机翻润色
龙国舆图(Dragon Empires Gazetteer)
第一章:序言
定居在内海地区的人都知道,这片土地是一片广阔的山脉和沼泽、森林和平原、国家和荒地,人们可以期待在那里遇到各种各样的挑战和谜团。无论是瓦瑞西亚的边疆、艾巴萨罗姆的城市扩张、伊利森的冰冻河段,还是芒吉莽原看似无尽的丛林和稀树草原,内海地区都为好奇和勇敢的人提供了无数的机会。
Those who dwell in the Inner Sea region know the land as a vast swath of mountains and swamps, forests and plains, nations and wildlands, where one can expect to encounter a diverse range of challenges and mysteries. Be it the frontier lands of Varisia, the urban sprawl of Absalom, the frozen reaches of Irrisen, or the seemingly endless jungles and savannas of the Mwangi Expanse, the Inner Sea region presents an immense amount of opportunity for the curious and the brave.
然而,内海只是格拉利昂上一个相对较小的领域。阿维斯坦和北伽伦德边界之外还有其他土地——沉没的阿兹兰特大陆、冰封的可怖世界之冠、卡斯卓汶海周围的古代国家和神话中的乌荼罗之地——都吸引着来自世界各地的冒险家。但是,当冒险和神秘气氛的追求者从内海出发,无论是穿越极地冰层向北跋涉,还是经历了史诗般的海上航行的考验,他们都会到达一个拥有陌生传统和丰富历史的地方。一片北至北极圈南至赤道以南的大地,一片面积是从林诺姆诸王国到萨迦瓦这整个内海地区的五倍多的大地——这便是诸龙国。
Yet the Inner Sea is but one relatively small realm on Golarion. Other lands exist beyond the borders of Avistan and north Garund—the sunken continent of Azlant, the frozen terrors of the Crown of the World, the ancient nations that surround the Castrovin Sea, and the mythical land of Vudra all draw adventurers from across the world. But when seekers of adventure and intrigue travel as far as one can go from the Inner Sea—whether having trekked across the polar ice to the north or endured the trials of an epic sea voyage—they arrive in a land of unfamiliar traditions and rich history. A land that stretches from the arctic circle to the north to well below the equator to the south. A land more than five times the area of the entire Inner Sea region, from the Linnorm Kingdoms to Sargava. These are the Dragon Empires.
龙国 THE DRAGON EMPIRES
对于来自西方的访客来说,天夏大陆是一个奇特而充满异国情调的地方。在这里,人类与狐人和鸟人并肩作战,荣誉是一种几乎显而易见的力量,能够决定国家的命运,路边的任何石头或灌木都可能隐藏着一种更具保护性的守护精神。但天夏与世界其他地方最大的不同之一是龙与大陆人民互动的方式。
The continent of Tian Xia is a strange and exotic place to visitors from the west. Here, humans rub shoulders with fox and bird people, honor is an almost palpable force capable of deciding the fate of nations, and any stone or bush at the side of the road could potentially hide a fiercely protective guardian spirit. But one of the greatest differences between Tian Xia and the rest of the world is the way in which dragons interact with the people of the land.
在格拉利昂的大部分地区,包括内海地区,龙往好了说是隐士,往坏了说是掠夺者。龙毁灭整个城市、吞噬军团、毁灭国家的传说和故事都是基于真实事件。即使在极为罕见的情况下,龙试图在不造成大规模暴力的情况下与类人生物直接互动,结果也是值得怀疑的——赫迷亚岛国的统治者是一条龙,他的国家是由表面上看起来快乐的人组成的,但人们不必从赫迷亚的表面下看太远就可以找到麻烦和不满的证据。赫迷亚是目前唯一这样的例子。
In most parts of Golarion, including the Inner Sea region, dragons are recluses at best, and marauders at worst. The legends and tales of dragons devastating entire cities, gobbling up legions, and laying waste to nations are based all too closely on actual events. Even in the extremely rare cases when dragons seek to interact directly with humanoids without wreaking violence on a massive scale, the results are questionable—the ruler of the island nation of Hermea is a dragon, and his nation is composed of outwardly happy-seeming people, yet one does not have to look far under Hermea’s surface to f ind evidence of trouble and discontent. And Hermea is the only such example at this time.
这并不是说龙从不帮助人类——只是,当给予这种帮助时,几乎总是在个人层面上。龙很少(如果有的话)与内海地区的人形社会进行大规模互动,除了压迫或毁灭。
This is not to say that dragons never aid humans—just that, when such aid is given, it is almost always on a personal level. Dragons rarely, if ever, interact with the humanoid society of the Inner Sea region on a large scale other than to oppress or devastate.
