Geography

Regions

The Imperial Heartland

{{main|The Imperial Heartland}}

Once home to a quiet, industrious people, this region is now the bustling center of a massive empire.

Geographical Areas

• The Great Rift: The once fertile and mineral-rich lands of the Imperial Core.
• Austland: The vast prairies and meadows of this land were the first to fall to the Empire.
• Othuria: This wide savannah is home to nomadic horsemen and primitive hunter-gatherers.
• Knossos: The highlands between the Great Rift and Dacia get their name from the Nar-Austian name for the continent as a whole.
• Alland: This sparse but fertile region stretches to the southeast coast of the continent, giving the Empire some of its only major ports on the Dragon Sea.

Nations

• The Empire

The Jeweled Coast

{{main|The Jeweled Coast}}

South of The Titans, the twin subcontinent subcontinents of the southern coast are home to the last few independent nations in the world.

Geographical Areas

• The Indigan Subcontinent: Considered by historians to be the birthplace of civilization; artifacts have been founded dating back 15,000 years. Since the first northward migration of humans, the Indigan people have lived in this region and maintained a high degree of cultural stability.
• The Essali Subcontinent: Likely settled after the Indigan coast, this region nonetheless has an ancient and rich history. Art and literature from this region is some of the finest in the world.

Nations

• The Southern League: An alliance of city-states, over 50 in all, encompassing those Indigan and Essali rulers who remain independent from the Empire.

The Veiled Sea

{{main|The Veiled Sea}}

The seas to the east of the Imperial continent are quite calm, but the skies above cloy with mist as one sails eastward. Little has been discovered beyond the east coast.

Geographical Areas

• The Ebon Isle: This large island is thought to rival the Essali subcontinent in size, but precious little is known about it. It is bounded on all sides by sheer, black cliffs. A few daring adventurers have set out to brave the cliffs, but none returned.

The Sea of Thunder

{{main|The Sea of Thunder}}

This tumultuous sea becomes increasingly unforgiving as one sails west of the Imperial continent. Verian sailors often test themselves in these waters, measuring their courage and prowess by how far they can sail before they turn back -- if they even make it back.

Geographical Areas

• The Godhand: This chain of islands consists of five major, finger-like islands, and hundreds of smaller ones. They are part of the mountain range that forms the northern border of the Empire.

Nations

• Narga: Though the Nar once ruled over a vast swath of land rivaling the holdings of the Empire itself, all of their continental territory has been conquered. Still, they hold four of the five islands in the Godhand, and they recognize that the de facto state of peace with the Empire is only a calm before the storm, when the Empire can summon the naval might to challenge them at the sea. They do not intend to allow the Empire to get that chance.

Terminus

{{main|Terminus}}

This region comprises the northern border of the known world. As one travels north in the Sea of Thunder or the Veiled Sea, the clear water gives way to ice floes and glaciers, and eventually to a solid mass of ice. On land, a mountain range of epic proportions forms an impenetrable barrier, even to the might of the Empire.

Geographical Areas

• The Immortals: The mountains north of the Great Rift rise quickly. Imperial explorers have penetrated a thousand miles into these titanic mountains, climbing to peaks above 30,000 feet, only to spot mountain caps in the dark north that dwarf the forbidding heights they'd already achieved. The Architons claim to know what lies beyond this otherwordly barrier, but they do not say.

Nations

• Dacia: Nestled in a plateau well above the Imperial Heartland, the nation of Dacia has remained quiet and peaceful for unknown lengths of history. Though they have suffered only minimal losses due to Imperial incursions, they remain active opponents of the Empire, aiding the conquered people of nearby lands with their unusual magics and their uncanny ability to slip through Imperial territory to reach its furthest-flung outposts.

The Sea of Dragons

{{main|The Sea of Dragons}}

The seas between the Imperial continent and the Dragon Isles are fraught with danger. Shifting currents, freak storms, underwater kingdoms, and wandering vortices all take a back seat to the true threat: sea dragons. These great creatures mercilessly destroy ships and devour sailors, and it seems only the Verians know the best routes for safe passage.

Sites

• The Ivory Tower:This massive tower, perched on a crag no larger than its own base, juts forth from the deepest, most forbidding depths of the Sea of Dragons. It is a lighthouse, but the light it sheds can be seen only be certain individuals, particularly Verian captains. The tower is used as neutral ground for meetings between Verian clans.

The Dragon Isles

{{main|The Dragon Isles}}

A region discovered only recently, the Dragon Isles lie far to the south of the Imperial continent, across the Sea of Dragons. In centuries past, no ship in non-Verian hands could traverse those seas with any hope of returning. Now, necessity and invention have driven millions southward, to the last truly free land of men: Loretan.

Geographical Areas

• The Dragon Cresent: A chain of islands in the shape of a crescent thousands of miles long, connected by shallow, calm waters.
• The Raptor Islands: A cluster of large, rocky islands opposite the Dragon Crescent, roughly in the center of the circle formed by those islands.
• The Turtle Sea: A body of water mostly bounded by the Dragon Crescent and the Raptor Islands.

Nations

• Loretan
• The Shah'numan Rajate