The Sovereign Realm of Threnos:

Threnos routinely ranks on the bottom of any list of top vacation destinations; a nation founded by criminals and inhabited by the hard, stubborn, and stupid. Citizens of Threnos wear heavy wrapped clothing and live in underground warrens or high-walled cities to protect themselves from weather that ranges from mildly unpleasant to inherently hostile to life. Ruled by whoever manages to off the previous tyrant, Threnos is governed with arbitrary laws that are at best unevenly enforced. What redeems this wretched wasteland from being just another geographic penitentiary is the unique confluence of an abundance of natural resources and the cheap and expendable labor needed to exploit it. Like a pauper birthing a king, Threnos gave rise to a new age of unprecedented avarice and industry and has become the envy of anyone who has never actually been there.

Divided into five provinces and an unusually concentrated range of environments from semi-tropical jungle to lifeless desert, Threnos is a nation both ripe with opportunity and deficient in morality; a veritable utopia for thieves, scoundrels, mercenaries, and whores.

Provinces:

Ashen Shadow:

The Ashen Shadow is the central province of Threnos and home to the capitol in the south. Formed by the ash and debris belched by the volcanic peaks along its southwestern border, the Ashen Shadow is riddled with foul sulfurous vents and jagged obsidian landscapes utterly hostile to life. The upside is real estate is plentiful and affordable.

The Barrier Isles:

The Barrier Isles comprise the jagged ship-devouring islands scattered haphazardly off the southwestern coast of Threnos. The climactic eruption that shattered the isles from the coast predates written history, but judging by the sheer size and spread of the jigsaw pieces left behind it must have been fairly impressive. The isles are home to fisheries and a few of the more hazardous shipping lanes, but civilization is sparse in the dense semi-tropical jungle climes.

Mossreach:

Ranging from the Portelchop River in the south to the contested border with Threnos’ northern neighbor, the province of Mossreach comprises the nation’s only agricultural foothold in an otherwise inhospitable climate. Hardscrabble farms dot the rolling hills and lowland marshes in the predominantly rural landscape, with only an occasional town breaking up the green monotony.

The Wastes:

Sometimes known as the “Blustery” Wastes to distinguish it from the rest of Threnos (widely considered to also be wasteland), this stretch of sand from the Ashen Shadow to the eastern mountains boasts the lowest population of all Threnesian provinces, in large part because the undead and goblins are not counted on the census. Formerly a shallow inland sea, the Wastes is still peppered with shipwrecks from ages past. Goblin tribes forced out of more inhabitable lands manage a tenuous nomadic existence here. Undead often vacation in the Wastes, enjoying the preservative quality of the dry desert air.

Yellowsnow Mountains:

The Yellowsnow Mountains are the northeastern cap atop the dome of Threnos, punctuating the horizon with towering snow-covered peaks. With the highest elevations in Threnos residents of the frigid mountain passes look down upon the rest of the nation with mild disdain. The lowland Threnesians in turn dismiss the mountaineers as yokels who pursue unconventional relations with llamas. Postcards and promotional materials claim the Yellowsnow Mountains are so-named for the golden hue they shimmer with during sunrise, but locals have seen firsthand just how full a Yeti’s bladder can be after extended hibernation.

Cities:

Parsim:

A massive hunkering warren of soot-stained hovels that reeks of cinders and greed; Parsim is the most populous and prosperous city in the entirety of Threnos and the center of industry, politics, and trade. Built amid live volcanoes, the streets of Parsim are lined with lava sluices that provide heat, power, and a convenient disposal of bodies. Rising in the center of the city is the Obsidian Fortress, an overly ostentatious castle hewn from raw volcanic glass and home to the haphazard succession of Threnesian rulers, the most current being the Overlord.

Emberlin:

A city of unadulterated industry and science perched on the northern border of the Ashen Shadow. Emberlin is home to the University of Threnos, one of the only institutions in the nation that concerns itself with knowledge and wisdom. Within the high walls of Emberlin all regulations are anathema, leading to the sheer amount of industrial waste that pukes from its sewer outlets and belches from its innumerable smoke stacks. Life may be short in Emberlin and characterized by exotic toxins and blackened lungs, but the horrific suffering of the commoners is a small price to pay so that science may profit. Or prosper, rather.

