The Desert east of the Cloudspine Mountains. This area used to be the fertile Empire of the cath Bruig, but was put to the torch adn blighted after the passing of the armies of the Dark fifty years ago.
"The great desert east of the Cloudspine. Once the fertile empire of Cath Bruig, the Barrier was razed and blighted when Muirthemne fell to Balor's forces, becoming an arid desert devoid of most life."
Like a nightmare clothed in flesh, the Mauls swept across The Blind Steppes, their grotesque appearance and incredible strength causing even the most hardened Warrior to tremble with fear.
"...we will go forth and strike down our enemies. And once they have been vanquished we will rebuild the Cath Bruig Empire to its former glory."
"Once we have recovered the Ibis Crown," he declared, "Llancarfan will once more be the seat of the Cath Bruig Empire with myself as Emperor. The people will draw strength from me and we will go forth and strike down our enemies. Once they have been defeated we will rebuild the Empire to its former glory."
"...[to the likes of] the highwaymen of the Chalk Hills... and the bandit gangs of Tarhan Downs...it was business as usual... it didn't matter who died, as long as their bellies were full."
Mountain range in the central continent, which runs north and south. There are only three passes along the Cloudspine - Bagrada, the Stair of Grief, and Seven Gates.
"A mountain range spanning the continent, running north to south across its center. An almost impassable barrier, the Cloudspine has only three passes-Bagrada, Seven Gates, and The Stair of Grief. Even these are only passable during the summer months."
Swamp in the North.
"An enormous swampland. Fed by the poisoned Gjol River, the Dire Marsh was the site of many battles between the Legion and the forces of The Watcher and Soulblighter during the Great War. It was here that the Watcher, crippled by arrows tipped with his own bones, finally fell."
"Today the Dramus River is frozen solid, but back then it was a muddy torrent of melted snow and ice brought on by the eruption of Tharsis."
A submerged region north of the Deep Mire.
"The wolves of The Ermine have been a menace to the people of the Free Cities of the North... since the area was settled in the Axe Age."
Huge forest east of the Cloudspine Mountains, home of the Forest Giants.
"...since the end of the Great War the armies of The Province have served as a kind of policing body... from the Free Cities of the North to Forest Heart..."
"An ancient and majestic forest east of the Cloudspine. Home to the peaceful but powerful Forest Giants. Forest Heart was the site of many battles during the Great War."
...since the end of the Great War the armies of The Province have served as a kind of policing body... from the Free Cities of the North to Forest Heart..."
"Tandem is the cornerstone of the free cities of the North ... "
"The Legion has reached the Gjol, the poisoned river which feeds the Dire Marsh."
A poisoned river that runs south into the Dire Marsh.
"Poisoned river that flows out of the Blind Steppes and into the Dire Marsh."
"Dreaded Fang-Grinder, whose very name stuck fear into even those who rallied round him in battle! Called the 'King of the Ghols' and 'the Black Dog of the Hill Lands', he was the greatest and most terrible of his kind!"
"As for Mauriac, lost and alone, he wandered the hill country for a time, an aimless rogue warrior, unable to come to terms with his disgraced honor."
"The battlefield fell silent as the two commanders confronted one another atop the Hill of Mourning."
"The Leveler was never killed. He was immobilized by sorcery, beheaded and burned at the stake in the Second Era. A thousand years later he was drawn and quartered on the plains before Ileum, the tireless horses dragging the pieces of his lifeless body to the four corners of the world. Again in the Fourth Era his body was destroyed by fire, his ashes mixed with salt and buried under the Mountains of Kor. Balor, Moagim and all those before them wore the Mantle of The Leveler."
"We made haste toward Tandem, our rallying point. Tandem is the cornerstone of the free cities of the North, and the key to Tandem is White Falls. So we will sail up the Meander and secure the fortress there."
Lowlands east of the Toven River, which rise to the Cloudspine Mountains and Bagrada..
"A vast lowland east of the Toven River and rising to the Cloudspine at Bagrada."
...since the end of the Great War the armies of The Province have served as a kind of policing body... from the Free Cities of the North to Forest Heart..."
Main river in the southeastern continent, flowing east from the Clouspine mountains to the sea.
"The main river in the southwest of the continent, flowing from the Cloudspine to the ocean."
"Our scouts have brought back news of an odd group of men who have gathered nearby. From their description alone, Twelve Motion recognized them as Warlocks from the Scholomance, ancient allies of The Deceiver and collaborators of the Fallen Lords."
