Regions¶
These are the broader region plans around and beyond the first city-centric launch footprint. Launch begins in Trevalkaan, the main hub city inside Frontier Marches; the remaining regions expand later.
Frontier Marches¶
The launch region centered on Trevalkaan. Characters start and return here. Every core system — boards, crafting, markets, guilds, and social infrastructure — lives in Trevalkaan or the roads and sites immediately around it.
Trevalkaan at a Glance¶
Trevalkaan sits at the junction of several march roads and a river crossing, making it a natural trade and garrison point. It is big enough to have distinct districts but not so large that it feels like a capital city. The surrounding countryside is farm country with goblin pressure from the wilds to the east, wolf and bandit activity on the trade roads, and ruins from a prior settlement wave scattered through the fields.
| District | Function | Early Board Pressure |
|---|---|---|
| North Gate Ward | caravan road, patrol gate, field routes | roadside escort, wolf culls, route survey |
| River Market | ferries, warehouses, trade lanes | cargo escort, delivery, salvage |
| Shrine Quarter | healers, archives, civic aid | rescue, medicine delivery, ward support |
| Forge Row | workshops, repair yards, storehouses | gather, repair runs, civic project supply |
| Outer Fields | farms, mills, hedgerows, hunter tracks | hunt, harvest, simple survey |
Each district has a named NPC who drives that district's board, prices, and services. Their behavior shifts with the town's reserve bands — the Gate Sergeant floods the board with emergency patrol work when security fails; the General Merchant raises ration prices and cuts stock when food is strained; the Physician slows recovery and charges more when medicine runs low. See ../systems/world-state/town-simulation-and-supply.md for the full NPC roster, player town loop, and NPC-player economy cycle.
March Ring Sites¶
Outlying locations reachable from Trevalkaan as day-trip or short expedition runs. Each site has its own board orders during events and contributes to the village or city economy it is linked to.
Millford Crossing¶
Distance: 12–16 km southwest of Trevalkaan, past Polheen along the river. Rank range: D–B.
The second river ford south of Polheen, where the water runs deeper and slower than the village crossing. Millford was established as an overflow crossing during peak trade season when the Polheen ford backed up with wagon traffic, and it became a permanent waystation because the deeper ford suits flat-bottomed barges that cannot navigate the shallower upper crossing. The deeper water and relative isolation make it attractive to smugglers moving goods that would draw attention through Polheen's supervised crossing.
Orders here cover ferry disruption response (barges forced to wait, cargo spoiling), contraband intercept patrols, and bandit pursuit along the river road south. Polheen's Branch Warden Piraax coordinates with the Millford guard rotation; when the Western Ford Road is Disrupted, Millford Crossing often carries overflow traffic.
East Briar Thicket¶
Distance: 7–9 km east of Trevalkaan, at the forest edge before the deep forest begins. Rank range: E–C.
The Briar Thicket is the transitional zone between the open marches and the old-growth forest that Coedwair works. Goblins have maintained camps at the thicket edge for as long as anyone has been settling this area — they use the tree cover for concealment and raid outward onto the march roads and into Metsadu's adjacent gather territory. The thicket interior also hosts scattered herb zones: the partial shade and dense undergrowth produce several medicinal plants that do not grow in open field conditions.
Orders at the thicket include goblin cull (clearing camps that have grown large enough to threaten road access), herb gather (for Physician Kaisaarul or Distiller Helviarul in Metsadu), and scouting assignments (mapping goblin camp positions for the Branch Wardens). The thicket is the primary content zone for early-rank characters building their first few D-rank orders before committing to longer expeditions.
North Road Relay¶
Distance: 23–27 km north of Trevalkaan, on the road toward the Frost Tundra approaches. Rank range: D–B.
The Relay is a waystation built on the Northern Escarpment Road at the point where travel from Trevalkaan becomes a two-day commitment. It functions as a resupply and rest point for expeditions heading further north, and as a fixed patrol anchor for Branch Warden Killaitzi's Rumiarr-linked road security. Without the Relay, the road north of Rumiarr has no maintained position — bandits know this and the corridor between Rumiarr and the Relay is the most consistently contested road segment in the launch region.
Orders here include escort along the full northern corridor (Trevalkaan → Rumiarr → Relay), bandit watch patrols on the corridor itself, and supply convoy runs (fuel, provisions, and gear forwarded to the Relay so it can support through-traffic without draining Rumiarr's stock). When the Northern Escarpment Road is Blocked, the Relay is cut off and Emergency resupply orders go live on the Trevalkaan board.
The Quarry¶
Distance: 14–18 km north of Trevalkaan, at the outer face of Rumiarr's mining claim. Rank range: E–C.
Rumiarr's formal mining operation runs underground, but the outer face of the claim — the exposed stone and ore on the hillside above the main shaft — is worked separately as an open-face extraction site. The Quarry handles the bulk extraction work that does not require the specialized underground crew: surface ore, dimensional stone for construction, and spoil-clearing to keep the extraction face accessible. It also serves as the labor overflow point when Rumiarr's own crew cannot meet a delivery quota.
Orders at the Quarry include gather-quota stone and ore runs (the simplest path to rank-adjacent materials without requiring a full Rumiarr board reputation), ore cart escort to the Trevalkaan Blacksmith loading bay, and creature clearance (burrowing vermin and small cave predators that undercut the extraction face). The Quarry connects directly to Rumiarr — Quarrymaster Intiker runs both operations from the same permit system.
Main Goods¶
Grain, leather, timber, iron, basic medicines, common tools.
Main Threats¶
Bandits, goblins, wolves, corrupted militia remnants, grave-bound dead from barrow fields.
Main Activities¶
Escort, hunt, gather, patrol, civic project support, beginner surveying, basic salvage.
Frost Tundra¶
A cold survival region where temperature and shelter planning matter early.
- Main goods: furs, preserved meat, whale oil, bone craft materials.
- Main threats: frost wights, ice wolves, tundra trolls, white drakes.
- Main activities: rare hunting, cold-weather transport, relic barrows.
Sunscar Desert¶
A dry logistics-heavy region built around water control and caravan economy.
- Main goods: salt, glass, spices, rare ores, alchemical minerals.
- Main threats: tomb guardians, sand wyrms, raiders, heat spirits.
- Main activities: long-distance trade, surveys, tomb expeditions.
Storm Coast¶
A maritime region where storms and tide conditions change route reliability.
- Main goods: fish, rope, shells, salt, ship supplies.
- Main threats: storm elementals, smugglers, reef drakes, drowned dead.
- Main activities: coastal fishing, shipping lanes, sea-cave exploration, hazard-rich routes.
Ashwood Wilds¶
A dense forest region where rare herbs and fae threats create uneven risk.
- Main goods: herbs, dyes, hardwood, resin, rare beast parts.
- Main threats: twisted beasts, fae courts, shambling roots, witches.
- Main activities: gathering, ritual hunts, map discovery, lore-heavy content.