The Mortal Realm

Compared to most worlds of the Material Plane, the mortal realm of Theros is small. The known world is barely two hundred miles across, with unexplored wilderness beyond. And some unknown distance beyond that is the edge of the world, where the sea flows off the disk of the world and into the starry void.

The known world of Theros consists of a long stretch of coastline forming the eastern edge of the vast Siren Sea. Eastward from the sea, the land rises up to two ridges of mountains. The lofty peaks of the second ridge form a barrier that few mortals have passed, so only rumors of a vast forest describe the land beyond.

To the north, the coastal lands become a barren region of badlands crossed by a labyrinth of arid canyons, with minotaur lands beyond. The minotaurs speak of impenetrable mountains rising amid a dark forest to the north.

The Siren Sea is studded with islands large and small. The largest cluster near the mainland, called the Dakra Isles, is poorly charted, and even those sailors who attempt to explore the isles return with contradictory information. Westward from those islands, some have successfully sailed to the edge of the world, though no one can say for certain how far it is—the journey never unfolds in a straight line. In theory, it is equally possible to sail south to the edge of the world, but those waters are stormier and more forbidding.

The heart of mortal civilization lies in and around three poleis—cities and their surrounding territories. Together the three poleis, Akros, Meletis, and Setessa, encompass most of the human population of Theros. Meletis covers the whole territory of the southwestern peninsula, Akros forms the northern frontier, and Setessa lies at the northern edge of the wild Nessian Wood.

Two bands of centaurs—the Lagonna and the Pheres—roam the hills and grasslands between the three poleis. The leonin hunt in the valley of Oreskos, nestled between the two mountain ranges. Satyrs dwell in a smaller sylvan vale northeast of the Nessian Wood. And tritons live primarily in the coastal shallows of the Siren Sea, though some manage to make comfortable homes among the humans of Meletis.

Entrance to the Faewild is rarely found when one searches for it, though the best luck is had in the chaotic waves of the Siren Sea - leading into the ares of it that are more of water and air - or through treearches and through hollow trunks of massive oaks in the Skola Vale - leading to earth and fire. These are also the areas where elementals are most often found or born, almost always of the corresponding elements. This is the reason that elementals are almost evenly split between speaking primordial and speaking Sylvan

The badlands of Phoberos, northwest of Akros, are the frontier where Akroan soldiers clash with minotaurs. Farther north is the minotaur city of Skophos, little known to humans, though very much inhabited by orcs, half-orcs, and even the occasional dwarfs.

The necropoleis of Asphodel and Odunos are home to the Returned—zombie-like beings who have escaped the clutches of the underworld at the cost of their identities. The lands around these cities are bleak and barren, as if the Returned brought the pall of the underworld out with them into the mortal realm.

Exploring Theros

Vast and varied lands comprise the world of Theros, from the territories of the great human poleis to the dizzying peaks of the Oraniad Mountains. The line between legend and location often blurs in Theros, though. While the residents of a polis can be relatively certain their homes will remain where they left them when they venture off to work, the specific locations of legendary sites prove more nebulous. Even well-known locations are typically noted referentially, like how the city of Neolantin is often described as being along the coast, far to the southwest of Meletis.

Some sites prove even more elusive. The Dakra Isles, for example, move at the whims of the gods and so prove impossible to map.

As a result, most maps of Theros serve largely as a vaguely agreed upon arrangement of locations, fuzzy borders, and general distances. While the scale and placement of sites are true by mortal standards, details might change as the gods please. As such, journeying between places is most reliably conducted by employing guides or maps specific to a single destination.

If you are running a campaign in Theros, you can adjust distances between locations to suit the needs of your adventures. The distance might not be the same for two successive journeys; any trek across Theros can expand or contract to accommodate adventures and encounters as you wish.