“The last great kingdom founded by the Mountain Dwarves, Angthamr rests high in the easiest-traveled pass of the Whispering Peaks. The upper city is a magnificent walled fortress through which the roads pass, and in which tolls are collected on cargo being transported. The lower city is the true domain of the Mountain Dwarves.”

“The free republic City-State founded by the humans who survived the Time of Troubles after Palendra vanished behind the veil of shadows. Originally known as Varenna, the second Exarchate of Palendra, it was rechristened AnthemForge owing to the revolutionary songs sung by those who toppled the Exarchate.”

“The great mines of the Crystal Caverns stretch for miles beneath the mountains and plains. Here, the cities are carved out of the living rock and ornamented with giant veins of crystal. Though technically accessible from hidden entrances on the mountain sides, the valleys and high road routes are rarely traversed by foot.”

“The City-state of Kathal represents the last remaining vestige of the strength and grandeur of the lost Empire of Palendra. But it is a nation divided. Outside of the Imperial Quarter the city is the province of merchants, traders, and most of all, sailors aboard the various merchant and “privateer” vessels which make berth in Kathal’s expansive and well-protected harbors.”

“The City-state of Kathal represents the last remaining vestige of the strength and grandeur of the lost Empire of Palendra. The city is supported by a spacious natural harbor and surrounded by massive, double-thick walls that extend all the way down to the sea, wrought with enchantments and woven spells that prevent them from being blasted apart or damaged by most arcane or mundane assaults.”

“The territory recognized as belonging to the people of the Freeholds encompasses an oddly shaped swath of plains, rolling hills, and lush deep forest. Less a nation than a loose affiliation of farms and villages, the Freeholds function on a system of mutual aid and collective action. They prefer to keep to themselves and out of the affairs of the larger world, but also recognize that no one exists in a vacuum.”

“The kingdom of Nufia is ancient, predating the Palendran Empire by many hundreds of years. Much of what was in those centuries changed with the rise of the Empire, until the old ways were lost. Nufia became a vassal state until Palendra’s decline allowed it to regain independence.”

“Kittridge is a sprawling town founded by refugees from war and exiles and wanderers from their own homelands. It technically owes allegiance to the Pennon Demesne, though the two regions are governed independently.”

“The capital city of the Aetheric Elves of the elder days, Miravyre stands in a valley at the shoulders of the Whispering Peaks on the western side. The city gleams with an alabaster brightness — mimicking the shapes of the nature that surrounds it, but clearly set apart.”

“A land of deep shadows, the Mountains of Night represent the loose territory of the nation of Vampires. Nocturnal creatures roam the mountain passes, and undead collect here and there. On the eastern edge of the valley lies the Vampire city of Nostros, hidden beneath a blanket of eternal night.”

“Where the mountains reach the southern coast of the Naiadron Sea, clinging to the sheer crags and crevices, lies the Aerie, the first and oldest city of the Pennon Demesne. High above it lie the old temples and structures of the Birdfolk’s ancient nesting grounds — no longer easily accessible to the flightless Birdfolk.”

“Within and surrounded by the Sylvan Glade, beneath a tree canopy that has stood and grown for millennia, lies the Shadowed Glen. Despite an ever-present aura of power, it is in many ways a normal forest. Yet the majority of the residents are Treefolk and Satyros, and fables abound of previously unknown Lineages that might make their homes in the shadows.”

“The homeland of the Sylvan Elves. Long ago, this kingdom stretched much farther, but has been, over centuries, circumscribed and diminished. King Tharand’esh and his people maintain their current borders scrupulously, protecting them with powerful wards and magic.”