"...[to the likes of] the highwaymen of the Chalk Hills... and the bandit gangs of Tarhan Downs...it was business as usual... it didn't matter who died, as long as their bellies were full."
"A vast lowland east of the Toven River and rising to the Cloudspine at Bagrada."
"[The Deceiver] has brought us here, to The Twelve Duns, closer to the Trow demesne than any sane man has dared in two generations. We are a mere four hours march from the lost city of Rhi'ornin."
"...failing to recover the head of Balor at the Great Devoid, Soulblighter fled to the east into the Untamed Lands... back to the hidden temple where he first studied the black arts..."
"... but he has disappeared into the 'Untamed Lands' before, often for years at a time; always returning with something more unspeakably evil or singularly malignant than the time before."
"Runs between Forest Heart and the Cloudspine, emptying into the Cavan Bight."
"...those that Phelot deemed unsuitable for use as thrall... were given to the ghols, who hacked their limbs and chewed their flesh... this is how he dealt with the people of Avon's Grove."
"Say, did'ja hear what happened at Avon's Grove?"
"Yeah, there were no bodies."
"What'd they do with all the bodies?"
Southernmost of the three passes across the Cloudspine Mountains. It connects the Plain of Scales with Forest Heart, and has been the site of battles from time immemoria;.
"Southernmost pass across the Cloudspine range, Bagrada is a network of dead ends and box canyons that connect the Plain of Scales with Forest Heart. Countless battles have been waged here, including several during the Great War."
"When we reached Tallow, Rurik told the mayor he had overheard the brigands speaking of taking corpses to a castle near the town of Brayle."
"Runs between Forest Heart and the Cloudspine, emptying into the Cavan Bight."
Yet another small town outside of Madrigal.
"Iri trekked for three days through Ghol haunted hills, eating as he walked, sleeping between footfalls; he ran for the last 5 hours, traversing the 26 mile wide corpse-filled morass ringing Covenant..."
"The Watcher has entered Covenant from the north, and his tireless undead are raping the old city a second time; tearing down what few structures stand in their way, and choking the sky with dust and smoke. That he wants the book which now rests at the bottom of my pack is clear."
"Mauriac was prince regent [of Covenant] during King Alric's adolescence, and knows of an underground tunnel just outside the city which leads to Shoal, a village four miles away down the coast. The King's family used it to escape Covenant when Soulblighter leveled the city twelve years ago, and today we hope it will help us elude The Watcher."
Once a major city of the Province, Covenant was sacked and destroyed fifteen years ago by the Dark.
"...the farmland surrounding Covenant was choked with the shattered remains of two armies and pregnant with diseases of the blood... It is from this fortress that he issued his commands."
"...they attacked the city of Covenant... reinforced not only by the slaughtered town folk and farmers... but also by the plunder of catacombs, crypts and cemeteries of a thousand years."
"...preceding the assault on Covenant... two score and nine wights were herded into the Tiber an hours march from the city, there to stand until they burst, rendering the water undrinkable."
"...he had sacrificed much in pursuit of the Ultimate Truth... a permanent chair at the University of Covenant... a seat in the King's court... and, there was no denying it, his soul."
"A great city of the Province, Covenant was sacked by the Dark in the Great War."
"Yesterday our legion entered the village of Crow's Bridge and halted there for the night. We are just four days march from the besieged city of Madrigal now, and with a little luck should arrive there in time to prevent its capture by the enemy."
A small town outside the major city of Madrigal.
"Leave it for the torches, lads, and make haste for Gonen!"
"Balor has been killed before," Alric told us after we raised the Myrkridian standard, "and each time it has only made him more powerful. Our best hope is to cut off his head, and hurl it into the Great Devoid. Only in this way will the world be rid of him forever."
A bottomless chasm near Myrgard, created by the Callieach during their final days. Rather than be hunted to extinction by the Trow, the Callieach destroyed themselves and many Trow, leaving behind only the Devoid.
"The Great Devoid is a chasm near Myrgard that is said to have no bottom. It was created when the Callieach destroyed themselves rather than be hunted to extinction by the Trow. Following his defeat at Rhi'anon, Balor's severed head was brought here and cast into the Devoid."
