The Prime Dominion

Hidden at the edge of Haixiah there is a secret. An anomaly. An archipelago of floating metalith islands in a sea of silver-gold liquid light. A place of untapped potential and hidden danger, for many strange truths find refuge at the Realm’s Edge of Hysh, where normally any expedition would end with horrific and fatal transformation by the highly concentrated and unstable light-magic. The Prime Dominion was a glimmer of hope for many, but that dream is fading: slipping through their fingers.

At the heart of the Prime Dominion is the breath-takingly beautiful Catarhactes , the name given to the Ur-River where it passes through Hysh: A vast waterfall-Realmgate that falls hundreds of miles, from Chamon above to Aqshy below.

The floating metalith islands of the Prime Dominion were formed long ago, by the interaction between Catarhactes and Noctis, a black sun that orbits the Catarhactes Falls. While Catarhactes deposits raw material drawn from other realms into the Prime Dominion, Noctis pulls that material out into a disk-shape, forming the floating islands and the sea of liquid light that surrounds them.

And Noctis has other properties: it consumes so much of the light and magic of Haixiah within its reach, it makes normal life sustainable in the Prime Dominion and creates its seasons. The quarter of the Dominion nearest to Noctis’ circular path experiences bitter winter, while the opposite quarter has blistering summer - both more extreme at the edge closest to Noctis, and more temperate the nearer one comes to Catarhactes . The orbit of Noctis around the Prime Dominion is fairly stable and more-or-less predictable and it is used to measure the region’s year.

The Shimmersea

The sea of silver-gold liquid light glitters between the floating islands and forms a disc that the ships of the Prime Dominion can sail upon. Sky-ships may fly over and under it, traversing the surface through the shadowtides that swirl in indecipherable patterns around the islands as the shimmersea is disrupted by the orbit of Noctis.

Noctis makes life in the Prime Dominion possible and relatively safe in Haixiah. But it is also a great hazard. There are horrific riptides in the winter months: the strongest winds blow towards Noctis. So most merchant ships tend to migrate around the Shimmersea to avoid it, staying in the areas enjoying spring, summer and autumn as much as possible.

The subterranean underside of the Prime Dominion is called the Lux Umbra , and it is largely ignored as it’s far less habitable, and far less hospitable, than the upper surface. It's also home to a literal underworld of criminals, smugglers, fences, pirates and mercenaries.

Where the Prime Dominion used to be divided into six administrative provinces that were referred to as the “Ulkesi Diyari”, since the civil war, those names and divisions have been changed.

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Kellandor

The first great island and the centre of the Prime Dominion. Nearly half of the land is occupied by the city of Iscarion, the rest is largely mountainous or forest. The Great Plain surrounding the landward walls of the city is bounded by mountains to the east and south, and forest to the north.

Iscarion, the Illusive City

The gateway to the Prime Dominion is Iscarion . Stretching almost the full length of the banks of the bay surrounding the Catarhactes realmgate, the city is now a fortified but cosmopolitan metropolis. Most trade within the Prime Dominion passes through Iscarion, as the safest travel in and out is via the Ur-River.

• The Basileun Library, Iscarion - A towering edifice of vaulted marble and illuminated domes of blue copper and aetherquartz, the hallowed halls of this library house the accumulated knowledge of the Iscarneth lords. No staff or attendants disturb its pristine silence, for the library is home to a bound Endless Spell of immense size. Wrought long ago by the 8 satraps, the ancient magical entity now known as The Curator protects and oversees the knowledge within. Visitors are occasionally permitted within the Basileun Library, but are expected to offer knowledge of their own as the cost of their admission, ensuring the Library continues to grow. Along with the Palace of the Dawn and the Illuminated Senate , it forms the three great landmarks of Iscarion.
• The Palace of the Dawn, Iscarion The most magnificent palace in a city of palaces, it sits at the summit of the city and is therefore said to be the first place in all of Hysh that the light touches. It has stood empty for centuries.
• The Illuminated Senate, Iscarion The meeting place for the Prime Dominion’s government.

Cyran Mountains

Every winter the peaks of these mountains are wreathed in beautiful lights. These dazzling displays are caused by Noctis pulling the light and swallowing it up, but something in the mountains slows the light down as it passes over them, causing a spectacular aura.