Barrenvow:

More than a dozen rebellions and insurrections have been launched from the seedy taverns and smoky dens of this famed city of thieves and dissidents, and most of them failed. While brash plots and intrigues attract the dissatisfied and rebellious to Barrenvow’s cobbled streets, it also bottles them up in a convenient place for the Overlord’s spies and informants to keep tabs on their efforts against the regime.  The city retains its reputation as a hotbed for crime and sin, however, making it a popular destination in the north of Threnos for tourists as well as rebels.

Sablin:

A high walled city situated purposefully between the largest freshwater lake in Threnos and the most inhospitable desert, the merchants of Sablin trade primarily in water and business is good. An unremarkable city in most other respects, Sablin is a mandatory stop on any trek across the Wastes.

The City of the Dead:

Once a magnificent coastal palace on the shores of a temperate inland sea, the City of the Dead is now a hollow warren amid the treacherous Wastes and a popular tourist destination for those unburdened by a pulse. With every amenity the undead could desire, from fresh hot blood to the latest in trendy embalming techniques, the City of the Dead is conveniently located leagues away from civilization and free from the prying intrusions of the living.

Towns:

Casterlin:

A modest port town in the southern Wastes, spared the harsh climate of the province by sea breezes.

Cornstilts:

A bustling farming village in western Mossreach.

Dross:

A quaint mining town with eccentric residents. With the high number of disappearances and unexplained occurances in Dross most savvy travelers keep a healthy distance.

Mudkrop:

An unremarkable brickmaking village.

Oakspurn:

A backwater logging town.

Port Abandon:

A black market port and pirate haven. Anything bought and sold in Threnos without the requisite taxes and outside the various embargos and regulations passes through Port Abandon at one time or other.

Port Haven:

An island port town and a less expensive berth than the heavily trafficked Parsim Harbor.

Road’s End:

The literal end of the road in the north.

Tendril:

A western port town named for the arms of a fossilized kraken exposed on its shoreline.

Landmarks:

Big Ol’ Lake:

The largest freshwater lake in Threnos, fed by runoff from the Yellowsnow Mountains and only mildly tainted by pollutants from Emberlin.

Crooked Straights:

Hazardous passages amid the Barrier Isles. Sometimes a shortcut gets you to your destination faster, other times it scuttles you on a shallow reef. Most trips through the Straights result in the latter.

Gristlemire Swamp:

The fetid and slobbering mouth of the Portelchop River, filled with hungering sinkholes and disease-laden insects.

Harl’s Peak:

A mountain named after some dead guy.

Krel’s Ferry:

The only safe passage between the Isles and the mainland. Safe being a relative term.

Partway Inn:

The only hospitality in the Wastes west of Sablin. It's not especially comfortable as far as inns go, but after a week's march in the dunes it might as well be a royal palace.

Runt’s Bridge:

Toll is ten drams.

Seaship Graveyard:

A gnarled heap of wrecked vessels amassed by pirates who scuttled them as a barrier against naval encroachment. Now the wrecks have been repurposed as docks, lodging, and storage.

Stale Rock:

A gibbet for pirates established a long time ago and rarely used as the distinction between merchant and pirate in Threnos is vague at best.

Wall of Emphatic Rejection:

The Republic’s answer to Threnesian refugees. Anyone approaching from the south side is typically used for target practice, and most guards on the Wall become expert marksmen within their first month of deployment.

Neighbors:

Democratic Republic of Something or Other:

The name of this nation has changed enough times that few bother to remember exactly what it is. The northern neighbors of Threnos may have basic rights for their citizens, standards for clean air and water, advanced medicine and education, fair and just law, and a stable and rational economy, but they haven’t got….uh…

Enlightened Principalities of Aloof Foreigners:

The Principalities to the east are as diverse and predictable as the inbred men who rule them, which is to say they aren’t. Frequent encroachment on Threnesian territory in search of minerals and other resources have sparked innumerable border conflicts, but in the end the easterners lack the requisite moxie to survive long in Threnos with or without the legions opposing their advancement.