The Worldspine

The Worldspine is a vast mountain range east of the settled parts of Elthos, once the home of great dwarvish realms. In the north, its foothills are present into the eastern reaches of the Grand Duchy of Lonin, then it runs gradually to the southeast. A gap then opens up between it and the easternmost parts of the rest of the Empire, and the land between is the Red Waste. Were a traveller to stage an expedition from eastern Dyria with the hopes of reaching even the foothills of the Worldspine, they would have weeks of difficult travel across the Red Waste ahead. Since the dwarven exodus, few attempt that journey, and fewer still return. Those who do report that the foothills of the mountains are infested with goblins. The southernmost parts of the Worldspine are understood to be east of the Great Desert, northeast of Hadash, but whatever civilisation once resided in the Great Desert fell to ruin long ago indeed, and nobody now crosses it.

The land east of the Worldspine is known to the people of Elthos as the Endless Steppe. There was some vague understanding that it, like the Red Waste, was home to migratory tribal peoples, but since the dwarves abandoned the Worldspine almost a century ago, there is no prospect of learning more about those faraway lands. While the underground dwarvish realms had ways to traverse the mountains, any effort to travel overground across the Worldspine would be fraught with peril, and nobody is known to have done it.