The Frost
The Frost is a patch of magically frozen land to the south-east of the continent. It borders Umbral Key, who are responsible for containing it; rumour says they're in some way responsible for it.
The Frost is gradually swallowing the territory of Umbral Key and with it threatening the city of Thousand itself. As well as the slowly encroaching snow and ice, it is prone to the occasional 'flash-freeze', a burst of cold that instantly kills anything too close. Many districts bordering the Frost who have suffered a flash-freeze are condemned as 'lost', deemed uninhabitable. The priests of Zhun take some responsibility for exorcising lost districts of angry, confused ghosts. They also assign 'watchers' who keep an eye on the districts and drive away monsters and looters both. One such district is Lost Secundis.
So dangerous is this phenomenon that Thousand Houses holds voluntary ritual sacrifices to combat it. People, usually terminally ill, who are willing to give their lives to the cause are taken into the depths of the Frost to perform rituals that help contain the cold. These people are known as 'Frost-offerings'. One can occasionally see a solemn parade through the streets of Umbral Key with a Frost-offering at its centre, clad in shapeless garb designed to make them anonymous as they prepare to march to their death.
On travelling to the Frost itself soon becomes an endless plane of snow and ice. This can be very difficult to navigate, utterly treacherous to the unprepared. The cold is unnaturally bitter and cutting; ice effects do double damage, and fire effects are nullified as the magical cold steals away all warmth.
In the distance of the planes strange pillars of ice can be seen. It is theorised that these marked the resting places of Frost-offerings who were unable to travel any further.
Dragon-kin, lizards and other scaled creatures are unusually common in the Frost. The members of House Haruhel have commented that this signifies the presence of an older dragon somewhere; dragons have an ambient magical effect that warps other life around them to become more dragon-like.
The Frost is also home to some altogether more frightening creatures, however. The group have fought what was termed a Frost-beast, a furry behemoth with warped features and a wide, toothy mouth that garbled an unknown language. The many weapons broken off in the creature's hide told of how tough it was, but it also possessed an unnerving intelligence and habit for playing with its food. As House Haruhel put it once one has your scent, the only option is to run away.
In addition to the Frost itself there are two forests bordering it as seen on the continent map: the Frozen Forest bordering the plains, where a narrow strip of woods separates rolling hills from frozen tundra. Northeast is the small but formidable Wailing Woods, said to be haunted with spirits who die within the Frost. There are believed to be dark elves hailing from one or both of these forests as well but they're vanishingly rare, so no-one can say for sure.
The Frost is gradually swallowing the territory of Umbral Key and with it threatening the city of Thousand itself. As well as the slowly encroaching snow and ice, it is prone to the occasional 'flash-freeze', a burst of cold that instantly kills anything too close. Many districts bordering the Frost who have suffered a flash-freeze are condemned as 'lost', deemed uninhabitable. The priests of Zhun take some responsibility for exorcising lost districts of angry, confused ghosts. They also assign 'watchers' who keep an eye on the districts and drive away monsters and looters both. One such district is Lost Secundis.
So dangerous is this phenomenon that Thousand Houses holds voluntary ritual sacrifices to combat it. People, usually terminally ill, who are willing to give their lives to the cause are taken into the depths of the Frost to perform rituals that help contain the cold. These people are known as 'Frost-offerings'. One can occasionally see a solemn parade through the streets of Umbral Key with a Frost-offering at its centre, clad in shapeless garb designed to make them anonymous as they prepare to march to their death.
On travelling to the Frost itself soon becomes an endless plane of snow and ice. This can be very difficult to navigate, utterly treacherous to the unprepared. The cold is unnaturally bitter and cutting; ice effects do double damage, and fire effects are nullified as the magical cold steals away all warmth.
In the distance of the planes strange pillars of ice can be seen. It is theorised that these marked the resting places of Frost-offerings who were unable to travel any further.
Dragon-kin, lizards and other scaled creatures are unusually common in the Frost. The members of House Haruhel have commented that this signifies the presence of an older dragon somewhere; dragons have an ambient magical effect that warps other life around them to become more dragon-like.
The Frost is also home to some altogether more frightening creatures, however. The group have fought what was termed a Frost-beast, a furry behemoth with warped features and a wide, toothy mouth that garbled an unknown language. The many weapons broken off in the creature's hide told of how tough it was, but it also possessed an unnerving intelligence and habit for playing with its food. As House Haruhel put it once one has your scent, the only option is to run away.
In addition to the Frost itself there are two forests bordering it as seen on the continent map: the Frozen Forest bordering the plains, where a narrow strip of woods separates rolling hills from frozen tundra. Northeast is the small but formidable Wailing Woods, said to be haunted with spirits who die within the Frost. There are believed to be dark elves hailing from one or both of these forests as well but they're vanishingly rare, so no-one can say for sure.
Frost-offering garb
A Frost-beast
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