Areios

A vast and varied land filled with soaring mountains, vast deserts, and lush forests, the realm of Areios stretches across most of the known world. Its peoples are many and diverse, and while relative peace has been the norm for this generation's memory, a bloody civil war between the factions of the east and west tore the realm apart for decades before. The elders of the land still remember, and each skirmish enlivens fears that Areios could descend once more into chaos. Most of the cultural, economic, and political centers of Areios are dotted along the coast, by the ocean, and on the banks of the mighty central river, the Kal River, that all but cuts the realm in half. The further one ventures from these wooded and thickly populated areas, the closer they come to harsh terrain. The inland regions of Areios are marked by snow-capped mountains surrounding several infamously brutal deserts, and though these regions are less remote by distance than the ocean coast of Areios, it's known by all the people of the land that going too far inland is like leaving the map altogether. The tribes that populate these areas are wild and unpredictable, and even the old alliances of the civil war seem not to constrain them. Still, in its recovery, Areios has grown itself into a land of interconnected booming metropolises, and the realm's hunger for innovation and expansion has led to a large market for adventurers willing to blaze new trails, settle diplomatic disputes, and defeat evildoers looking to seize the new power and riches of the realm for themselves.