2. REGIONS OF THE DRAGONLANDS

2.1 The DragonLands Proper

Also known as the "Original" DragonLands, this area constituted the entire "known world" of DL when the story began in DL year 2998. The DragonLands proper are more or less in the center of the currently known areas of the DragonLands, and they are the most heavily populated in terms of both people and settlements. The DragonLands Proper are located within a great ring of mountains, which enclose a roughly circular area so large that it spans a wide range of climatic zones from North to South. Several large rivers crisscross this region, but the only two appreciable bodies of water are the Telnor Sea, actually a large freshwater lake, and a smaller lake just north of Marrid Warren. Except for a series of mountainous spurs which project into the DragonLands from the surrounding ring the landscape is made up of relatively gentle terrain ranging from rolling hills to broad plains.

The capital of the Landbound Nation, Ralengarde, is located almost at the center of the inhabited lands, and is connected to the other landbound cities by an extensive network of roads. In addition to being the seat of government, it is also the headquarters for most of the guilds. Thus, Ralengarde tends to be the center of both culture and commerce for the Landbound Nation.

The Warren Nation is headed by Dragonlady Christalla at Keldarra, the most centrally located of the warrens. Keldarra's territory covers the centermost portion of the DragonLands, including Ralengarde. Six other warrens, comprising with Keldarra the original seven warrens created to defend the DragonLands, are situated at approximately regular intervals around Keldarra in the surrounding mountains. Each of these warrens has its own designated territory to defend; within each territory, the Warrenlady is responsible for maintaining diplomatic relations with the local Landbound lords. The Lords in each territory are responsible for supplying their assigned warren.

The warrens of the DragonLands proper, and their current leaders, are:

• Keldarra Warren* (Dragonlady Christalla/Empress Kaeryth; Warrenlord D'neor/Queen Shatavari)
• Wild Marrid, formerly Marrid Warren (Currently Abandoned due to magic shift)
• Norwall Warren* (Warrenlady Jeneve/Queen Malani)
• Telnor Warren (Warrenlady Laria/Queen Vithraena)
• Whiteriver Warren* (Warrenlady Merissa/Queen Chrysthal)
• Daere Warren* (Warrenlady Thea (The Duchess)/Queen Galendriel)
• Falagand Warren (Warrenlady B'nair/Queen Teraichen)
• Cleft Warren* (Warrenlady Cynthia/Queen Syren) -- though it is under the jurisdiction of Dragonlady Christalla, is located in the Nomadlands (see Section 2.2).
  (* denotes a PC warren that is open to roleplaying)

For more information on individual warrens and their domains, see their homepages and post archives. All of these are accessible from the DragonLands webpage, as are the maps of the various warrens and their territories.

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2.2 The Nomadlands

The Nomadlands are located immediately to the south of the DragonLands proper. A vast area several hundred miles across, the Nomadlands are mostly covered by grassy plains; however, areas of forest and desert are also to be found. The climate is very hot and dry for the most part, and the rivers that cross the Nomadlands are often reduced to the merest trickles during the summer. Its native inhabitants are the Horse Nomads, a people very different from those of the DragonLands. Their lifestyle and culture have been shaped by the harsh conditions they live under, since the Nomadlands are by and large incapable of supporting large populations. There are no cities in the Nomadlands, nor any truly permanent settlements of any sort; nor do most of the Nomadlands readily support farming. The Nomads thus follow a wandering existence, grazing their herds in one spot and then moving on.

The Nomads have no central government, the Nomads of any one tribe being answerable only to their own chiefs. Tribes may form alliances with one another, but these are temporary at best, and intertribal raids are part of their normal way of life. The Nomads worship a pantheon of deities, whom they believe grant special powers to certain of their people, and after whom their tribes are named. (These powers are actually psionic in nature, such as healing and firestarting, and are not limited to Nomads).

Until recently there was little contact between the Nomadlands and DragonLands. Because the Nomadlands lay outside the area of magic that characterizes the DragonLands, neither dragons nor wraiths could exist there. However, in the autumn of DL year 2998, it was discovered that the magic boundary had shifted southward, and now encompassed the Nomadlands. Realizing that the Horse Nomads were in grave danger from the previously unknown threats of the wraiths and wild dragons, Dragonlady Christalla called an emergency meeting of the Warrenladies at Keldarra to deal with the problem.

It was Cynthia, then the junior queenrider of Syren at Telnor Warren, who proposed the solution that was finally accepted: Establish a new warren in the Great Cleft, a vast rocky gorge cut by the Dragon River where it flows from the northern mountains down into the Nomadlands. Each warren, according to its size and ability to contribute, sent riders and dragons to support the new venture; Cynthia, and her queen Syren, became the Warrenlady and Senior Queen for Cleft Warren.

Cleft Warren faces a number of unique problems. Although not a large warren (two combat wings), it covers the largest territory of any warren, much of which has not even been fully explored and mapped. The people it protects have no permanent settlements, making it difficult for the riders to know exactly where to patrol; moreover, many of the Nomads resent these strange Northerners and their dragons, fearing that their presence may represent a threat to their traditional way of life (a situation that may change as, through repeated hatchings, the rider population of Cleft takes on ever more Nomad riders).