Underside, Lux Umbra

A dark reflection of Iscarion. A city-size web of tunnels and caves, exposed wooden and stone walkways, and shanty buildings hanging in the shadows beneath the island. Most of the permanent population of the city work in the skyship quays, taverns, warehouses, merchant stores, etc. But the total population at any given time is about 50% travellers from elsewhere in the Mortal Realms - merchant skyship crews, mercenaries, spellhunters, travelling traders. Smuggling is rife and some ships’ crews barely disguise their piratical nature.

• The Dourstorm, Underside - Suspended by strong cables from the rock of the island above, on the edge of Underside, Lux Umbra beneath Kellandor , is the corroded hull of a great skyvessel. The massive wreck of the former Kharadron ship was used as a meeting place for the outsider forces allied to the Aurannar. The polished brass and steel of its interior gleam in the light of newly-added chandeliers.

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Lhoris

The second great island in the centre of the Prime Dominion. Most of the land around the mountainous spine is covered by tohnasai forest, farmland, or rolling hills and plains. The scars left from the civil war are still visible but they have been transformed.

• Ellisar City

On the southern coast of Lhoris , opposite the straits between the Shards of Wirenth and Namys. Towering white spires stretch into the sky, a floating garden blooms with exotic plants and flowers that seem to shimmer with their own internal light. There is a gentle rivalry between Ellisar and Iscarion. The architecture of this city rivals that of Iscarion in beauty and ambition, though the city is much smaller. The citizens of Iscarion view it as a quaint “holiday” destination, much to the annoyance of the Ellisar residents.

• The College, Ellisar City - Beneath the public halls there is a large amphitheatre used for private gatherings. In this chamber, the official decrees of the Ruyalar are discussed by the leaders of those who answered the Ruyalar call. Decorated with art spanning the Prime Dominion and other Realms, warm bonfires crackling around, and filled with a general hubbub of conversation, even laughter, and underscored by music.
• Orym Forest

In the centre of this green and pleasant woodland of Hyshian tohnasai trees there remains a single link of a gargantuan chain, buried in rocky ground, the other end originally tethered a metalith island that floated above Lhoris. Legend says the island broke free long ago and fell into Noctis.

• Nabeth Hills

Seven identically shaped hills in a circle, evenly and symmetrically spaced. At their centre is a valley with a stone circle of seven megaliths. All are identical and geometrically perfect, save one which has a huge crack in the base.

• Tamnaeth's Tower

An intact Waystone Tower on the west coast.

• Horith's Tower

A Waystone Tower on the east coast, that once had a flaw. Navigators avoided using this Waystone as the flaw made it seem to shift and move unpredictably, so it could not be used as a reliable reference point on their charts. But the waystone was realigned, and the magical energy of the Prime Dominion resumed its natural flow once more.

• The Great Shrine

A vast stone shrine that towers over the countryside around it.

• The Kellandor to Lhoris Bridge

A slender and beautiful wonder of aelven architecture. The white stone and greened copper of its construction are worked into beautiful patterns with hidden meanings.

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Hycis Department

Three island clusters in the north of the Prime Dominion. The westerly group is predominantly rugged and mountainous. The two easterly groups are lush forest land.

Hycis

• The Myriil Monastery

The large complex of interconnected towers has been completely levelled. The monks disappeared mysteriously even before the towers were demolished by their own skyvessels and a mob of Rogue Idols.

Zaleria

• The Haunted Wood

With the tohnasai woods shattered and flattened and the hidden crypts broken open, the island is no longer sheltered from the extreme seasons suffered by the outer isles.

Phyrra

• The Arbane Inaqen

The entire island of Phyrra is covered in dense tohnasai forest. Untended and overgrown, the forest is wild and dark.

Xiuhpilli-Ixtlilxochitl-Ocelotl

This unpronounceable island was home to a small Seraphon settlement, but there is nothing left of of them ir their structures, save a huge hole in the side of the island.

• The Silverfall Ark - the was a vine-covered stone chamber in the Seraphon colony on Xiuhpilli-Ixtlilxochitl-Ocelotl that was used for the meeting place of a group of mercenaries. The stories they told said the ceilings were lit by swirling starlight and the walls were covered in stone carvings of celestial godbeast constellations.

Naexi

• Faemoor

A foggy fenland of low grassy hills with exposed granite tors. Many small winding rivers run down from the mountains and drain into boggy valleys. Moss, scrubby grass, lichen and heather cover almost everything.

Llorra

• The Khiiral Mountains

Cold and desolate mountains also give their name to the new Waystone Tower here.

