Northwest Cladelands

Cradled in warm waters and resplendent coral, the islands of northwest Ladonia are long, thin strips of ancient basalt, piled with rich soil and lush vegetation and ringed about with splendid reefs. These isles are all rich in one way or another, and sometimes called the Blessed Quarter. The northernmost islands in Ladonia are the Cobalt Cays. A line of high, sharp peaks rising out of the dark blue waters, the Cays are ringed with reefs, their Lowlands thick with low, hardy scrub, including many valuable spices. Higher, the peaks cut high into the sky, wreathed in perpet­ual storm clouds. The bruken of the blue Dragonborn are cut into the bare stone of the peaks, and fronted by porticos of a simple, yet elegant design. At the furthest north extreme, Iraea, the high bruke, sprawls down the mountainside to a sheltered bay, where officers of the Ladonian Warfleet are trained in Azuran College.   The wealth of the Cays is in coral ornamentation, fish, spices, and bruklights. These last are impossibly strong and clear fulgurites, harvested from the beaches below the peaks. Although entirely hollow, a bruklight sheds a clear radiance when brought close to a concentration of Dzenmisa, like those held in the gallery of each bruke. This makes them a fine and elegant source of light to use within the bruken of any clade.   Red coral and algal blooms on black basalt give the horseshoe of the Bloody Atoll its name. The outer arc of the Atoll is rugged and luminous with sulphurous, volcanic vents that wreathe the ocean to the west in smothering fog. The belly of the isle's curve, surrounding the lagoon, is thick with tough scrub grass, which supports flocks of goats, while the lagoon itself teems with fish and edible seaweed. The rocks and sand are rich in sulphur and saltpeter, which the red clade sells to artificers for princely prices.   The bruken of the Bloody Atoll are dug deep into the basalt and covered by modest buildings of driftwood and stone. The high bruke, Agnis, has a more splendid surface structure. Its high black walls and towers are studded with slivers of red and gold coral, which seem to blaze in the sunlight, giving it the name the Burning Keep. Below sheer, black cliff on the back of the atoll lies Agnishar, a large harbour. The fierce heat of the volcanic vents is used to heat water and to generate flux, which is traded for use by the magewrights and wizards of all clades.   Copperback Reef is a single, curved island with the vague shape of a serpentine dragon. Copper-coloured coral grows thickly along the northern shore, while the gentle hills of the island slope down into pale dunes and beaches. The bruken of the reef are tall, delicate halls of wood and coral and ancient dragon bone pulled from the heart of the island. The keep of the hugh bruke, Astis, is shaped from what is said to be the skull of Ymorah, the copper-scaled Elder Wyrm.   The seas around the reef are warm and steam with tricky, deceptive mist. The bones beneath the hills, and in the walls of the bruken, radiate illusory Magic, twisting perceptions, both to con­ceal and to reveal. Within the mist, those with ill-intent see enemies where there are friends, and may not see true dangers at all.