Historical Stuff (some meta)

For those who have an interest in the real-world area we're playing in:

• Baal-gad, the home town for the party, is geographically correct, as are the major cities of the region. The citadel exists, but it was built during the Middle-Ages, likely by Christian knights.
  
• The roads I've included in the player's guide are mythical; they're based on modern day highways. Since highways are often based on older routes, I suppose it's possible these were used.
• The Fertile Valley, was in fact called that, kind of like California's "Central Valley." It's in the northern part of the Golan Heights region of Israel. Everything in this region has a biblical name as well, which I try to avoid. If it has an obvious biblical name, I'll research back until I find something older. Sometimes too far (I now like Tyre rather than Zor, for example). Newer names are often Arabic, which is far too modern a feel for what I want.
  
• Leish and Dan. Leish on my map is actually the real Dan, which had a biblical role as a city of many religions, as I've tried to portray it. Sometimes the bible is perfect for my fantasy life. I moved the mythical Dan in my game farther south, because I wanted it to have a lesser influence. The small farming village of "Leish" on my map is the real world location of Dan (now a ruin and Israeli tourist site).
• Samaria is the land of the Philistines. I couldn't really leave it as Philistines, right? In the game, it's a confederation of barbarian tribes, devolved from a greater civilisation. It's likely it happened in reverse in real life, a primitive sea people that evolved into a civilized group of traders and city builders. I didn't want another human civilization right there, so they now roam the coast as barbarians.
• Thunderspire Mountain. There appears to be a modern day highway through this pass area. I originally planned to have it as a mountain pass, with a haunted citadel of some sort there, guarding it from my Syrians (Tash), but Thunderspire fits much better, with its underground highway.
• Lake Genneseret. Also called The Sea of Galilea, Lake Tiberias, Lake Kinneret, and several other names. Sometimes I have to work to obscure names.