The Eastern Coast

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When one travels just beyond the western borders of the Territories, the barest traces of magic begin to fill the air. This gradient line separates the common world from the wild and mysterious Eastern Coast and is referred to as The Coastline. It's important to note that this is not a visible or tangible line but instead an invisible boundary, the dimensions of which were determined over countless ventures into the Sea of Trees.
The Eastern Coast is a span of magic-infused wilderness that stretches some 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) from top to bottom. Capped by the Drowned Shoal to the north and the Southern Reef to the south, the land between ranges from the mundane to the surreal.

While Qarna has an Earth-like atmosphere and predictable climate zones (polar ice caps, equator, etc), climates beyond the Coastline vary wildly under the influence of magic. Most of the Sea is composed of deciduous/coniferous forest but tropical rainforests, frozen tundra, bone-dry deserts, volcanic wastelands, and even empty stretches of black vacuum filled with gravitational anomalies exist within its borders. Each region of the Sea has its own seasons, temperature drift, and in some cases even time passes differently from others.

The Threshold, like the Coastline, is more a concept than a discrete boundary. Where the two are drawn on a map is largely representative and their placement tends to be quite arbitrary. One can be certain, however, that the two represent conceptual barriers which certain humans cannot cross safely: the Coastline a border where the majority of Qarna's human population risks severe illness or death after crossing, and the Threshold the point of no return for all but a handful of souls. The Sea beyond The Threshold is referred to as the Deep Sea.
In both cases, long-term exposure to magical energy for insufficiently robust individuals results in a swift and unpleasant death: nausea, ataxia, weakness, and spontaneous hemorrhaging of the skin and smooth tissues are just a few of the early onset symptoms of magic sickness. In exceedingly rare cases, magic exposure causes spontaneous physical mutations: individuals who manifest inhuman physical traits such as claws, calcified skin, tails, and other (often bestial) traits are known as the Treetouched, and are marginalized or outright shunned by many Coastal societies.
Numbering only in the hundreds of thousands, denizens of the Coast reside mainly in the the Eastern City States , with small settlements of little note scattered among the vast lands between them. Some have made their home in the Coast at the end of a religious pilgrimage, others for the benefit of their home territory or as refugees of war. Together, they all represent a human dream made manifest: the desire to plunge headlong into the unknown; to brave and master it to the fullest of one's capacity.

The Deep Zones are areas of significance which dot the Coast. Boasting lethal concentrations of magic similar to the Deep Sea, deep zones are fortunately self-contained and have a beneficial effect: they lower the concentration of magic in the area immediately around them. Civilization built near a deep zone has proven to show higher fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and generally longer life expectancy due to the reduction in constant physical stress caused by exposure to magic.
Travel in the Coast is mainly done by land or by water using roads and rivers. Journeys must be carefully planned, given the unpredictable nature of the Coast, and often the commonly accepted route to one's destination is a bit more circuitous than it should be out of necessity. Due to the inconvenience and danger of traversing the landscape, most people are quite content to stay within the confines of their city-state of residence.