Zones
The world of Asteria
Asteria is one continent: Starfall Landing in the middle, the zones round it, borderlands between them and the coast all round. Walk anywhere – nothing stops you on foot, a zone's creatures show how dangerous it is – or use the travel window inside any safe base once you have a zone's level. Dungeons are entered on foot; the two instances open from the Instances window.
Zones
12The big zones, each with a safe base, people and quests, most with a world event once per world day.
Starfall LandingThe Starfall Platform in the fields at the heart of Asteria, where every new hero wakes and the roads run out to all four horizons. The walls of the Starfall Sanctum stand around it; skeletons and wolves prowl the fields beyond them.Blackpine WoodsThe dark pine forest north of the Landing. Dire wolves near the Watch outpost, Roderic's bandits in the camps beyond, his stockade at the far end.Hollow MereThe mist-lakes east of Blackpine, where the Sunken Choir drowned. Heron's Rest, the fishing village on the south shore, is the only dry welcome; leeches and lurkers on the banks, the drowned and their hag beyond.Ashen MinesThe burned-out guild workings under Mount Ashfall, south of the mere and east of the Landing. Cinderhold, the guild's walled compound at the headframe, is the only safe ground; goblins hold the pit and the warcamp, kobolds tunnel the spoil, the old golems still walk the rails and Warchief Grazk sits before the Great Adit.Grimtusk HighlandsThe windswept plateau above the Ashen Mines, held by Warlord Ugrash's warbands: wargs on the heath, harpies on the Screaming Crag, Bloodhowl Camp and Ugrash's Seat under the north crag. The last free clan holds Highwatch in the south; a cold cave opens under the western crag.Frostpeak MountainsThe frost giants' valley under the Frostpeak glacier, south of the Landing, over the high pass from the Grimtusk Highlands. Hearthspring, the free folk's steading round its hot springs, is the only warm ground; frost wolves and ice trolls roam the snow, yetis den in the south-east hollows, the dead of an old war stand frozen round a longship in the fjord, and Jarl Hrimgar holds his hall under the ice.Emberfall WastesWest of the mountains the land burns: dunes and drifted ash under a smoking volcano, a river of lava running through the middle of it. Miragewell, a walled caravanserai round an oasis, is the last shelter on the caravan road; the Ember Faithful burn their offerings round a great pyre in the east, the dead of buried Ashkarn walk in the western ash, and Kharzim the Ashen Sultan holds his court under the volcano.Shadowfen NecropolisNorth of the waste the land sinks into a black fen where the old kings buried their dead - a whole walled city of tombs on the rise, a cathedral at its end. The dead have walked out of it. Candlewatch, the Order of the Last Light's chapel-fort, is the last lit place; ghouls prowl the reeds, wraiths drift over the Black Mere, the barrow kings' guard has left its mounds, and Vaelthar the Lich King holds his court before the Black Cathedral.Voidrend ChasmNorth of the fen the ground itself is torn open: a chasm of black glass and violet fire where the Starfall struck deepest and something answered from below. Demons climb out of the rift - imps and hellhounds on the scarred plain, fiends and brutes at the broken gates, shades in the smoke - and Mal'garoth the Pit Lord rules the pit at its heart. The Order holds one camp on the rim, the Last Vigil, and it is not enough.Dragonspine PeaksWest of the chasm the land rises onto the roof of the world, rain-slick slate and black grass under storms that never leave - and through it runs the Dragonspine, the petrified spine of a dragon older than the Order, crossed only at the Windswept Pass. Wyverns nest on the cliffs, storm giants and titans walk the high ground, the dragon priests keep their stepped temple under a great skull, and above them all Vorgrim the Storm King holds the Thunder Seat. The storm-wardens hold one walled outpost by the road in, Stormwatch.The Astral ReachWest of the fen, where the Starfall came down whole: a plain of star moss and glittering crystal where shards of the fallen star the size of houses still hang in the air. The Order's last astronomers keep the Starwatch beside the old observatory, whose orrery still turns in the ruins. What the star carried with it walks the Reach - and at its heart, in the Crater of the Fallen Star, Aurelion is waking.Titanfall RuinsThe titans' city lies where it fell, across a sun-bleached plateau: colossal statues on their faces, halls a giant could stand in, stairs no man can climb. Storm giants and titan wardens still guard it, the colossi of the Reach have come to walk it, and the Nightmare Dragon Ashkarath nests in its broken crown. Only the strongest come here.
