Orlais

The High Elven Imperium stood for human generations as the true successor state to the power that once was held by the ancient elves before their gods retreated from this world and disappeared. This was evident in their shadow roads. It was evident in their hoarding of the lost knowledge and magic of the elves and other arcana. Most of all, it was evident in their ruler. Upon the Copper Sphinx Throne of the Imperium sat one of the few elves who remembered the Age of Glory, before the Great Retreat and before the despoliations of the Great Mage Wars. The Beloved Grand Duchess Kalthania ruled the land, and all the Imperium's lesser sovereigns are her descendants, by blood and by marriage. Gifted with the presence of a singular respected ruler, Orlais presented the impression of being a land of peace and prosperity, unlike the human kingdoms that squat on the ruins of an empire long forgotten. In reality, it has always been a cauldron of continual political intrigue, as the three most powerful branches of Kalthania’s descendants—and a host of minor cadet branches—plot and conspire against each other. Orlais has also been a refuge for people fleeing other parts of the world. Humans escaping the Wastes and the undead-ruled lands of the Blood Kingdoms, as well as petty nobles out of favor in their native lands, flocked to the Imperium's court. With the fall of Krakova to undead forces, the tide of refugees has increased. Kalthania rules fairly and justly and keeps the various factions under control and foreign complications outside her borders.

Dornig

Population. 3,800,000 (3,200,000 elves, 200,000 humans, 200,000 half elves, 100,000 halflings, 100,000 dwarves)
Government. Ruled by Grand Duchess Kalthania and her court of advisers .
Defense. Powerful magical defenses and mages protect the city.
Commerce. Leather goods, horses, woolen goods, lumber, art (sculpture)
Organizations. The Sovereign House of Aldous resides here alongside the royal family.
It is a bright, brilliant city with no walls built around a large and very deep lake. White stone towers surround its great Twinned Cathedral. Similar towers can be found along the major roads the wind from the city through the forests. These towers, all four stories in height, are permanent watch positions. These towers are staffed independently by units recruited from temples, adventuring groups, and military societies. Most towers have great bells, and the watchtowers maintain huge fire braziers as well. The Towers are also staffed with spellcasters in the service of the Imperium. As a result of his constant vigilance, Dornig is an open city. Its city center is a resplendent jewel, and as one moves away from that city core, more large manors and small vassal communities appear. These large manors are the homes of the gentry and nobility in Dornig, and their land raises horses, cattle and sheep, with bucolic humans tending the flocks and herds.

Government

The city is ruled by its Grand Duchess Kalthania and a court of her most trusted advisors. The lesser Sovereign House of Aldous resides here as well and has its influence but outside of that has no real power or authority in the city over the Grand Duchess.

Crime

Crime is not as present here as many other human run cities but due to its immense size crime is inevitable all the same. Minor and petty crime is committed here and there with more serious crimes being on the more rare side of things.

Geography

The geography resembles that of old French architecture with nature being incorporated and actively thought about within the design.

Twinned Cathedral

The tallest building in Dornig is the Twinned Cathedral in the heart of the city, the greatest temple in the Imperium. It is made of nearly translucent gold marble and fitted with amber glass in its great windows, and its glow might be seen from 10 miles off on a sunny day. It has two great spiked towers rising from a huge transept. The Imperium held court within this great cathedral when in Dornig. These great towers are carved with angels and archons, who, the local legend states, will come to life if the city is ever endangered. The Twinned Cathedral dominates a broad plaza at the heart of the city, surrounded by various smaller buildings of the clergy, and beyond them smaller temples, still good-sized but modest in the resplendent glory of the temple devoted to the Elven Gods. The Twinned Cathedral sits upon its own fey gate, and Grand Duchess Kalthania makes use of it to journey to other parts of the kingdom.

Hirschberg

Hirschberg is the second largest of the cities of Orlais, and it is a city of both trade and industry. The city sits on routes to Zobeck. Large forges mount the bank downstream from the city, operating day and night to produce all manner of armor, swords, and metalwork. Its smiths have mastered the art of folding metal into multiple thin layers that rival the best dwarven steel. The city sprawls away from the river into the western hills which long ago were plundered of ore. Most of the active mines are now farther west, but the Auldmines are now inhabited by dwarves, halflings, and less savory creatures. Most of the buildings are three and four-story affairs, with an open undercroft beneath for storage, stables, and shops along busy streets, while the residences are on the upper floors. Those structures taller than five stories are government buildings, temples, and large amphitheaters.

