Major Cities
The six cities that hold seats in the Grand Parliament.
Grollen
The mining capital of western Emmerick — built above and below the earth. Home to the Grimlit Mountain dwarf mining pact, thousands of tunnels, the legendary nine-stage concert venue Gehenna, and The Crystal Spyre, headquarters of The Bannerless. Grollen operates across a grid of named wards on the surface and a mirrored set of Under Wards below.
Parliament: Caroline Neverend & Rhys Altan · Party HQ · 11 documented wards
Record
Hauptort
The industrial processor of Emmerick. Raw resources arrive and leave as textiles, construction materials, household goods, and medical equipment. Among the most polluted cities in the nation — runoff over decades decimated the neighboring lake so thoroughly it is now called Lake Pestis.
Parliament seats: undisclosed
Rauchstadt
Emmerick's leading center of arcane knowledge, medicine, and applied scholarship. Also a major port city and trade hub. Halruua holds significant influence here and along the east coast, giving Rauchstadt a distinctly international character.
Parliament seats: undisclosed
Himmelhaven
The city of splendor and abundance — gambling halls, fine food, polished inns, and every comfort imaginable draw fortune-seekers and parasites in roughly equal measure. Home to Richard Creste, a half-elf celebrity with a filthy reputation.
Parliament seats: undisclosed
Neu-Bergbau
A massive trade port built on a swamp, facing the Gulf of Vagadda through a harbor full of commerce and history. The wrecks of ships sunk in the gulf — some pre-civil war — cluster around the small island of Demon's Run. The Pearl, the harbor lighthouse, is maintained by a 168-year-old gnomish woman named Marina.
Parliament seats: undisclosed
Stahlwolke
The business and military capital of Emmerick — seat of Parliament and crown. Industrial power, military command, and statecraft move in lockstep here. Wealthy but not flashy; disciplined and corporate. Guards everywhere, many in plainclothes.
Parliament: Korra Engather & Tamara Golbite
Towns of Emmerick
Alleine
A mining town known for using constructs to hold up its tunnels. Hammerhand was born here. When Rockgut was killing miners en masse, Hammerhand built constructs to assist underground and the death toll dropped sharply.
Audenburg
A southern town on the western side of Emmerick.
Ballaste
A central-eastern town tied into the interior road network.
Basteln
An eastern town near the lower coast and river routes.
Brimbelton
Vexra Stone Dumont's birthplace. Home to the Gillywing Children's Home, an orphanage and boarding school run by Nora Alberta Gillywing, a shrewd and mean old human crone.
Dornbusch
A central settlement near Whitethorn Wood.
Eisenruhn
Home of The Fourth Fleet, the largest monster hunter guild not affiliated with the Witchers. Many members resent the Witcher comparison.
Felsenn
A western inland town set on the roads beneath the Pale Forest.
Fluxtop
An eastern town near the coastward roads and forests.
Freide
A central settlement south of the All-Father Forest region.
Hammerheim
Home to the largest maximum-security prison in Emmerick — upwards of 5,000 inmates annually.
Hersteller
A northeastern town near the Bay of Vrocks.
Hohlraum
A southern inland town near Lake Rebefaul.
Limestein
Centers on a massive limestone quarry — a terraced chalk-white wound too steep to walk, with zip-line carts carrying workers to the bottom. State-owned by the ONRS, managed by Calcitan Mining. Deep in the quarry, miners have uncovered sigils and iconography of an unidentified pentagram.
Lindenbruch
A southern town near the coast and the Twinned Forest.
Rotenthal
An inland town north of San Amsel.
San Amsel
A pseudo-religious center housing The Axel — over twenty temples and fifty shrines dedicated to gods across multiple pantheons. Festivals coordinated by Insense. Major temples include those of Melora, Annam, The Raven Queen, The Traveler, Erathis, Selûne, Mystra, Ioun, Asgorath, and Tymora.
Schlacken
A northern road town near Lake Pestis.
Spulein
A fishing town famed for dishes made from royal angeltrout and oversized freshwater crustaceans — notably mitten crabs.
Weichenzeit
A town on the eastern road network between Rauchstadt and the interior.
Wernikken
A central crossroads town east of Stahlwolke.
