The Northern Reach did not receive much attention until about a hundred years ago. It was a dangerous and wild area and most of it didn’t seem directly productive. It was bordering the Desolation, with its legions of undead and other monsters, had haunted forests and many other problematic areas. Being in practice the region in the Northern frontier of the Empire, a faction of the Cult of the New God pressured to raise a Crusade to make sure not many dangers could come South to the Empire. The crusaders managed to pacify the area and built a series of forts just were the Desolation started. The Empire, having financed the Crusades more and more over time, eventually decided to make the Northern Reach the eight province.
Apart from the Desolation to the North (and the Iron Peaks, a small mountain range that acts as part of the frontier), there is the Spider Wood to the North-East, where the Queen of Spiders is said to live. Just South of the Spider Wood you find the Bone Marsh where few people live, and where lizarmen have been spotted. To the East there’s the coast, from where one can sail to the Teeth or the Kingdom of Sail. To the South there’s the Tumbledowns mountain range, that connects at the very West with the Shield Mountains. The Shield Mountains to the North-West are called the Troll Mountains (guess why), and further North there’s the Burning Vaults, a range of active volcanoes.
People that care for it say that in the distant past most of the region was forests, but the different waves of colonisation left just a few woods still standing. Also, there’s a big divide East and West, where a big chunk of the East is substantially lower than the West, with a big natural wall, The Fall marking the separation between the Lowlands and the Western part of the province.
About 30 years ago the Empire declared Sixton as the province capital, and a governor sits there since then, but most of the province hasn’t noticed that much of a difference. It’s still a wild frontier area. Apart from Sixton and the Crusader States, along their forts, there are other important settlements.
Crossings, close to the middle, is the biggest city. From there, by rail, you can get to the North, just before the Iron Peaks one finds Foundry. An industrial town, with plenty of Dwarfs, that mostly lives from mining and smelting iron and copper.
To the East, in the coast, there’s Gateway, said to be the oldest city. Part of it is underwater, with people moving around in boats, and with buildings floating and fixed in place with pylons and other solutions. Going South from Gateway you get to Landfall, a trading centre that retains a lot of Jotun architecture from its past owners. To the South of Landfall, past the eastern end of the Tumbledowns you can find the Freehold of Nar. It used to be a series of Dwarven fortresses, but nowadays they are occupied by groups that call themselves independent.
Good Fortune is not far from Sixton, but East of the Fall. The largest settlement in the Lowlands and a commercial hub, with plenty of halflings living here.
Between Tear and the Northern Reach, in the high mountains is High Stone, an impressive dwarven city that has been there since ages past. In the mountains, to the North-West of High Stone one can see Mount Fear, the highest peak in the Shield Mountains and some claim that the home of the Great Dragon.
One can find a few woods going around, some of them haunted or full of fairies, others with beastmen lurking around, as well as quite a few smaller settlements. In one of the Western woods, Mistwood, the hidden fairy kingdom of Alfheim is said to be - but few that try to find it return to say. In many places, and even in parts of the biggest towns, there are remains of previous periods like big fairy towers of unknown purpose, old stone monuments