The Northern Highlands

The Northern Highlands stretch from the upper slopes of the Greyspires to the cliffs of Vel'Nathar's northern coast. Moorland covers much of the west and center, broken by pine valleys, lochs, wooded hills, and high plateaus. Roads follow the glens and passes, linking settlements that may still lie several days apart.

The Greyspires rise along much of the southern edge of the region. To the southwest, the mountains fall away toward Blackridge and the upper reaches of the Bleakthorn Wilds. In the east, wooded valleys broaden as they descend into Eastmarch. Farther north, the ridges spread into open uplands before reaching the sea.

Rain is common throughout the year. Fog gathers in valleys and along the lochs, snow remains on the higher slopes well into spring, and strong winds cross exposed ground. Stone is widely used in Highland settlements, where steep roofs, heavy shutters, and closely built streets provide shelter from the weather.

Humans live throughout the Highlands alongside dwarves, goliaths, orcs, firbolgs, and half-orcs. Customs differ considerably between valleys. Clan ties remain important in many communities, as do oral histories, local councils, and obligations between families and neighbors.

The Cairnvoices help preserve those histories across the region. These travelling skalds and historians carry genealogies, songs, and accounts of local events between communities, recording new stories as they go. Their testimony can carry considerable weight in places where family history and remembered agreements remain an important part of local affairs.

The Highland Landscape

Heather and coarse grass cover much of the western and central moors. Pine grows along sheltered slopes, while mixed woodland becomes more extensive toward the east. Lochs fill basins between the hills, ranging from shallow fishing waters to lakes whose deepest reaches have never been reliably measured.

Travel can be difficult even along established roads. Heavy rain floods narrow glens, scree shifts beneath horses and carts, and spring thaws sometimes bring rock or snow down from the slopes. In the Greyspires, sudden blizzards known as white squalls can hide a mountain road within minutes, and travelers unfamiliar with the passes rarely attempt the higher routes alone.

Sheltered valleys support orchards, herb gardens, grazing land, and small farms. Deer and wolves are common in the woods, while mountain goats range across steeper ground. Hunters have also learned to watch animal behavior around the Greyspires, where sudden movement away from a slope or valley can precede severe weather or unusual magical activity.

Older druidic traditions survive throughout the Highlands. Fragmentary records from the Age of Divinity mention the Elaren Enclave, a circle that disappeared during the Creeping Rot. References to it remain in druidic records and in stories preserved by several Highland communities.

Dun Karak

Dun Karak stands where the northern Greyspires begin to open into the Highlands and is the largest dwarven stronghold in Vel'Nathar. Travelers using the central mountain routes pass through its approaches before descending into the broader valleys beyond.

The road reaches the hold through a series of fortified bridges, retaining walls, watch posts, and storehouses. Smoke from the furnaces escapes through vents higher on the mountainside and can be seen long before the gates themselves come into view.

Beyond those gates lies a city built through the mountain. Broad streets connect markets, clan halls, workshops, shrines, storehouses, and residential quarters, while stone bridges cross working shafts and older excavations. Generations of expansion have placed newer districts beside halls that have remained in use for centuries.

Metalworking dominates much of the hold's industry. Dun Karak produces tools, armor, weapons, machinery, and structural fittings for settlements across Vel'Nathar. Some larger workshops also incorporate Galarium into enchanted tools, furnaces, and other systems requiring carefully regulated magical energy.

The furnaces keep parts of the city warm even when winter closes the surrounding roads. Smithies, kitchens, markets, and communal halls remain active while smaller settlements higher in the mountains may be isolated for days or weeks.

Dun Karak is also an important repository of dwarven history. Runekeepers preserve treaties, family lines, wars, disasters, inheritances, and oaths in carved records and stone tablets. These records still carry legal weight when disputes over property or clan obligations arise.

Khalduran

Khalduran lies below the higher roads leading to Dun Karak and serves as one of the principal stopping points on the southern approach. Stone houses, smithies, inns, stables, and supply yards line the road through the settlement.

The town began as a fortified shelter for travelers making the climb and gradually became permanent. Dwarves make up a large part of its population, alongside humans and half-orcs whose families have lived there for generations.

Goods bound for Dun Karak often pass through Khalduran's warehouses before continuing uphill. Metalwork and other mountain goods follow the same route south toward the Greyspires and the eastern roads into Eastmarch.

Weather reports are treated seriously. Local watchers track snowfall, rock movement, and conditions on the higher routes, and travelers are warned when a pass is considered unsafe.

