Minitarn is located at the Southwestern end of the Sea of Ashes. The island is approximately 70 miles across and 90 miles long. It is a rocky, hard land, with residents of the same stamina. Two of the hardiest races of Terragloria live on this sizable isle - the Minotaur and the Rorax, along with a small community of Dokken.

The most populace of the humanoids on the island are the minotaurs. They are a tough and brutal race, but not necessarilly evil (unlike the Minotaurs in the Monster Manual the Terraglorian version tend to be Lawful Neutral). They get along well and have strong trade relations with the Dokken. As far as the Rorax are concerned the minotaurs get along better than most other races do with the irritable race. The Minotaurs are lightly spread all over the island, but their main populations are in the cities of Strylic and Tarnic.

The Dokken has a sizeable community in the Northeastern corner of the island called Low Hill. It is primarily a farming and ranching community, with a few ship repairs capabilities.

The Rorax inhabit the central portions of the isle where they remain isolated from the rest of the residents of the isle. They recieved this land in the signing of the snake treaty with the minotaurs.

History

The minotaur believe that they were given the isle of Minitarn by Tyrm to safeguard the cursed bones of the great dragon. Though few outside of the sacred order know the whereabouts of the bones all of the minotaur race endeavor to guard their isle.

The first major conflict that the horned isle faced was the great civil war that took place approximately 575 years ago. At this time the Rorax were as firmly established on the isle as the minotaurs were, and the Dokken had not yet settled on the isles shores. A great leader of the rorax (Obun Yut) was assassinated. To this day no one really knows what happened, but the rorax blamed the minotaurs for the assassination. The civil war lasted for the next 20 years, ending in a bloody battle that all but exterminated the rorax. Finally admitting defeat, the rorax were forced into slavery by the minotaurs.

The next 10 years were almost as bloody as the previous 20, and the minotaurs found that the rorax make terrible slaves. It is said that during this time more minotaurs died mysteriously than during the coarse of the war. Of coarse the minotaurs could rarely proove that the deaths came from any individual rorax. Finally the minotaurs had enough of trying to coerce the proud and stiff necked rorax into slavery and abolished slavery all over the island. The rorax were then pushed into the central section of the isle where they spent almost another 100 years licking their wounds and praying to Hammer to destroy the blasted minotaurs.

Hammer must have eventually heard their prayers because 112 years later the country of Reptillia decided to take over the island as their first step in conquering the lands of southern Terragloria. The denizens of Reptillia had plans to take over the horned isle and use it as a military launching site in their conquest. The first week of the war failed to keep the reptillians off of the shores of Minitarn. Stylic was in ruins and the forces from Reptillia were steadily marching across the isle. In desperation the minotaurs sent out pleas of help to anyone that they thaught could save their land. One of the first places that they looked for aid was in the isle's central regions - where the rorax dwelt. At first the rorax laughed and stated that the minotaur were getting what they deserved, but when the scouts that the rorax had sent out returned from Strylic the rorax realized that the minotaur would not be the only race to suffer. Grudgingly they agreed to help. A small group of Dokken also came to the minotaurs aid from the Borderlands to the south. Over the next six months a bloody battle was faught, good and evil creatures died, heroes and villans were made, and the reptiles were driven from the isle.

After the battle heroes were proclaimed, such as Umuk Zan (a rorax warrior who singlehandely slew one of the top reptillian generals and changed the coarse of the war), Tomuk Umath (a minotaur general), and Sly Bottlefoot (a Dokken spy who retrieved critical information for the isles forces). The minotaur officially apologized to the rorax for the mistreatment that their race had recieved, and awarded them a large tract of land in central minitarn that they could govern for themselves. For the Dokkens part in the war they were given tract of land on the northwestern peninsula of the horned isle where Low Hill was established.

