Type: Volcanic Peninsula & Northern Archipelago
Theme: Divine Fire, Craft, and Unbending Principle
Tone: Fiery, industrious, mythic; survival through endurance
Primary Deities: Hephaestus, Ares, Kaelos (the Bound Flame)
World Position: East of the Outer Colonies, north of the Shaded Underlands, stretching into the Kaelos Archipelago.
The Ember March juts into the eastern sea as a serrated volcanic peninsula, its spine defined by the Phoros Range—a chain of fire-veined mountains. Black-glass beaches rim the north; to the west lie fertile ash vales. To the east, calderas and lava basins glow red at dusk, their flows now controlled by the massive Quenchline Locks that can cool lava into temporary trade causeways.
To the north, the Kaelos Archipelago fans outward, crowned by the ever-burning cone of Mount Kaelos. Weather here is a contest between fire and wind, with seasons of Glass Weather—high clouds of vitrified ash—making travel perilous without protection. The ground trembles with the heartbeat of the chained Titan beneath.
Legend names Phoros as one of the eldest Titans, whose molten blood birthed the world’s first divine flame. When the gods overthrew him, Hephaestus chained his spirit beneath these mountains. From his corpse’s embers rose Kaelos, the Bound Flame—eternal guardian and threat alike. Each eruption is said to be Kaelos dreaming in agony, each tremor a breath from the under-world forge.
The Anvil Choir: The master smiths of the March, composed of smith-monks, Cyclopes, and dour dwarves. Operating from the Sootveil Shrine, their hammering has shifted to a prophetic Ninth Rhythm that seems to predict and mitigate earthquakes.
Legion of the Ember Oath: Ares’s militant brotherhood housed in Cindershield Citadel. Clad in ash-black armor, they drill upon molten rock.
Ashen Vein Dwarves: Deep-forged miners and craftsfolk of Valthrak, who serve the imprisoned might of the mountain.
The True Forge: The great caldera forge which has recently reawakened, revealing new veins of star-fall ore. A clean ribbon of skysteel has been found in a cooled flow called the Lantern Run.
Sootveil Shrine: The spiritual heart of the March, where the Anvil Choir recently signed the Chainwrights' Concord, an oath to forge the sacred links used to bind Titans should they ever rise.
Mount Kaelos: A sacred volcano whose endless flame acts as both beacon and warning to sailors.
Cindershield Citadel: Fortress-city and bastion of Ares’s legion, its banners shimmering with heat distortion.
The Burning Steps: Terraced obsidian escarpments inscribed with Titan-binding runes.
Valthrak: The subterranean forge-city of the dwarves, ringing a molten chasm known as the “Anvil Pit.”
Embergate Narrows: A fortified choke point controlling the only land route to the Shaded Underlands.
Greenreach March: A fertile plain to the west dotted with farms and ash orchards.
The March has asserted its strict neutrality and indispensable role in Hellenara. The Anvil Choir now sells its peerless steel by contract only, forcing both Arekthon and Myrrdin to abide by its terms. This influence is cemented by the Forgefast, a three-night truce each new moon where no weapons may be quenched, forcing armies across the continent to alter their campaign calendars.
The Dreaming Forge: Kaelos stirs beneath Mount Kaelos, and the Anvil Choir seeks heroes to quell his awakening.
Oaths of Iron and Blood: A schism brews between Ares’s legions and Hephaestus’s priests over the strictures of the Forgefast.
The Ashen Eye: A relic lost beneath the Ashen Sound pulses again; its recovery could rebind—or free—the Bound Flame.
The Boar King’s Hunt: In Greenreach March, a monstrous fire-boar born of Titan ash devastates the villages.
The Ember March of Phoros stands as Hellenara’s crucible—where mountains breathe, gods hammer destiny, and mortals learn whether they are ore to be melted or steel to be made. It is the unbending will of the forge given dominion, dictating the pace of war and peace alike.v