Borderlands
17The open country between two zones: walked through on foot, the creatures of both sides meeting in the middle.
Pinefoot MeadowsThe last open fields north of the Landing, where the meadow grass gives way to the first dark pines of Blackpine. The Landing's road runs up through them to the Watch fort's south gate.Greyfield DownsEast of the Landing the green downs grey with the ash blown over from the mines. The road runs east to the Ashen Mines, where nothing below level 20 lasts long.Frostmeadow ValeSouth of the Landing the meadows cool into frost-bitten grass and then snow under the Frostpeak range. The road runs south to Frostpeak's pass, and past it nothing below level 40 lasts long.Gloamfield MoorWest of the Landing the fields darken into moor and then into bog, the first black pools of the Shadowfen. The track runs west to the necropolis, where nothing below level 60 lasts long.Reedpine MarchesWhere Blackpine's pines stand in wet ground: moss, black pools and the first reeds of the mere country. The forest road runs east through them to Hollow Mere.ThornwitherWest of Blackpine the pines wither: the needles brown, the bark splits, and the trees give way to blighted heath and scorched stumps towards the chasm. The old forest road runs west to the chasm, where nothing below level 70 lasts long - and what walks near it does not care how young you are.Sootwater FlatsSouth of the mere the water runs grey with the soot blown down from the mines; the reeds thin into mud and ash. The old road climbs south to the Ashen Mines' north canyon.Ashfall RiseThe ash of the mines drifts over the slopes that climb south to the highlands, until the heather pushes through it again. The road from the mines' south gate winds up to the crags of Grimtusk.FrostheathThe highland heath runs west into frost: the heather greys, then whitens, and the first snow lies in its hollows. The road from Grimtusk's west gorge runs on to Frostpeak's east pass.Steamvent BarrensWhere Frostpeak's snow meets the heat of the Emberfall the ground steams: melt pools, wet scree and bare rock between the last snowfields and the first ash. The road runs west to the Emberfall's ash ridges.Brokenhelm SteppeWest of the Emberfall the ash thins into a dry steppe littered with the titans' broken armour - a helm the size of a house, a gauntlet like a hill. Emberfall's creatures roam the east half; the giants of Titanfall stride the west. In the ruins beyond, nothing below level 94 lasts long.CinderfenNorth of the waste the ash turns to black mud and the dead reeds of the Shadowfen begin; cold smoke hangs over the pools. The road runs north to the necropolis' causeway.BlightmarchNorth of the necropolis the fen dries into a grey, dead march where the chasm's blight has crept south: bare trees, ash on the water, bones in the reeds. The causeway road runs north to the chasm, where nothing below level 70 lasts long.GlimmerfenWest of the necropolis the fen water begins to glitter: star-dust settles on the reeds and the dead grow uneasy. Past the middle the Astral Reach's creatures wander in - far stronger than anything of the fen. In the Reach itself nothing below level 90 lasts long.Galeburn BarrensWest of the chasm the ash gives way to wind-scoured slate, and the storms of the Dragonspine come down to meet the blight. Hellhounds hunt the near side; wyverns and storm-born things the far one.Skyrift HeightsSouth of the Dragonspine the storm clouds tear open onto a starlit sky: slate ridges crusted with star crystal, where the dragons' hunting grounds meet the Astral Reach.Shardfall PlainsBetween the Reach and the titans' city the plain is studded with star shards the size of towers, and the colossi walk between them.
Mountains
6Where borderlands meet: only the bays at their foot are walkable.
Greyspire CragsGrey granite peaks between the Landing, Blackpine, the mere and the mines, pines on their lower slopes. No path crosses them.Ironback PeaksIron-dark ridges between the Landing, the mines, the highlands and Frostpeak, snow on their tops. No path crosses them.SmoulderhornA black horn of rock where the snow of Frostpeak, the fire of the Emberfall and the bogs of the Shadowfen meet; its south face still smokes. No path crosses it.Ravenmoor TorsWind-worn tors over dark moorland between the Landing, Blackpine and the Shadowfen. No path crosses them.Titan's AnvilA flat-topped mountain between the fen, the Emberfall and the titans' city, which the titans are said to have forged on. No path crosses it.ThunderhornA black horn of rock where the chasm, the fen and the Dragonspine meet; lightning strikes it all day. No path crosses it.