Mistglen

Mistglen occupies a sheltered valley between the southern and central Highlands. The surrounding peaks blunt the strongest mountain winds, while frequent fog keeps the valley damp enough to support orchards, medicinal gardens, and plants that struggle elsewhere in the region.

The valley is best known for the Silverleaf Oaks. Their pale bark and metallic leaves catch even weak light beneath the mist, and attempts to establish the trees elsewhere have failed. Most grow to the size of ordinary mature oaks, though the oldest specimens are considerably larger. Fallen leaves, sap, and bark have long been used in healing and alchemical preparations, while living wood is taken only with the permission of the Leafkeepers.

Humans and firbolgs have tended the valley together for generations. At its heart stands the Verdant Spire, home of the Leafkeepers, whose responsibilities include the Silverleaf groves, waterways, gardens, and other parts of the valley under their care. Beyond the Spire, small farms and isolated homes follow streams and woodland paths, and many herbalists, hunters, and guides live some distance from the main road.

Faelar'dor, the Sleeper in Silver, rises at the heart of Mistglen and dwarfs the surrounding Silverleaf Oaks. Its trunk is broad enough to contain great hollows within the living wood, while its crown spreads high above the valley and can be seen from the surrounding slopes when the mist clears. The Leafkeepers consider Faelar'dor sacred and forbid the cutting or carving of its living wood.

Mistglen also lies over one of the major ley nexuses of Vel'Nathar, centered beneath Faelar'dor. The concentration of magic there has been observed for generations, though scholars and druids continue to disagree over whether the Great Tree grew where the nexus already existed or whether some deeper relationship connects the two.

Local tradition traces the Silverleaf Oaks to the Dawn War. According to the story, a silver dragon was grievously wounded while fighting the titans over the Highlands. Drops of its blood fell across Mistglen as it flew northeast, and the first Silverleaf Oaks grew where they struck the soil. Faelar'dor is said to have risen where the greatest amount fell.

The dragon continued northeast, and later stories connect its flight with Wyrmbarrow. Mistglen is also home to Elathar, a great spirit hart associated with the Silverleaf groves. He is seen only rarely, moving through the woodland and mist, and his appearance is traditionally connected with the health of the groves and the valley around them.

Stonecross

Stonecross occupies a broad central valley where several Highland roads meet. Its position has made it the principal inland market of the region and a natural stopping point for traffic moving between the moors, eastern valleys, Greyspires, and northern settlements.

Stone walls surround much of the town. Warehouses, workshops, inns, guildhalls, and market squares gather around the main crossroads, while caravan yards near the gates accommodate merchants arriving from different parts of the Highlands.

Humans and half-orcs form large parts of the population, though generations of trade have brought families from across Vel'Nathar to the town.

Commerce has shaped Stonecross' customs as much as its streets. Guilds record contracts, payments, and outstanding debts in considerable detail, and some families maintain their own records of agreements between households. Serious disputes are heard publicly in the civic hall, where written contracts and testimony are considered before judgment.

Restitution, fines, and periods of service are used for many offenses. Exile is reserved for people considered to have repeatedly broken the trust on which the town's trade depends. The reliability of these proceedings has given Stonecross influence well beyond the valley itself.

A major stronghold of the Grey Banner Company stands near Stonecross. The Company provides caravan guards, armed escorts, border patrols, and other contracted military services throughout the Highlands, and its presence is particularly visible around the roads converging on the town. Merchants preparing for difficult journeys commonly negotiate protection here before continuing into the mountains or across the more isolated northern routes.

The Grey Banner Company also takes contracts farther south in Eastmarch. The organization publicly maintains political neutrality while under contract, allowing it to work for communities, merchants, and authorities whose interests do not always align.

Loch Drunhar and Brackenmere

West of Stonecross lies Loch Drunhar, one of the largest lakes in the Highlands. Pine covers much of the surrounding slopes, and fog often settles across the water in the morning.

The central waters are exceptionally deep, and attempts to measure them have produced inconsistent results. Most fishermen remain closer to shore, where submerged rocks and reliable channels are known through generations of experience.

Brackenmere stands on the southern shore. Houses and docks extend over shallower water on stone piers and timber supports, and fishing provides much of the village's food and trade. Forestry and small farms farther inland supplement what comes from the loch.

