Highlands on Aurea
The Antasian Mountains
The ancient and towering Antasian Mountains split east central Aurea. Even though the range was once claimed entirely by the Great Empire, except for four major passes through the range, the Imperials never truly tamed the deep valleys and high mountains. Recently, giants and their goblin slaves have been raiding the foothills on both sides of the Antasian Mountains. Some believe these raids are highly organized over relatively vast distances, suggesting that some ruler has risen among the giants there, preparing to send his armies into the lowlands of Aurea to ravage the isolated human communities in the foothills.
Deep beneath the sharp peaks of the Antasian Mountains lies the dwarven nation of the Unterreich. Unlike other dwarven Kingdoms, the dwarves of the Unterreich remain isolationists, despite the establishment of a treaty between humans and dwarves in the waning years of the Third Age of Man and the only contact with these dwarves are through the criminals that they exile to the surface world.
The Challieann Mountains
The rolling, frozen Challieann Mountains cut through northern Aurea, diving the Gael lands to the north from the formerly Imperial territory to the south. Much of the Challieann Mountains are inhabited by Gael clansmen considered savage and strange even by their kin in the lowlands to the north. There are a few pockets of goblin tribes in the south of the range and a few isolated orcish settlements in the deep valleys of the northern part of the range, remnants of the orcish horde that ravaged the region late in the Third Age of Man. Deep, glacial valleys among the northern peaks are believed to be inhabited by strange, blue giants who somehow survive in the frozen wastes that neither man nor orc even tries to settle in.
The dwarves of the Kingdom of Nuithone have deep mines beneath the Challieann Mountains and have recently opened a route into the western extent of the range, establishing the colony of Schweinholz on the surface world.
The Orcish Moorlands
Dry, hilly lands in western Aurea, the Orcish Moorlands are the human name for territory along the Brothers controlled by orcish tribes. The heart of the orcish horde that ravaged much of northern Aurea in the waning years of the Third Age of Man, the Orcish Moorlands are currently experiencing an invasion of their own as nearby human and dwarven nations push into the area, establishing military colonies to ensure the orcs do not again organize into an unstoppable horde. Some scholars have pointed out that this sort of military aggression might just be the catalyst that encourages the fractious orcs to work together, perhaps generating a new Great Khan to unify the clans against the civilized nations of Aurea.
Reg'thul Peaks
The remote Reg'thul Peaks have been the homeland of the orcs for the extent of recorded memory, even when human empires are believed to have spanned the plains of western Aurea. It is believed that the Peaks are somehow holy to the orcs and few humans have set eyes on its heights in millennia. Rumors persist of an ever-burning volcano somewhere deep in the Peaks that, if legend is to be believed, is guarded by a massive dragon that the orcs of the region protect.
| This article is part of the Player's Guide to Aurea | |
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Introduction · Economics and Trade · Legends and History · Religion · Regions and Realms | |
| Regions and Realms on Aurea | |
