The Misty River

The Misty River is the great river upon which most of civilized society sits. It meanders from its headwaters far to the north, more than 1500 kilometers into the swamplands of the Misty Delta in the south and, ultimately, into the Great Shallow Sea. Overland travel being arduous, nearly all trade within the realms and kingdoms of the Misty River Valleys funnels into a central span of the river, to the lands of the Riverfolk and their Controllers.

The Central Empire controls a critical stretch of the Misty River and thus, all trade between the realms. Its people are known as the Riverfolk because of this control over the river. Their lands begin at a great citadel at the confluence three great rivers: the Upper Misty River, the Rock River which flows in from the northeast, and the Zarka River from the west, and ends at the South Gate citadel, hundreds of miles to the south.

The citadel of North Gate sits nestled along the river amidst the ruins of a great, ancient abandoned metropolis. Much of the area is now blighted and little grows for leagues in all directions. The North Gate thusly operates mostly as a military installation of sorts, serving to prevent trade from flowing free between the three tributaries.

The southern boundary of the Central Empire is the South Gate. Nominally, this settlement serves a similar purpose as the North Gate, controlling the flow of goods to and from the Tanas River and its own tributary, the Carmi River. It also serves to control access to the wild swamplands to the south.

The South Gate citadel itself occupies the neck of a narrow peninsula separating the rivers. The frontier trading village of Cairo sits at the tip of the peninsula, and swamp folk are generally not allowed to venture further north than this. A bustling and infamous, but small, international harbor market in Cairo has seen the start of many adventures and misadventures alike.

The capital of the Central Empire is the metropolis of the The Grand Towers, about midway between the gates. The city boundaries are marked by two large, cylindrical towers at the north and south ends.

The eastern riverbanks between these two towers is a single, long, narrow harbor market, where the vast majority of trade in the realms is conducted.

The northern end of town is relatively sedate, dominated by dry goods warehouses. Just uphill from the river and safe from the occasional floods, Jacob's Glenn is a vast residential neighborhood with a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. The southern end of town is known as Smog a smaller district, home to factories and many machines of coal and steam, perpetually shrouded in (as you might guess from its name) a dense black smog.

The Riverfolk Controllers operate out of a secretive harbor on the Western Bank, at the bulge in the river that separates the north from the south ends of town. A third grand tower rises at the very tip of the bend, with a giant rotating beacon at its peak. The Controllers themselves can periodically be seen surveying the town from this vantage point. Behind this tower sits a massive, blocky monolithic stone edifice hiding away most of the Controllers' assets and machinations. Each morning, the gates upon the river open and the Controllers' watercraft issue forth in great numbers, hinting at a great subterranean harbor for their use alone.

Legend tells of a great prison within its depths as well - those who cross the Controllers are oft called to an “audience” in the Citadel, never to be seen again.