High Ice

At the northernmost reaches of the continent lays a frostbitten, seemingly empty, and foreboding land. Covered in snow, blown by perennial winds, the High Ice nonetheless is home to some hardy and dangerous wildlife, the occasional Mage, and icy elementals striding through the bleak landscape.

Geography

The High Ice is the northernmost land of Lasair. It begins with tundra and constant snows, and as one travels north the land is abruptly covered by an enormous glacier, presenting what appears to be an impassible barrier. Climbing or flying up it reveals a landscape of craggy ice and drifting snow extending as far as it is possible to see. This glacier extends fully to the polar region of the globe - while none living are capable, it is theoretically possible to travel to other continents by traversing the ice.
The glacier is not absolute, though. Occasionally, the tip of a mountain top will poke through. Cracks in the ice will sometimes leave crevasses which extend all the way to the bare rock below. And there are pockets here and there where underground steam vents will have melted away the glacier above. It is these last where rare vegetation will grow, taking heat from the vents and water from melted snow.

Wildlife

The pockets of vegetation found at scattered volcanic vents provide a source of food that is taken advantage of by small herds of shaggy Hornbeasts. Covered in thick layers of hair, the herds move slowly through the blinding snow, from oasis to oasis, feeding from the grasses that grow in each pocket. In turn, the hornbeasts serve as a food source white wolves and for the rarest of predators on Lasair - enormous white bears that prowl the glacier. Finally, towering ice elementals, the result of some long-ago magical confluence, stride through the blowing snow and wind of the High Ice. They rarely react to living creatures, instead following some invisible path carrying them in an eternal circuit of the glacier.

Mages

The High Ice provides something that, to some, is more valuable than anything else: seclusion. Very occasionally, a member of the Mages - or another magic user with a desire to stay hidden - will travel to the far north. Some come here because they specialize in cold magics and wish to study the elementals. Others come here seeking isolation to perform dangerous experimentation. Some small number travel here to hide from the rest of the world. There is a small band of Sorcerers, for instance, eking out an existence in a series of caves hidden within the northernmost tip of the Stonetooth Mountains that extends into the glacier.