The Bleeding Wilds
(Turn Two map of the Bleed)
“The Bleeding Wilds is a shifting, mercurial landscape across which the phenomenon known as the Bleed rolls. One moment, you can be crunching along a teal, crystalised shore, the next, you may find yourself stumbling through a dense meadow of feastbracken.
Despite its inconstancy, the Bleed only affects two locations, albeit vast ones. These are Silverside in the Realm of Metal and the Badlands of Lahar in the Realm of Beasts. Broadly speaking, the Badlands of Lahar are a dry, dusty place of ochre sands, punctuated by umber rocky outcrops. In contrast, Silverside has been all but drowned by the flooding Ur-River, and once proud mountains are now crowded islets. For all their differences, the topography of these lands is curiously similar, to the point where the mountain ranges that split the two regions are near-identical. Thanks to these similarities, rarely does the shift in realms lead to a deadly drop or a premature burial. Rarely but not never.
The flooding of Silverside means that huge tracts of the Badlands of Lahar can be unsafe to travel through, should the Bleed shift you beneath the crushing weight of the floodwaters. Mercifully however, the Bleed is a relatively slow-moving phenomenon. Weeks may go by where merchants, explorers and warriors can freely cross the gorges of Lahar but when the shimmering wave of magic rolls over the mountains and along the valleys, the floodwater follows, suspended in a strange cross-section of aquatic life. Some travellers tell stories of being chased down gorges by roaring walls of shimmering magic. Listen to these tales while you can, for these foolish souls tend not to last long in the Bleeding Wilds.”
The Badlands of Lahar, Ghur
Vast tracts of ochre sands, punctuated by umber rocky outcrops, stretch from the Dragonspine Mountains for hundreds of leagues. To the south and west, there are sandy deserts to the Lahar Caldera and beyond.
The Dragonspine Mountains
Winding from north-west to south-east across the Badlands, this mountain range divides the dry, sandy and rocky lowland desert to the south from the swampy forests and highland jungles to the north. The waters of the Stealheart River crash down the Dragonspire Falls in the centre of the range, flowing south.
Region G2 – The Balemoon Weald
A deep and heavily-wooded valley not far from the Thunder Coast. The Weald is a primordial jungle, wild and overgrown and teeming with huge reptilian monsters. At its heart is a crumbling stone ziggurat that is almost entirely lost to the trees and vines.
Region G3 - Sionnach's Nest
Dread creatures prowl these swampy forests. The dark and close-knit vegetation hides a multitude of dangers, not least the plants themselves. The trees are aggressive and predatory. They are not sentient like Sylvaneth but they strike out instinctively; the branches club anything close by into unconsciousness and fast-growing roots feast on the fallen. (Updated)
Region G5 - Hunter's Folly
The mountains are replete with legends of great wyrms of ancient times. This area has several tales of the heroes from the Age of Myth battling giant monsters. The mountain tops are split and stained dark red, as if a mighty battle took place here, aeons ago. (Updated)
Region G6 - Sky-Watch Plains (Gazan Skarrendok)
The grassy plains between Murkskull Pit and the mountains are patrolled by flying reptiles that are said to be able to lift an armoured ogor off the ground and drop them to their death on the rocky cliffs. The flocks of giant wild Ripperdactyl are even more aggressive than their skink-ridden kin. (Updated)
Region G7 – Murkskull Pit
A steep-sided rocky valley that rumours hint was once the lair of a great Necromancer who specialised in reanimating the Megafauna of the region.
Region G12 – Thunder Coast
A lightning-wracked coast of the stormy Amber Sea.
Region G13 – Hawksfall Tower
A lighthouse from the Age of Myth on the Thunder Coast, marking the entrance to Stealheart Bay.
Region G14 - Unnamed
The Amber Sea is strangely calm here - the surface is gentle and the waters uncharacteristically empty. The reason for this lies beneath the waves, a large and hungry sea serpent makes its lair here. It has the ability to magically calm the waters.
Region G16 - Unnamed
A vast pit in the centre of this desert plain is apparently inhabited by a massive predatory lurking beast that can swallow-up anything that comes near enough.
