Alanach

Alanach is the land of the gods. An isolated nation sealed in the frigid north behind walls of its own making, news of its temple-cities reaches the rest of the continent by way of merchant ships and is vague at best. Alanach is the birthplace of the Illyri faith, and the rule of the church has been absolute in the centuries since its inception. Although it is treated by outsiders as little more than a curiosity, to its inhabitants the north is often a brutal and repressive land. Nevertheless, they endure; they always have.

## Geography

Comprising the northernmost reaches of the continent, Alanach is a cold and inhospitable land joined to the mainland by a single isthmus that leads into Syldor. Though it borders Everzyn on the outlying peninsula, the more elevated Alanach has long been sequestered behind a series of walls and towers constructed to prevent aggression from the Freefolk below. Behind these walls, passable only through a series of magical constructs referred to as the Cold Gates, the soil is hard and offers little in the way of arable land. The southern reaches of the nation, being more temperate than other regions, are home to the innumerable farmsteads upon which the sprawling temple-cities of the north rely. These cities are maddening feats of architecture, whose spires and tiers rise and fall with the mountainous terrain upon which they stand.

## Government

A tightly-controlled religious state presided over by the Archsaint of the Illyri faith. Lesser Saints see to the minutiae of certain elements of life behind the Cold Gates, handing down the dictates of a higher power by virtue of their patronage.

### Law and Order

The Saints make broad use of their authority and have established a diverse range of knightly orders to keep the peace.

### Crime

Crime is nigh unheard of past the Cold Gates, with those few citizens that would break the commandments of the Archsaint being judged harshly and swiftly in order to preserve the virtue of the wider populace.

## Trade

Alanach boasts a modest sea trade through which it supplements the harvests of its farmsteads. Despite a number of ports, foreign ships are warded away from the Alanaic coast by a series of watchtowers and magical barriers: Native ships leave port laden with enchanted goods and ornate metalwork, returning with the necessities through which Alanach maintains its self-sufficiency.

## Notable Locations

* The temple-city of Yghaal, a massive edifice that dominates the cliffs that line the nation’s eastern shore;
* The Archsaint’s cathedral, a towering nest of stained glass and steeples at the heart of Yghaal that houses the Archsaint and serves as a site of pilgrimage and worship for Illyri faithful as well as the de facto heart of Alanaic power;
* The Cold Gate of Syldor, the sole route by which entry may be gained to Alanach by land;
* The Saints’ dwellings, lavish temples which serve as both home and center of power to the various minor Saints, many of whom have grown reclusive and rarely find themselves in the public eye;
* Varied shrines to the Illyri gods that dot the landscape along the more well-traveled paths;
* Numerous monasteries that sit atop isolated mountains, each dedicated to studying and pursuing a different aspect of the Illyri faith and winning the favor of the Saints.