The Blight Frontier
Vibe
Siege‑living, oath‑keeping, and the terror of familiarity turning wrong.
Geography
The northernmost realm, defined by the Skyglass Range — a mountain chain that sings in high winds and now sings louder. Fjords ice over earlier each year. Entire valleys hold permanent rime‑storms that do not break with the seasons. Surface roads are treacherous; most travel has moved underground or been abandoned.
Roughly 75% of the population now lives in holdfasts or underground. The remaining surface communities are fortified and grim.
People
Common Races: humans, goliaths, dwarves, dragonborn, half‑orcs. Clan feuds have paused, replaced by uneasy alliances built around survival.
Cities
- Kaldhavn - the main port; quays are roofed, heated, and chained to the rock. Ships winter in place and their crews become citizens.
- Snowgate - a choke‑point asylum town, crowded with refugees from the south and hunters from the north.
- Thawwatch - no longer just flood‑watching. It measures something beneath the ice that rises each year.
Points of Interest
- The Shatterday Cairns - the cairns leak cold like breath. Some barrows open from the inside.
- Lake Hrim - the "bottomless" center now glows faintly at night. People vanish on calm water.
- The Skyglass Spire - diviners avoid it. The tone it makes now predicts who will freeze next.