Nightlands Geography
So I want a very rough outline of the Nightlands layout and maybe an overview of the dominant kingdoms, political powers, ethnic groups and notable creatures.
First off, a very very rough map:
In general concept, the lands that the Nightlands are a part of consists of two continents, linked by a land bridge around the equator, with a peninsular in the north that reaches the geographical North Pole, while the southern continent peters out north of the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole being located on an island that is under extensive glacial ice.
The Nightlands is located between a mountain range that spans almost completely from north to south, and an unmoving bank of mist, located a bit over 6000 KM westward at the equator. The Sunset Mountains take up most of the width of the land bridge between the northern a southern continents. Most of the northern continent is in the Eastern Daylands, most of the southern continent is the the Nightlands.
There is a large island/small continent around equatorial level that straddles the Mist Dayline - Midland. Islands run down the length of the Mist, some on the Dayside, some on the Nightside. There are also inner islands that are not part of the Mist Islands.
The Northern Nightlands are considered a wildland, with no central empire/kingdom/authority, but is mostly governed on a city-state basis, with each city, town or settlement governing themselves and making alliances with others they are able to keep regular contact with. Part of the reason for this state is the influence of the High Elves, who mostly live in the North, with most settlements having at least one or two High Elf familes - usually Nigt Elves - holding positions of power and/or prestige.
The largest govenmental body in the north is a kingdom on the southern coast that is dominated mostly by humans and Middle Elves. It is an old kindom that has existed at least since the second North/South war and has remained the front line against further attempts by the Black Empire to take control of the North.
Both the Southern Kingdom and the wilder north have an uneasy alliance with the Seelie Court of the Fae, who are the Fae Court who hold the most realms that open into the northlands. The Unseelie Court is viewed with great suspicion and will likely have Elven expeditions attempt to close any Gates that are found in Unseelie control.
The Arctic North is the home of White Elf tribes who stand watch over the Polar Peninsular. At the exact point of the North Pole is located a crystal pillar that is commonly believed to be one of the cornerstones that anchors the magic that makes the Nightlands perpetual night. People from the Daylands have tried to damage or even destroy it in the past, and though it has proven indestructible and resist to even being scratched by any tool used on it, the White Elves treat it as a holy object and guard it.
The arctic region is also inhabited by highly intelligent white wolves and exactly two ice dragons. The ice dragons are a Great Wyrm (over 2000 years in age) male and female pair who live in seperate dens most of the time but meet up once every five hundred years to mate. Their offspring, once old enough to be independant, usually try to find a place to live in the Sunset Mountains to the south, but can face resistance from other dragons, Star Elves, Winged Elves, dwarves, giants, trolls, and other mountain denizens.
The Southern Continent is dominated by two empires, the Black Empire held by the Black Elves, and the Empire of Men, which has ramained strong enough not to be consumed by the Black Elves. The Black Empire holds most of the central Southern Nightlands, while the Empire of Men holds the northern parts, managing to act as a semi-inadvertant buffer for the north, as the Empire of Men has a long-standing rivalry with the Southern Kingdom that lays across the Great Gulf from them, a rivalry they will not put an end to except through honourable warfare. They have something of a less than complementary opinion of the Black Empire's honour and while officially are allied with the Black Elves, do not like their tactics and a good deal of their culture, which is decadent, tryanical, cruel, and based heavily on slavery.
The southern reaches of the south continent, where the Black Empire's control is thin is where more wild groups can be found, like Green Elves, Wild Elves, and at the furtehrest south, the Southern White Elves, as well as yetiThe South Pole is located on an island off the end of the Southern Continent, and like the north, also has a crystal pilar making the bottom end of the Nightlands. The Antarctic island is too cold for even the White Elves to live, but the second Great Wyrm breeding pair of ice dragons are known to live on the island, and are known to share the same seacave den, partly due to the geographical restrictions of living so close to the pole, with the borders of the Nightlands contracting as they reach the Pole. It is believed this pair and the northern two have a way of keeping in contact via magic, but this has never been confirmed.
The Black Empire control the Blood Elves, highly train warriors and assassins who act as the Empire's enforcers. Not all Blood Elves have remained loyal to the Empire, with some clans breaking away in both the Second and Third North/South Wars. Some of these clans have headed into Wild South, some have tried to find places in both the north and on Midland, at least one clan accepted a place in the Seelie Court, while the lastest independant clan currently resides in the mountains of the Equatorial Bridge, where they are actively interfering in attempts by the Black Empire to sneak into the north.
The Unseelie Court of the Fae holds the majority of Fae realms whose gates open into the Southern continent, and the Court has an alliance with the Black Elves against the north, who they resent for throwing them out of the northlands during the first North/South War, for causing chaos that was destablising the northern defence of their lands. The Unseelie think of the north as too boring, too nice, that they needed the Black Elves to teach them how to have fun (said fun usually involving brutal torture and rape).
