The Vespered Timberlands

A deep alpine forest that stretches across the far northern reaches of Kyme. Settled among the trees, the karsts and caverns that serve as the homes of the Northern Lycan pack.

Geography

The Amber Highlands. Where the alpine forest of the Vespered Timberlands meets the eruptive waters of the Steamstone the hills turn a deep yellowed hue. Priceless mineral pigments are found in this border territory, both the lycan and the dwarves taking equal part in this resource.

The Clouded Tarn. Carved into the Crone Hills, this grand highland lake is ever drawn over by clouds that descend into its waters. It is thought to be the waters above within the clouds seeking the purity of the glacial waters, in a strange elemental interaction.

The Frostunnmark. The frigid line along these northern forests, where the permafrost holds throughout the Elemental Seasons.

The Howling Moors. An open lowland that comprises the western border of the region, where the packs of old roamed, many still hold that their howls still echo across the hills.

The Mistaigan. The stretch of lowland forests along the south of the region. Mistbound and an all pervading gloom that has taken hold in the region causes many to be wary of traveling among these trees.

The Ryme Fjord. The massive inlet carved by the Rimefloe glacier during the Age of Water. A passage into the region that courses southward beginning to trace along the Crone Hills before ending in the waters of the Clouded Tarn.

Roads and Landmarks

Roads leading southward from Fenthris, the throne city of the Northern Lycan Pack and the Dire King.

The Lupercal Trail. Moving westward on to the settlement of Kyomtah, known as the "First Den" where the ancient rites of the Lycan are upheld.

The Ursusand Path. Leading south on to the Ryme Fjord where it meets the settlement of Motkgar, the power of lycan ships and warriors brought to bear.

The Vulpiri Run. Tracing upon its easterly course, it leads to Veica Noriceia, the town where the most cunning of tradesfolk meet upon the Ryme River.

The Breaking Boughs. In the southern reaches of the forest where it meets the Crone Hills, the forest is bent and broken along paths where even the most experienced of trackers find themselves bemused by the range of creature and rhythmic nature of these twisted trails. Some tell of titanic tracks of fowls, while others tell of bipedal prints of a hircine quality, and even many trails dusted with a glittering residue.

The Moonhenge. Countless rings of standing stones mark the region, they once served the ancient Lycan as wards against the terrors of the Rimehold. Said once that when the stones were touched by the light of Saph-Luna they would radiate a power most ancient.

The Morphmortar. Off the western banks of the Clouded Tarn is an otherwise unremarkable basin, were it not for the ever-shifting qualities of the sediment within. While alchemists and apothecaries have worked over the various properties of the sediment, the true range of effects is unknown. Scavengers often rush when they hear of a change in the properties, though often too, ill effects take the cautionless ones.

Settlements

Bavarial. A small human town on the very southern edge of the region along the Ryme River. Many tales and fables come from its people of the surrounding forest, passed along by many who encounter this place along the river.

Begravni. In the southern center of the region, this large mining town of the lycan has flourished in trade of fine lycan craft of long held traditions. The settlement serves as well as the regional Arkyme Officium who actively seek a greater presence of lycans within their ranks.

Feardenfall. A lycan settlement within the Eldercrown, built along a mountain river. The great frozen waterfall that lies above the town, thaws only in the Season of Fire.

Fenthris. At the feet of the Eldercrown lay the throne city of the Northern Lycan Pack. The longhouses and hunting halls of the city surround a massive cairn that serves as the ancestral den of the Dire Sovereigns, the leaders of their kin. A place driven by honor and tradition, the city grows and shrinks based upon the multitude of roaming packs who journey throughout the region as the seasons change.

Groktmal. A great holdfast made of felled timbers, yet brilliantly carved by the lycan to emulate their ancestors that roamed the region in their freedom from the tyranny of the dragons in the Age of Fire.

Kyomtah. A subterranean lycan settlement at the western reaches of the landscape. Ancient and held sacred by its people, within the caves are depictions and relics of lycan heroes long past. Often referred to the "First Den," the order of The Fendyr, warriors who seek to perfect their bestial spirit, honor the traditions of the Pack and protect this home of their kind.

Motkgar. The town built upon an ancient bridge of stone across the Ryme Fjord in the heart of the region. Known for its peerless fisheries and purity of waters, the most hale and hearty of warriors sail out from its port.

Rekjamark. A human port town at the mouth of the Ryme River on the western shore. Known for its shipmasters in navigating the treacherous waters where the Rimefloe Glacier breaks into massive chunks of ice that begin to flow downriver.

Veica Noriceia. Built and formed among the evergreen trees on the banks of the Ryme River, just south of the Ryme Fjord, is a trading town atop the branches. Joined by the shaping of nature by the lycan and the craft of the humans, the town thrives as a river port drawing dwarven and human merchant vessels from the south.

Ruins and Subterrane

Countless systems of caves pervade the Vespered Timberlands, yet the horrors of the Depths have a diminished presence within the region. The endurance of a peoples in halting the advance of the frost-ridden creep of the Heimal, is a testament to the bond the lycan share with the land. The dragons in the Age of Fire found a contentious enemy in the Northern Lycan Pack, and the abundant ruins of the draconic mark there attempt to subdue a people.

Ahsearsh. Centered around a petrified portion of the forest with faces carved into the trees, this draconic ruin was once held by a Dragon Queen of green ancestry who is said to have claimed it from the Weald Elves.

Dyshiirin. The ruin of the draconic people, the stone now laden with a terrible curse. As the lycans fell upon it at the end of the Age of Fire, a grand sorcerer of the draconic unleashed upon their own people fell magics so they might endure, but to no avail.

Ihrraek. In the northwest of the region, once a palace city of a woeful Silver Dragon King, it is the lycan that reigned terror upon its populace as soon as the Ashbreak Rebellion began catching across the world.

Xiongnu Chanyu. Where the region meets the Windward Steppes, there lies the remnant of a city never risen. Marks of roads, buildings, even canals show the plans once held for this place. Outside of what would have been the city are six figures, effigies burned into the ground, with ash, salts, and chalks having been used in scarring the bare stone.