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Edraele Department

This region is dominated by its largest island, Edraele, where most of the population live. The smaller islets in the south of the area are either sparsely populated or uninhabited but most are frequently visited for their abundance of produce.

Edraele

One of the "medium" sized islands, along with Tanulia and Namys.

• Ciradyl Tower

The ruins of a watch tower, on the north coast. Often used by smugglers to load or unload cargo into sky-ships.

• The Elenea Bridge (Edraele to Minuvae)

A simple arch with pleasing geometry.

• Selanar City

A marvel of elegant architecture made of wondrous towers and structures that are blended seamlessly into the natural beauty of the island. The city's new defences have not been completed - the walls are not even half finished. Many of the citizens have fled to the outer isles and a brooding sense of betrayal is growing.

• Yelric Tower

An intact Waystone Tower with a guard of professional soldiers. The garrison's commanding officer is corrupt.

Syndra

• Saidia’s Needle

An impossibly tall and thin Waystone Tower, said to be the oldest in the Dominion.

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Amisra Department

A collection of rugged, storm-battered islands. Thunder often rumbles overhead, and fierce winds whip through the narrow straits between Arasne and Amisra.

Amisra

• Paris Hills

Barren and rocky hills, infested with Troggs and grots.

Tyrael

A scattered group of tiny barren and unwelcoming islands around Amisra.

Ruven, The Tethered Island

Ruven is attached to the mainland (Kali) by a gargantuan chain. Each link is 170 yards long and made of meteoric steel.

Minuvae

• The Taera

A huge and carefully-tended garden of pink-blossomed trees in the spring, halcyon days in the summer and bountiful harvests in the autumn. The Aqua Ghyranis Spring of Minuvae is tucked away in the courtyard of a small tower.

Arasne, The Stormlands

Mainly flatlands that have an unusually stormy climate, which has led to a thinly spread population, most of whom live in low buildings, clustered into small towns.

• Tenula's Tower

An ancient Waystone Tower, built by the Archmage Tenula. Ruined during the civil war but rebuilt since.

• Bilgebottom, Lux Umbra

The abandoned mine has been cracked open and the shadow waters that once sloshed around in its lower levels pour out of the open rent in the island and tumble endlessly down into the clouds gathering far below.

Kali

• New Adorellan

A new-built town, constructed since the end of the civil war.

Caeda

• Gordius's Tower

A Waystone Tower surrounded by a field of geodesic crystal prisms that capture and reflect the light, and the ideas of those who walk among them.

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Tanulia Department

Each island in this region is adorned with lush greenery and towering cliffs. It not only produces many exotic spices, there is also a growing network of academics making their homes in the stone towers and domed libraries that rise from the rocky islands that dot the bright sea. The almost-musical sounds of Shimmersea waves crashing against the cliff faces below create a soothing symphony that envelops the nascent campus.

Tanulia

One of the "medium" sized islands, along with Edraele and Namys.

• The Colosseum

This scattered heap of white marble was once the symbolic heart of those Iscarneth who held martial skill and valour above all other virtues.

• Elluin Tower

A rebuilt Waystone Tower, once broken by powerful magics.

Salihn

• Folwin Forest

A light and airy tohnasai forest. Pleasant all year round with thin undergrowth, many open pathways and leafy clearings. The wildlife is almost all benign. In the centre of the island is a network of caves with walls made of glittering crystals.

Sumina

• The Library of Galaeron

The cluster of towers have been gutted by fire but the books, scrolls, manuscripts, collected letters, documents and assorted paper records, from across the Realms were removed in time. Only empty shelves burned in the ruins of the Library of Galaeron.

• The Spawning-Pool

Amethyst waters roil with the magic of rituals and act as an anchor point in the rites to repair the geomantic network. Tu’bok the Skink constructed a spawning-pool on Sumina. It is attuned to the geomantic ley lines that criss-cross the Prime Dominion, especially those that had been disrupted, and it brought them back into harmony. The energy that merely flowed before, now thunders through the Dominion like an arcane torrent.

Liluth

• The Great Tree

A massive sacred tree growing on the side of a mountain. A holy place of pilgrimage and silent meditation. In the summer it's bathed in enlightening rays, in the winter it's surrounded by warm, calm air.

Merlara

• Faelyn’s Tower

A Waystone Tower, watched over by Faelyn's Order - a small group of monks.

