The Chronicles of the Shattered Sun

Aeryndor

Aeryndor is a continent that was never the same after the Breaking. Nearly a thousand years ago, the sun shattered into seven great fragments. These fragments — Solar Stones — fell upon different regions of the world and altered the laws of nature, magic and climate. Valeryn A large kingdom in the west, with fertile plains and ancient cities. The capital is Lythar. Valeryn is considered relatively stable, because the Solar Stone there exerts a comparatively weaker influence. Solareth A vast trading city in the south. Above it hangs a permanent reddish sky, caused by a Solar Stone that fell into the volcanic landscape centuries ago. Solareth is wealthy, dangerous and full of political intrigue. The Mistmarches Borderlands in the north. Dense forests, marshes and the ruins of old realms. Here, time is said to sometimes run differently. The Sea of Glass A former ocean that froze into crystalline glass when a Solar Stone struck. Ships can no longer sail there. Some claim that beneath the glass surface lies an ancient city. The Shadow Mountains A vast mountain range in the east. Home to the Order of the Night Blades.

Solareth

The largest trading city in Aeryndor. Located in the south of the continent.

Travellers who come to Solareth for the first time raise their eyes and ask whether it always looks like this. The locals shrug. They know no other sky. Above Solareth hangs a permanent red glow — created by the Ignis Stone, which fell into the crater beneath the city nearly a thousand years ago and has never stopped burning since. The city was built around that crater, upon it, over it. To live in Solareth is to live on a Solar Stone. The city is wealthy, loud and dangerous. Its wealth comes from the fire-tempered steel forged in the proximity of the Ignis Stone — harder and lighter than any other metal on the continent. Merchants from every region come to Solareth, and the city has built from that an empire of money and influence. The architecture shows it: massive towers of dark volcanic stone, fortress walls encircling the city, broad streets for trade caravans. Solareth was not built for beauty. It was built for survival. Solar storms break over the city at regular intervals. Days when the sky burns lower, the heat becomes unbearable and metal grows hot in the hand. The Sun Guard — the city's military watch — has developed warning systems. People die in every severe storm regardless. On a hill above the city stands the Academy of Solareth, the oldest scholarly institution on the continent. It preserves knowledge of the Breaking — and suppresses it in equal measure. In its lower levels lie archives that have been sealed for decades. Some questions are best not asked too loudly in Solareth. And deep beneath the Sun Guard fortress, in the heart of the crater, lies the Ignis Stone. Urgent. Restless. Burning for a thousand years.