On Rockgut
Rockgut, also known as hemocrystallic concretion, is an occupational abdominal disease associated with mines and underground labor. Particulates inhaled underground form buildups of rock and ore in the veins and capillaries around the stomach and intestines.
Distinct from blacklung, though the two often develop together. In severe cases, surgery is the best option. Without intervention, Rockgut can kill through internal bleeding, hemochromatosis, organ failure, or starvation.
Villages
- Aedlweiss
- Altehexe
- Berghang
- Bronstock
- Cabani
- Dooreid
- Ennover
- Farbenreich
- Gelsen
- Gemacht
- Hutenfeld
- Kaltessen (see below)
- Kurzem
- Machmall
- Mordu's Rest
- Stormsong
- Weinaber
- Zauber
Kaltessen
An isolated logging village in the northwestern region of Emmerick, hugging the neighboring Icewood. Trade is inconsistent due to the remote location and the cold, so the villagers have found their own ways to survive. Large game is scarce in the Icewood, so the people of Kaltessen subsist mostly on squirrels, stoats, and the occasional fox.
When small game is scarce too, Kaltessen has a saving grace: a nutrient-rich tuber that grows symbiotically with the birch trees of the Icewood, called the Weisknolle (“white bulb”). The bulb grows on or near birch roots, using them as a foothold. In turn, when a Weisknolle grows past its prime and reconstitutes into the soil, it strengthens and feeds the trees — a relationship that has kept the Icewood and Kaltessen both alive.
The Weisknolle is somewhere between a potato and a radish in character: crunchy, starchy, peppery, carb-heavy, water-rich, and slightly poisonous if eaten raw. Cooking renders it mild and soft.
Mooswinkel
The hometown of Thalen Blackfoot. A backwater village tucked into an alcove just outside the Witchfire Marsh, surrounding Lake Mutter. Feels very far from the attention of courts, guilds, and ministers.
Tragen
Population around 1,600. Sits on the edge of the All-Father Forest, known for half-timbered buildings and a deep, instinctive respect for the woods. The people gather only fallen wood — and have largely forgotten why. Just beyond the forest edge lies The Shrine of Roots, a hallowed outcropping used for reverence and remembrance.
Natural Landmarks & Sites
All-Father Forest
An exceptionally ancient forest — the All-Father's last sacred place in Emmerick. A storm giant sleeps somewhere in its depths. Centuries ago Tragen's loggers cut too deep; the giant awoke and threatened scorched earth. The town changed its ways, but the true story eroded over generations. The people now honor the forest without knowing exactly why.
Witchfire Marsh
A vast swampy forest on the southern edge of Emmerick, saturated with strange fey magic. Somewhere within lies a portal to the Feywild. Pale blue and green wisps drift above the waterline at night — locals believe they are echoes of those who found the door and didn't return.
Brumous Sea
The domain of Merodyx, the Brine Dragon — a mature adult dragon with seafoam-green scales. Sailors cross it by necessity and call on the dragon's name carefully. See: Folklore — Beasts & Spirits.
The Face of Korra
An old gazebo and stone altar built around a focusing apparatus — a Fresnel lens mounted to channel sunlight onto a pedestal beneath the roof. Used by the Rebefaul regime during the civil war to melt the heads of captured rebels. The structure still stands, weathered but functional. People who know what it was do not approach it casually.
Gunsmoke Cave
The dwelling of Rymbys, Lord of the Ice — a white dragon. The cave is bespeckled with large chunks of emerald grown in the cold. It is the endpoint of the Test of the Mountain for young Witchers of the School of the Bear at Haern Caduch — an essential but lethal trial. Many candidates freeze to death on the way long before they see the entrance.
The Jade Forest
Contains Helton, the main citadel for the high elves across Emmerick. Also home to Caelistra Moondawn’s commune — the same community that exiled her after her Dark Star prophecy caused widespread panic.
The Mouth of the Viper’s Head River
Where the Viper’s Head River forks, a single lone tree stands. Supposedly the real-world location of the folkloric tale of The Hanged King, where the unnamed regent was hanged by his people centuries before Emmerick existed. Further along the same split lies King’s Crater, where the vanished town is said to have stood.
Lake Rebefaul
Receives anadromous fish swimming upstream from the sea to spawn — most famously the royal angeltrout, marked by vivid royal-purple fins and flesh. Spulein is renowned for cooking it.