"The Leveler was never killed. He was immobilized by sorcery, beheaded and burned at the stake in the Second Era. A thousand years later he was drawn and quartered on the plains before Ileum, the tireless horses dragging the pieces of his lifeless body to the four corners of the world. Again in the Fourth Era his body was destroyed by fire, his ashes mixed with salt and buried under the Mountains of Kor. Balor, Moagim and all those before them wore the Mantle of The Leveler."
"Maeldun's only words on returning exhausted to Tyr from a long campaign in the East to find half the city burning after a raid by pirates from Leix were 'Show me the way to Leix.'"
"One hundred ten years ago, during the Wolf Age, Muirthemne was sacked, burned and all but buried under a mountain of rock and sand by Balor and the Fallen Lords. As I stood before the ruins of the Mausoleum of the Cath Bruig I could not help but wonder what we hoped to gain by owning it."
One of the Free Cities of the North.
"A city in the northwest of the Province, Madrigal was the site of a great battle between Rabican and Shiver during the Great War. Though it was successfully defended by the Light for most of the war, internal strife and the crushing weight of the Dark armies caused its downfall only weeks before the war finally ended."
Fifty years ago the Fallen overcame the armies of the Cath Bruig, sacked Muirthemne and turned the empire East of the Cloudspine into desert (now called the Devoid).
"[Many of them] were slain when they attacked Muirthemne, and their cursed blood seeped into the ground... not every mysterious disappearance could be traced back to the Spider-cults."
"One hundred ten years ago, during the Wolf Age, Muirthemne was sacked, burned and all but buried under a mountain of rock and sand by Balor and the Fallen Lords. As I stood before the ruins of the Mausoleum of the Cath Bruig I could not help but wonder what we hoped to gain by owning it."
"He told me about old Muirthemne, describing it with words that seemed out of place coming from such a grizzled warrior. He spoke of its many spired palaces and monuments and the grand bazaar during each year's harvest."
"Returning to the ruin Muirthemne had become in their absence, the deathless Heron Guards each tore nine gold tiles from the palace wall, every one the weight of a grown man ... "
"When Alric sent word that a man was needed to pierce the corpse-city of Muirthemne to its dead heart, and obtain from it what might be the only hope for victory, Truan volunteered without hesitation."
"On the day Muirthemne was razed, the sun rose to reveal an army that seemed to stretch across the horizon, and at its center stood Balor with his standard silhouetted against the morning sun."
Ancient capital of the Empire of the Cath Bruig, home to the mighty sorcerers and seat of a great empire. It was completely shattered and destroyed by the Dark. This is the place that the Tain was made.
"The ancient capital of the Cath Bruig empire, Muirthemne was home to many great sorcerers and craftsmen, whose works included the Tain. Ruled by Connacht during the Wind Age, it was sacked and utterly razed when he returned as Balor during the Great War."
"...with the destruction of their most sacred shrine at Myrgard and driven out of the Dwarven lands, the Ghols have only redoubled their efforts to '... devour the dwarves from existence'."
"...they celebrate the capture of the Dwarven capital at Myrgard with feasts under the full moon... re-enacting its spoliation, so they will never forget their moment of triumph."
"Within a year of Balor's defeat, the dwarves had reclaimed Myrgard and its provinces. Most dwarves chose to return to their homeland and rebuild, but some built new lives in the West."
"...turning the godhead of the ghols into a monument to Balin's victory. Nothing else has done more to sustain the mutual hatred since the ghols raided the crypt at Myrgard for 'victuals'."
"The Ghols have forever been at war with the dwarves around Myrgard and Stoneheim, and the rape of the dwarves' ancestral home there has been the Ghol's rabid dream for centuries."
"Hours after the fall of Myrgard, the dwarves defending Stoneheim collapsed the barbican, entombing ten thousand of their number behind as many tons of shattered rock."
" ... though the dwarves before Myrgard were unshaken by the wights opposite them, each knew the slow, bleeding death-fever which awaited those who survived the battle."
Ancestral home of the Dwarves. Along with the other major Dwarven city of Stoneheim, it was seized and occupied by the Ghols fifty years ago.
"The ancestral home of the Dwarves. Along with the other major Dwarven city of Stoneheim, Myrgard was seized by the Ghols over a century ago. Occupied for more than fifty years, Myrgard was finally liberated after the defeat of the Dark in the Great War. With the Ghols driven out, the Dwarves returned, with a deeper hatred of their mortal enemies than ever before."
Another small town outside of Madrigal.
"It all culminated in a single battle - the Battle at the Valley of the Red Seal was a solid month of fighting and it resulted in the extinction of their race."
