| The Geography |
| Earthspine Mountains | This mountain range of dark stone (basalt, obsidian, and other igneous and metamorphic stone is common) overlooks a narrow strip of gritty beach to the west and the humid river valley of Kaddegh and the other Old Cities to the east. The Earthspine mountains themselves are capped with snow; in the spring and summer months the mountains and foothills are awash with avalanches, mud slides, and flooding. |
| Eastern Coast | The easternmost coastline of The North is marked by gently rolling hills, by small forests of pine and fir, and in the winter by drifts of crusted snow that can give away underfoot and swallow a man as surely as quicksand. This coast is also the only place on the entire continent where ships may come to port. Farther north the ocean turns to ice, and south wild forests overlook the sea from the tops of jagged, storm-battered cliffs. |
| The Heartlands | The cool, damp lowlands called the Heartlands are fertile, but lack any natural barriers that might help a local population defend itself. The heartlands are bordered by the valley of the Old Cities to the west, the tundra and polar desert to the north, Iso and the hot lakes to the east, and the untamed forest of Lerin Sangua to the south. The sites of so many great battles--magical and mundane--has drastically changed the ecology of certain areas in the Heartlands. |
| The Kaddegh River Valley | The great river Kaddegh (pronounced KAH-def) has carved out this valley, fed by tributaries in the Earthspine mountains. Long ago, the valley was thick with civilization. Although the floods still bring rich soil, overdevelopment has caused erosion and depletion to reach dangerous levels in some areas. The river Kaddegh flows south to the cliffs and plummets into the mist below in a great waterfall known as Gods' Tears. |
| The Lakelands | The geographic center of the northern continent is here, a cluster of lakes fed by boiling mineral springs. A warm river of water runs off of the lakes to the south, feeding the river Quelrid through tepid bogs and drowned forests that were once part of Lerin Sangua. For some reason not fully understood by scholars, the Lakelands are peppered with abnormal magic areas. |
| Lerin Sangua | The warmest--and southernmost--parts of The North are heavily forested with pine, fir, oak, and the massive, ancient trees called bloodwoods. The depths of the forest are laden with cool fog, unexplored by "civilized" peoples, and widely considered very dangerous. The forest is bordered on the south and east by cliffs overlooking the mist-shrouded southern continent and the stormy eastern ocean, respectively. It is bordered to the north by the long river Quelrid. |
| White Steppes | Tableaus of rich black soil are all but lost to cultivation by a permanent frost that makes plowing difficult and the farming of most vegetable life nearly impossible. In the short summer months, patches of the steppes turn vibrant emerald as grasses poke through the melting snow. Herds of grazing animals and predators rule this mostly featureless land, but in some places outcroppings of shale or porous rock provide homes and hiding places for even more dangerous beasts. |