Isling Bay

The local region, a backwater and cold little northwesterly corner of the world whose main export is timber from the Cloakdark Woods. Though its beaches are of untouched, beautiful black sand, it sees few tourists - with temperatures well into freezing during winter, it reaches only mild highs in the dead of summer. Fjords and mountains creep up around the coastline, boxing it in from all sides, further separating it from the rest of the world.

Parts of the coast are heated by geothermal activity, and are coveted spots to form meeting places and town centres at. Many villages have sprung up around these sources of warmth, though the largest is the 'capital' of Isling Bay, with a bustling population of roughly twelve thousand. These small, insular places have a shared reclusive culture and a respect for the harshness of their world, but Isling Bay is a center of commerce - with a dock sizeable enough to support tradeships, most timber makes its way to Isling and out into the greater beyond through its port.

There has been some influx of immigrants to Isling, seeing serenity, peace, and the beauty of nature. While those things can be found in the Shivering Coast, many are unprepared for the hostility and reality of living in such a reclusive place, and struggle to stay afloat - earning the deep ire of the residents.

Cloakdark Woods

Though it has gone by many names over the years, Cloakdark has remained the imposing wall it has always been to outsiders: comprised of tightly-packed evergreens, the forest cover is deep and the animal cries haunting. It carries a somber, silent air - though its edges have long been logged for timber, it remains a focal point of local superstition and the residents that enter only do so to hunt faunts and other game for food. Visitors to the region are often horrified and terrified in turn of just how enormous Cloakdark is, and the meager few who fail to take the warnings seriously are never found or recovered.

Old structures can be found tangled in vines and roots, most dilapidated at best and reduced to foundations at worst. It is customary to, when coming across one of these places, pause to light a candle, knock on the door, politely state the reason for trespass... and then leave the site as swiftly as possible.

The Alnilam Estate

A sprawling property, the Estate covers an immeasurable tract of land near the coast and deep into the pine forests that surround the region. Though the Estate maintains its land claims of thousands of acres across Cloakdark and often utilizes it for hunting, fishing, and pleasure, when the locals think of "the Estate", what comes to mind is the iron fenced-in central property and main house. This house, made of imposing stone and wood, has served as the hub for the Alnilam family for as long as they've existed.

The path to the house itself is through a long, winding road through Cloakdark up to the enormous wrought gate, then through rolling greenery and tended gardens up to the main mansion. There are dozens of smaller houses, sheds, and various recreational areas scattered around the house, typically manned by a handful of servants and watched carefully by the Alnilam's few guards. There is a sizeable garden on the property, and truthfully it would likely be self-sustaining except for the master of the house Xuer's interest in immigrants, peculiarities, and curios.

The house itself is labyrinthine, somewhat claustrophobic and contained. Its many halls have been added to haphazardly over the generations, and it can be easy for residents to disappear into its recesses if they so please. The sight of the stalwart, cold building is a striking bastion to many visitors and locals, who eagerly swap rumors, speculation, and fantasies about it and the Alnilams.

Blackrock Isle

Blackrock Isle is a sizeable island off the shore of Isling Bay, the capital of Shivering Coast. Within its impressive black-stone castle is the House Pelspira, the barony that governs the region. Their rule has largely been supplemented by the Alnilam's family and their support of both influence and coin, leaving to a strong bond and continued alliance even into the modern day, despite Xuer and Litera - the current baron - not maintaining much contact.

On the western rocks of the island lies an enormous lighthouse, used to guide the occasional ships into shore.

The Nobles' College

An enormous learning institute south of the country's capital that has built up a bustling city around it, filled with shops, homes, and work. It is a busy place, filled with scholars, mages, and the nobility, and has seemingly stood forever on its sprawling campus. Anyone who peers into its records, however, may discover that the land it stands on once belonged to the mysterious Alnilam family.

City Gloria

The capital of the country, a bustling place of sheening platinum, bulging wallets, and jovial backstabbing. Gloria does not sleep; its streets throb with merchants, scholars, travellers, and soldiers like veins, their chatter and lanterns lighting up the night for miles. It is a place many journey to in order to find their fates - and just as quickly are spat back out by the cutthroat ruthlessness of its alleyways.

The Lonely Meadow

The site of an old battlefield, the Lonely Meadow is too caustic for most plants and animals to thrive in after the massive amounts of magic expelled there. Instead, Magninium-loving flora have cropped up all across it, perpetuating the broken Magninium cycle that locked it in its current state.

Abstruse Crater

An enormous hole in the ground that has had a city form around its rim, filled to the brim with locals harking their prices to take tourists down its side. At its depths lay strange insects and animals, skittering about flora unseen elsewhere in the world, warmed by geothermal activity underneath the packed dirt. Many small settlements have appeared drilled into the sides of the crater, seeking asylum from their crimes or a reforged-new identity away from the rest of the world.