"Alric left at dusk, alone. The old maps, he says, all show a World Knot in Rhi'anon, though it has never been used in our time."
"We are outside the old Trow city of Rhi'anon, abandoned centuries ago in the war which nearly exterminated their race."
Ancient capital of the Trow, melted into the ice by Connacht during the Wind Age.
"The ancient capital of the Trow. When Balor returned as the Leveller, it was in Rhi'anon that he raised his fortress, and led the Fallen. This was also his last battleground, where he fell to Alric in the final battle of the Great War."
Connacht and his lieutenants fell on us in our moment of weakeness but showed us mercy, instead of returning us to the One Dream, he entomded us in the vaults beneath Rhi'Anon.
"[The Deceiver] has brought us here, to The Twelve Duns, closer to the Trow demesne than any sane man has dared in two generations. We are a mere four hours march from the lost city of Rhi'ornin."
"The lost city of the Trow. It was the first city to fall during the Trow-Oghre wars."
Central of the three passes across the Cloudspine Mountains, so named for its seven chokepoints.
"One of the three passes across the Cloudspine, named for its seven chokepoints, and overshadowed by an ancient volcano. Here, in the last year of the Great War, the Legion fought their way through the forces of The Watcher and The Deceiver and entered the Barrier."
"Mauriac was prince regent [of Covenant] during King Alric's adolescence, and knows of an underground tunnel just outside the city which leads to Shoal, a village four miles away down the coast. The King's family used it to escape Covenant when Soulblighter leveled the city twelve years ago, and today we hope it will help us elude The Watcher."
Town where the player escaped from Covenant.
"Bahl'al descended to the flooded, rusting halls of Si'anwon and under the sea there took no breath for nine days, searching the ruined palaces and temples of the Trow for the dream of unlife."
"We're a hundred miles from Bagrada and two days ahead of the rest of the Legion today, outside a town called Silvermines, looking for The Watcher's arm."
A small mining town near Seven Gates.
"...then Cruniac called for the Dwarves... foremost amongst them was Jari, son of Balin and Uni, daughter of the Archon of Stoneheim; strong and wise... unsurpassed in bravery or daring..."
"He had been a mathematician and engineer before the Great War... when Stoneheim fell to the Ghols and the university was destroyed... these skills served him well in the years to come..."
"The Ghols have forever been at war with the dwarves around Myrgard and Stoneheim, and the rape of the dwarves' ancestral home there has been the Ghol's rabid dream for centuries."
"Hours after the fall of Myrgard, the dwarves defending Stoneheim collapsed the barbican, entombing ten thousand of their number behind as many tons of shattered rock."
"...it is arguable that Soulblighter was Balor's most brutal General... frequently killing those who begged him for mercy... he is the reason that Stong no longer appears on any map..."
"A berserk at Tandem, having been told of the extraordinary taste of roast pig, is said to have replied 'and Ghol may taste like haggis, but I will never know, as they are filthy beasts.'"
"We made haste toward Tandem, our rallying point. Tandem is the cornerstone of the free cities of the North, and the key to Tandem is White Falls. So we will sail up the Meander and secure the fortress there."
"We have Soulblighter's army caught between the Cloudspine, the Ire River, and Tharsis - the legendary forge of the Trow."
"Today the Dramus River is frozen solid, but back then it was a muddy torrent of melted snow and ice brought on by the eruption of Tharsis."
"Soulblighter has done the unthinkable. With his army scattered in disarray, he fled up through the Eye of Tharsis and into the very bowels of the earth. I can hardly blame him. The sight of Alric hacking his way through the enemy, Balmung flashing in his hand, caused many of our own men to stand aside in awe."
"The enormous volcano overlooking Seven Gates is erupting for the first time in ten centuries."
"...Bahl'al spurred his army onward with a blistering wind. Three full days before his army arrived... the citizens of Tyr knew their doom lumbered nearer with each passing hour..."
"Maeldun's only words on returning exhausted to Tyr from a long campaign in the East to find half the city burning after a raid by pirates from Leix were 'Show me the way to Leix.'"
A large city of The Province that was sacked by the Dark ten years before current events.
"We made haste toward Tandem, our rallying point. Tandem is the cornerstone of the free cities of the North, and the key to Tandem is White Falls. So we will sail up the Meander and secure the fortress there."