Region G18 – The Beastpath
A narrow winding road through the southern Dragon-spine Mountains
Region G19 – Barak-Drak Sky-Port
Sky-ports are the massive floating metropolises of the Kharadron Overlords. These bustling hubs of trade and military strongholds are capable of drifting vast distances to reach new prosperous lands. While being some of the greatest centres of trade and industry in the Mortal Realms, the sky-ports maintain enough firepower to be all but impervious to frontal assaults.
But Barak-Drak is not floating – it was brought down by the first occurrence of the Bleed and crashed in the Drake-spine Mountains. The city-sized port is heavily damaged. Many of its functions have been partially or even completely shut down as resources are redirected to repairing the sky-port and getting it airborne again. The metal walkways of the labyrinthine streets and cramped passageways are lit with sputtering whaleen-oil lamps. The Endrintrams that once provided inhabitants with rapid transit throughout their sky-port have all been shut down to conserve resources.
Region G19 – Red Maud
The tallest mountain peak in the Dragonspine range. Legends tell of a great dragon that lived here before the Age of Myth, and it now seems like they are more than just stories!
Region G20 - Unnamed
A vast and noisey waterfall that tumbles thousands of feet down the steep mountainside.
Region G22 – Stealheart Bay
A wide estuary at the mouth of the Stealheart River where it flows from the Amber Sea. The clear waters are teeming with large and small predatory fish but too shallow for the mega-predators of the Amber Sea to hunt.
Region G24 - Unnamed
On the shores of the Amber Sea there was once a small port town, but now there is hardly even a trace of ruins left to attest to that fact.
Region G25 – The Stormdancer
The Stormdancer is a Black Ark; a ship that is also a fortress-city of the corsairs, privateers and pirates – it serves as the flagships of a Scourge armada and a personal fiefdom. The vessel does not actually float on its own but it is built on the back of an oceanic behemoth. The Stormdancer has an imposing silhouette with many spined and bladed towers and spires. Some of the orruk crew have taken to making “improvements” to the Ark and a number of new wooden and metal-plated structures have appeared – they are asymmetrical, ramshackle and distinctly wonky-looking.
Region G27 – The Bonegrinder
A deep chasm in the Badlands, filled with the bones of megafauna.
Region G29 – Breakwall Gate
The central mountain-pass through the Dragon-spine Mountains, upon which Barak-Drak has fallen.
Region G31 - Unnamed
A tributary flows into the Ur-River from the mountains near the lair of a many-headed serpentine creature.
Region G33 – The Biting Stones
The Biting Stones are two smaller mountain ranges that have been battling each other for centuries – local legends say that they clash every few decades; smashing together in a titanic struggle of landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, then withdraw to recover, in a slow-moving battle that mortals can barely perceive.
Region G34 – Dungmoot
A black fen. The air is filled with an unpleasant sulphurous odour. The swamps are suffused with will-o'-the-wisps that burn with the intensity of a magnesium flame. Ghurish aquatic predators move through the shallow waters with surprising ease. (Updated)
Region G35 – Three Sisters
A desert city, built on three vast rocky outcrops surrounded by dunes. The sheer sides of the cliffs are covered with stone and timber buildings, built in front of caves carved into the rock. Roads wind around the outside of the massive outcrops and dozens of bridges span the gaps between them. Many of the buildings have windmills built into them.
Region G41 - Unnamed
A grassy plain, dotted with hundreds of round barrows that could be Age of Myth burial grounds.
Region G48 - Unnamed
A verdant grassland plain, with gently rolling hills that slope down to a valley around the mountains known as the Biting Stones.
Region G48 (for now!) – The Weirdrock
A floating sky-island drifts across the region. It moves slowly, only a few miles each day, so it is not impossible to keep up with it if travelling over the ground below it. The island is usually a few hundred yards above the land directly beneath it, and it gently rises and falls as it passes over hills and mountains. A shanty-town has been hastily constructed from the materials that were available. The wooden buildings cling to the top and sides of the rock and a number of mechanical cage-lifts have been set up to allow the new residents easier access.