Gladiators

Minotaurs by nature are an aggressive lot. Whether good or evil they still have a need for war. However, being on an island limits their abilities to find worthy enemies, especially when the relationship between the races on the island is in good standing. Upon realizing this at the end of the civil war the Minotaurs decided to build a colluseum and use the events to still the need for war with it's people.

At first it was battles between rorax. This didn't last very long before the rorax decided to choose death instead of killing one another. Then began the rorax verses beasts gladiator events, but this soon became too commonplace. After the release of the rorax a new concept was concieved. To battle to see who would be the latest Bone Guardian.

In order to guard the bones of the great dragon a warrior must be the best there is. The gladiator arena was the best way to find out who was the best. In this way minotaurs were enticed to battle, but were never slaves that were forced into battle. At the end of each year there is a week long gladiator event that narrows down the competition until there is a single victor. That victor will be added to the men who are the guardian of the bones.

Normally the contest is only until a warrior concedes to the other warrior, but if a warrior doesn't condede then there is no code of honor that forbids the warriors death. Only about 25% of the battles end in death, but 80% of the contestents do come away from the battles with at the very least a permanent scar to show for his efforts.

Low Hill

Lowhill is a small farming village located on the northwestern peninsula on the island of Minitarn. It serves as a port to many different races, as the Dokken there raise, grow, and craft many different tradable goods.

Along the shore of the island, the village stinks of dead fish and smelly fishermen. Once you dock, the first things you see are the Laughing Lady Bar and the general store with the Lonely Inn attached to it.

In a small cluster of trees behind the bar is located the rounded temple of Strob. South of that is the town hall. Next you come to the weapon smith's shop, the seamstress's shop, the bakery, and the archery shop. Continuing south, you will eventually come to the brewery where Low Hill ambrosia is brewed.

There are also many farms, ranches, and orchards, including a potato farm, corn field, wheat field, vegetable farm, apple orchard, fig orchard, pig ranch, ageehan ranch, schtock ranch, and sheep and goat ranch, as well as many other small, individual plots.

There is one lake in the village, Low Lake and there are only two roads which are paved in Low Hill. One of the roads leads to Tarnic and the other leads to Strylic. The minotaurs use these roads when they come to gather their supplies which they are given in return for their protection against raids and such.

Strylic

Before the war with Reptillia Strylic was the capital city for the horned isle. It has since been rebuilt back to it's former glory, but it no longer holds the title of capital. During the rebuilding process all of the government functions took place at Tarnic and from that point on the core of government remained in Tarnic.

Most of the buildings of the city are made of worked stone. Most structures are single story, with the occasional two story building. The city has mainly shops near the center, with modest housing on the outside parimater.

One thing that Strylic does excell at over Tarnic is it's colleseum. When the city was in planning one of the most important features that were to be integrated into the city plans was to be the gladiator colluseum. It was to be so grand as to have no other rivals. The colluseum sits in the heart of the city and is the cities greatest feature.

Tarnic

Tarnic has been the capital city of the Horned isle since the destruction of Strylic during the Reptillian wars. It's buildings are mainly made of stone, but there are many more wooden structures in Tarnic than there are in Strylic. Most of the structures are single story, but a few of them have anywhere from 2 to 4 stories.

Though it is now the capital city of Minitarn it is still much older than the rebuilt Strylic and also a much less clean city. It is in no way a filthy port city, but it is old and has many more abandoned or condemned structures.

There is an older, smaller colluseum in Tarnic, but the main source of revenue for the city Tarnic is it's fishing industry.

Rorax Clans

The rorax clans live in the central portion of the Horned isle. They live in hilly and mountainous regions where the caves offer them protection from the weather.

There are approximately six separate clans existing in the central region. The are called the Umuk, Cochun, Zoke, Loku, Puk, and Razun. Unlike most clans these six have approximately 100 rorax members. There are many other smaller clans, but the ones listed are the oldest - dating back to just after the civil war. The clans maintain a separate existance in their nomadic livestyles. They will usually avoid other clans unless a war meeting has been called.

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