Nearnorth

The northern edge of old imperial rule on Auctorus, the Nearnorth is where human civilization meets the great northern wilderness. The humans of the area speak Imperial Common fluently, but each domain still has speakers of their local dialect of the ancient language of the northern reaches called Norðdansk. Although large cities exist in the Nearnorth, the area is separated from southern Auctorus by the Orkmark, Gnoll Law and Magefell. These hostile areas make it difficult for land travel between the dominions of the south and the Nearnorth.

Most of the area has a temperate coastal climate, with upland areas near Orcspire being alpine environments. Orkmark and the Gnoll Law sit in the rain shadows of mountain ranges and do not benefit so much from coastal rain storms. This leads those areas to have dryer climates and are mostly grassland or scrub forest.

The principle domains of the Nearnorth include:

• Acklenten: A land of industry forged out of the wilderness.
• Battlehold: The hill dwarves of battlehold have a proud tradition of fighting tyrants, however, the last civil war to rock Auctorus has left the hold in dire straights.
• Gnoll Law: When gnoll slaves escaped the fall of the Empire, they fled to this desolate area of Auctorus. In the centuries since they have built their own civilization based on what they saw as the founding principles of the Empire.
• Golden Republic: This small city-state was the home of the world spanning Merchant’s Guild. When the last king of Auctorus fell and the orc hordes swept the lands, economic conditions forced the Golden Republic to turn its relentless pursuit of profit inward, to dark effect.
• Orcspire: An idyllic domain in the mountains, the people work hard to protect what is theirs from humanoid raiders.
• Orkmark: The homeland of the Orcs of Auctorus. The sage Langwald has written that the Orkmark is like a great billows which slowly fills during periods of good climate, and then violently empties it’s contents across Auctorus when resources become scarce.
• Mordkeit: The City of Dust was once a center of industry called Turm. Now the great city is gone and few of its inhabitants found rest in the grave.
• Wendlund: A land of farmers and fishermen, but also of stout warriors. The people of the Wendlund are forced to be ever vigilant against the many threats on their borders.