Emberspurs Shard
A large but thinly populated shard, the Emberspurs are a mountainous region bordering on the Mediterranean somewhere in the Middle East of the Old World. Once an area favored by dragons in the distant past, they attract a steady trickle of adventurers passing through the small mining towns in the region. Despite the rough terrain and local hazards, the people of the Emberspurs are hardy and proud of the living they eke out of a forbidding landscape.
The Emberspurs counterpart to its sister city of Adana Cilicia, Adana Amayát shares many of the same characteristics and is a lavish, prosperous city that shares little resemblance to the small mining towns that form most of the shard's settlements. It's located on the fertile plains at the foot of the mountains and is the place where the raw materials of the Emberspurs are funneled to their various destinations, either in other shards or in Adana Cilicia. Despite its relative decadence, the people of Adana Amayát share strongly in the fierce pride of the Emberspurs and many of them have family located further up the winding valleys; it's rare to find someone in the great city who hasn't spent at least a portion of their life in much humbler surroundings.
Larger than most of the mountain towns, Bilek serves as the easternmost bastion of civilization within the shard. Though it costs a great deal to have supplies hauled up the length of the range, the town's merchants make a premium selling them back to adventurers who have yet to make the long trip back to the sea and an exit from the shard. COTLU PEAK
One of the highest summits of the mountains, and a good vantage point visible from all but the deepest valleys of the range. DRAGONSBREATH GORGE
A deep, narrow canyon high in the mountains where the rock walls channel the River Kavalik with enormous force. Any treasure unearthed on the rocky slopes nearby tends to end up in the river itself, making the mouth of the gorge a popular place to trawl the gravel riverbed... but also a hunting ground for wyverns. THE GRAVEYARD
Half morbid humor, half deadly serious, the Graveyard is a local name for a stretch of the mountains that have claimed more than their fair share of adventurers. Several ancient lairs fall within its boundaries, but it's also well-known for being the site of some long-since forgotten battle... and accordingly, having plenty of dragonfire-scorched corpses that claw themselves out of the ground with alarming regularity when they sense the presence of the living. Locals avoid the Graveyard like the plague and do all in their power to convince visitors to give it a wide berth, since doing otherwise can easily agitate a horde of the walking dead. FELDSPAR
A small, fortified mountain town, Feldspar manages a relatively peaceful existence entirely thanks to the competence of its town guard and the fact that a partnered Hound/timewalker pair call it home. Unfortunately, the fact that it's located uncomfortably close to the remains of several dragon lairs makes the town play reluctant host to adventurers more often than anyone there would prefer. KAVALIK RIVER
A cold, fast-flowing river that runs the length of the mountains. It's generally surrounded by a valley its path has carved out, though this varies immensely along the river's course from narrow canyons to occasional wooded valleys where the river spreads into shallower, slower meanders. It's not well-suited for boats, but is a reliable landmark to keep a traveler on course and often parallels the main road.
Climate and Geography
Hot and humid with generous rainfall near the sea in the west, the shard rapidly turns cool and dry along most of the length of the shard as it climbs into the mountains for which it is named. The Emberspurs themselves are a long-since dormant volcanic range, with sparse soil that allows for little vegetation across the mountainsides but proves extremely fertile in the valleys. Their primary draw comes from a combination of rich mineral veins of gold and copper, deposits of obsidian, and the presence of both dragonbone and forgotten treasure in what draconic lairs haven't yet been uncovered.Population and Governance
The majority of the Emberspurs' officially recorded population is human, with a large portion residing in the capital and the rest spread through mid-sized fortified towns spread periodically along the main valley surrounding the River Kavalik. People from the Emberspurs don't often have the desire to go too far from where they were born, and few leave the shard; it's common to find people living in a house that stretches back through many generations of their predecessors. While some inevitably fall victim to the shard's natural hazards, monsters and the naturally-ocurring undead among them, the locals are well-acquainted with the difficulties of life there and the population stays fairly stable. The human towns of the Emberspurs vary in leadership, with some led by a hereditary leader and some choosing their own representatives. However, all of them owe their allegiance to a king or queen ruling out of the capital of Adana Amayát; this arrangement has less to do with conquest, since the mountain valleys would be painfully difficult to advance an army up successfully, but more to do with the fact that the lowlands provide the shard with food and access to the markets that give their raw materials value. The wilder portions of the shard that humans have little interest in provide a home to a handful of shapeshifter tribes, who have little difficulty navigating the rough terrain and its dangers. Valuing the products of human mining, it's not unusual to spot shapeshifters mingling with the local population for the purpose of trade and acquiring the materials they can make use of but don't produce themselves. While it's not common for shapeshifters to be so comfortable among the other races, they appear to have a certain respect for the hardiness of the shard's humans. The shard's shifters, like almost all of their race, follow a traditional elder-led structure and the clans cooperate as needed but are generally independent of one another.Capital
ADANA AMAYÁTThe Emberspurs counterpart to its sister city of Adana Cilicia, Adana Amayát shares many of the same characteristics and is a lavish, prosperous city that shares little resemblance to the small mining towns that form most of the shard's settlements. It's located on the fertile plains at the foot of the mountains and is the place where the raw materials of the Emberspurs are funneled to their various destinations, either in other shards or in Adana Cilicia. Despite its relative decadence, the people of Adana Amayát share strongly in the fierce pride of the Emberspurs and many of them have family located further up the winding valleys; it's rare to find someone in the great city who hasn't spent at least a portion of their life in much humbler surroundings.
Other Notable Locations
BILEKLarger than most of the mountain towns, Bilek serves as the easternmost bastion of civilization within the shard. Though it costs a great deal to have supplies hauled up the length of the range, the town's merchants make a premium selling them back to adventurers who have yet to make the long trip back to the sea and an exit from the shard. COTLU PEAK
One of the highest summits of the mountains, and a good vantage point visible from all but the deepest valleys of the range. DRAGONSBREATH GORGE
A deep, narrow canyon high in the mountains where the rock walls channel the River Kavalik with enormous force. Any treasure unearthed on the rocky slopes nearby tends to end up in the river itself, making the mouth of the gorge a popular place to trawl the gravel riverbed... but also a hunting ground for wyverns. THE GRAVEYARD
Half morbid humor, half deadly serious, the Graveyard is a local name for a stretch of the mountains that have claimed more than their fair share of adventurers. Several ancient lairs fall within its boundaries, but it's also well-known for being the site of some long-since forgotten battle... and accordingly, having plenty of dragonfire-scorched corpses that claw themselves out of the ground with alarming regularity when they sense the presence of the living. Locals avoid the Graveyard like the plague and do all in their power to convince visitors to give it a wide berth, since doing otherwise can easily agitate a horde of the walking dead. FELDSPAR
A small, fortified mountain town, Feldspar manages a relatively peaceful existence entirely thanks to the competence of its town guard and the fact that a partnered Hound/timewalker pair call it home. Unfortunately, the fact that it's located uncomfortably close to the remains of several dragon lairs makes the town play reluctant host to adventurers more often than anyone there would prefer. KAVALIK RIVER
A cold, fast-flowing river that runs the length of the mountains. It's generally surrounded by a valley its path has carved out, though this varies immensely along the river's course from narrow canyons to occasional wooded valleys where the river spreads into shallower, slower meanders. It's not well-suited for boats, but is a reliable landmark to keep a traveler on course and often parallels the main road.
Quick Facts
Approximate Size: ~12,000 sq. milesNumber of Entrances: 3
Capital City: Adana Amayát
Dominant Race: human
Approximate Population: ~60,000
Type
Territory
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