The Northern Reach

The boreal country north of the Vale Rim, reached through the North Stair — the first ring outward, and the first zone where the tier climb off the Vale's safety becomes real.

Timber and cold stone under a boreal sky, thin-settled and thinly held: no house or moot has planted a lasting seat here, so the wandering order of the Vigil keeps what watch it can along the road north. What passes for law is House Vandahl's lonely garrison at Karth Bridge, holding the one crossing of the cold Karth river; what preys on the road around it is the Rime Skinners, frostbitten outcasts who den in Frostmaw Cave and rob whoever crosses the ford weaker than they are, and the Deepclan Reavers, exiled Stoneborn clans who quarry the old Imperium's barrows here for bronze and kill any who'd stop them. The North Stair behind you is the last warm door for a long walk.