History
It was in 2502
ER, during the first year of the Age of Apocalypse, that
Louhi slew the sun goddess
Iona and fixed her shattered remnants to the firmament. Since then, only half of Amanor has received sunlight. Those that found themselves at the very edge of the darkness fled towards the light. The rest of the world was doomed to die a slow, freezing death -- several mortal civilizations vanished from world, countless species of animals and plants became extinct, and the impact on global climate was catastrophic.
Geography
The World's Edge is the largest geographical feature on Amanor. It covers more than half the world, creating a spherical crust of ice around the globe. The only gap in the glacier is the Circle of the World, the circular region of sunlight and warmth that persists below the sun.
The center of the Circle of the World lies directly below the sun.
Iona's corpse hangs from the firmament above the continent of the
Heartlands several hundred kilometers above Amanor's equator. The Circle of the World extends slightly over the north pole of Amanor, whereas much of continents and seas of
The South have been lost to the Ice.
In
The East, the Roiling Ocean has frozen over. More than half of the vast continent of
Gargantia is a white wasteland; the Rivers of the Free, the mountain of Farumm, the Cursed Lands, and Aruwian have all been lost. In
The West, half of
Tongobwe and
Shang as well as all of
Isatia are now claimed by the Ice.
The Arctic
At roughly the halfway-point in the diameter of the Circle of the World lise the Arctic Circle, which marks the boundary of the
Arctic. The Arctic is far enough from the sun that temperatures there range from cool to freezing. Little natural life survives, as most living things are unaccustomed to permanent cold and lack of light. Arctic regions that best accomodate life are those in
the northern part of the globe -- regions such as
Nordgard that were already "arctic" before the Age of Apocalypse.
The Twilight
Venturing through the Arctic takes one to
The Twilight, a narrow stretch of land before the Edge of the World. True to its name, the region is trapped in an endless state of twilight, for there the light of the sun no longer hits the earth. The sky is lit by only the most meager traces of sunlight. The Twilight is largely deserted, but a few unlucky peoples, such as the
Westerlings, have made it their home. Many peoples living in the Arctic also maintain outposts in The Twilight. For some communities, expeditions into The Twilight or The Glacier -- dangerous though they are -- are the only way to acquire resources essential for survival in this harsh new world.
Conditions
The World's Edge is completely dark and temperatures lie far below freezing. The continents that became trapped on the dark side of Amanor in the beginning of the Age of Apocalypse have become lifeless wastelands. Forest, glade, plain and town -- all has been claimed by the frosts, turned into statuaries of ice. The wailing winds blow as blizzards, blanketing the lands with ceaseless snow, slowly entombing frozen corpses, natural landscapes and mortal architecture alike.
Inhabitants
Surviving in the World's Edge means making do without light, warmth and nourishment. Creatures that make The Ice their home must be immune to freezing and must be able to see in the dark or otherwise function without sight. For food and drink, creatures must either be predators or somehow self-sufficient or perhaps not require food and drink at all.
Elementals. Among the most numerous inhabitants of the World's Edge are
elementals of
frost and air such as mephits,
yannis and shivas. The merciless cold is a comfort for them, and as
eternals they have no need for food or drink.
Beasts. Other creatures accustomed to freezing weather conditions include beasts like remorhazes,
ice basilisks and frost-imbued
dire beasts (e.g. dire wolves).
Mortals. Some populations of
frost giants and frost-imbued
dragons also make the World's Edge their home. Most of them dwell near The Twilight, for as
mortals, they are reliant on steady sources of food and drink, but some individuals can spend long cycles in solitude by venturing into the deeper reaches of The Glacier. Both species have innate talents for
magic, giving them many easily accesible tools for survival, e.g. creating fire and magical sources of light.
Spellcasters. Magic can be used to solve most problems, and indeed any sufficiently powerful spellcaster could live permanently in the World's Edge. And some do, creating everything they need with magic -- from shelters and weapons to drinking water. But it does take an exceptional kind of hermit to willingly settle in a place like The Glacier. The negative aspects of the place would seem to outweight the positive ones, but there are at least two things that the endless frozen wastes have in great supply: lost treasures and corpses. The former can interest any arcane researcher while the latter draw in necromancers.
Undead. The World's Edge is teeming with
undead. The lands where mortal civilizations have become buried in ice are nowadays saturated with
negative energy. The countless dead have been -- and still are -- spontaneously turned into undead that roam their lightless graveyards without purpose. Animated dead are common sights in the ruins of towns and cities. Ghosts, wraiths and other spectres roam the wastes freely, but corporeal undead are largely inactive -- deathless and immune to pain though a zombie might be, it cannot move far with muscles that have frozen solid.
Vampires,
liches and other necromancers are known to travel to the World's Edge to gather servants from the undead that dwell there.
Demons. Demons from
Cania -- the icy eighth layer of
Nidavellir -- such as gelugons flock to the World's Edge, using the land as a sanctuary as they plot their next raids into the Circle of the World.
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