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The 'Shorkyne Regional Expansion Module' (Henceforth referred to as 'Shorkyne'.) is the third region book for Columbia Games 'Harn' role-playing setting.
Originally planned to appear in 1987/8 just one year after the release of the 'Ivinia Regional Expansion Module', 'Shorkyne' finally released in 1991, covers that part of the Lythian mainland that lies south of Ivinia and east of the Island of Harn.
The module itself consists of a slip folder containing a map of the Shorkyne region and the Shorkyne Regional Book. The book is divided into two sections; the first consists of articles on the Shorkyne region, and the regions three major kingdoms, Shorkyne, Harbaal and Chelemby. The second section of the book is the Shorkyne Regional Index an alphabetical listing of people, places and organizations within and around the Shorkyne region.
The four articles are:
Shorkyne Region (6 pages): The shortest of the four articles provides an overview of the region, a map key, and includes a political map showing the borders of the various states. The last two pages have advice on how to generate local characters, including tables to generate home countries/towns. Page five has three of the four tables, these tables, ("State/Subregion, Chelemby/Hurisea and Harbaal) are all based on a D100 roll. The table on page six is for the Kingdom of Shorkyne alone, it is a monster, and the only D1000 table I have ever seen.
Shorkyne (20 pages): Shorkyne is the largest of the states featured in this module, however that size has bought problems rather than strength, the king is only one of five dukes and the third most powerful one at that.
For decades only the threat of Trierzon to the south kept Shorkyne unified, while the barons made and unmade kings at will. It was not until the seventh king created the Barons Parliament that the throne began to dominate the regions.
But while the current king now has more control over his realm than many of his predecessors, it is imperiled by the rivalry between the greatest of the ducal families, the Pelanby family, Ivinian migrants with branches of the family across western Lythia and the Tabin family, once kings in their own right, their independence broken by an alliance between the first king of Shorkyne and the Pelanby family.
It is a rivalry that has split the parliament into four factions (Pelanby, Tabin, King & Neutral) and threatens to plunge Shorkyne into a third civil war, meanwhile to the south, Trierzon waits...
Harbaal (8 pages): An Ivinian state created out of the desire of the Elendy family to thwart the ambitions of Ibanvaal, Harbaal has begun the slow process of transforming from a tributary state like Ivinia's Menglana, into a feudal domain.
It is a state looking for direction, successful in expelling Ivanbaal from Harbaal, the Elendys were thwarted in their attempts to annex the city-state of Chelemby and they are now contemplating renewing their fight with Ibanvaal by joining with other Ivinian states to preserve Menglanan independence.
Chelemby (11 pages): A city-state whose wealth is derived from trade, Chelemby used to be ruled by a series of committees, but a series of threats including the rising power of Harbaal caused the formation of a constitutional monarchy, the new royal family successfully defended Chelemby from Harbaal and in that crisis forged a nation from a loose collection of merchant families. At present the independence of Chelemby is secure, her only worry a continued need to import food from the mainland.
A fourth region, Hurisea, is covered in the Shorkyne Regional index; it is a loose collection of petty states, including the great trading city of Beldira. The region is a stew of intrigue as the local leaders try to keep outsiders from conquering Hurisea while simultaneously trying to ensure that their state will be the one to unify Hurisea.
"HARNWORLD: SHORKYNE REGIONAL EXPANSION MODULE", COMMENTS.
The first thing one notices about the Shorkyne module is that unlike its predecessors (Harn, Ivinia), which consisted of an overview book, regional index and map, Shorkyne has a short overview followed by articles that are the equivalent of the 'kingdom history' section of the earlier Kingdom books (Evael, Azadmere, Chybisa, etc). This makes the book more self-contained than the previous region books and avoids the problem that plagued the Ivinia module, namely the non-appearance of the kingdom books.
The second thing noticed is that the area covered by the Shorkyne module is very different from those covered by the Harn and Ivinia modules; it is more settled and more civilized. The region is also more closely tied to the world 'beyond' the regional map, a fact made clear in the regional index, several of the places mentioned are actually found on the Trierzon regional map.
The third principle feature of the setting is the lack of Elves and Dwarves. In their place, Shorkyne has the canine-like Nadi and a colony of surprisingly civilized Gargun (Orcs).
One interesting item can be found in the regional index, with one exception cities simply get a short entry that describes the city and it economy, the exception is Chelemby, the article is accompanied by a map of the city that was presumably intended to be used in an unpublished Shorkyne supplement.
The enclosed regional map that comes with the regional sourcebook is clear, easy to read and contains all major settlements and points of interest featured in the regional index.
The only major text error I have spotted is related to a listing of Earthmaster (A mysterious pre-human race) sites, the reader is repeatedly pointed to an entry entitled 'Hlejis'; this is in fact the location of the civilized orcs I mentioned earlier. I suspect that the intended entry is one entitled 'Mizuna', a location that is the capital of the enigmatic Nadi.
The major problem with Shorkyne is one that has dogged the 'Harn' line since 1987, a lack of support from Columbia Games, at least two follow up items are known, the first was a book to be entitled 'Cities of Shorkyne' this was the book the Chelemby city map was probably intended for. The second missing item was the Trierzon Regional Module which aside from covering the Kingdom of Shorkynes major foe, would also have provided information on the Kingdom of Emelrene a state which appears to play the same role on the Lythian mainland that Melderyn plays on Harn.
However that is a situation that may change, articles on locations within Shorkyne are being planned for Columbia Games HarnQuest article series and Columbia has listed the Trierzon Regional sourcebook on its preorder list.
"HARNWORLD: SHORKYNE REGIONAL EXPANSION MODULE", VERDICT.
In conclusion, 'Shorkyne' is probably the best of the three Harn Regional Modules to date and with Columbia Games renewed commitment to the setting it is well worth seeking out.
