Geography (Sylfaen Supplement)

The world of Sylfaen is compounded by four great continents, two of which are connected to each other by a portion of land. Most of those continents are controlled by a single Empire, whose dominance have been aided through the use of magic - The Empire of Tyr. Thanks to the efforts of colonization from Tyr, travel between three of the four continents is possible and fast, through the use of either portals, teleportation circles or arcane vessels, but those are not available to most people, which makes traveling great distances dangerous, costly and time consuming for those are not mage academics, nobles or part of the military.

The three continents that most heavily feature the presence of the empire are the continent of Daear, the mainland and center of Tyr; the northern and frozen lands of Rhew; and the far west were sits the continent of Anial. The fourth continent in the world, the land of Rethwin, a strange and wild land, filled with greenery and home of the elves, is the only place that still resists the advances of the empire, although Tyr's presence is still felt due to the coastal colonies there.

Continents

Daear

Daear is a continent formed by a great landmass, and the second in extension, is considered by humans the birthplace of all intelligent humanoid life in the world. The south of Daear is filled with mountains, rich in minerals, and was the homeland of the dwarves before the war, while the north has large plains and small hills, and although the geography through the continent is mostly uniform, there are pockets of geographical diversity sprinkled throughout.

Points of Interest in Daear

The Witch Woods

A mysterious forest, shaped by the presence of the faeric plane, the Witchwoods are feared by the inhabitants of Eldor. For more details, look at the article for the Witch Woods.

The Inverted Sky

Splitting the Iron Hills in half, there's a chism, a deep abyss covered in darkness so dense that not even the midday sun can pierce through it. At night, however, it is possible to see glowing light dots sprinkle through the whole valley, which granted it the folk name of "Inverted Sky".

The inverted sky is a dangerous place, filled with monsters adapted to the deep darkness from that environment, and that rarely if ever leave the location. In the middle of the valley, a temple was created in honor to the dwarvish lord Aelin, who ventured through the Inverted Sky to protect the treasures of his people when the humans won the war.

The Red Keep

Located in the Shimmering Coast, the Red Keep is a temple dedicated to the goddess of knowledge and necromancy, The Red Queen. The keep is guarded by the elite of the queen's warriors, the Order of the Crimson Knights, and hosts the wisest among the cloistered priests of the goddess. The keep also stores the third biggest library in all Daear, and the largest source of necromantic knowledge in the known world. The building is called a keep, rather than a temple, for his instrumental use in the defense of the Shimmering Coast during the Battle of the Black Sun, which also give great fame to the order of the crimson knights.

The Wastelands

The humanity, as far as Tyrian historians know, begin to walk on earth in the extreme north of Daear, the birthplace of the thirteen tribes. In that place, too, was the last bastion of the Drakkenian Empire, during its small time coexisting with the Tyr. When they were defeated, the battle mages of the magisterium wanted to leave a message to all future traitors of Tyr, as were considered all humans that not bowed down to the empire. They devastated the southern lands with magic, to such an extent that all that land became a sterile desert, filled with chaotic magic, that is now call the Wastelands.

Rhew

Rhew is a considered by some as its own continent, and by others as part of Daear, connected to it by a strip of land in the south. Rhew is also popularly known as "The North", and is land of the northern tribes. Most of Rhew's population resides in the coast or the south, since the coast turns the life possible through the access to commercial routes and to fishining, while the south is the major source of farmlands. The center of Rhew is mostly overtaken by frigid wastelands, a cold desert that seems endless, surrounded by some pine tree forests, while the extreme north is home for the Sleeping Giants, the mountain range where is located the biggest mountain in all the world.

Rethwin

Rethwin is the wild continent in the extreme east, the land of obscure secrets, dead magic and the territory of the elves.

The Seas of Rethwin

The sea in rethwin are lands filled with endless adventure and peril. Free from the magical influence of the Empire - but, consequently, from its protection - the seas close to Rethwin are the perfect place for the proliferation of alternative societies, intrigue and crime.

Magic in Rethwin

In Rethwin, magic works differently than from the rest of the world. For some reason, Intent Magic doesn't work in the continent, reason for why the continent remained unexplored for so much time. Although the continent has existed in imperial maps for at least a hundred years, the traditional methods of imperial occupation - magical flight and teleportation - relied in Intent magic, being thus useless for the colonization of Rethwin. Areas in which this phenomena occurs are called Spheres of Null Magic.

Natives to the continent - the elven people - controls, however, a type of magic previously unknown by the people of Tyr, the druidic magic, that allows evels to solicit magic from nature itself, unleashing destruction upon the colonizers. Said type of magic has been the biggest advantage of the elves over the imperial colonizers, and alongside with the restriction of the imperial magic, is one of the biggest reasons for why the war have been happening for so much time.

As a way to deal with this problem, humans have been turning themselves to alternative methods of acquiring magical power, both by studying the druidic magic, and by relying on Solicitation Magic, forging pacts with powerful magical entities. They also are researching alchemical methods to deal with this problem, modifying soldiers, granting them superhuman abilities, enough to match the power of elven magic.

Points of Interest in Rethwin

Storm Island

In reality, not only the strip of land in the continent is protected against imperial magic, but a vast portion of sea near it is also a zone of null magic. As a way to deal with this problem, the empire founded an advanced post in the Storm Island (formerly known as Jiatsukan by its original occupiers). The Storm Island is the last advanced post of the empire were the Intent Magic still works, and many warehouses and ports were built there, in order to facilitate the passage and mundane navigation towards Rethwin, since magic was still possible within the island and nearby waters. Imperial forces arrive at the island through teleportation circles that connect some imperial fortress to the island, and through arcane ships that make this voyage at great speed.

The seas close to the island also have present the portals of the Gwendolyn Corridor, named after the mage that invented it, this corridor consists in a series of giant portals spread through the ocean, in intervals of hundreds of miles, that allow ships to teleport from a portal to another, hastening travels towards the island.

The Storm Island is also home to the Kord's Sword, one of the greatests imperial weapons, a vigilance tower in the isle center, from were it is possible to teleport to any other tower around the island. The tower has this name thanks to its magical properties. A mechanism of arcane nature inside the tower allow the Kord's Sword commander to control the climate in the seas around the island, summoning storms in the nearby regions or even directing lightning from the sky to sink ships in an instant.

Two imperial admirals run the island: Bohumil Lewelyn an Kaz Brann, who share the command over the island and the control over the Kord's Sword.

Piracy

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