Geography, Climate, and Travel

Norwold is the northeastern corner of the continent of Brun. It is bounded by the Alphatian Sea and the Strait of Helskir to the east, the Norzee to the north, the Borean, Icereach, and Mengul ranges to the west, and the Heldland River and Eastern Mengul Mountains to the south. It is far larger than the whole Known World and far emptier [Neri-TG] [RC]. The full alphabetical list of named places is on the Gazetteer page.

The three mountain walls

• The Icereach (White) Range, the greatest range and the western border, with peaks to 18,000 feet, harshest in the north, where the volcanic Arch of Fire burns. Beyond it lies the Kingdom of Denagoth [Neri-TG] [Alm-Icereach].
• The Final Range, runs parallel to the east coast, north of Landfall, touching the Wyrmsteeth; its branches include the Ironroot Mountains and the Peaks of Snorri. Most settlement clings to its foothill valleys [Neri-TG] [Alm-FinalRange].
• The Wyrmsteeth Range, the dragons’ mountains, ruled by their own Parliament from the hidden city of Windreach; the dragon-king Red Death reigns here [Neri-TG] [MMB-Region].

The Hettafjall massif divides the south; the Borean Range is the vast northwestern wall.

Rivers, lakes, and the water roads

Norwold travels by water. The great artery is the Vinisk-Ransarn-White Bear river system, which links Lake Gunaald, the Azure Lake (the Almanac’s Lake Alinor), Lake Vanern, and the Great Bay, and carries the trade between the Viaskoda of the north and the halflings of Leeha [Neri-TG] [MMB-Region]. The White Bear River is among the widest, navigable up to Camp Bravefoot; the Landsplit River (Maanselkä) marks the northern border and reaches by small ship to Kaarjala. The Foxes’ and Sabre rivers drain into the Gulf of Wrecks; the Skelleft and Timayam are too steep to navigate upstream [Neri-TG].

Climate and the seasons

Four broad bands, south to north [Neri-TG]:

• Continental (down to the Great Bay): wide temperature swings, cold snowy winters, summer thunderstorms.
• Subarctic (north of the Great Bay): freezing for five to seven months; only the coasts and southern fringe are farmable.
• Tundra (north of the Landsplit and the Autuasmaa plain): permafrost, no trees.
• Highland: alpine tundra and glaciers on the high peaks.

Two seasonal facts shape campaigns. The Great Bay freezes in the colder winters, and when it does, the frost giants of Frosthaven raid across the ice, about once in five years, returning before the thaw [Neri-TG] [Alm-Leeha]. The Norzee freezes for nearly half the year and becomes a walkable plain.

Crossing the land: routes and chokepoints

There is no road network; travel follows rivers, coasts, and a handful of passes [Neri-TG]:

• Regent Pass, the single fortified land route onto the Alpha peninsula; hold it and you hold Alpha [Neri-TG] [CM1].
• Hettafjall passes, trails from Heldland over to the Denagothian Plateau, used again by Ghyrian traders after fifty years’ neglect; the port of Strondborg sits at the river mouth [Neri-TG].
• The Leehan Trail, from Camp Bravefoot southwest through the Great Circle to Borea; long and dangerous.
• Wotandal, the Eistrand tide bares up to eight miles of seabed, crossable only until the water returns.
• Gnomsdalur, a Heldland-to-Ransarn route made nearly unusable by goblin tribes.

Principal ports and coastal towns: Alpha, Oceansend, Strondborg, Leeha, Ostborg, Saffir, Lighthall, and the pirate stop of Frigsun [Neri-TG].

Hazards

Norwold is wilderness, and the Traveller’s Guide catalogs the dangers [Neri-TG]:

• Monster country: giants, orcs, goblins, and trolls in the Hettafjall, Gnomsdalur, Dragon Spur Hills, and Ironroot Mountains; dragons in the Wyrmsteeth and the Maghnar Valley.
• Swamps and bogs: the Oceansend Marshes, the Vinisk moors (moor trolls and centaurs), the Menascha “Mist,” the Swamp of Steam, and the sickly, cold Tuonela with its Rimal Hag.
• The frozen north: the Frozen Moors, impassable in summer and fragile ice in winter; Frosthaven, blizzard-bound three-quarters of the year; the Everwinter Lands of the long polar night.
• Raiders: the Vrodniki, Ostlander pirates against the coasts, and Qeodharan boats among the Isles of the Strand.
• The Arch of Fire: lava fields and fire-creatures around the twin volcanoes.
• The Plain of Skulls: a bleak steppe of bones, shunned even by the Viaskoda.

For the Immortals, pantheons, and the monster-queens of the ice (Akra, Frota, the Crones of Crystykk), see History and NPCs.