Lore

1. Weeping Walls - An isle of graves for those the sea refused, sailors and souls who died chasing dominion over its depths.  It is where the names no longer whispered at sea are carved into stone and shadow. Some say the headstones cry for the forgotten. Others say the headstone drink the grief of those who linger too long. 

2. Shattered Mast -  Known as a notorious pirate hideout, the island buzzes with the restless energy of rogues, smugglers, and outlaws. Hidden coves and shadowed taverns offer refuge and rum-soaked revelry, while rumors of buried loot and secret alliances drift through its smoky air. It’s a place where legends are made (and forgotten) beneath the watchful eyes of weathered pirates and shattered sails. 

3. Orchard Crown - Having won the Blood Tide War, Orchard Crown stands as the most powerful kingdom in the realm. Much of its wealth are rooted both in fertile harvests and rich mines that carve prosperity from the earth. Rolling orchards stretch beneath towering mountain ranges, where veins of precious metals fuel its coffers and forge its armies. Known for its disciplined rulers and thriving trade, Orchard Crown blends the bounty of the land with the strength of its mineral riches, reigning supreme through both abundance and might. 

Once seen as provincial and humble, Orchard Crown’s rise was methodical. While others relied on dragons or divine bloodlines, its scholars turned to earth-wrought magic culminating in innovations that ultimately brought the dragons of Burning Crown to heel. Their victory was not just one of might, but of minds sharpened by stone and soil. 

4. Temple of the Silent God - The Temple of the Silent God rises under a harsh sun, its spires worn smooth by centuries of wind and unspoken prayers. No bells ring. No voices echo. The priests within take no vows, for silence is not a choice, it is a price. Travelers come seeking passage, answers, or forgiveness, but all must leave something behind. 

5. Veilstone Monastery - Outwardly a place of solitude and worship, the Monastery accepts no visitors willingly, and those who attempt to enter uninvited are rarely seen again. Yet rumors persist that within its silent walls, monks study not prayer, but magic cloaked in ritual, ancient texts masked as scripture. Some say they are keepers of forbidden knowledge. Others that they are assassins for the kingdoms. Its secrets are too well guarded to know...

7. Blackwater Bog - Nestled in the shadowy lowlands just below the dragon cliffs of Burning Crown, Blackwater Bog was once a sacred convergence point for dragonkind and the swamp-dwelling Mistbinders, an ancient sect of marsh mystics who tended to wyrmlings and protected their nesting rites in exchange for secrets whispered in smoke and scale.

Centuries ago, a greedy pirate fleet known as the Blisterbound descended upon the region in search of dragon eggs and alchemical treasures. The Mistbinders drowned the land in cursed fog to protect their secrets. None escaped.

Its waters now run dark and thick with forgotten magic. Sirens weave between the roots of the trees, one moment seen, gone in a blink. Locals say the bog "breathes" at night and travelers often vanish before ever reaching the nests above.

8. Isle of Thorns & Rain - Shrouded in rainfall and choked with dense jungle, the Isle of Thorns & Rain is a place best forgotten. It is almost as if the island compels you to turn away when you near.

Long ago, the island was the site of a failed colonial outpost, built atop ancient stone, whose original builders vanished without record. Walls were overtaken in weeks. Survivors whispered of vines that moved like snakes and trees that bled when cut.

Deep within the green, a hidden community lives in harmony with the land. They call themselves the Greenfey, and they speak with the land.

They protect the heart of the island: a living relic, perhaps once a god, slumbering beneath the roots. Outsiders who find the island rarely leave, and those who do return... changed.

10. Howler's Rest Ruins - Howler’s Rest was once a fortified watchpoint and bustling port for those braving the edge of the Howling Sea. Named for the shriek of wind through its iron towers, it stood as a symbol of warning and resilience.

But during the Blood Tide War, it became a battleground soaked in fire and ruin.

Caught between the warring forces of Orchard Crown and Burning Crown, the land was scorched by dragonfire and magic. What was once a thriving stronghold was reduced to ash and silence, crumbling stone where a thriving city once stood.

Now, the ruins lie blackened by soot and salt. And the howling? It has changed. It is said that inhuman cries echo through the night, carried on the breath of a land that remembers everything it lost.

3. Orchard Crown - Having won the Blood Tide War, Orchard Crown stands as the most powerful kingdom in the realm. Much of its wealth are rooted both in fertile harvests and rich mines that carve prosperity from the earth. Rolling orchards stretch beneath towering mountain ranges, where veins of precious metals fuel its coffers and forge its armies. Known for its disciplined rulers and thriving trade, Orchard Crown blends the bounty of the land with the strength of its mineral riches, reigning supreme through both abundance and might. 

