Emerald City

 

The trading hub and former capital of the empire. A massive metropolis adorned with white stone and emerald windows. Here the former seat of power lies, the college of the arts, enchanting and magic. The city is broken into four districts. The outer is a shanty town where the poor live left outside the walls yet still protected by the sentinels. The Bazaar is a merchant district where shops and traders are set up to peddle their wares. 

 

The former necropolis now serves as memorial. The third layer is the college, noble, and arts. Here lies all the elites and educational material, including the grand library and the research and development of the war branch—a wall separating it from the merchant district. And lastly, the royal palace is also separated by another barrier. Currently outfitted to house the two Queens and the embassy for the Verdant Dynasty. A jungle empire located far north of the region. A dock for receiving and ferrying merchandise is on the back of the city.

 

Crystal Forest

 

Long ago, it is said the deserts were once rich with trees, a vast, untamed jungle where the elves sought to build an everlasting empire. When they tried to rise to godhood, the Old ones glassed the entire realm, turning most to white sands, yet leaving behind one visible reminder to stand as a symbol and lesson to those that followed. The crystal forest is that memory, a wink where time seemed to bend. As the petrified crystal remains, glassed sand and crystal-coated ruins and dungeons. Within this massive patch of land to the north, the crystallized remains of the elves still linger. They were frozen in place as if they had no time to react to whatever caused this otherworldly scene. Local legends say if you listen closely, you can still hear the clamor of those that perished that day as if their very souls are trapped in the crystal...

 

White Stone College

 

The seat of knowledge for many schools of magic, arts and crafts, also home to the largest library in the land. Yet despite its fame across the many realms, an air of mystery still looms over those walls. The masters of the courses view themselves and the academic pursuit above the petty squabbles of the empire. While openly claiming to worship and adhere to the tenets given by the Elder one of knowledge. Despite its cult-like leadership, those who finish the courses believe it is more for publicity than anything else. Only those with writs of approval can study within these lavished halls and are required to serve four years afterward within the Eternal House occult division.

 

Fungi Forest

 

The fungi forest is a massive alien-like zone to the north of Ashlandian mountains filled with nothing but giant luminous fungi that reach up to the heavens. The air radiates ancient magic. It is said ta a stone crashed here from the sky, bringing a single alien spore. The prior residents vanished during the first era after the humans and other races broke free from their cruel control. From what text we have, they were there one day and gone the next. Within this massive labyrinth lurks many beasts, ruins, and ancient abandoned cities covered in roots.

 

This fertile soil is home to a military research division, where the college and accepted parties toil away, creating new alchemical formulations for war and medicinal benefits. In contrast, society's elite dwells along the edges within spiraling toadstool towers. Deep within this forest, the distant cries of beast unknown reverberate, its windy paths serving as a flame that draws adventurers in like a both. Many secrets lie buried, though are the rewards worth the risk? Or is somethings best left forgotten?

 

Ashlandian mountains

 

It is believed here sleeps the ender of time, the waker of dreams, and the harbinger of change. The land constantly trembles, as only the foulest beast seems able to thrive in this molten land. Littered throughout the volcanic chasms are the remains of the city and temples, once thought grand, now home to the cultists. Blood crystals jolt from the earth as an endless storm of lightning, coupled with the fog and ash, creates the sense that death stalks here. Yet still, the call to adventure lures some, each trying to figure out what treasures lurk or secrets remain hidden within the heartless stone bosom of this dynamic range of volcanoes.

 

Obsidian Canyon

 

A massive canyon of obsidian and brown rock, dwellings carved into the side where the Kitsune tribes live. It stands as a holy site, as local legend tells of a great warrior who stemmed an eldritch invasion during the second era with a single defiant slash. The chasm resulted from the explosive battle between the old ones and their mortal champions. Little evidence exists to support this folk tale, yet despite that, many pilgrims come here to pray and receive the blessings found in the hot springs contained within. The tribes are, for the most part, welcoming of outsiders, yet they have an intense hatred for elven kind. The Kitsune now serve as warriors and mercenaries for the Verdant Dynasty under Matsumota, their Khan.

 

Nirvana

 

Nirvana, the bastion of the sands, the center of the desert. A city of ornate buildings of white and gold that herald the new age, an epoch of unity instead of strife wrapping around the entire mountain range. Its buildings are powered by artificial crystals with bronze piping running throughout to distribute heat and water to the homes. The magical volcano, utilized as an arcane reactor, fuels the drumming heart, society's cradle. Behind these walls, meandering through the bazaar and busy streets, are a diverse collection of now unified residents. The palace where the Mistress of sin sits, standing as a massive cranial, where the throne and senate peer out the eye sockets across the sprawling bleached dunes.

 

Nuzzled in the granule domain center, the newfound metropolis labors as the world's trade hub, marshaling resources from all other provinces. Many engage in mercantile, dispute political misgivings, gather rare ingredients and research material, or find employment within the largest constructed city. Those cartilage streets are standing as a testimony that tranquility, while fleeting, is a privilege worth persevering.