sleep in coffin-like rectangular pits in the ground. They largely prefer to live apart from other januses, perhaps sharing their territory with livestock or smaller companions.

During the Great Bloodbath of the 730s, the elvish kingdoms brutally persecuted members of the Orion house (at the time, the only noble house in the elvish kingdoms to allow non-elves). Many who could afford it fled to the Janus islands, offering to work as farmers, shepherds, and entertainers in exchange for protection. Over time, this evolved into human, elf, and dwarf settlements centered around the sleeping-pit. Their governments vary from island to island. Some januses are more than happy to serve as monarchs, while others consider themselves first among equals or even normal citizens under a fair democracy.

Almost all Orionites practice wearing full masks in public, usually decorated as animals. It is proper to remove the mask immediately upon entering an indoor or private space, and likewise to don it immediately upon entering an outdoor or public one. While this practice is maintained today as a matter of cultural pride, its significance is lost to time, even within Orionite oral history. There are no credible explanations of its origins at the time of writing.

Gawram of Orion, a half-elf, grew up a brewer under the hotheaded janus Nalja. A dispute over territory resulted in Nalja challenging a neighboring janus to single combat to the death. Gawram was sent to the Ley River Keep to petition for a third-party mediator, and fell in love with the bustling atmosphere and the allure of dungeoneering. After the conflict was resolved, she moved to become a dishwasher in the Keep; she's almost saved up enough money to buy entry-level wizarding gear.

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