The world of Ethoria is divided into twelve distinct Regions, each defined by how the Shattering scarred its geography and how its people have adapted to survive. These are not merely political borders, but ecological prisons. In the Imperial Heartlands, cold stone and iron order prevail, while the Valoric Marches are a perpetual battlefield of dust and blood. The Duskfall Morass is a choking nightmare of bioluminescent rot and sinking mud, contrasting sharply with the Gilded Wastes, a desert of blinding sun and razor-sharp glass sand where water is more valuable than gold.
The outer territories are even more hostile. The Frostbound Reach is a frozen tomb where silence kills as surely as the cold, while the Black Tide Expanse is a lawless ocean of roaring waves and leviathans. Beneath the waves lies the Sunken Crown Sea, a region of drowned cities and rusted salvage. In the Verdant Shatterwilds, magic has overgrown the land, creating a predatory jungle that shifts and changes. Each region has its own specific “Sensory Rules”—the smell of sulfur in the Ashen Expanse, the echo of thin air in the Blackreach Highlands—creating a diverse but universally dangerous tapestry of environments.
Travel between these regions is perilous, often requiring armed escorts or “Void-Caravans” designed to withstand Anomalies. The Empire claims dominion over all twelve, but its grip varies from the iron fist in the Heartlands to a loose, desperate grasp in the Outer Rift Shoals. To live in a region is to be shaped by it; a survivor of the Wastes moves differently than a sailor of the Azure Archipelago. The land itself is a character in every story, often serving as the primary antagonist in a world where the environment is actively trying to kill you.