Norsca
The Strife Lands
Norsca is a harsh and unforgiving land, deserts of ice and snow and tundras of ancient cold. North of Ashus and Calgaerus, it is a landscape of dense, desiccated forests, rolling mountains, and icy cliffs; the Norscan lands are only inhabitable by the sheer spirit and survival instinct of it's denizens. Proud and fiercely independent, it's people are born warriors and survivalists, adopting either ideals to shape this land into a better place or a strong raiding culture to make the most of it. While many individual tribes and settlements exist within Norsca, battle lines have been drawn into a civil war to determine the future of these lands, before all succumbs to the unending Winter.
Travelling from the regions South one may encounter steep valleys and mountain ranges with a more habitable climate compared to the harsher colds of the North. These highlands, known as the Southern Shelf, are home to more rugged settlements than those South, but far more civilized than the one's North. Large pine groves and infrequent snowstorms make this land hospitable for the time being as the cold from the North grows ever closer, and the fjords embedded within it's mountain ranges act as both a way of transportation and of trade routes between settlements. Notable locations within the Southern Shelf include the city of Nordland, the last true kingdom of the North since Ashus' invasions along the Southeastern border and the slow shift to a more nomadic way of living. In addition to the kingdom of iron is the town of Bellmoral Run, a seedy bandit settlement to the East known for it's slave trade, plunder, and Ashus outcasts living inside their walls.
From the West to center of Norsca lies the Howling Dale, a harsh tundra filled with the majority of Norsca's remaining settlements. Here is marked as the lands of Hearthguard, those of the Norscan warlands who seek to unite the lands under a single banner peacefully... as they can. The Howling Dale's home to many unending glaciers, frozen fjords, high mountains and beautifully-chilled forests. The city of Strand seems to be the last true bastion in the North of Human creation, built on the back of an ancient beast, it's walls and warmth create a beacon of hope for those that wander the strife lands. Near the Northern fjords and mountains lies the city of Abervun, a city comprised of Dwarves and Elves who've somehow managed to coexist and thrive within it's mountainous crater. One of the last significant locations in the Howling Dale is Durauch, the birthplace of the Dwarves. It is the most ancient Dwarven citadel and is said to be the entrance to Duradin's forge itself.
To the East lies the Varlsrend, a mix of deserts of snow and fractured glaciers, it is the second harshest land before the Northest reaches of Norsca. Claimed by the Winter's Broken, they are those who wish to maintain the status-quo within the Norscan lands - that of pillaging and survival. Only the truly strong can survive in Norsca, and the Winter's Broken are the strongest of them all. These lands hold very little except for icy plains and snowy wastes, the most notable geographic locations being the plateaus to the East before reaching the fractured quarter of Varlsrend. These highlands are known by outsiders as Troll Country, but to those who know it's true history as Ska'arvong. Once a more hospitable settlement before the great winter, it is now a befallen land of cliffs and glaciers inhabited by the frost trolls. Myth's Reach is an oasis of rain and temperate climate found in the Southeast, with many rumors to what it's origins and ability to stay above freezing belong to. Finally, the East-most reaches of Norsca, a set of islands once whole now referred to as Voliland, roughly translating to land of the Ursine in Dwarvish. Strange polar lights emanate from these islands in a strange purple glow, with some travellers saying they saw the Thousand-Pierced Bear itself in it's vapors. On ground level at least, dense forests and ice dot it's landscape making for near impossible travel.
Finally in the North-most regions of not just Norsca, but Riven itself, lies the Spine of the World. The snow-filled desert leading to the Spine is known as Ghulfrost, an uninhabitable waste that's killed over half of those who attempt to reach the mountains. While not many survivors have lived to tell the tale of the peaks themselves, all who've returned can attest to a few common tales. The first are mountains nearly as tall as Mount Aphelion itself, the top of which lay covered in black ice. The second, a near un-breathable air caused by particles of black ice within it, turning the chilled fog of these steppes into a crystalline black. And the final tale, swarms of undead coursing out of an ancient stronghold spotted from only miles away, the thralls of an unknown evil across it's bridge.