There are some Night Elves who manage to hold very heavily protected enclaves in the southern Sunset Mountains, these enclaves are believed to originally be Star Elf enclaves before the Star Elves completely pulled out of the south and consolidated themselves in the north.
Most Star Elf enclaves are in the northern Sunset Mountains but they control one coastal port in the sub-arctic north, and one cluster of islands which they share with Moon Elves.
The Mist Islands straddle the Mist that marks the western border of the Nightlands. While the Dayland Mist Islands have a close relationship with their Night siblings, all the magical races are careful to remain on the night side of the Mist. Middle Elves can risk spending time in Daylight, but too long can make them lose their magic permanently, and be branded Sun Elves. Mist Island Sun Elves are treated better than Sun Elves elsewhere in the world, and while Mist Islanders may feel a bit sorry that they have lost their magic, they mostly get treated fairly. High Elves - both of the Moon Elves and the Star Elves - avoid even crossing the Dayline for fear of a slow and painful degradation being outside the Nightlands' magic will cause them. Magical sea races like the aquatic Sea Elves, Merfolk, and quite a few sea creatures also avoid getting close to the Dayline as their aquatic abilities depend on magic. Mist Island Fae will die in a quick and painful manner if they cross into the Daylands.
Moon Elves, the sea-going High Elf race, dominate the islands, usually with large numbers of Silver Elves (the most common Middle Elf race) surrounding them and alliances with the Sea Elves and Merfolk. Sea Elves and Merfolk commonly share underwater habitats and the former is often mistaken for the latter.
The Fae presence in the Islands tends to be more of the wildfae realms, not controled by either Court, and the Moon Elves and Midland Night Elves are willin gto help the Wild Sidhe keep their realms out of Court rule.
The Moon Elves remain in control even in the southern hemisphere, and hold all of the night side of the Midland, sharing it with a clan of Night Elves. The Black Empire has tried to gain a foothold in the southern Mist Islands and on Midland, but have remained unsucessful since the High Elf alliance has meant the Moon Elves and Midlanders can call on the High Elves of the North for aide.
The High Elf alliance is a longstanding understanding between the leaders of the three High Elf races - the Night King, the Lord Captain and the Star Sisters - that is backed by an extensive network of portals between enclaves that are used for both trade and for moving troops when needed.
First off, a very very rough map:
In general concept, the lands that the Nightlands are a part of consists of two continents, linked by a land bridge around the equator, with a peninsular in the north that reaches the geographical North Pole, while the southern continent peters out north of the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole being located on an island that is under extensive glacial ice.
The Nightlands is located between a mountain range that spans almost completely from north to south, and an unmoving bank of mist, located a bit over 6000 KM westward at the equator. The Sunset Mountains take up most of the width of the land bridge between the northern a southern continents. Most of the northern continent is in the Eastern Daylands, most of the southern continent is the the Nightlands.
There is a large island/small continent around equatorial level that straddles the Mist Dayline - Midland. Islands run down the length of the Mist, some on the Dayside, some on the Nightside. There are also inner islands that are not part of the Mist Islands.
The Northern Nightlands are considered a wildland, with no central empire/kingdom/authority, but is mostly governed on a city-state basis, with each city, town or settlement governing themselves and making alliances with others they are able to keep regular contact with. Part of the reason for this state is the influence of the High Elves, who mostly live in the North, with most settlements having at least one or two High Elf familes - usually Nigt Elves - holding positions of power and/or prestige.
The largest govenmental body in the north is a kingdom on the southern coast that is dominated mostly by humans and Middle Elves. It is an old kindom that has existed at least since the second North/South war and has remained the front line against further attempts by the Black Empire to take control of the North.
Both the Southern Kingdom and the wilder north have an uneasy alliance with the Seelie Court of the Fae, who are the Fae Court who hold the most realms that open into the northlands. The Unseelie Court is viewed with great suspicion and will likely have Elven expeditions attempt to close any Gates that are found in Unseelie control.
The Arctic North is the home of White Elf tribes who stand watch over the Polar Peninsular. At the exact point of the North Pole is located a crystal pillar that is commonly believed to be one of the cornerstones that anchors the magic that makes the Nightlands perpetual night. People from the Daylands have tried to damage or even destroy it in the past, and though it has proven indestructible and resist to even being scratched by any tool used on it, the White Elves treat it as a holy object and guard it.
