Land of Black Ice

The Land of Black Ice is named for its most striking feature: the great glacial fields of dark, almost obsidian-colored ice that dominate the region. Unlike normal glaciers, these sheets reflect little light, casting a bleak, shimmering hue across the horizon. Some believe the ice owes its hue to ancient volcanic ash or mineral content, while others insist it is magical—or cursed—in origin.

The landscape is desolate and treacherous. Jagged ice ridges, deep crevasses, and windswept plains stretch as far as the eye can see. In certain areas, the terrain is interrupted by crumbling mountain ranges, frozen lakes, or ancient ruins entombed in permafrost. The cold here is brutal and unrelenting, with storms capable of scouring flesh from bone and snowfalls that can last for weeks.

By and large, the Land of Black Ice is uninhabited by known civilized peoples. However, nomadic groups from the nearby Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruskii barbarian tribes occasionally skirt its edges during hunting or exploration expeditions. These hardy folk regard the region with a mixture of awe and dread, often referring to it in hushed tones as a cursed land, or the "Frozen Hell."

There are whispered tales of nonhuman beings—possibly Aboleths, elementals, ancient liches, or forgotten servitors of an elder god—that make their lairs deep beneath the ice, feeding on arcane energies or the unwary. Whether these stories are exaggerated campfire tales or glimpses of truth remains uncertain.

Some fringe explorers have reported glowing symbols, unnatural heat sources, or even auroras that dance across the ice in patterns too deliberate to be natural.

Despite the peril, there are those who see the Land of Black Ice not as a curse, but as a frontier of great potential. Rare minerals, fossilized magical creatures, and unique magical components have allegedly been extracted from the ice. Artifacts of unknown origin occasionally emerge in the possession of mad wanderers or are traded covertly in far-off markets, always accompanied by tales of lost expeditions and ancient secrets.

Because of this, various powers—from merchant consortiums to secretive arcane orders—have quietly funded expeditions into the region. Few of these ventures are ever made public, and fewer still are heard from again.

Legends swirl around the Land of Black Ice like the icy winds that howl across its barren wastes. Northern barbarians speak of terrible creatures that dwell beneath the ice—beings older than the world, imprisoned during the dawn of time. Others tell of a civilization that once thrived here, long before the rise of the modern world, now buried beneath layers of enchanted frost.

Perhaps the most enduring myth is that of a long-lost city of incredible power—its towers still standing beneath the ice, kept in stasis by ancient magic or a forgotten pact. Rumors persist of explorers who glimpsed great spires through the translucent black ice, only to vanish shortly thereafter.

Some scholars whisper of the Black Ice being unnatural, possibly a remnant of an extraplanar intrusion or a side-effect of a catastrophic magical war in the distant past.

Beyond even the mapped regions of the Black Ice lie uncharted territories, blanketed in snowstorms and silence. Some believe the land simply ends, giving way to an arctic void or a great frozen ocean. Others speak of a world inverted—of black pyramids, floating citadels, or a breach to another reality where time itself is fractured.

The truth remains locked beneath the ice.