"A name referring to a town, a fortress, and the White Falls themselves. Located on the Meander River southeast of Tandem, they are the highest falls west of the Ermine."
"After we settled in, Garrick told us of events in the west. Shiver's attack on White Falls came as expected, and the battle there raged for the better part of a month, until Baelden and the seventh legion swept up from the south and attacked Shiver's flank. Her army was forced to retreat east toward Willow and the combined forces under Alric and Baelden fell upon her rear guard, destroying it utterly."
"A single berserk reached us yesterday, after having come all the way over the mountains from the city of Willow, fourteen hundred miles away."
"...well respected by his peers and admired by the townsfolk... he is the head of the town council... many think he will be the next mayor of Willow Creek."
"A small town on the western edge of Forest Heart. Built on the site of a razed village, it is once again a flourishing farming community."
" ... on occasion an archer of promise is sent to the Ermine, the homeland of the fir'Bolg, to study his craft at one of the three war colleges: jo'Za-Thatal, wa'Ama-Tchal, or ai'Kijin-Tak."
"Your Majesty! The Gate of Storms has fallen."
"Our vanguard has crossed the Scamander unchallenged and remains hidden on the southern bank of the river. Their assault will begin two hours after midnight against Shiver's right flank, at the same time the Madrigal garrison throws open the Gate of Storms and attacks her from the front."
"The commander has sent me and a group of Dwarves ahead of our main force to "stuff Gonen like a turkey." I was unsure of his meaning until we reached Gonen's Bridge and the Dwarves began to load the bridge with satchel charges. Apparently he plans to destroy the bridge behind us once we are all across, to make pursuit more difficult."
"King Alric says we must travel through the World Knot to Covenant and retrieve the Total Codex from the newly rebuilt library. He says that with the Codex we may be able to find The Summoner before Soulblighter can."
"When Covenant fell and the Great University burned, we lost countless generations of accumulated knowledge - chief amongst the loss was the last surviving copy of Forgall's Bestiary.
"It was a moonlit autumn night at the Battle of Grimace Point that Mauriac of Madrigal saw his fellow perish, fallen by Fang-Grinder. His warrior's vows forgotten, he fled in terror, such was his guilt and shame!"
" ... on occasion an archer of promise is sent to the Ermine, the homeland of the fir'Bolg, to study his craft at one of the three war colleges: jo'Za-Thatal, wa'Ama-Tchal, or ai'Kijin-Tak."
"The guard told us that a few years ago the Baron had several secret passages constructed so that he could make a quick escape if his safety was ever compromised."
"When we reached Tallow, Rurik told the mayor he had overheard the brigands speaking of taking corpses to a castle near the town of Brayle. Indeed, the locals we encountered on the way said they had seen many wagons filled with bodies being hauled into the keep.
The master of this castle is Baron Kildaer. We were joined at Tallow by reinforcements to attack the Baron's stronghold and put an end to his unwholesome trade in human remains."
"Unoccupied since the Great War, it was thought that every member of the Kildaer family had been slain when the Fallen Lords crossed over the Cloudspine, destroying everything in their path."
"The scouts told us that Alric and nearly three thousand men from the Legion have come from Muirthemne to face Soulblighter. Unfortunately, they were met by Shiver and her army in the valley about two hours downstream from the dam. If the dam were destroyed, the resulting deluge would kill everything in its path for miles."
"In honor of their heroism, Connacht allowed the men of the North who had been slain defending Llancarfan to be buried in the Mausoleum of Clovis - the Royal Crypt of the Cath Bruig."
"...the masons who built the mausoleum for Clovis, the first Emperor of the Cath Bruig, still haunt these ancient corridors, eager to destroy those who would plunder its sacred vaults..."
"One hundred ten years ago, during the Wolf Age, Muirthemne was sacked, burned and all but buried under a mountain of rock and sand by Balor and the Fallen Lords. As I stood before the ruins of the Mausoleum of the Cath Bruig I could not help but wonder what we hoped to gain by owning it."
"Ah, Sinis! I thought you died when Mazzarin collapsed the Shrine of Nyx upon you."
" ... on occasion an archer of promise is sent to the Ermine, the homeland of the fir'Bolg, to study his craft at one of the three war colleges: jo'Za-Thatal, wa'Ama-Tchal, or ai'Kijin-Tak."
"Albrecht, the King of the Dwarves, having been presented with the latest invention of the famed Wehrfaktorie, is said to have replied "Such a thing would make war too terrible to wage.""