Region

Fraza

CanonOfficial lore from the booksSSGp. 2, 6, 16, 21, 39, 43, 45 SoVp. 27 MCp. 39

Fraza, the Land of Fraza, lies to the north of The Empire, beyond the mountain passes. It is a realm of monsters and relentless winter, home to a hardy folk who can endure it all.¹ The imperial province of Nearpeak shares borders with both the Fraza lands and the great dwarf kingdoms, and further north still, in the Northern Ice Sea, lie the island groups known as the Iron Isles.²

The land

The Realm of Fraza is harsh and unforgiving. Its wilderness is dangerous and teems with monsters, and its climate makes survival a challenge.³ Harsh wilderness fills the spaces between its cities, and throughout their history the northerners have always been surrounded by monsters.⁴

The lands of Fraza were once a hellish place of dragons, giants and monsters. Ages ago the ancestors of the northerners tamed them with their courage.³

Life in the north

Life and order in Fraza are very different from those of the Empire. Struggle, hardship and the glory that comes from overcoming them are integral parts of life there.⁴

The northerners live in clans and embrace a free way of life. Their society is highly meritocratic, and success is won through strength.³ In such a hard existence skill always counts for more than blood: the right to rule, like every other right, is earned through deeds.⁴

Fortune-tellers and witches are held in high esteem in the Lands of Fraza, and it is believed that some people are born with the ability to see the future.³ Through the wisdom of the Fraza, weresharks, much like the werewolves of the northern territories, can gain full or limited control over their curse.⁵

Faith

This way of life shapes how the people of the north see religion, in a way quite unlike the Empire's.⁴ The Fraza people do not worship the same gods as the imperial faithful, yet they acknowledge and believe in the existence of the gods they do not honour.⁶

The north and the Empire

The Day of the Thousand Fangs began as a Fran tradition and has spread to the northern provinces of the Empire that neighbour the Fraza lands. In the Empire the day may take on a festive air, but in the Land of Fraza it is still taken seriously, and the monster hunters of the north stand genuinely ready to protect their homes.⁷

When the warlord Skolpa rose in 212 AVD, he brought back the old excitement of the wolf pack. The northerners had always been monster hunters and raiders, and that excitement spread through the lands of Fraza like a forest fire.⁸

Notes

↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 2
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, pp. 39, 45
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 43
↑BookShadow Over Vansreik, p. 27
↑BookMercenary Compendium, p. 39
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 21
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 6
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 16

Sources

This article draws on:

SSGLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide(Bad Badger Games, 2024), pp. 2, 6, 16, 21, 39, 43, 45
SoVShadow Over Vansreik(Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 27
MCMercenary Compendium(Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 39

In Fraza

ConceptDay of the Thousand FangsA day of Fran origin, spread to the imperial provinces next to Fraza, when people eat game meat, lock their doors and stay with their families while hunters patrol the streets.ConceptGod-Spirits of FrazaThe pantheon of the Fran people of the north, made up of the Great Wolf, Skadri, Stagdal, Ursa and Yrmoghl. The northerners do not worship them as the Empire worships its gods, but bargain with them for protection from cold, monsters and a bad hunt.

RegionThe EmpireThe human realm at the heart of the Lands of Exile, an absolute monarchy heavily shaped by faith, ruled from Marble City by the unbroken line of the Red Eagle and divided into five provinces under their Sovereigns.PeopleFransThe clan peoples of Fraza, north of the Empire. Meritocratic monster hunters and warriors prized across the Empire as mercenaries, they turn to nature gods rather than priests, keep a calendar of seasons and honour the prey they hunt.ConceptDay of the Thousand FangsA day of Fran origin, spread to the imperial provinces next to Fraza, when people eat game meat, lock their doors and stay with their families while hunters patrol the streets.CharacterSkolpaChief of the White Stag clan who in 212 AVD rallied the northern clans against the peace with the Empire and raided the west for four years. Branded a traitor, he is still toasted as a hero in the northern lands.PeopleIronbornsThe people of the remote Iron Isles in the Northern Ice Sea, a wizard-ruled, caste-bound society that trades in slaves, keeps time by magic and, for all its distance, still pays taxes to the Empire.RegionCaligranThe eastern of the two great continents of Teneris, mostly desert since the Desolation, whose habitable north holds the Lands of Exile, the refuge of the surviving races.RegionCanarqueThe western of the two great continents of Teneris, a collection of fragmented lands discovered by an imperial expedition that returned in 289 AVD, and known to most imperial subjects as the New World.RegionDa’fat FederationThe elven federation south of the Calinor-dal, founded in the Second Age by elven tribes who fled north after the Desolation; every surviving elven people lives there, and Lady Nemarin is its spiritual leader.RegionFree PortsThe self-governing city-states of the free folk on the western coast, with Pupa, Pruva and Neptune the largest of them, where there is no king, little law, and powerful gangs thrive.RegionTenerisThe ancient world in which the Lands of Exile lie, with two great continents, Caligran in the east and Canarque in the west, divided by the Great Western Sea and the vortex called the Eye of Aquaron.