Bad Solitz

Bad Solitz lies in a broad, verdant, tiered valley leading up to the massive city-fortress at the far end. Never conquered, the city is in many ways a mirror of the great elven empire before its fall. A great wall runs along the surrounding hills, and mountain outposts keep an eye on the main approaches to the city. Those approaching the city are struck by the smell. Not of industry and people, as in Hirschberg, but of sulfur and ash. Volcanic vents and hot mud flats litter the moors. The earliest records of Bad Solitz indicate it was used by the Grand Duchess Kalthania as a vacation spot, where she could rest in the hot springs and mud pots. This active volcanism continues, and landslides and elemental incursions shake the land throughout. There been no active eruptions near Bad Solitz for the entire reign of the Imperium. The valley of Bad Solitz is well watered and fertile from the volcanic ash and dust. As a result, the area’s winemakers create some of the finest vintages in the north, the grapes raised in tiers overlooking the valley. The valley also features orchards, winter wheat fields, and carp ponds, in such plenty that if the area sealed the main gates at the far end of the valley, the entire city could survive on its produce and the stores kept deep within the mountain.

Tilted Tower

Far to the north, where the Tintager River flows into the sea, stands one of the tallest buildings in Midgard, now abandoned by its masters. Over a mile high, the Tilted Tower is made of green glass that catches the sunlight. Its glittering spar can be seen up to 100 miles out to sea, even on cloudy days. During the Mage Wars, when the humans called up the abominations that destroyed much of the old elven lands, a group of venerable elven sorcerers (each older than the Imperium is now) stopped the sinking of the land, which would have consumed the entire forest of Arbonesse. They paid for that spell with their lives, and now their tower stands on the edge of the sea. Indeed, it leans over the sea, since the ground on its seaward approach has settled and eroded, and the tower has a noticeable cant of about 15 degrees. In some ways it appears less a tower than one part of a great broken arch that extends over the sea to the north.

Arbonesse Forest

The Arbonesse is one of the great forests of Midgard, larger than the holdings of the city-states of Novigrad. It is primarily deciduous, with oaks, hawthorns, and elms, with swatches of birch and maple and a relatively open underbrush of ferns and carpets of moss. The forest is dotted with open meadows, often marked with dolmens or faerie rings.

The Gentle Rest

The Gentle Rest cannot be located on any map. A fortified inn that wanders throughout the Arbonesse and Shadow Realm, to a traveler it looks like a small walled way station, with a wooden stockade surrounding a two-story tavern and several outbuildings. Inside, the fire burns in the common room’s hearth, dinner is always about to be served, the ale is crisp and fresh, and the beds in the upper floor are soft. The staff consists of elves who go only by their titles (“Server,” “Cook,” “Stableboy”) and the clientele is primarily elven, though it includes a number of lost souls who have wandered into the forest or into Shadow and cannot otherwise escape. The Gentle Rest supposedly appears to travelers at the end of their ropes, who have exhausted their supplies or are fleeing a greater foe. The house has a stated policy against violence among the guests, and those who break it find themselves back where they started, the inn nowhere to be found and their pursuers close. A guide (named “Guide”) can take travelers by the Shadow Roads to any town, keep, shrine, or other location in Orlais that has a gate. Those who have found and left the Gentle Rest might attempt to return, but find only elven ruins at its former location. Those who wait for it to return wait a long time.

Tomierran Forest

In the eastern half of this once-great elven domain lies the Tomierran, a different sort of forest entirely. The Arbonesse is still populated by the descendants of the elves, but Tomierran has been abandoned completely. The Great Retreat came and within the day, it is said, there were no longer any elves within the forest’s boundaries. It is a place of ancient trees and weathered ruins. The great magic of the elves runs deep in these places, and there are towns within where time has stopped entirely. The food on the tables is still warm from when the elves rose from the table at the sounding of the horn, never to return again. Tomierran is a land of magical monsters and animated plants, the remains of elven arcane experiments. Treants, dryads, and moss lurkers are commonly sighted here, along with free-willed elementals and magical creations such as owlbears and perytons. These are the guardians of the secrets of the elves. At the forest's heart stands the World Treant who's roots spread all throughout Midgard. Its twisted foliage hides malformed and unnatural things. Like beetles infesting a rotting stump, things that Never Were or Might Have Been, ghosts of unrealized realities and creatures spawned of untaken choices. The weave of fate is threadbare here. The Tomierran Forest was for centuries the Imperiums personal demesne, with trespassers and fortune-hunters found within its borders subject to the full extent of the law. The forest is now an official holding of the church, but the rules against looters remain in force. Those who are caught must hand over their recovered treasures and share whatever knowledge they might have gained. Official explorations were once sponsored by the Imperium and heavily influenced by the Sovereign House of Aldous, but these have (officially) stopped by order of Grand Duchess Kalthania. Church-sanctioned explorations are still launched, while shadier, more independent attempts depart.