• Mallon’s Folly

A Waystone Tower in the form of a floating crystal prism, hundred of yards tall. In the winter the prism focuses and redirects light toward the black sun, that hungrily swallows it up. It is believed the prism was a failed experiment that was meant to stave-off the worst effects of winter.

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Namys Department

Since the violent changes inflicted upon it, this region is plagued by clouds of dust and drifting metalith fragments. In winter the winds drag this debris around causing even more havoc.

Namys

One of the "medium" sized islands, along with Edraele and Tanulia. A feedback vortex of Waaagh! energy tore through the mountains and valleys ripping up trees and shredding houses.

• Sylmare City

The smoking ruins of the city on the highest peak of a snow-capped mountain range. At the heart of the city there is a shattered Waystone Tower. Sylmare was the location of the Corusca Palace, which was the seat of Teclandec power.

• Downside, Lux Umbra

The skyport beneath the island has been smashed and partially rebuilt in an even more ramshackle and precarious way. Still home to unsavoury characters but now serving the transports and troopships of the invaders.

• Valindra

A new city, built since the end of the civil war with close ties to Ellisar . A series of floating platforms serve as walkways between the various buildings, suspended by geomantic magic.

Aerilaya

A cluster of small islands that are skilfully farmed. They produce large quantities of food which is exported via Corinth Skyport to the rest of the Prime Dominion.

Nimue

Six tiny islands with close ties to Sylmare City. Along with The Aravae they suffer the most extreme weather in the Prime Dominion - hard winters and roasting summers. The coasts, like all the islands of the Prime Dominion, are sheer cliffs but the light-waterlevel is high up them, so ships on the shimmersea can easily unload cargoes onto wooden jetties or stone quays at the city docks.

Shards of Wirenth

Wirenth was mostly grasslands and gently rolling hills. There were mountains in the south east that made it very rainy in the winter, as the winds towards Noctis passed over them, but the rest of the year the climate was not too extreme. The island was reduced to broken fragments during the civil war.

• Corinth Skyport

Once one of the Prime Dominion's key sky-shipping hubs, the remaining tall white stone towers are soot-blackened and battered. The wide balconies that helter-skelter around the tower’s upper halves, have been supplemented and “improved” by the port’s new owners. Each rickety balcony is now large enough for several sky-ships to dock and load or unload. 

Out of desperation the connection between the port’s Realmgate and its sister-gate in Iscarion has been permanently severed. Cutting it off from the geomantic matrix that interconnects the realms forever. 

• The Transchromatic Caverns

In the crystalline caves of the Lux Umbra beneath Corinth Skyport there is a chamber lined with statuary carved from the rock, with a high vaulted ceiling and lit by refracted light from within the crystals. The stairway down from the skyport is technically a secret but everyone seems to know where it is.

Ara

• Halamar

A mossy forest of overgrown ruined arches and viaducts. The whole forest is filled with faint music - complex, multi-layered and mesmeric melodies that will distract the unwary and make them sit and listen for days on end without noticing the passing of time.

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Four Sisters Department

The dozens of tiny islands of this region are spread across a vast expanse of sparkling waters. There is a shared experience of isolation among the islanders that gives them a strong sense of community and they all make a great deal of effort to visit the other islands, much more frequently than other sections of the Prime Dominion's residents.

The Four Sisters - Eletha, Elaratha, Elasha, and Rina

Heavily wooded islands that used to produce magically-imbued timber used to construct beautiful, sleek and, above all, fast sky-ships. The timber produced now may not be as desirable as it once was.

Aravae

A group of four small and isolated islands. There are no Realmgates or bridges and sky-ships rarely visit. The islands are now almost uninhabitable; they suffer the most extreme weather in the Prime Dominion with hard winters and roasting summers.

Verona

A scattered group of about twenty tiny, jungle-covered islands.

Sionia

• Halar Mines

The Lux Umbra of this island is riddled with tunnels and caves. A rich seam of crystallised Realmstone was rumoured to be buried within them and a “goldrush” town sprang up in a few months. The mines were quickly dug throughout the island but not even a grain of Realmstone was found. The town was abandoned some years ago.

• Ruehnar’s Needle

An intact Waystone Tower watched over by a civilian militia guard.

Ayla

• Taeral’s Labyrinth

A network of natural caves that form a symmetrical maze with only two mirror-image safe routes to the centre. All other pathways through the labyrinth lead to deadly enchantments.

Galia

• Keenor Point

A small castle on a headland. The shimmersea around it is always calm, even during the worst winter storms.