Aestis

Aestis is the central continent of Hermia, it is roughly star shaped and contains two seas, the Lesser Arc Sea and the Greater Arc Sea.

☀A series of Coastal kingdoms dominate the edges of Aestis and city states rule the inner rim, separating both a former volcanic mountain ranges and to the south, vast impenetrable forests

Arc is a city that sits on the northern shore of the Sea of the Arc, a large inland sea fed by four rivers, the Wane, the Warder, the Hoth and the Haren. It is the dominant city state along the coast and the rulers of Arc sit on a council of the nine Coastal cities, regulating trade and diplomacy across the sea. The families of the nine cities are all connected by marriage and the reach of the cities extends deep into the hinterland.

The nine city states are:

Dancare

Gol

Skaris

Taeor

Dran

Harenis

Hothis

Wardenhal

Arc

The hinterlands around the sea are called the Arclands or the North Arc Shore and the Southern Arc Shores respectively. Collectively most of the Arclanders are ethnically of the Van, a tall, dark and pale looking people, who claim to date back to the first civilisation in Aestis, the Van-Hal or Van Empire that collapsed three millennia earlier. Much of the Arclands beyond the reach of the cities are quite lawless, reflecting the fact that the power of the city states has diminished over the centuries. Beyond the mountains are three Kingdoms:

Nordreach: Nordreach was established by Nordean men several centuries earlier, it is a powerful expansionist warlike state.

Veska: Veska was also established by Nordeans, though it views itself as a separate state and foughtva war of independence to free itself from Nordreach. The lords of Nordreach have traditionally claimed lordship over Veska.

Oloris: Oloris is a loose development settled by Arclanders and Sindhans, a Southern people who have fought many wars with the Nordeans.

East of Dancare
East of Dancare is a term used by the great powers of the Greater Arc Sea to describe the lands deemed less relevant and important beyond the straits of Dancare. These include the Mill Lands, Welland, The states of the Molvar Peninsula and Mordikhaan.

One of the most powerful and feared regions in Aestis is Mordikhaan

☀Mordikhaan : northwestern Aestis. Terrain: Rocky, barren, once volcanic but no longer, various unsavoury gasses hang around, some sharp and generally unfriendly flora. The Mordikhul is the group of extremist, cult like residents - they follow the One God (who is in fact a particularly dark and bloody fragment of God) and they call him Khul "the Only". They follow visions that are induced by the poisonous gasses. They live in huge shards of rock that they have burrowed beneath and these rudimentary 'citadels' are connected by streams of solidified lava that they use as roads.