The World as it Was

The MIDNIGHT campaign setting focuses on Eredane, one of the largest continents of Aryth. The continent of Eredane is a vast land with a geography as varied as its people. Eredane is a single huge landmass flanked by several large islands to the south. The Kasmael Sea washes against the southern and western shores, and to the east the vast emptiness of the Pale Ocean lies between Eredane and the lands of the Old Empire. The continent is almost 3,000 miles across at its widest and half again as long from the southern coast to the unexplored northern reaches.

The region was invaded from across the sea by barbarian raiders from the Dornland river valley on the continent of Pelluria in the middle of the First Age. The Dorns warred with the elves of Erethor and the dwarves of the Kaladruns before finally forging a lasting peace. At the end of the First Age, the Dorns joined with the elves and dwarves to throw back the dark forces of the Shadow in the North.

Two major mountain ranges extend from the frozen north. The Kaladrun Mountains run the length of the eastern coast to the southern shores of Erenland and beyond to the island of Asmadar. They are young as mountains go, but ancient in the lives of the races. They are steep, with high glaciers and deep snows even in the south. They hide a thousand secret valleys and spawn countless crystal streams. Their roots reach to the center of the earth, their eastern flanks push the desert to the sea, and their western foothills become the rolling high plains. The central and southern ranges of these cold mountains are home to the clanholds of the dwarves, while Izrador’s foul orcs hold the northern peaks.

The Highhorn Mountains in the west extend only partway to the southern sea, becoming low hills as they reach central Erethor. These mountains are older still than the Kaladruns, and though they no longer reach so high, they are no less rugged. Within their reaches are cold and hidden places and there, too, dwell orcs and many other foul creatures.

The Great Forest of Erethor is a massive continent-spanning wood that covers most of western Eredane. It is more than 2,000 miles from its northern to southern ends and 1,300 miles across at its center. The forest reaches from the cold north through temperate lands to the tropical south, and within its borders are found woodlands of every type.

The northern forest is a cold realm of evergreens, cedars, and winter oak. This boreal wood is home to the Erunsil elves and spends much of the year under heavy snows. The central expanse is full of hickory, homewood, and elfpine. It is home to the Caransil elves, the fabled tree-city of Caradul, and the Court of the Witch Queen. The Miransil elves live along the western coast and the Danisil live in the wet jungle of southern Erethor. Its vast swamps of cypress and muckwood and dark, hidden rivers are laden with druidic power and are homes to ancient spirits, both evil and benign.

The vast central plains of Eredane are flanked by the high Kaladruns in the east and Erethor in the west. Their deep black soils and tall grasses reach from the frozen wastes of the Northern Marches to the warm coastal plains of southern Erenland. Three great rivers, the Ishensa, the Torbrun, and the Gamaril, converge in the heart of the Northlands to form the vast freshwater called the Sea of Pelluria. The Pelluria drains south through endless plains, down the long winding valley of the River Eren to the Kasmael Sea. The shores of the Pelluria were once the home of the Northmen, but those that have not been killed or enslaved by the invaders have fled. The southern plains are home to the once-conquering Sarcosans who are now themselves a conquered people.

Climate

The climate of Eredane was once a docile and temperate one with cold winters and pleasant summers in the Northlands, warm sun in the central plains, and balmy days year round in the far south. Since the rise of Izrador and the wanton use of dread magics by his legates, the winds have fouled and turned the once-benign climate into a brutal weapon against the people of Eredane.

Winter now never seems to relinquish its hold on the Northlands and snows sometimes fall there even in high summer. The trees of northernmost Erethor are dying under layers of ice and the cold has killed many animals and driven the survivors south. The Sea of Pelluria is hidden under frequent fogs, and driving rains are more common than sun.

The Kaladrun Mountains are buried under unnatural snowfalls, and year-round freezing winds blow out from the mountains, chilling the high plains. Continuous lightning storms plague the Eren river valley with grass fires and hail, and months go by without so much as a single ray of sunshine or drop of quenching rain.

In the south, a constant pall blocks out the sun but little rain falls to water natural plants or dying crops. Even in Erethor’s wet southern jungle, drought threatens to destroy the vibrant ecology of the forest, and the spirits of that place grow restless.