Region G56 – The Ribs of Choggrish
The ossified remains of some vast megafauna lie half-buried in the ochre sands, like the curved bars of a cage standing hundreds of feet tall. Within the titanic bones an adobe-built settlement has been established.
Region G57 – Lumbertooth Tor
This lone hill, with a spiral path leading to the summit, stands high above the surrounding plains, and would provide an excellent lookout point if it were not for the hungry Lumbertooths that have made it their roost. The massive flightless birds can easily snap a tree in half with their powerful beaks.
Region G58 – The Gnarlfane
Vast swathes of titanic boneyards and ancient slaughter grounds lie around a great stone megalith that has become the centre of a hunter cult.
Region G59 – The Weeping Cavern
A vast underground network of tunnels and caves that stretches beneath the mountains for miles.
Region G61 – Shadowfane
A ring-shaped stone metalith a hundred yards across floats serenely in the sky amidst the towering mountain peaks, low clouds drift along the valleys below it. It emits a low hum that can only be heard when you look directly at it, but not if you look away.
Region G62 – The Prowling Forest
A predatory jungle that ensnares passing wildlife (and explorers!) that linger beneath its leafy bowers.
Region G65 – Morghur’s Moon
A broken region of labyrinth canyons, said to be the place a dark moon fell and smashed into the Realm.
Silverside, Chamon
Deep waters now spread outwards from the Verdigris Mountains for hundreds of leagues. The Ur-River burst its banks here and submerged the valleys entirely. What were once small mountains or tall hills in relatively verdant valleys are now isolated islands in large interconnected lakes. The lowland plains are lost from sight.
The Verdigris Mountains
Winding from north-west to south-east this mountain range divides the lakes and floodlands of Silverside into lowlands in the south-west and highlands in the north-east. The waters crash down the Verdigris Falls in the centre of the range, flowing south. The slopes of the mountains are littered with shipwrecks and the carcases of aquatic creatures, left by the receding flood waters.
Region C1 – The Smokestacks
Clouds of white smoke, that smells of sulphur, drift out of the volcanic vents. The vents themselves are tall, uneven cylinders of metal and mineral deposits. The surface of the ground between them is thin and weak in places and an unwary explorer could easily put a foot wrong and tumble through into the scalding-hot mineral soup below. (Updated)
Region C4 – Lionthorne Outpost
Sand-blasted ruins of a city in a sea of cerulean sand dunes. Sumptuous tents, colourful yurts and wagons surround the oasis in what was once a market square.
Inside embroidered hangings and tapestries cover the walls of the tents and yurts, piles of tasselled cushions and brightly coloured rugs and blankets cover the floors. Outside bunting, flags and ribbons flutter in the wind from every tentpole. Arcane symbols are painted, printed or sewn onto every surface.
One particularly huge wagon has a portable library inside. Books, scrolls, trinkets and jewellery fill every corner.
Region C6 – The Poisoned Forest
A forest of dead trees, with blackened and stubby and burned-off branches.
Region C8 – The Sanctuary Arcane
A small complex of turquoise-stone buildings with golden domes amid the remains of the Age of Myth city that was called Draschel. There are stories that the Sanctuary Arcane was the stronghold of a great wizard and his treasures might still remain, locked away behind sorcerous wards and glyphs of power.
Region C9 – Oxidisia
A barren and rugged coast of blue-green crystalline shards and turquoise coloured rock.
Region C12 – The Kaleidoscopic Sea
A multi-coloured sea that reflects the light in sparkling and spiralling repeating patterns. The shapes and colours cascade and tumble over each other in the waves and the sky above. If it was not for its continuous motion, the sea would seem to be made of solid geometric crystals.
Region C15 – Thunderstone
On the southern-most of the three islands just off the coast is a towering pillar of copper-infused rock, visible for miles at night, that loudly crackles and arcs with a near constant lightning storm around it.
Region C17 – The Crucible
A partially collapsed aqueduct where a small outpost has been positioned on the windswept, but defensible, ruin. Quicksilver trickles through the pipes from a far off source in the mountains.
Region C23 – Silverholt
A large forest of pale trees that stretches along most of the coast of the Kaleidoscopic Sea.