天夏的情况并非如此。在这里,居住在这片土地上的龙不是避世的金属龙、嗜杀的彩色龙或中正的原龙。这些大地上的龙被称为帝龙,与自然和文明的平衡、祖先和后代、英雄和恶棍紧密相连。他们不回避人性——他们拥抱人性。事实上,天夏最常见的几个神可能自己就是龙。但是,即使这些神只是更喜欢龙的形式,这一点仍然不变。在天夏,龙扮演统治者、向导或神的角色。明海的五个皇室家族被龙相之下的女神静琉授予了神圣的统治权。夸英依靠强大的天龙提供的魔法援助,这援助是其邻国凌盛和渤骊梦寐以求的。在舍诲,人民由一条人形的帝龙统治。出于这些原因,天夏大地长期以来一直被称为龙国。
This is not the case in Tian Xia. Here, the dragons that inhabit the land are not the reclusive metallics, murderous chromatics, or impartial primals. The dragons of these lands are known as imperial dragons, creatures inexorably tied to the balance of nature and civilization, ancestors and descendants, and heroes and villains. They do not avoid humanity—they embrace it. Indeed, several of Tian Xia’s most common gods may themselves be dragons. But even if these deities simply prefer the draconic form, the point remains the same. In Tian Xia, dragons serve as rulers, as advisors, and as gods. The five imperial families of Minkai were granted the divine right to rule by the goddess Shizuru in her draconic guise. The nation of Quain depends upon the magical aid granted by the powerful Celestial Dragon—aid greatly coveted by its neighbors Lingshen and Po Li. And in Xa Hoi, the people are ruled by a sovereign imperial dragon in human form. For these reasons and more, the lands of Tian Xia have long been known as the Dragon Empires.
灵感 INSPIRATIONS
格拉利昂是一个幻想世界,但它在很大程度上受到了现实世界的启发。在内海地区,我们借鉴了现实世界的神话和历史,产生了像奥斯利昂、林诺姆诸王国、卡蒂亚、瓦瑞西亚等国家。我们在开发龙国时也是这样做的。
Golarion is a fantasy world, yet it is very much inspired by the real world. In the Inner Sea region, we drew upon real-world mythology and history to generate nations like Osirion, the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Qadira, Varisia, and more. We did the same when developing the Dragon Empires.
在下面的页面中,你会发现地区、神、事件、怪物和人的灵感来自许多亚洲类似国家的神话和历史,如柬埔寨、中国、印度尼西亚、日本、韩国、蒙古、西藏、越南等。然而,当你探索龙国时,值得记住一个简单的事实。天夏不是亚洲。
In the following pages, you will find regions, deities, events, monsters, and people inspired by the myths and histories of numerous Asian analogs, such as Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, Vietnam, and more. Yet as you explore the Dragon Empires, it’s worth keeping in mind one simple truth. Tian Xia is not Asia.
对于许多民族、习俗、神和地区来说,我们只将现实世界的神话和历史作为一个起点。正如奥斯利昂不是埃及的完全复制品,明海也不是日本的完全复制物。你会发现受韩国传说启发的国家崇拜来自中国神话的神,以及生活在以印尼社会为原型的社会中的日本民间传说中的实体。虽然在现实世界中,你可能不会想到柬埔寨故事中会出现忍者,但龙帝国的情况并非如此,在那里,一个地区的传统和神话可能与另一个地区有着明显的重叠。因此,当你探索天夏的不同土地时,请记住,在本书的创作过程中,我们从现实世界开始,而我们最终到达的是格拉利昂。毕竟,当有由深海巨鱿统治的飞行城市和国家时,一个受日本启发的武士拿起武器对抗一个受印度尼西亚启发的不死生物的概念真的并不奇怪!
For many of the peoples, customs, deities, and regions, we’ve used real-world mythology and history as nothing more than a starting point. Just as Osirion isn’t an exact duplicate of Egypt, neither is Minkai an exact replica of Japan. You’ll f ind nations inspired by Korean legend that worship deities drawn from Chinese mythology, and entities from Japanese folklore living among societies modeled on Indonesian societies. While in the real world, you might not expect to see a ninja pop up in a Cambodian story, that’s not the case in the Dragon Empires, where the traditions and myths of one region can signif icantly overlap with those of another. So when you explore the varied lands of Tian Xia, keep in mind that while we began with the real world during the creation of this book, where we ended up is Golarion. The concept of a Japan-inspired samurai taking up arms against an Indonesia-inspired undead monster really isn’t all that outlandish when there are flying cities and nations ruled by krakens, after all!
此外,无数的电影帮助指导和激励了龙国的发展——太多了,无法在这里一一列出。相反,这里提供了一些,如果你愿意这么理解,对于任何想在龙国冒险中寻找更多灵感的人来说,相当重要的必看的影片。
Furthermore, countless movies helped to guide and inspire the development of the Dragon Empires—far too many to list here. Instead, presented here are a few mainstays—“required viewing,” if you will, for anyone who’s looking for more inspiration on running a Dragon Empires adventure.