Once seen as provincial and humble, Orchard Crown’s rise was methodical. While others relied on dragons or divine bloodlines, its scholars turned to earth-wrought magic culminating in innovations that ultimately brought the dragons of Burning Crown to heel. Their victory was not just one of might, but of minds sharpened by stone and soil. 

6. Burning Crown - Once the beating heart of the realm, Burning Crown was the mightiest kingdom on the map. 

Its hidden bay, cloaked by smoke and mist, allowed it to trade in rare metals, relics, and wyrmforged weaponry, a deadly craft known only to its forgemasters and passed down in flame-bound bloodlines. No navy dared challenge its waters, and no army breached its blazing gates for over a century.

During the Blood Tide War, Orchard Crown turned to forbidden magic that rivaled the dragons. Spells designed to unravel scale and bone swept across the battlefield. The dragons fell, screaming. And with their guardians gone, Burning Crown collapsed. 

Now, the once-mighty kingdom lies in wait for the dragons to reappear. 

9. Mirage Crown - The Mirage Crown is a desert kingdom wrapped in heat shimmer and mystery. From a distance, it appears as shifting dunes, vanishing cliffs, or a jeweled city that slips below the sand. Its true form is known only to those invited.

Masters of illusion and rare magical gear, the denizens of the Mirage Crown are famed for crafting glamours that can fool even dragons and enchantments that last centuries. Their banners bear no crest, and their gates remain hidden. But when the wind shifts, travelers swear they hear laughter in the dunes, and see palaces flickering just beyond reach.

During the Blood Tide War, they took no public side. Yet whispers say generals on both fronts wore Mirage-forged armor and bore blades that vanished in moonlight. Some believe the war's tides turned on deals made in shimmer and sand.

11. Hollow Crown - The kingdom takes its name not from absence, but from ritual. For centuries, every ruler of Hollow Crown has undergone the Rite of Severance: their heart, still beating, is removed and hidden deep within the royal vaults, bound in magic, sealed in songstone. The Crown, a living relic, binds itself to the ruler’s heart and will obey no other. It cannot be stolen, usurped, or passed by force. Only the true heir’s heart can awaken the throne. 

It is said that as long as the hearts remain untouched, Hollow Crown will never fall.

During the Blood Tide War, the city remained untouched not by neutrality, but by sheer impossibility: no one could claim the Crown without the hidden heart. Whispers say several hearts were targeted but none were found.

Hollow Crown thrives, a jewel of commerce and culinary delight, known for cloudberry wine, spiced eelcakes, and enchantments woven into silk. Welcoming to strangers, loyal to its own, and ruled by a sovereign who smiles without needing to feel. 

Silver Tides Realm - Silver Tides Realm rises from the heart of the sea. Its towers curve like shells, its streets flow like rivers, and its ships sail under no flag but their own.

Silver Tides was not built by conquerors, but by Collectors: arcane artisans, exiles, and spies who fled the mainland long ago, seeking freedom from kings and crowns. With magic that binds water and moonlight, they forged a city that floats yet endures, guarded by living wards. Their main trade lies in secrets.

No matter how far the kingdom or how carefully whispered, Silver Tides hears it. Their agents walk every port, smile in every market, and blend into every court. 

During the Blood Tide War, Silver Tides took no visible side, but many know they played all sides, their influence touching every kingdom in the Drifted World.

A. Red Market - Tucked deep within shifting sand dunes, Red Market is a hidden haven of forbidden trade, rare artifacts, and whispered deals. There are no official maps to it, only rumors and red tokens passed in secret. The island appears barren from the sea, but those who know where to look can find the markets among the dunes.

Red Market is where pirates and smugglers go to sell their stolen goods that would raise suspicious elsewhere. Magical creatures, cursed relics, royal trinkets. Everything has a price, and nothing is tracked.

The market shifts with the sand, making it nearly impossible to find twice the same way. It is said that no one rules Red Market, yet justice is swift, and vendettas vanish beneath the dunes.

B. Widow's Flame - Surrounded by a churning, eternal whirlpool, Widow’s Flame rises alone from the sea. A solitary lighthouse perched atop jagged stone, unreachable by ship. The waters around it pull everything under, yet the flame atop its tower has never gone out.

Legend says it was once a sacrifice from the Sun God Solmara, who gave up her immortal soul to ignite the flame. She created a beacon for her beloved, a mortal sailor who was lost at sea during a celestial storm. The gods begged her to stop, but Solmara wept fire and made a promise, "As long as the sea keeps her, I will keep the flame."