Finally, the Nomadlands are in many ways the "Old West" of the DragonLands, a place where rogue riders and dragons from other parts of the DragonLands often wind up. The remnants of Roland's band of banished riders from Falagand Warren is currently at large in the Nomadlands; the location of their warren, Shakar, is unknown. A second group, inhabiting a rogue warren known as Jhezrael, was largely destroyed by forces from Cleft; however, its leader Khazeen and a few of his followers have not been definitely accounted for.

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2.3 The Lost DragonLands

Just as the shifting of magical boundaries has recently opened up the Nomadlands to dragons and wraiths, a long-ago shifting of the boundaries isolated the Westernmost group of warrens in the then-DragonLands from the others. No one knows how long ago this occurred; however, within each group of warrens and landbound settlements, no records of the other group survived to the present day. Thus, until a chance encounter in 2999, the two groups were totally unaware of the other's existence.

In many respects, the Lost DragonLands resemble the DragonLands Proper. The dragons and riders of the warrens protect the landbound within their territories, and are in turn supplied by the landbound. Each warren is run by a Warrenlady, who in turn reports to the Dragonlady Vignette at Ismene Warren.

However, there are important differences as well. When the DragonLands magic receded from the Lost DragonLands, it left behind a cluster of magical "pockets," within which the magic remained. No one knows just how many such pockets there are, as most are quite small. Only five large pockets exist; each of these contains a warren, in addition to landbound towns and cities. Beyond the pockets are the wastes (see Section 2.4); thus, while joined dragons and riders may teleport between the magical pockets, this is more difficult and dangerous than in the DragonLands Proper because the teleports take them across areas of the Wastes' chaotic magic. In fact, direct teleports between widely separated warrens such as Geode and Xylian are not always possible, requiring intermediate stops at other pockets that lie in between.

Wraiths and wild dragons can be found in certain areas between the pockets, where the magic of the DragonLands is still sufficiently strong to sustain them; thus, while landbound humans may cross the gaps between the pockets, this is done only at extreme risk.

There is no single Landbound Nation within the Lost DragonLands because of the difficulty of communications between the pockets. Thus, each of the major pockets has its own Landbound Nation. There is no king, and the landbound of each pocket are ruled by one or more independent lords.

Commerce does go on between the pockets, but it is a risky undertaking. Lacking the protection of the dragonriders in the spaces between the magic pockets, merchants have been forced to adopt a "convoy" system under which many wagons travel together under the protection of soldiers or mercenaries. Even the most heavily armed and armored convoy, however, cannot fend off determined attacks by wraiths or wild dragons; thus, some convoys get through to their destinations, while others do not. Therefore, the Landbound within each pocket must be relatively self-sufficient. The Guilds exist within the Lost DragonLands, but like all other institutions within these lands, are rather decentralized.

There are five warrens in the Lost DragonLands, as follows:

Ismene* Warren (Dragonlady Vignette/Empress Darath)

Xylian Warren (Warrenlady Rhiannon/Queen Queri)

Geode Warren (Warrenlady Phaedra/Queen Melith - injured.
Acting Warrenlady Argent/Queen Silver)

Jasra* Warren (Warrenlady Tara/Queen Varaenna)

Epion Warren (Warrenlady Gwyneth, Queen Zenta)
(* denotes a PC warren open to roleplaying)

The inhabitants of these warrens, of course, had no idea that they were "lost" during the time that the two groups were separated. To them, Keldarra and its group of warrens make up the "Lost" DragonLands.

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2.4 The Wastes

Beyond the DragonLands are the Wastes. They are, in essence an area of chaotic magic where the DragonLands magic grows weaker as it meets and interacts with the very different magical systems of other areas of New Brittany which surround the DragonLands. The Wastes exits around the borders of the DragonLands Proper, the Lost DragonLands, and the Nomadlands, as well as between the magic pockets of the Lost DragonLands and under the sea beyond the coastal areas off Jasra Warren. Wild dragons and wraiths can and do exist in some parts of the Wastes, in any area where the magic of the DragonLands is sufficiently strong (and uncontaminated by outside magic) to sustain them. Joined dragons and riders *can* enter the Wastes, but only at great risk because the magical bond that joins them is particularly susceptible to the gradual weakening of DragonLands magic and the greater influence of other forms of magic that occur as one proceeds more deeply into them. This "changeover" may occur gradually as one proceeds deeper into the Wastes, allowing warren dragons to avoid danger by sensing when the DragonLands magic is becoming too diluted for them; however, within the Wastes, the boundaries can shift quickly and without warning, dooming any who are suddenly caught by such a shift.

Shifts in magic can also occur within DragonLands itself. A recent shift in the magic at Marrid Domain has caused havoc in the magic there, to the point that most dragons and their riders have had to flee. Many went to Xylian Warren and now reside there.

Wraiths, requiring a lower level of DragonLands magic to support them, can often evade the warren dragons by retreating into areas deep within the wastes where their enemies cannot follow; wild dragons may also do this, since they have no rider-dragon bond to worry about.

The interactions of DL magic with other forms of outside magic can produce weird creatures within the Wastes, some of which are able to exist within the DragonLands themselves. The Wyrms, which resemble wingless Oriental Dragons (whereas DL dragons are of the Western type) are one example, but there are many others.

Landbound humans are not directly affected by the chaotic magic of the Wastes, and can enter them at will; however, in so doing, they face terrible danger from the wraiths, wild dragons, and waste creatures they will inevitably encounter. Thus, few do so without very good reason.

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