Kelbarden Guide

What is Kelbarden?

That's a good question and here's the quick guide to one of the largest Islands/shards of Ashirion's broken sphere. It is the southern most Island of Ashirion and was the direct opponent of the Kingdom of Sudelar - which is still fiercely independent of the Queen's rule, however there is a tenuous alliance between Queen Nennuir and Queen Morlane since the Sand King's death and Morlane's takeover.

What does Kelbarden look like?

Kelbarden is a verdant land, dotted with mountains and packed with dense and un-explored forests. In 3482, in the second month of winter, a great event reshaped the land mass and the Shakari Kingdom of Wolfhome was merged with the shard to increase it even more, some have said this is a precursor to a great 'Un-Sundering' but this is mere speculation of course. The Wolfhome Mountains now take up the North West quarter of Kelbarden's landmass and Highmoon Forest dominates the rest of it, being split from the Queen's lands by the mighty Ru'an River. The Capital City of Queen Nennuir is the port City of Ruatha (Ru'eda - an old Celtic word and one that the Queen, being Fae, gave her City - since the Fae are immortal visitors to Ashirion from our own world)

( A map of Kelbarden can be found by following this link )

What are the most important land mass features of Kelbarden?

Apart from Ruatha itself, which will be detailed in a different section. There are the following features of the lands and Kingdom of Kelbarden.

Greymyre Hill

One of the oldest Hills in this land, some have said it is a focal point between another dimension and Kelbarden, it is no wonder then that some Sages have postulated that the Hill is one of the points where the Fae first broke through. In the Third War of Shadows there was a portal to Draconis established above the hill, one that the Dragonmasters still use to this day.

Ru'an Peaks

To the South of Onda and to the South East of Ruatha lies this small range of mountains. They are often considered to be a haven for the Crown's bandit problem and some folk have whispered that the folk of Onda have been secretly sponsoring these bandits for a while now. There are a number of caves and caverns that could be used as a haven for such.

Onda Woods

On the North Eastern most peninsula of the land, lie the Onda Woods, these are supposed to be haunted and often folk have been sent into them to verify this. None return, the Onda Villagers blame the Crown of course for inaction, but when the Crown's servants often set foot near their lands they are driven off.

Forgotten Forest

This forest is South of Greymyre Hill and embraces the whole of the massive Vasten Mountains Northern range, meshing with the denser Vasten Forests to the South, the whole combine to circle the range like a lover's embrace. These are deep and secret forests, there are rumours of a magical kind of creature that protects them, some have said they have seen this being - but most folk simply scoff and laugh at this revelation.

Vasten Mountains

This range of mountains dominates the middle of the forests that are to the South of Ruatha and Greymyre Hill. Here one might find the great caverns, they are infested with monsters and creatures of all kinds, considered a dangerous and dark place. Rumours persist of a lost Iltyr City that might have survived the Shadoen's vicious attacks during the Third War of Shadows - but these are of course only rumours.

Unnamed Range

To the East of East Point Port there lays a range of mountains that really has no name, some have called these East Point Peaks of course, but until they are named officially, that will have to do. Scouting reports from the Port have brought no real information to light, upon these mountains, apart from the fact that they are supposedly infested with ghosts of the world's turbulent past.

Nightfall Mountains

A small range of sharp toothy mountains known as Nightfall dominates a tiny part of Kelbarden's Southern shore, broken away from their brother peaks over time. These mountains are the rumoured location of the stronghold of the allies, during the first Shadow War, but as of yet no one has found it.

Halvar Mountains

These mountains are separated from the Nightfalls by only a few miles and the tail end of the Ru'an River's South Eastern fork, they are an unremarkable long range, not as high as the Vasten but they stretch across the majority of the Southern part of Kelbarden's lower area, split by the latter part of the Ru'an's South Western fork from the Broken peaks. The Mountains are named after a Dwarf who died defending the nearby village from a band of savage Wolvren.

The Broken Peaks

These small mountains rest in two river forks, broken from the Halvars by the South Western fork and separated by the lower part of the great Highmoon forest, by the South Western run of the Ru'an. There is little of note, known about these Mountains however.

Dragon's Ride Plains

To the North of the Halvar Mountains are these plains, they are a rough land of riders and horsemen. It is said that at one time, the plains were a great Mountain and that the Dragon God, Dralgos levelled them so that his Dragons would have somewhere to land. Again, if this is true, is a matter for the Gods themselves, not mortal man.

Dragon Tooth Myre

This is one of the Swamps that formed close to the Ru'an's primary fork, which happens just around a quarter of the way along the great river. Where the fork splits to the South West, a smaller river formed and flows down to the middle of the Mire, where it too splits into two smaller riversforming a kind of inverted Y - this is probably the reason for the name, due to it resembling the mouth and tongue of a Dragon. Why it was not named Dragon Tongue of course, is a matter to discuss with others.

Moonwashed Plains

These are part of the old lands of Wolfhome and are included here for completeness now the two lands are one. The plains are three times as large as the Dragon's Ride and are upon the South Western portion of the Island. They are embraced by the edges of the mighty Highmoon Forest that runs from the North of the plains, down to the East and around to the South. Little is known about them, apart from the fact they are always in eternal darkness and lit by the full moon, as is most of Wolfhome - magic must have gone oddly awry in those lands, which means they appear foreboding to outsiders.

The Highmoon Forest

This forest dominates the landmass that is now Wolfhome running almost from the South West to the North East, where it splits into a tiny section of trees known as the Arran Forest. The Highmoon is the undisputed forest of the Shakari and rumoured to be the home of the White Unicorn.

Arran Forest

Right at the tip of the Northern peninsula is the Arran Forest, named so for the Ranger who first contacted the Shakari and offered his services, in payment for his human kin's misconduct. When Arran died, the Shakari named the Forest that he loved in his honour, it is now the site of the man's tomb and they are fiercely protective of it.

The Fens

A small swamp that sits to the West of the Great Lake, it is about half the size of the Dragon Tooth, and less treacherous. Not much is known about it, and most consider it to be a simple Fen and nothing more.

The Great Lake

Fed from a river that runs down from the Wolfhome Mountains, the Great Lake is just to the South of the very range. Some have said that it is a holy place sacred to the Great Wolf, many Shakari gather there at certain times of the year to remember the days of loss and woe.

Wolfhome Mountains

Now the most impressive and mightiest of ranges on the Island, the Wolfhome's dominate the Northern landmass and stretch many miles from the Western shore to the Northern peninsula, split from the rest of the landmass by the mighty Ru'an River. It is here that the Shakari's grand Castle resides, that of Moonsinger and the whole mountain can be seen as a white beacon from anywhere in Kelbarden now, as the magical effects that shroud most of Wolfhome in darkness and moonlight, have somehow been negated here.

The Ru'an River

Finally we come to the river that runs from the middle of the North and the North East peninsulas past Ruatha and bisects Wolfhome from the Queen's lands. The Ru'an flows down and to the South West splitting just about a quarter of its length to run South East and to continue South West. The South Western branch runs for a few miles, before it splits again and becomes a smaller river into the Myre, splitting into the inverse Y inside the mire itself. The main river continues to flow to the South West and then once more splits so that it can go to the South, forking again half way along its length to pass Kemman Halvar on the West and flow into the Halvar Mountains with the Eastern fork. Meanwhile the South Western portion of the river continues on until it reaches almost to the South Western shores.

The South Eastern fork of the Ru'an continues on until it reaches just before the Nightfall Mountains, there it forks East towards the shore and East Point and South East to pass to the Western side of the Nightfall Mountains and the Eastern side of Nightfall City, it then forks again before disappearing into a forest on the shore.