The seat of power of the Brotherhood of the North. Where the clans gather and leadership is decided by blood, trial, and the weight of reputation. Great Ironwood doors guard the chamber, their grain worn smooth by the hands of every warrior who ever came to claim something here. To sit on the High Seat is to rule the north and beyond but to hold it, you have to be willing to sacrifice everyone for it.

The stronghold of Clan Bloodletter, masters of assassination and the most feared clan in the Brotherhood. Cold, oppressive halls carved from the black stone of the Riff. A day's ride from the High Seat.

This is where Seiry and Nardella were raised. The cold gets into the walls here. It gets into people too.

The stronghold of Gath's clan, renowned throughout the Brotherhood for producing warriors with unmatched swordsmanship and discipline. The Stone Tower clan forms the backbone of the Brotherhood's military campaigns when the clans march together.

A river port on the edge of the Brotherhood's lands. The kind of place where men end up when they've run out of better options — mercenaries between contracts, traders who don't ask questions, and travellers who'd rather not be remembered.

A major trading city perched at the top of the Orinoco Torrent, where goods from the north are loaded onto sky boats for the descent into the southern lands. Whoever controls Silversprings controls the throat of northern trade.

Territory of the Argentan Warriors — far eastern nomads above the Riff and longstanding enemies of the Brotherhood of the North. They do not hold cities. They hold ground, and they hold grudges.

A thousand-foot cliff stretching thousands of miles across the continent, created during the War of the Gods — what the old houses call the Foldings. It is the defining landmark of this world, dividing the elevated northern lands from the southern territories below.

Cities are built from the black stone quarried from its face. The Riff does not care who rules on either side of it. It has been here since before the gods died, and it will be here long after.

The massive waterfall where the River Virena cascades down the face of the Riff. The roar of it carries for miles. It is not navigable by any conventional vessel — only magical sky boats can ascend or descend it, making them the sole link between the northern and southern trade routes.

Whoever controls the sky boats controls the Torrent. Whoever controls the Torrent controls the world's commerce.

The village that lives under the great Orinoco Torrent. Cornin's home. The people of Weir use mighty nets and complex traps to gather everything that goes over the edge of the falls — fish, man, or boat — and sell it all down the river.

They launch great barges down the Virena that travel past the Valdor Rapids to the Zambezi Reach. A small, resourceful settlement that most northerners have never heard of, and that prefers it that way.

A massive merchant city at the confluence of the River Virea and the Zambezi Reach. Built from the black stone of the Riff. Run by a consortium of five great merchant houses — Vortell, Cerave, Emberforge, Drakken, and Thalnir. A haven for pirates, mercenaries, and rogues. Loyalty here is bought and sold like any other cargo.

The ancient stone docks of Zaluna are called Rakenor, carved in the shape of a dead god's head. Ships pass between its teeth to unload. Most sailors don't look up.

The home of the Dryad community within the Great Forest, ruled by the White Dryad Calypso. A mystical place where allure magic runs strong and the boundary between mortal and magical grows thin. The trees here are older than the Riff.

A river landing along the Virena south of the Riff. One of the working ports that keeps goods moving between Weir and Zaluna City.

A river landing along the Virena. Sits between the Torrent and Zaluna, part of the chain of ports that strings the river trade together.

A location within or near the Great Forest, marked on the map at the edge of the woodland. The faerie folk have inhabited the lands near the Riff since before men built cities from its stone. They have their own politics, their own wars, and they do not answer to the Brotherhood or the merchant houses.

Marked on the map in the river south of the forest. Sky dragons are among the great creatures of this world — vast, ancient, and indifferent to the kingdoms that rise and fall beneath them.

An exotic land nestled in the far south, beyond the known trade routes. Home of the noblewoman Tarra. Few northerners have been there and fewer have come back with useful intelligence. What little is known suggests a culture entirely its own, untouched by the Brotherhood's politics and indifferent to Shineling's ambitions.

Vast grasslands stretching across the western reaches of the world. The homeland of The People.

A wilderness region west of the main trade routes, avoided by all sky captains for fear of being lost in its endless sameness. The hills are empty enough that the silence gets loud.

The hunting grounds of GuttCutter's clan, the saber-tooths known as The People, whose clans live in the Sea of Grass.

The southern kingdom ruled by King Goudall — King of Shineling, Protector of the Southern Marches, Lord of the Delta, and Sovereign of the Sea. A powerful, well-organized kingdom with strong armies, a formidable navy, and skilled cartographers.

Goudall maintains a blockade of the Yggdrasil Delta to pressure the northern clans. His High Palace houses both his throne room and Mindeel's wizard tower — old and high, older than the palace itself.

A river port in the eastern lands along the Yggdrasil River. One of the ports that lines the route south toward the Delta and Shineling's coast.

A river port along the Yggdrasil, sitting in the territory between the Brotherhood's lands and Shineling's northern border. The kind of town that gets nervous when armies move through.

A river port in the eastern lands, positioned along the Yggdrasil trade route. Part of the chain of settlements that connects the northern Brotherhood lands to Shineling's coast.

An inland grain province and Goudall's second invasion target. The breadbasket territory that feeds armies and cities alike. Whoever holds Doran holds the food supply, and whoever holds the food supply holds leverage over everything else.

A coastal province and Goudall's first invasion target. The sea access makes it the entry point for any campaign moving north — and makes it the first thing any enemy moving south has to take.

The furthest south of Goudall's three invasion provinces, with silver mines in the eastern hills. The mines make it worth taking and worth holding. The distance from everything else makes it expensive to defend.

Fertile agricultural region and grain-producing breadbasket of the known world. Grain from the Flat Lands flows north to south down the River Virena, feeding Zaluna and the trade routes that thread between the kingdoms. Flat enough that you could see tomorrow if you stood on a chair.

A port near the Yggdrasil Delta, on the southern edge of the kingdom of Shineling. It holds a strategic position to control the sea lanes into and out of the delta.

The major river of the world, also called the Virea. It flows from the Sea of Storms in the north, cascades down the Riff via the Orinoco Torrent, and continues south through the lands below, passing through Zaluna before reaching the Endless Ocean. The main artery of trade and commerce — everything that moves between north and south travels on this water.

The river that runs through the Great Forest, feeding the woodland and the Dryad communities within it. It moves quietly. The trees on its banks are older than any kingdom currently on the map.

The delta where the Yggdrasil River meets the sea, controlled and blockaded by King Goudall of Shineling. A strategic chokepoint for northern shipping and trade — nothing moves through here without Goudall's permission, or without fighting for it. The blockade is one of the primary levers of pressure he holds over the Brotherhood of the North.

The eastern river feeding into the Yggdrasil Delta. It runs through Shineling's territory, past the river ports of Veyna, Li Rien, and Thal'ack, and empties into the sea under Goudall's watch.

The great northern sea, sitting atop the world over the elevated northern lands held back by the Riff. The source of the River Virena. The storms of the great north fill the sea to overflowing every spring.

The vast ocean to the south and west, dominated by House Cerave's merchant fleets and naval power. It is called endless because no expedition sent to find the far shore has ever come back to say they found one. The sea serpents marked on the map are not decorative.