A Brief Encyclopedia of the Chronicles of Sacrifice

The Freelands

The Freelands is a complicated region, rife with its own turmoil, trials, and hardships. Even so, it is one of the most fascinating regions in our world today. With no central governance, each city is its own nation state, dealing with international partners on individual bases. On occasion, cities will go to war with each other for one reason or another, frequently affecting the rest of the region in the process. In spite of this, the cities refuse to share a government, as many have different ideologies, cultures, and systems in place on their own. As such, many simply make agreements with their fellow microstates, positioning themselves to best aid their own people.

The names attached to regions and urban areas vary greatly between traditional elvish and human languages, primarily Modern Elvish and the Common Tongue. For the most part, the names of regions are so simply because, at some point, they stuck. This is possibly due to majority populations of one race or another in a town or region, though this is still debated by scholars.

The Freelands have significant geologically varied regions, as noted in the map above. We will begin this section discussing the variations of the lands:

-Mountains: For our purposes here, this applies to regions large enough and with enough elevation changes of great enough magnitude to consider it a range of mountains. Not all of the mountain ranges are named because only those of interest have been labeled. Some mountain ranges have less prospects for minerals, while others are barren of life in general. Many of these mountains contain significant systems of caves and caverns, housing monsters and animals of all sorts, sometimes making exploration or resource mining difficult. The major mountain ranges are The Overlooks, The Warren Mountains, The Split, Dunkler Waldberg, The Crescent Mountains, Skyscraper, The Barrier Wall, The Gullet, and The Dark Reaches.

-- The Overlooks: Tall and overlooking the Leviathan Sea, it should be easy to guess how these mountains got their name. Because of the vast line of sight possible in the city of Stratis atop these mountains, a great many people seeking the Leviathan begin their quest here, though never to any avail. Ultimately, the beautiful scenery and artistic composition of the city bring people to retire here to get away from regular society and live a simpler life. This simpler life is expensive, though, as most of the food comes from hydroponic gardens and goats.

-- The Warren Mountains: Known for volcanic activity and gorgeous hot springs, the Warren Mountains are high, cold, and snowy, the perfect place for winter vacations. They house little in the way of exploitable resources, though the recreational activities here are aplenty, contributing significantly to the economy of the city of Warren.

-- Dunkler Waldberg: A massive forest and mountain range in the center of the Freelands, many adventurers seek riches in its depths and never return. While plenty of people survive treks into these mountains, many become lost in the dark forests and cannot make their way out before becoming too fatigued, making them easy prey for Strigivolps and other terrifying creatures. The many caves known in these mountains; and many more to be discovered; are believed to house Mohrnighan histories, making the region of significant interest to scholars.

-- The Split: A thin mountain range butting up to the coast, nestling the city of Nestel along its end and the water. The cave systems here are simple and easy to explore, an excellent first start for adventurers and monster hunters seeking experience before moving onto greater ambitions.

--The Crescent Mountains: The Crescent Mountains, shaped like a crescent, split the Great Plains in half, allowing for slight variations in the ecosystems of each side and providing an enclave to live in for creatures looking for more sturdy, rugged housing. Caverntown; a truly large city split into two small cities; has two major outside areas as well as sparse homes and shops in the tunnel system that connects the two towns. These tunnels were closed off from others in the cave system to protect the towns.

--Skyscraper: A small mountain range centered around the tallest mountain in the Freelands.

--The Gullet: A small mountain range with a valley leading into the Mangroves, like the mouth of a bird going into its belly.

--The Dark Reaches: A mountain range consisting of extremely deep valleys and cave systems that go well into the earth. These mountains and caves are incredibly dangerous to explore, filled with extremely dangerous monsters and magic. Long ago, there was said to have been a major battle between groups of mages here, throwing essence magic about like candy on a holiday, and the region never truly recovered. The forest nearby was unaffected, though on occasion, monsters will wander down from the mountains for new prey.

--The Barrier Mountain: The mountain that acts as a border wall against the only land neighbor to the Freelands.

-Plains: These regions tend to be dominated by smaller plant life, such as grasses, shrubs, and other small plants. Plains regions are typically excellent farmlands, and the cities in these regions grow and export a great deal of food. They do not have nearly as much to offer to adventurers save for occasional monster contracts and the like, resulting in a more peaceful atmosphere most of the time.

-- The Highlands, Northern Plains, and Great Plains are all roughly the same, large, sometimes hilly regions with sparse trees of limited height. The Rolling Hills are the exception, only discounted from mountains due to the insignificant altitude differences encountered there. The Rolling Hills have more monsters and less farmland than the other Plains regions, though they are still nowhere near any other region in those fields.

-Woodlands: Woodlands regions are the cross between Plains and Forests; they have trees as forests do, though not as many, and the soil is more similar to Plains regions than forest regions. The trees tend to be just a little shorter, more spaced out, and less straight, often able to bend in heavier winds. The regions of woodlands are all relatively close together, bordering Dunkler Waldberg, acting as fading extensions of that region. As such, they tend to have similar monsters to Dunkler Waldberg. There is hope among many that entering Dunkler Waldberg in a campaign of annihilation against these monsters will eliminate them completely, though few truly expect it to work.

-Plateaus: Similar to deserts, the plateau regions are a cross between mountains and desert, where the valleys are there, but the elevation is not as significant. Many of these plateaus find their depths actually below sea level, resulting in few people settling in them for fear that somehow the ocean will flood them one day. While possible in theory, it would take artificial canals and dams to make this happen. The main reason they cannot be inhabited is the strong presence of extremely dangerous monsters, particularly Rippers.

-Swamps/Marshlands: These regions, while diverse in nutrients and full of powerful flora for medicines and food, are incredibly dangerous to those not familiar. The hazards of the land are extreme, but monsters thrive in these areas. Outside of Sumpsbergh, toward the edge of The Marshlands, no one has settled these areas. Rumors exist of Mohrnighan treasures, though none are confirmed, as none have come back to confirm them.

-Forests: Though not as dangerous as marshes or swamps, forest regions contain their own hazards, primarily in the form of monsters. The more dangerous of these monsters tend to be deeper in the forest and away from populated areas. In most forests, the trees are tall and block a great deal of the sunlight, leaving less grass or other plants on the ground.

-Desert/Wasteland: These regions are nearly devoid of plantlife, hot, and dry. Few monsters typically inhabit these areas, but those that do are extremely dangerous. The climate on its own will kill, but combined with the active threat of the wildlife, they are not regions to traverse alone or without supplies.

On the map, we also have a number of markings. The rivers and lakes are colored in as water, and the caves are marked distinctly, typically occurring in mountainous regions, though not exclusively. For cities, for our purposes, a large city has a population in excess of one million people, though many are in excess of two million. Smaller cities are less than one million, but similarly, tend to number further from one million at four to six hundred thousand people. Every city has small towns around it and further away that answer to the greater city and region for administrative purposes. These smaller towns are always walled off to fend off monsters and bandits, while larger cities are only partially walled for the most part. Some major cities began as very small towns, and kept building their walls up as they grew, like Joustberg, creating different, distinctive districts within the city.