Panthea is a vast, wild, and ancient world which harbours innumerable human civilizations built on the ruins of even greater and far older civilizations that have fallen in the distant past.
Panthea's history works in a cycle. In the far ancient past, there were only a few tens of thousands of people in the entire world, but these people were thousands of meters tall. They were mighty and their architecture reshaped the face of Panthea itself, but at some point, a massive overwhelming force came from beyond the edge of the world and wiped them out nearly completely. The few survivors found their children being much smaller than them, and eventually with the passage of time the smaller survivors founded their own civilizations. They grew far more numerous and advanced than their forefathers, but just like before, a force from beyond the edge of the world annihilated their civilizations and left much smaller but more numerous people remaining to rebuild civilization from scratch yet again.
This cycle has continued for hundreds of thousands of years and has eventually lead to the vast network of human civilizations that exist today.
Nobody knows however what caused the destruction of the ancient generations of humanity. Nobody knows what it is, what caused it, or how to stop it when it comes. The only hope for learning the truth is to study the many ancient civilizations that came before that are hidden in the furthest corners of the world.
Map of the Known World
The Midlands and the Australis Wall
The Midlands is the term that refers to all the land within the australis wall. The people have the midlands are very technologically advanced thanks to the advances of the Shorian Empire that once ruled much of it. A massive frigid wall of mountains, tens of thousands of meters tall and completely impassable even by airship. However, there are a few breaks in the wall of mountains that people have been able to pass through in recent history. As everything within the Australis Wall is considered the Midlands, everything outside of the Australis Wall is considered the Outlands.
Midlands Locations
Sundra: The largest continent in the Midlands. It is home to the Shorian Empire in its north and the Merindian and Regian empires in the south. Sundra is divided by a large desert in the middle, and on either side of the desert are plains, forests, and tundras. Sundra is the most technologically advanced place in the Midlands.
Lenuria
A large continent in the Midlands. Lenuria is a vast and mostly untamed land full of many tribes, kingdoms, and even empires. It is less explored and technologically advanced than Sundra but still boasts a long and complex history.
Uldia
Uldia is comparably very far away from the rest of the continents in the Midlands. A large portion of the continent is ruled by a powerful and ancient civilization who's influence spreads to nearly every corner of the continent.
Valak: Valak is a large island in the Midlands. Valak's native people are poorly understood. For much of history, they have only been known by the raids they'd conduct on people on the surrounded island west coast of Sundra. They even somehow were able to start building their own airships to raid far into the interior of Sundra. In recent times the raids have become far less common, although because of their history of violence nobody from the outside has ever come to document their culture and map out the interior of Valak.
The Thallasic Ocean: Within the Thalassic ocean is an isolated series of tropical/subtropical islands that all rest upon a large sunken continent that's surface is close to the surface of the ocean. This sunken continent has been almost entirely colonized by coral reefs, making it one of the most abundant sources of food in the entire world. The thalassic island people have even been able to build their own seafaring civilization off of the great reefs and islands and achieve great advancement despite their isolation.
The North Pole: The north pole is the center of the world where all compasses point to. It is hypothesized that there is an island at the north pole with a mountain of magnetic metal on it. Nobody has been able to reach it though because the island is eternally shrouded in violent cold storms.
The Outlands and the Hyperion Wall
The outlands is a term for all lands beyond the Australis Wall. To the people of the Midlands, much of the Outlands is unknown. The outlands harbours countless human cultures, species, and natural wonders. The people of the Midlands, mainly the Merindian Empire and the Regian Empire have been using airships filled with drakkeon to explore and sometimes even colonize the outlands, but their progress has been halted at the Hyperion Wall. The Hyperion wall is the furthest explored edge of the known world. It is a wall of mountain immeasurably tall, even more so than the Australis Wall. Unlike the Hyperion Wall, however, there are far fewer breaks in it. The few breaks that there are in the wall are only around the great continent of Tandonia however, which is home to colossal and deadly monsters that have made passing through practically impossible. So far nobody has ever made it past the Hyperion Wall.
Outlands Locations
Haldion
Haldion is large and arid continent. It is ruled over by a unique mix of dinosaur and mammal life that has created ecosystems in the continent's few lush regions.
Ungala Islands: The Ungala Islands are a series of large tropical islands in the Outlands. Its coasts are dominated by great mangrove trees, and its interior is shrouded under a vast canopy of leaves.
Panagon
A massive continent from the outlands that is ruled by dinosaurs and the people who have learned to tame them. Panagon is a land of massive trees, towering mountains, and huge creatures.
Derrenia: Derrenia is a hot and humid continent covered in rainforests and swamps. Derrenia's wildlife is made up mostly of arthropods like insects and arachnids. They can range from normal-sized ants to beetles the size of rhinos or millipedes as large as a small train.
Surthur: Surthur is a long continent that is unique for its constant and intense volcanic activity. The continent is long, and divided by a spine of volcanoes running lengthwise down the continent. The north side of the continent is where most of the lava and volcanic ash from the volcanoes is spewed out to. It's an incredibly hot and inhospitable climate. Surthur has unique species on it. The ash is very fertile, making it great for plant life if it weren't for the constant clouds of ash that fill the skies of Surthur.
Vaalbora: Vaalbora is a unique continent. Most of the continent is very high altitude. It has hot rainforests along the coastlines, but the interior of the continent consists of a massive cold plateau surrounded by mountains. This means that despite the continent being on/near the equator in the outlands, much of the continent is freezing cold.
Shandir: Shandir is a series of continents and islands that is covered in predominantly red plantlife.
The Wandering Island: The Wandering Island is one of the most unique places in all of Panthea. It's an island made out of porous stone, meaning that the entire island can float on water. This island used to be attached to Geleng thousands of years ago but an intense volcanic eruption dislodged it from the mainland, casting it out to sea where it's slowly drifting around the outlands ever since.
(The dotted path on the map represents the path of the Wandering Island.)
Geleng: Geleng is a large landmass that makes up the northernmost part of Tandonia. It is separated by the Hyperion Wall to its south, which keeps it mostly safe from the massive creatures that dwell beyond it. Geleng is mostly temperate and rainy apart from its far south. It is a very large land and on it lives one of the oldest and most advanced civilizations in all of the outlands. Its technology is only surpassed by the great empires of the Midlands.
Tandonia: Tandonia is a gargantuan continent beyond the Hyperion Wall. Tandonia is so far the only known land beyond the wall, and its true extent is only hypothesized, but many believe that it's the largest landmass in the entire world. There are several breaks in the Hyperion Wall in the north of Tandonia, but these passages through the wall are the nesting grounds of multitudes of massive and deadly beasts that make travel into Tandonia nearly impossible. The plants and animals of Tandonia resemble closely the animal life of much older eons of Panthea, making it the last holdout of those ancient times.
The Gates of Hyperion A set of entrances through the Hyperion Wall that flank each side of Tandonia/Geleng. Nobody has ever made it through the gates of Hyperion alive because they're the hunting ground of massive flying beasts from Tandonia that will rip apart any airship or plane that dares to cross through.
Grimoria Grimoria is a large continent from the outlands. It is a mostly unexplored continent, but what is known about it is that it is covered in unique environments and is the last home of hydrens, a class of animal that was once dominant across the world millions of years ago.
Hathrion: The continent and archipelago called Hathrion is a land famed for its purple and blue plantlife and majestically plumed dinosaur species. Hathrion is also the source of many unique and delicious fruits that can only be found there.
