The Pillars of Dawn separate Northern Argollë from the rolling hills of Southern Argollë. In ancient days, Southern Argollë was the forested heartland of the ancient Argollëan Empire, but the elves and the forests have both largely been eliminated. Nowadays, it is the easternmost province of the Auran Empire. Southern Argollë extends eastward to the Tëhonaurë (“Deep Ocean”), which expands endlessly outward to the rising sun.
Bordering Southern Argollë to the south-west is Krysea (“Arrow Land”), a stark, rugged country known for its stout archers and mercenaries. Now a loyal province of the Empire, Krysea resisted Auran dominance for over one hundred years. The remnants of the old border forts of the Krysean Wars still dot the landscape.
South-east of Krysea and Southern Argollë spread the black-faced Zaqāru Mountains (“Area Raised Above All Others” in Ancient Zaharan). Fiercely sloped in the west, the Zaqāru descend gently in the east, thereby forming the great plateau which was in ancient days the land of Zahar. Now, that once-fertile highland has been reduced to ruin and become part of the great Waste that spans the breadth of the continent. The Waste is a dry and wind-blasted barrens dotted by ancient ruins of Zahar, Thrassia, and even older places said to date from before the Day Without Night. It is populated by monstrous beasts, undead evils, and savage clans of barbarian beastmen who live for plunder and rapine.
Along the border between the Empire and the Waste, two rivers – the Krysivor (“Arrow River”) and the Mirmen (“Black Rock”) – run northeast from the Meniri Mountains down to the Tëhonaurë. The region between the mountains, the ocean, and the two rivers is known as the Borderlands. The Borderlands has been contested throughout recorded history and its landscape is littered with ancient fortresses, blood-soaked battlefields, and dread ruins, all crumbling relics of the empires that once ruled there.
The Borderlands is secured by a fortified line of forts, but even when these have been fully manned, they have never been able to entirely secure the region. Two years ago, most of the Borderlands’ legions were sent west to confront the Skysos. Now the dangers facing the Borderlands are greater than ever. Monsters are slipping across the porous border to terrorize and plunder. Travel has grown perilous, and the border forts are becoming increasingly isolated and outmatched. The power structure of the region has begun decentralizing to local warlords and private armies.