Welcome to Ekidu!
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A continent to the north of the Western Kingdoms and Hadal, Ekidu has had little known dealings with others.
Drelm, the only known human settlement on Ekidu, Drelm began it's existence over 20 years ago as a logging venture attempting to harvest the surrounding forest of living steel after being "discovered" by ships belonging to the Goldeneye Trading Company that had run off course. After a diplomatic demand to leave was ignored the rebuke from both spirit and quick alike was swift and brutal, prompting shareholders in the company to petition multiple governments to retaliate. An assault might have been carried out, if not for a Magister of Uthar interceding. Both incidents hung like a pall of death around the company, who have attempted to salvage something from past experiences in attempting to use Drelm as gateway to send emissaries inland, since the survivors and other residents of Drelm have no such interest in doing so.
Almaz, the trading metropolis for the various races and nations of Ekidu, Almaz is often lyrically called The Hidden City, due to it’s location within a heavily wooded valley. Although originally predominantly Troll land now almost every race from fey and quick from Ekidu and beyond can be found here, from Outside traders to Ysoki jewelcrafters to Sylvan seamstresses, mingling and entertaining and bartering, all under the watchful eye of Big Boss Lughan, a Jotund Troll, and his Council of Hungry Smiles.
Naias a joint Elven and Naiad port city in the east, Drelm may as well be a corpse when compared to the radiance of Naias, which isn’t that far off from the truth. Formerly preoccupied with providing transit to outlying isles of both fey and quick, as well as around Ekidu for those did not wish to travel by foot, they have slowly been developing their navy due to the increasing interest in Ekidu from the Western Kingdoms. Stories are even starting to form from the mouths of human sailors of slender eleven ships swiftly appearing from the mists and moonlight to attack and raid, only to just as quickly disappear.
Syr, to the east and above Naias, usually, is a land of frozen forests where the Court of Winter holds eternal sway in binding pact with the Elven House of Rufoul, having long ago driven the other Courts and Houses from the lands. Eccentric in their rules and dictums even by the standards of the fey, the House of Rufoul are most gracious hosts to visitors, till the sun no longer shines upon the eternal snow and they become quite peckish towards those who walk unaided upon sunless snow. When traveling in Ekidu one should always be wary of things that are not as they seem, for more claims are occurring of bits of winter creeping in through the woods, along with them the crimson banners of House Rufoul hanging from the trees until the sun triumphantly returns.
(For perspective, the majority of Ekidu is humid and warm rainforest, and then with Syr you 5ft step into a Taiga).
Niamh, (formerly Mystralla) an Elven city hidden from sight but not knowledge, rests high above the maddening mists and gases from lake Nymenche and other threats in the safety of the trees interwoven together. While not actively hostile to potential outsiders and visitors, the elves do not go out of their way to help travelers navigate the lake far beneath them, and none dare enter the waters themselves. Those who travel by air are given a much warmer reception, provided they announce and land in the correct zones.
A hotbed for rumors and tales, many are drawn to the lake, and hopefully the city out of curiosity and wanderlust. Most rarely make it past the dock towns at the base of the trees. Others push on, never to be seen again, save for dreams. Or nightmares.
Kharja, among the cool and sleepy mountain ranges the stoic Orcs work tirelessly in their fields, their forges, and their monasteries. Though they don't travel outside as much as the other races, one is more likely to encounter Kharjan cheese or mead outside of the mountains than a Kharjan Orc, they are welcoming to outsiders and travelers as their spartan ways allows, provided one does not wander into areas one shouldn't, for their own safety. Lest the snow or something worse claim them.
Listening more to the spirits of the world rather than the land and bodies they inhabit the Orcs regularly train and keep stories of their family lines guarding and combating leftover planar scars hidden in the depths of the mountains. Training against such unnatural threats, whether extraplanar or from the darkness beyond the stars, does lead to certain Hellbreakers, names bestowed but not taken, to venture out during times of relative peace in the mountains to visit other lands that might need their aid, spurred on by visions from their dreams and near death.