Region C26 – Ironholt
The northern island in the Tainted Depths. The ruins of a small outpost are scattered on the shores of the lake.
Region C28 – The Prismatic Shadows
A forest of crystalline/metallic needles in a wide valley, each one between a few feet long and hundreds of feet high.
Region C29 – Copperwater
A flood-lake that stretches from the Prismatic Shadows in the south to the Verdigris Mountains in the north. The waters crash into the lake, over the Verdigris Falls at the northern end, down from Lake Lapis. The ruins of a town can just be seen beneath the lake waters. (Updated)
Region C36 – Cometfall
The southern island in the Tainted Depths. A Loonshrine is hidden in the peaks, a tribe of armoured grots jealously guard it.
Region C37 – The Tainted Depths
A vast flood-lake that drowned the lowlands of the Ferrus Wastes and surrounded two islands that were once mountains in the Wastes: Ironholt and Cometfall.
Region C38 - Unnamed
The mountains above the Glittering Hills and Copperwater are covered with strange markings, scored into the surface of the rock.
Region C39 – The Underbough
The Underbough Sepulchre is an ancient, long-abandoned incubation chamber for Draconith eggs which has been adopted by an alliance of Sylvaneth and Deathrattle Wights. A carved stone chamber, overgrown with iron-hard vines and decorated with ornate statues and bass-relief carvings covered in a layer of faded, flaking paint.
Region C40 - The Enigma at the Epicentre (Zakaz Awer)
Concealed in the centre of the Verdigris Mountains is a small tower built in a strange style - it only appears to be three or four stories high, but it extends downward into the stone for many, many more levels. Each level below ground is slightly wider than the one above. The shifting geometry of the architecture is disorientating and uncomfortable to look at. The blue-green stone appears to ripple and flow, back and forth with a nauseating rhythm. (Updated)
Region C42 - Unnamed
The mountains between the Underbough and Lake Lapis are patrolled by flocks of aggressive flying spites. These especially large Zephyrwings seem to attack anything that attempts to climb the slopes, as if they were guarding something.
Region C44 - Gainwater Depths
The waters of Lake Lapis are particularly deep here and far below the surface they reflect the light like the facets of an irregular diamond or a shattered mirror. The effect seems to be natural though, and not caused by outside influences. (Updated)
Region C45 – The Refuge
Near a jagged precipice amidst silvered mountains, the overgrown ruins of an old fortress stand in a sunlit forest. The air here is filled with the scent of wildflowers.
Region C46 – Lake Lapis
The floodwaters from the Ur-River have filled the Lapis Valley and turned it into a massive lake. The Dancing Stones remain as islands in the waters, cut off from the land around them.
Region C47 – The Dancing Stones
Two islands in the waters of Lake Lapis, with mountain peaks that are peppered with towering megalithic standing stones. The stones were erected in the Age of Myth and the just-visible carvings upon them have been worn down by time and weather. The locals will not go near them as they swear that even looking at them means certain death.
Region C51 – The Ferrus Wastes
A bleak and dusty wasteland plain that used to be much bigger – only the higher ground remains, the lower slopes were lost beneath the Glancewater by the flooding.
Region C52 – Glancewater
The flooding of much of the southern Ferrous Waste created a body of water that is broad and shallow.
Region C54 – Windrider Ridge
A grassy ridge, only somewhat higher than the water-level of the lakes on either side, beset by high winds from the mountains.
Region C55 – The Glittering Hills
Rolling hills covered in metallic-pink blossomed forest.
Region C56 – Azoth Sound
These waters are extremely deep – it is impossible to see the bottom from the surface away from the shore.
Region C57 – Eyrie of the Sigil
An island in Azoth Sound that is the site of a strange-looking tower and rumoured to be the home of a powerful sorcerer.
Region C61 – Argent claws
Hundred-strong clusters of silvery crystals are arranged in strange geometric patterns. The air shifts around them, distorted as if by heat that cannot be felt.
Region C64 – Forest of Rust
An orange-leafed forest that stretches on for miles and miles to the south of Silverside.