Dungeons
8Entered on foot through their entrance in the zone above; no safe base inside.
Blackpine DeepThe old workings under Roderic's stockade, entered by the shaft Sapper Brek found in the woods west of the road. Bandits near the stairs, Sabra at the far end.Rimehollow CavernsThe cold caves under the Grimtusk crag, entered through the mouth the orcs will not pass: their warg kennels by the entrance, then snow spiders, rime wisps, the frozen thanes of the old clans, the yeti's den and, at the bottom, the deep wyrm Rimefang.Hrimfell VaultThe frost giants' rune vault under the Frostpeak glacier, entered through the ice cave east of the Jarl's hall: the Guard Hall of rune pillars and stone watchers, the thralls frozen in their ranks, the Rime Forge, the crevasse and its one bridge, the frozen cistern and, at the end, the Throne of Winter, where Hrimdis the Winter Matron waits under a turning ring of runes.The Cinder ForgeThe Ember Faithful's forge-temple under the Emberfall volcano, entered through the gate in the cinder cone's south flank behind their altar: the Hall of Offerings with its pyre-altar, the Slag Gallery and its channel of lava, the Casting Pits under a hanging crucible, the Bellows Hall, a cavern of lava with an idol on its island, the Cooling Vaults, the Ember Sanctum under a turning bronze sun and, at the end, the Furnace Heart, where Vulkhar the Cinder Smith works at his anvil.The Drowned CatacombsThe flooded catacombs under the Shadowfen necropolis, entered by the stair in the crypt house before the Mourners' Gate: the Bone Gallery's walls of burial niches, the Drowned Nave under black water and its boardwalks, the Tomb Hall, the Weeping Well, the webbed Crypt of the Nameless, the rotting Scriptorium, the reliquary and, at the end, the Drowned Chapel, where Morvayne the Drowned Abbess sings over the water.The Pit BelowThe void's halls under the Voidrend rift, entered through the fissure torn in the scar north of the Broken Circle: the Acolytes' Shrine round a floating orb, the Glass Terraces, the Kennels, the Abyss Bridge over a chasm, the Void Springs, a black monolith turning on its chains, the Obelisk Gallery and, at the end, the Maw's Hollow, where Ul'gorath the Hungering Maw hauls itself out of a crater ringed with teeth.The Wyrm HollowsThe dragons' brood caves in the heart of the Dragonspine, entered by the den mouth among the wyvern nests in the north-west of the peaks: the Hatchery's nests, the Whelp Warrens, the Crystal Gallery where the lightning sleeps in the stone, the Boneyard round a dead dragon, the Storm Well, the Roost, the knights' hoard and, at the end, the Brood Mother's Lair, where Vyrmathra lies on a great nest of glowing eggs.The Starfall CoreThe heart of the fallen star under the Astral Reach, entered through the breach of star crystal east of the crater: the Hall of Veins where the star's light runs through the rock, the Starlight Pools, the Crystal Garden, the Shard Orrery, the Light Bridge over a chasm of starlight, the Seraphs' Rest, the Lens Hall and, at the end, the Heart Chamber, where the star's core burns half sunk in the rock and Celestar stands guard before it.
Instances
2Copies of their own, opened from the Instances window inside a safe base.
Starfall RiftThe crater where a second star came down, a day's walk from the Landing. The rift opens for you and your party, and no one else: what prowls it is drawn to your strength (in a party, the strongest member's) and never strikes first, and the star's light quickens what you earn there - half again the experience and gold. It stays open sixty minutes a day and closes at midnight (UTC).Moonwell GladeA glade in the fey wood where it is always night. Beasts, spiders and wild spirits guard the moss trail to the Moonwell, and Moonhorn, the great silver stag, drinks from it - all of them drawn to your own strength. The glade opens for you alone, even in a party. Moonhorn can be defeated once a day: try as often as you need until it falls, and its spoils are yours.