Albion

Albion ("White Land" in Etruscan) is a collection of islands to the north of the great land mass encircling the Middle Sea. The lower part of the main island has been colonized by Etrusca, but this is the edge of empire and the further north one goes the more the frontier becomes uncertain and dangerous. The northern marches are heavily fortified and a region of constant conflict, with the official norther border of the empire demarcated by an impressive wall running coast-to-coast.

Albion lies to the east of the Northern Ocean and the south west of the Northlands. The Etruscans believe it lies within the World Ocean and ascribe its ungovernable chaos to the influence of Ocean. The Northlanders, who have their own colonies on the western coast of the main island and on some of the outlying islands, believe in the World Ocean but think it lies further out.

Albion's climate is colder and wetter than the Known World and the Middle Sea. It has many natural resources, however, including gold, tin and lead which are extensively mined (especially on the south-western peninsular and the hilly - and particularly wild - region to the west of the main island). For these reasons, Albion is sometimes known as Cassiterides - the tin-islands in the Pelopon language.

The peripheries of Albion are wild and untamed regions. The hilly area to the west is famed as a haunt of dragons while the south-western peninsular is a place of magic and mystery, with legends of impossibly-fair yet capricious spirits in league with a hidden court of nobles existing just beyond the veil of sight. To the north of the Wall, the people are violent and barbarous, ingesting toxic herbs and roots to work themselves into a frothing frenzy before battle. Even worse, there are legends of a race of impish creatures living in the dark forests and caves; cruel and ugly dwarfs known as Pictsies.