Sudden weather accounts for many losses on the water, and local crews avoid certain coves during particular seasons. The loch is also known for stories of a great creature said to inhabit its deepest waters. Fishermen occasionally report a long back or dark head breaking the surface before disappearing again, while others have seen wakes moving across calm water with no boat nearby. Few agree on its size or appearance, though belief in something beneath Loch Drunhar is widespread around Brackenmere.

The Western Moors

West of Stonecross, the land opens into moor crossed by rocky ridges, streams, and shallow valleys. Heather and coarse grass provide pasture for sheep and hardy cattle, while peat is cut from wetter ground for fuel. Small woods survive where slopes and folds in the land provide shelter from the wind.

Settlements are fewer here, and many remain closely tied to clans or extended family groups. Roads often follow older tracks between grazing grounds, river crossings, and sheltered valleys.

Toward the southwest, the moors descend gradually toward Bleakthorn. Heather gives way to thicker scrub, hawthorn appears along walls and streams, and briar begins to gather across lower ground. The road through these hills eventually reaches Blackridge, where the more heavily overgrown Vale of Forgotten Voices begins.

Braehold

Braehold is one of the largest settlements on the western moors. Humans, goliaths, and half-orcs live within and around the town, with clan ties playing an important part in local politics.

Major disputes are brought before the Iron Moot, where recognized representatives speak for their households and communities. Some disagreements are settled through formal combat under established rules and with the Moot as witness.

The Black Cairn, an old Highland burial mound outside the settlement, serves as the traditional ground for these challenges.

Varokh'Tal

Farther west, Varokh'Tal occupies high ground above the cliffs and is the principal stronghold of the Varokh Orcs. Stone walls shelter the settlement from coastal winds, while watch posts overlook the moors and the sea.

Varokh communities have lived throughout this part of the Highlands for generations, and their trails and ancestral sites extend well beyond the stronghold. Shamans oversee rites connected with the dead, journeys, hunts, and other important occasions, while weather and the surrounding landscape hold a prominent place in local traditions.

Ritual combat remains part of Varokh custom. Bouts may settle disputes, test warriors, or mark important transitions, but they follow established rules and take place before members of the community.

Eldershade Grove

North of Stonecross, within the wooded valley of Glen Gwyrd, lies Eldershade Grove. A secluded firbolg community lives beneath the trees, with houses and meeting places spread through the valley.

Paths into Glen Gwyrd are understated, and visitors usually arrive with someone already known to the residents. Druids manage hunting, gathering, and timber use throughout the surrounding woodland, leaving some groves untouched while using others for herbs, food, and building material.

Eldershade receives relatively few outsiders, though healers, druids, and travelers with established ties to the community may stay for longer periods.

The Eastern Highlands

East of Stonecross, the Highlands become greener and more heavily wooded. Forest climbs across the hills and lower Greyspire slopes, broken by ridges and river valleys. Streams descend rapidly from the mountains, and waterfalls form where the ground drops between levels.

Roads follow the valleys before climbing toward higher settlements. Rain and mist remain common, though trees offer more shelter than on the western moors.

South and east, the valleys broaden toward Eastmarch. Pine gradually gives way to mixed woodland, then to pasture and cultivated fields along the lower routes. Roads through Eldarûn descend toward the northern Eastmarch valleys around Seldaine and Stonewatch.

Runeborn dwarves have long been associated with this side of the Highlands. Their settlements tend to occupy high valleys, ridges, and cliff faces, taking advantage of the exposed slopes and mountain waterways.

Wyrmbarrow

Wyrmbarrow is a small settlement beside a broad field of burial mounds in the Northern Highlands. Humans and firbolgs share responsibility for maintaining the site, while farming and grazing take place beyond the burial grounds.

The oldest traditions of Wyrmbarrow concern the silver dragon remembered in Mistglen. Mortally wounded during the Dawn War, it continued northeast across the Highlands before finally dying here. Its death made the site sacred to dragonkind, and the first barrow was raised around its resting place.

Over the centuries that followed, other dragons and drakes began coming to Wyrmbarrow near the end of their lives. Some travelled great distances before reaching the valley, and new mounds were raised where they died. The burial field gradually spread across the surrounding hills, turning Wyrmbarrow into one of Vel'Nathar's oldest draconic resting places.

The barrows are left undisturbed. Offerings are placed at several standing stones during seasonal observances, and digging into the mounds is strictly forbidden.