The arctic region is also inhabited by highly intelligent white wolves and exactly two ice dragons. The ice dragons are a Great Wyrm (over 2000 years in age) male and female pair who live in seperate dens most of the time but meet up once every five hundred years to mate. Their offspring, once old enough to be independant, usually try to find a place to live in the Sunset Mountains to the south, but can face resistance from other dragons, Star Elves, Winged Elves, dwarves, giants, trolls, and other mountain denizens.
The Southern Continent is dominated by two empires, the Black Empire held by the Black Elves, and the Empire of Men, which has ramained strong enough not to be consumed by the Black Elves. The Black Empire holds most of the central Southern Nightlands, while the Empire of Men holds the northern parts, managing to act as a semi-inadvertant buffer for the north, as the Empire of Men has a long-standing rivalry with the Southern Kingdom that lays across the Great Gulf from them, a rivalry they will not put an end to except through honourable warfare. They have something of a less than complementary opinion of the Black Empire's honour and while officially are allied with the Black Elves, do not like their tactics and a good deal of their culture, which is decadent, tryanical, cruel, and based heavily on slavery.
The southern reaches of the south continent, where the Black Empire's control is thin is where more wild groups can be found, like Green Elves, Wild Elves, and at the furtehrest south, the Southern White Elves, as well as yetiThe South Pole is located on an island off the end of the Southern Continent, and like the north, also has a crystal pilar making the bottom end of the Nightlands. The Antarctic island is too cold for even the White Elves to live, but the second Great Wyrm breeding pair of ice dragons are known to live on the island, and are known to share the same seacave den, partly due to the geographical restrictions of living so close to the pole, with the borders of the Nightlands contracting as they reach the Pole. It is believed this pair and the northern two have a way of keeping in contact via magic, but this has never been confirmed.
The Black Empire control the Blood Elves, highly train warriors and assassins who act as the Empire's enforcers. Not all Blood Elves have remained loyal to the Empire, with some clans breaking away in both the Second and Third North/South Wars. Some of these clans have headed into Wild South, some have tried to find places in both the north and on Midland, at least one clan accepted a place in the Seelie Court, while the lastest independant clan currently resides in the mountains of the Equatorial Bridge, where they are actively interfering in attempts by the Black Empire to sneak into the north.
The Unseelie Court of the Fae holds the majority of Fae realms whose gates open into the Southern continent, and the Court has an alliance with the Black Elves against the north, who they resent for throwing them out of the northlands during the first North/South War, for causing chaos that was destablising the northern defence of their lands. The Unseelie think of the north as too boring, too nice, that they needed the Black Elves to teach them how to have fun (said fun usually involving brutal torture and rape).
There are some Night Elves who manage to hold very heavily protected enclaves in the southern Sunset Mountains, these enclaves are believed to originally be Star Elf enclaves before the Star Elves completely pulled out of the south and consolidated themselves in the north.
Most Star Elf enclaves are in the northern Sunset Mountains but they control one coastal port in the sub-arctic north, and one cluster of islands which they share with Moon Elves.
The Mist Islands straddle the Mist that marks the western border of the Nightlands. While the Dayland Mist Islands have a close relationship with their Night siblings, all the magical races are careful to remain on the night side of the Mist. Middle Elves can risk spending time in Daylight, but too long can make them lose their magic permanently, and be branded Sun Elves. Mist Island Sun Elves are treated better than Sun Elves elsewhere in the world, and while Mist Islanders may feel a bit sorry that they have lost their magic, they mostly get treated fairly. High Elves - both of the Moon Elves and the Star Elves - avoid even crossing the Dayline for fear of a slow and painful degradation being outside the Nightlands' magic will cause them. Magical sea races like the aquatic Sea Elves, Merfolk, and quite a few sea creatures also avoid getting close to the Dayline as their aquatic abilities depend on magic. Mist Island Fae will die in a quick and painful manner if they cross into the Daylands.
Moon Elves, the sea-going High Elf race, dominate the islands, usually with large numbers of Silver Elves (the most common Middle Elf race) surrounding them and alliances with the Sea Elves and Merfolk. Sea Elves and Merfolk commonly share underwater habitats and the former is often mistaken for the latter.
The Fae presence in the Islands tends to be more of the wildfae realms, not controled by either Court, and the Moon Elves and Midland Night Elves are willin gto help the Wild Sidhe keep their realms out of Court rule.
The Moon Elves remain in control even in the southern hemisphere, and hold all of the night side of the Midland, sharing it with a clan of Night Elves. The Black Empire has tried to gain a foothold in the southern Mist Islands and on Midland, but have remained unsucessful since the High Elf alliance has meant the Moon Elves and Midlanders can call on the High Elves of the North for aide.
The High Elf alliance is a longstanding understanding between the leaders of the three High Elf races - the Night King, the Lord Captain and the Star Sisters - that is backed by an extensive network of portals between enclaves that are used for both trade and for moving troops when needed.