C. Blighted Isles - A scattered chain of islands, the Blighted Isles are a place sailors steer far around. Once a proud society thrived on the largest of the isles, building gleaming cities that lived for the hunt. They built intricate cages to contain the magical creatures they hunted from sea and sky. They saw the beasts as trophies. As power to be bent to mortal will. It is rumor they even captured a god.

But magic does not forget what it is. The captured beings sacrificed themselves, imploding in fury and grief, unleashing wild curses that tore through stone, soul, and soil. In centuries, no one has dared rebuild the ruins of long ago.

Now, the Blighted Isles rot in silence. Some islands are haunted by ghouls that wander the ruins. Others infect visitors with wasting illness or erupting boils. Only the desperate travel there.

D. Dreadspire - Jutting from a lonely isle like a bone through flesh, Dreadspire is a tower so tall its peak vanishes into the clouds. They say within the tower dwells the Witch of Dreadspire, a sorceress who defied the gods, twisted death to her will, and wove curses so potent they still echo through bloodlines today. Her name has been struck from record. Those who knew her face, long dead.

Bound to the tower as punishment by the gods, she cannot leave. Her curses slither through dreams, storms, and mirrors in hopes that a poor soul will answer and break her eternal shackles. 

E. The Lost Alter - The Lost Altar is a crumbling relic to a god no one can name aloud. It was once a sacred place of worship, carved in gold-veined stone and crowned with offerings from royalty, sailors, and seers.

Those who seek the history will find that the cast out god gave forbidden gifts: healing without cost, freedom without rule, truth without mercy. Angered by the mockery of their required costs, the other gods struck the god's name from the stars and ordered all traces of their worship erased.

And yet, the altar endured.

The air around it hums with something old and unfinished. Flowers grow strangely around it. Animals draw close, as if in worship themselves. 

It is said that if one speaks without lies while standing at the altar, the outcasted god will listen...

F. Ironmaw Prison - Upon an early agreement of the kingdoms, an island was dedicated to build the Ironmaw Prison, a place they could send all their unwanted.  Shaped like the gaping jaw of some ancient beast, its rust-stained gates creak open only to swallow the worst of the realm’s traitors, war criminals, and those too dangerous or inconvenient to be allowed freedom. 

G. Sporepatch - Sporepatch was transformed nearly three centuries ago when a drifting alchemist’s ship wrecked upon its rocky shore. The cargo of unstable magical spores and experimental seeds were released onto the empty island.

The spores took root in the cracks and crags, spreading faster than nature should allow. Within weeks, strange blossoms unfurled. Within months, glowing mushrooms carpeted the cliffs. Vines sang in the wind. Flowers bloomed with eyes, laughter, or curses. 

Alchemists and herbalists pay dearly for passage to Sporepatch and even more for a guide, as the island’s nature is as unpredictable as its magic. 

War Wounds - Once the site of a final stand in a long ago war, War Wounds is no longer an island in the traditional sense. It is a shattered crater ringed by wreckage. The surrounding waters are choked with sunken ships, rusting cannons, and half-swallowed flags, guarded now by sharks fattened on ghosts. 

Legends say The Lost City was once the jewel of the known world. It was a place of shimmering spires, song-bound stone, and wonders far beyond even the wildest magics of today. Some claim it was built by a civilization that could speak to the stars and command the ocean. 

But one day, it vanished.

One morning, ships arrived at its shores to find nothing but the empty sea. Since then, The Lost City has slipped in and out of myth. Afterall, a city under the waves is impossible to obtain...

Some believe it's hidden beneath the sea. Others say it's cloaked by magic, moving like a mirage between worlds. And some say it is not lost at all, merely waiting for the right voice, the right key, the right moment to return.

War Wounds - Once the site of a final stand in a long ago war, War Wounds is no longer an island in the traditional sense. It is a shattered crater ringed by wreckage. The surrounding waters are choked with sunken ships, rusting cannons, and half-swallowed flags, guarded now by sharks fattened on ghosts. 

Silver Tides Realm - Silver Tides Realm rises from the heart of the sea. Its towers curve like shells, its streets flow like rivers, and its ships sail under no flag but their own.

Silver Tides was not built by conquerors, but by Collectors: arcane artisans, exiles, and spies who fled the mainland long ago, seeking freedom from kings and crowns. With magic that binds water and moonlight, they forged a city that floats yet endures, guarded by living wards. Their main trade lies in secrets.

No matter how far the kingdom or how carefully whispered, Silver Tides hears it. Their agents walk every port, smile in every market, and blend into every court. 

During the Blood Tide War, Silver Tides took no visible side, but many know they played all sides, their influence touching every kingdom in the Drifted World.