Dun Mordain

Dun Mordain occupies a high mountainside in the eastern Greyspires, overlooking the wooded valleys below. The stronghold follows much of the outer face of the mountain, with halls built into natural ledges and stairs climbing between terraces. Bridges cross breaks in the rock, while watch posts on the higher ridges look out over the eastern Highlands.

Runeborn dwarves have lived here for generations, with traditions closely tied to storms and the elemental forces of the Greyspires. Much of daily life takes place close to the open air, though older chambers extend farther into the mountain behind the terraces.

Runes worked into walls, bridges, gateways, and water channels reinforce the stone, control heat, redirect runoff, and protect exposed structures from severe weather. These practices are taught alongside smithing and masonry.

Homes, workshops, shrines, and gathering halls occupy the outer terraces. Dun Mordain also controls one of the principal routes between the eastern Highlands and Eastmarch. Travelers from the lower valleys usually approach through Eldarûn before making the final climb, and visitors have access to the markets and outer halls while the deeper sections remain more restricted.

Eldarûn

Below the higher road to Dun Mordain lies Eldarûn, a mixed settlement of Runeborn dwarves and humans spread across the slopes of a wooded valley.

Stone houses stand among workshops, small fields, grazing land, and streams descending from the mountains. Paths and low bridges connect different parts of the settlement where the uneven ground makes a single central street impractical.

Several standing stones around Eldarûn predate the present settlement and were first used by druids travelling through the eastern Highlands. Runeborn runepriests later added elemental inscriptions, incorporating the stones into a wider system of wards.

The runes help stabilize the surrounding ground during tremors and other disturbances in the Greyspires. Their maintenance is shared between the Runeborn and the Circle of Twilight, whose druids also oversee waterways, planting, and nearby groves and springs.

Trade and family ties keep Eldarûn closely connected to Dun Mordain. Food and supplies move uphill toward the stronghold, while metalwork and stone travel through the valley on their way south and east. On the lower road, woodland gradually opens into grazing land and farms as travelers approach Eastmarch.

Northern Strongholds

Farther north, woodland thins and the terrain rises into open plateaus and narrow passes. Farms are limited to protected valleys, while sheep and other livestock graze across much of the higher ground. Settlements are fewer, and the larger towns are generally fortified where roads cross the uplands.

Caer Dran

Caer Dran stands on a high plateau overlooking several northern passes and river valleys. Humans and goliaths make up much of its population, and the town serves as a gathering point for nearby clans as well as travelers heading toward the northern coast.

Each year, Caer Dran hosts the Trial of Blades, a series of controlled contests testing endurance, weapon skill, and judgment. Success can carry political weight, particularly among communities where proven ability influences clan leadership or military responsibility.

The Stormsages advise Caer Dran's leaders on weather and conditions across the uplands. Their work combines observation with divination, and their warnings are taken seriously before winter journeys or movement through exposed passes.

Stonegale

Stonegale lies within an area of geothermal activity in the north-central Highlands. Hot springs, geysers, steam vents, and patches of heated earth surround the settlement, with buildings occupying the more stable ground between them.

Stone channels carry hot water to baths, workshops, and communal heating systems. Humans and goliaths live here alongside druids and scholars interested in elemental magic and the geology beneath the Highlands.

Local practitioners watch changes in pressure, water temperature, and the activity of nearby vents. Their observations are used alongside older traditions to warn of conditions that might make parts of the settlement or surrounding roads unsafe.

The Northernmost Coast

The Highlands end at the Howling Cliffs, where the land drops sharply into the northern sea. Wind passes through cracks, arches, and caverns in the cliffs, producing a low sound that can be heard for miles during strong weather.

Different communities have attached their own traditions to the sound. Some stories connect it with old defenders of the coast, while prayers are still spoken at certain overlooks before voyages or difficult journeys through the northern passes.

The western cliffs continue south toward the coastal heights around Varokh'Tal. Farther east, river valleys descend from the uplands and provide the easier approaches to the sea.

Varrad's Watch

Varrad's Watch stands above the northern sea on one of the highest sections of the coast. The fortified town watches the approaches to northern Vel'Nathar and provides shelter for patrols, messengers, and vessels forced toward the cliffs by bad weather.

Humans and half-orcs make up much of its permanent population. Walls and towers built from local stone are reinforced against the wind, while signal fires and watch posts allow warnings to pass inland when ships, storms, or other dangers are sighted offshore.

Caves run through the cliffs beneath the settlement. Some connect directly to the shore, while others have been reinforced for storage and emergency access. Lower passages can only be reached safely when the tide permits.