The city
The one place in Aysol where all four peoples live together in peace. It stands in the heartland, on an old castle at the crossroads where every road meets, and is reached only after the keeper — never first.
The peace is a trade compact, not a shared belief: all four peoples keep it because all four need the crossroads market. Humans hold the watch, being the most numerous and the biggest beneficiaries of the trade. The peace is paid for, not believed in — every people has a stake, but it does not make the city a human city.
- It runs on the roads, and the roads are breaking. The hero's caravan was a trade caravan, so the ambush that opens the game was an attack on the city's own lifeline.
- It frays as the story goes on, as the seal fails and roads close: prices rise, the watch hardens, peoples keep to their own quarters.
The hero is an outsider here even though he is human — see The Hero.
The ten villages
Still in development — details may change
Exactly where every village sits, and how each regards its nearest spire, is still being decided.
| Region | Village | People | Stance toward its spire |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-west | Mountain-foot village | Dwarves | Still being written |
| North-west | West-coast village | Humans | Still being written |
| South-west | Harbour village | Humans | Dependence turned to ruin — the dye trade died with the Wind spire's overflow |
| South-west | Southern port | Orcs | Exploitation — gale-divers risk the storm to scoop pigment, now worth a fortune |
| East | Mountain hold | Dwarves | Worship — they see the tree turning to stone as the Earth Guardian making something eternal, and will not thank the hero for ending it |
| East | Southern shore village | Humans | Grief and fear — it took in the stone-taken village's survivors, and is where the caravan found the orphaned hero |
| East | Red-coast village | Orcs | Indifference, for a price — ferrymen carrying pilgrims, claimants and restorers alike under truce |
| South-east | Desert-edge village | Elves | Still being written |
| South-east | Red tower village | Humans | Still being written — this is where Fire awakens early on, after bandits set it alight |
| South-east | Southern dock | Elves | Still being written |
The stone-taken village
A ruin inside the Earth spire's overflow, close to the great tree: the elven settlement where the hero was born, swallowed by stone fifteen years before the story begins. Its people fled or were turned to statues where they stood; some survivors later settled in the elven villages of the south-east. Walking it — the petrified street, the hero's own house — is the east region's emotional centre. See The Hero.
Other sites
- Keeper sites: scattered across the heartland and the regions. The keepers are neutral-to-helpful scholars, the natural source of quests and of what the player needs to learn.
- Claimant camps: one branch per spire. See the claimants.
- The restorer stronghold: on the central-western plains.
- Wreck lairs: scattered across the mountains and the wilds, one per region — the antagonist's failed two-element creations. See Enemies and Guardians.
- Bonfires: at every settlement, keeper site and spire approach, and along the routes. They are the fast-travel network, and resting at one restores health, passes time and saves the game.