Other Named Landmarks
- Adder Forest
- Alcomb Wood
- Bay of Vrocks
- Bright Grove
- Camphor River
- Cerulean Forest
- The Creaking
- The Dawnwood
- Dim Lake
- Dragon's Crown
- The Face of Korra
- The Flatwood
- Glimmerlight Bay
- Grimlit Mountains
- Gunsmoke Cave
- Gulf of Vagadda
- Icewood
- The Konigwood
- Lake Mutter
- Lake Pestis
- Nadoq River
- Pale Forest
- Pin River
- Point Forest
- Ruby Plains
- Viper's Head River
- Skyfang Peak
- Teapot Grove
- Thunder Cave
- Tovarich Lake
- Twinned Forest
- Verdant Sea
- Vermillion Tower
- Viper's Head River (see above)
- Whitethorn Wood
Forts & Keeps
- Bruder Keep
- Crow's Nest Keep
- Demon's Run (see below)
- Formen Keep
- Fort Crimson
- Fort Fokus
- Fort Gnash
- Fort Graustein
- Fort Sonder
- Fort Tango
- Grollen Keep
- Haern Caduch
- Schwester Keep
- Staubsauger Castle
- Torchlight Keep
Haern Caduch
The headquarters of the School of the Bear Witchers, the only sect with a home base in Emmerick. The fort sits in the foothills of the Danya Mountains. The Witchers here maintain the only known unequivocal truce with the dwarven communities of the Danya Mountains. A handful of dwarves have survived the Test of the Mountain and joined the order. See: Factions & Companies.
Demon’s Run
A small landmass and fortified site near Neu-Bergbau, sitting where the Gulf of Vagadda meets open water. The wrecks of ships lost crossing the Gulf cluster around it — some dating back before the civil war. The name comes from an older saying:
“Demons run when good men go to war.”
Ruins
- Bogenstadt
- Brassbelt 7
- King's Crater (see below)
- Oleka (see below)
- Slaterood
King’s Crater
A crater where a mysterious city is said to have once stood. The history is murky, steeped in folklore. If the story is to be believed, the city vanished after The Hanged King rose from his grave — consistent with the folkloric account of the town leaving behind a “crater of golden light.” See: Folklore.
The crater sits at the mouth of the split in the Viper’s Head River. In Session 11, a Legend Lore casting revealed it as the world’s only known source of Auruma — the material at the center of Project Brightburn.
Notably, this places the crater on the same river as the lone tree at the fork where The Hanged King was hanged — the two halves of that legend share a waterway.
Oleka
The ruins of what used to be the capital of Senchi, back when Senchi’s borders extended past the Grimlit Mountains and well into what is now Emmerick. After Senchi’s territory contracted, the city was abandoned. The bones of it still stand.
Mangrove Keep
A partially collapsed stone fortification sitting on a raised shelf of mud and rock at the southern edge of the Witchfire Marsh, just above the Gulf of Vagadda waterline. The structure predates Emmerick — it was built during the Vagadda period as a southern coastal watchtower, part of a chain of fortifications used to monitor the Gulf and control maritime traffic along that stretch of coast. It was the southernmost and most isolated point in that chain, and accordingly the least prestigious posting.
When the Vytimic Wars depleted Vagadda's resources and the coastal fortification chain was defunded, Mangrove Keep was the first to be abandoned. The garrison was withdrawn, the small fishing community that had grown up around its supply lines dispersed over the following generation, and the Keep was left to the marsh. By the time Emmerick was formally established, it existed only as a note on old Vagaddan maps and as a silhouette that Gulf fishermen used to navigate.
Centuries of the Witchfire Marsh creeping southward have half-swallowed it. The lower courses of stone are now embedded in root systems and standing water. The upper walls still hold, but they lean. The eastern tower has collapsed entirely. At high tide, parts of the courtyard flood. It is not on any road. The nearest settlement is Mooswinkel, roughly a day's walk north — and the people of Mooswinkel don't go south without good reason.
The Keep does see occasional use as a temporary shelter by people who don't want to be found. The structure is genuinely unstable, and the marsh around it at night is genuinely hazardous — but that hasn't stopped a few generations of folk belief from layering on top of the mundane reality.