The Known World

At the center of the mapped world stand the rival human kingdoms of Andorria and Deverria. The Andorrians are a tall, fair-haired people shaped by warfare, discipline, and absolute faith in the One True God. Their kings command powerful armies, their nobles prize strength and obedience, and their priests condemn the old gods, druids, and spirits as remnants of a lawless age. Deverria is a realm of fortified cities, cultivated valleys, merchant roads, noble houses, and skilled craftsmen. Its people are proud, practical, and politically divided, more inclined to bargain with neighboring peoples than to demand their submission—though Devarri ambition can be every bit as dangerous as Andorrian zeal. To the west, Bardeka is a land of independent cities, seafarers, philosophers, warriors, and temple traditions, while the islands of Veniti command the eastern waters through trade, navigation, and carefully guarded alliances.

Far to the north lies the land humans call the Lost Kingdom. On their maps it appears as a vast, uninhabited forest haunted by monsters, shifting paths, and travelers who vanish without a trace. In truth, the ancient kingdom of the elves exists within it, concealed by living magic and protected by paths that reveal themselves only to those who are guided. Human eyes may look directly upon an elven road, tower, or warrior and perceive nothing more than trees and shadow. The elves have lived there for ages beyond human memory, tending the old magic rather than ruling it. Beyond their forests, dwarven holds are carved into the great northern mountain ranges, where clans guard deep roads, ancestral vaults, and crafts of stone and metal unmatched anywhere in the world.

Beyond the settled kingdoms, the map becomes less certain and the world far more dangerous. The Great Northern Plains are home to countless human tribes who migrate with the seasons and wage near-constant war over rivers, grazing lands, and ancient sacred places. Orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and wandering monsters also cross those immense grasslands, sometimes as raiders and sometimes as nations in their own right. South of the Great Selvian Desert lies Taurinu, a harsh land dominated by orc clans, goblin warrens, ruined strongholds, and creatures that make human settlement nearly impossible. Farther south stretches the Selva, an immense jungle where the trees swallow sunlight and every river conceals teeth. Its human peoples are dismissed as barbarians by distant courts, yet only the strongest, most disciplined, and most resourceful could survive in a land where the forest itself is a predator.

This is also a world in which humanity has never fully conquered nature. Colossal cave bears roam the highlands, enormous river-beasts reshape waterways, and ancient predators still hunt in forests untouched by axe or plow. Wyverns nest in mountains and caverns; ghouls and restless dead gather around forgotten battlefields; spirits dwell in old trees; and things without names move beneath the earth. Some monsters are merely beasts, while others are the remnants of lost civilizations, failed magic, or gods whose worshippers vanished long ago. Every kingdom tells itself that its walls, armies, and faith have brought order to the world—but beneath every throne lies an older ruin, beneath every road an ancient grave, and beneath the web of the living, something is always waiting.