Ascirthe

There are reasons we do not speak of the ice that tops our world. To acknowledge power is to draw its attention.

— one of the Isyrei

Maps of Istralar depict only the five continents and their islands in most cases. To name or depict the ice that grasps the world's poles is to bring fell luck on those using the map, unless they are intending to travel to the ice - which is a trip precious few will ever return from. Ascirthe, as the northern cap of Istralar, is thus a land shrouded in mystery as much as it is shrouded in its boundless blanket of snow and ice.

Blizzards of Ascirthe by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

No settlements exist on Ascirthe, nor do nations claim it as their own. If the ice sheet has inhabitants, they are itinerant at best. No trees exist this far north, in a place made more of ice than anything else. Land juts up in wild ridges, marking where ancient lands smashed together either by the force of the world's shifting, or by the violence perpetrated by the gods on Istralar.
Just as Kyöpelinvuori is said to tear a hole into space itself, Ascirthe is supposedly a place where the planes wear thin. Certainly, it is a place where magic is magnified, likely by one of the largest ley nexuses to exist on Istralar if not by the lingering scars in the world.
Attempts to visit Ascirthe must contend with more than the lack of maps. Though not sealed by as tangible a barrier as Kudara, Ascirthe is nonetheless veiled by a ring of eternal storm known as the Ynwvion Blot. The Blot churns the sea around Ascirthe so that no boat can sail cleanly, and spins rapid winds and bolts of lightning through the sky to deter airborne visitors.

A nigh-constant downpour of rain removes any chance of clear sight of Ascirthe's reaches, and beyond it, blizzard snow paints an impenetrable wall of white.

Geography

What lands exist within Ascirthe are surely lovely, but to behold them would be a death sentence.

— experienced traveller

Beyond the brutal seas and storms, Ascirthe is an ice sheet that connects a series of fragments of land together into one breathtaking expanse of white. It is pierced regularly by jutting mountains that doubtless defy measurement, through which glaciers cut to form tongues of land, aided by the constant rippling of the earth.

The ice of Ascirthe is not always contiguous; geothermal activity in places causes flows where slush or even water may form in the warmer parts of the year. This meltwater contributes to the survival of the rare migratory fauna within Ascirthe's reaches.
Both Ascirthe's landmasses and ice grow each year, as volcanic and geologic activity sears more land into being, ice carves away at what it will, and the seas gradually freeze. Snow becomes firn, and firn becomes permafrost, to be soon captured under layers of more of the same until the brutal nature of Ascirthe's weather disrupts it.
Magic's influence on Ascirthe's landscape cannot be understated. Though many of its shifting forms are crafted through nature's raw power, this area of the world was not spared divine attention in the First Divine War; the Mhounscar is the most well-known evidence of this, being an immense tear through the southeastern parts of the icesheet that form a ravine so deep that it has never managed to be filled with snow and ice.

Shattered Peaks by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Intriguingly, leyline energy is so strong within Ascirthe that the few expeditions to have sent word from within its reaches have spoken of flying isles that sail above the snows to cluster in the clouds. By all reports, these floating islands are similar in their bleak, barren geography to the rest of Ascirthe. They seem to be a magical anomaly more than anything else.

Fauna & Flora

What can exist in such emptiness and devastation but creatures of ice?

— researcher

Discovering if there is any flora or fauna at all within Ascirthe has been somewhat of a challenge over the years for researchers. Precious few expeditions have made it onto the ice sheet proper, and they have not returned with good news. The environment is too extreme for any regular flora to grow, and most of the fauna are migratory in nature. Forms of algae, lichen, and moss are the dominant form of flora within the ice sheet - at least, out of the non-magical flora.

Iruvis Petrel by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

For non-magical fauna, some birds and marine life find ways to dart through the Ynwvion Blot.
The Iruvis Petrel is most famous of these, for its existence is how researchers have managed to glimpse parts of life in the extreme polar region. The small white bird, its sides decorated with streaks of blue feathers, can be trained to carry monitoring equipment beyond the storms, and their diets can be studied to indicate that other forms of life are available within Ascirthe for them to dine on.
Most of these other forms of life are, of course, fish and seals, similar to what the northernmost shores of the Kylmävikk Desert experiences in terms of wildlife. However, studies comparing remnants from the stomachs of deceased petrels indicate that whilst the marine mammals are similar to Iskaldhal's migratory population, the ones inhabiting Ascirthe seem to be of entirely separate bloodline and form separate species. There is little overlap between marine mammals, though fish are... fish.

Fish really don't seem concerned by the immense storms blocking their passage above nor the horrific currents below; their numbers are certainly culled by these events, but they still find their way into Ascirthe's waters to end up as food for the few others there. For some reason. Fish aren't exactly known for being bright.
Magical life within Ascirthe is somewhat harder to catalogue. No intelligent magical life is documented to have originated from Ascirthe, but that does not mean none exists. Expeditions have encounted sentient - if not sapient - beings of animate ice, elementals of water, ice, and air, and a number of horrifying slithering creatures described simply as "under-ice terrors" in their journals, once they had escaped. There doesn't really seem to be anything friendly on Ascirthe, if anything sapient exists there.

Snowy Expanse by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Type

Ice sheet

Alternative Name(s)

the Northern Ice, the Forbidden Snow

Location under

Istralar

Included Locations

• Mhounscar

Ascirthe and Luck

For most areas of the world burdened by rumour of unluck, it is obvious how they obtained their title.
Ascirthe is somewhat different, for at first glance, it seems to have no real reason besides the extreme environment.
Alas, it is the injection of magic into the weather that has exacerbated the icecap's reputation so. Even the most experienced travellers with the strongest protective magics may have their journeys to Ascirthe shattered by magical swells, leystorms, areas of sudden dead magic, and the like.
Any protection they have is not enough: should they seek to avoid magic's touch through use of an antimagic field, their doom will be mundane in the size of the waves. Should they defend against the weather with magics of their own, Ascirthe's fury may simply strip those protections bare.
Not to mention the unknown risks. Mhounscar is one of very few known threats, and is only known because it is so large that those that fall in have been able to catch the jagged sides to send warning when the area's magic allows such messages to leave.

Certainly not somewhere you'd want to go on holiday.

— unamused adventurer

World's Crown

The most recent exhibition to make progress into Ascirthe has been the Pelgrehin Expedition.
Through miracle or madness, they have allegedly found the world's most northern point - and with it, a crack in reality through which they claim they have made a most wondrous discovery.
Indeed, their Proclamation, which has been sent with haste by the few who left to every possible nation, declares that this broken pinnacle contains the very crown indicated in the Words of the Silent. They claim to have found that which can save a dying world, and they would see it protected.
Ascirthe shall not make this easy. The expedition cannot survive in the icy wastes forever, not as the weather grows ever worse in the world's distress. Their time is limited, and depends on the response of the nations they called out to.
Those that know magic well fear that what was found is far worse than a saviour. Few good things charm mortals into bliss and call upon them to summon more. Whatever has been uncovered should perhaps have never been disturbed.
Perhaps this 'crown' is the reason for the Ynwvion Blot's existence.
We shall soon find out.