Anfang - The Kingdom split in chains and flame

Region Type: War-torn territory
Continent: Ebhoran
Current Status: Divided between Avalonian occupation and a rising rebellion
Cultural Symbol: “We are the root that will split the stone.”

Overview

Anfang was once a radiant kingdom rooted in elemental harmony and cultural unity, a land where elves, dwarves, dragons, and humans worked in balance with the world. Now it stands broken, severed by the ambitions of the Avalonian Empire. The southern half of the region suffers beneath imperial occupation and exploitation, while the northern territories fight to remain free. Amid these divisions, the first sparks of full rebellion begin to ignite, led by returning figures such as Armond Pendragon and his allies.

Anfang is not merely a battlefield. It is the first true front in the war to reclaim Seyruun.

“We are the root that will split the stone.”

Geographic Divide

Southern Anfang – Under the Iron Yoke

Southern Anfang is controlled by Avalonia. It is an occupied land filled with puppet cities, labor camps, and mines operated by enslaved peoples. This region has been transformed into a machine of imperial industry and propaganda.

Oro Hof: A deceptively warm city crafted as a false sanctuary. Defectors are drawn in, interrogated, and executed or reconditioned.
Dragon’s Scale: The fortress capital of Avalonian power in the region. It functions as the administrative heart of the southern occupation.
Warden’s Ash: A sprawling reeducation and prison complex. Prisoners undergo mental, physical, and magical reprogramming.

Southern Anfang’s infrastructure is built on pain and enforced loyalty. Its skies are watched by imperial patrols, and its streets are ruled by collaborators and vampires alike.

Northern Anfang – The Free Flame

The northern half of Anfang is forested, mountainous, and guarded by a diverse coalition of allied forces. Though outmatched in numbers and resources, this resistance has held strong for over three decades. The region is protected by the Northern Line, a vast wall of elemental magic, stone bastions, and divine warding.

Dragon’s Eye: A stronghold hidden in the cliffs, rumored to have ancestral ties to the Pendragon bloodline. Aerin and Armond are on their way to this location.
Lydia’s Refuge, Ravenholm, Mythril Hall, and Elysianna’s Garden form a protective network of supply lines and healing sanctuaries.

Political Control

Avalonian Dominion (South)

Ruled by Imperial Dogma and zealots who use human puppets as governors and military officers.
All civic and military duties are enforced by collaborators from the Black Sigil.
The southern population is enslaved under constant surveillance and indoctrination.

Council of Resistance (North)

A unified command composed of:

Kethari Elves: Protectors of terrain and wielders of divine and natural magic.
Dwarves of the Highlands: Experts in fortifications and anti-vampire weaponry.
Dragons: Revered aerial protectors who intervene in moments of critical need.
Elementals from Obraxus: Architects of defensive rituals and ecological purification.
Free Peoples: Operatives skilled in infiltration and magical disruption.

Together, they coordinate tactics, resource sharing, and spiritual protection across the north.

Human Society in the South

The Black Sigil

Role: Human collaborators who enforce Avalonian rule.
Uniform: Black military attire bearing a silver rune reading “Humanity Triumphant.”
Duties: Lead executions, reeducation, labor supervision, and loyalty events.
Advantages: Backed by vampires (Hidden Figures), politically protected, and feared by civilians.
Weaknesses: Despised by the people, disorganized leadership, and infiltrated by rebel agents.

The Ashborn

Role: The enslaved human population of Southern Anfang.
Duties: Forced labor in mines, farms, and construction. Participate in loyalty rituals.
Strengths: Deep cultural unity, coded languages, terrain knowledge, and sheer numbers.
Weaknesses: No formal training or weapons. Constant surveillance and emotional exhaustion.

The Ashborn quietly preserve their culture through song, art, hidden carvings, and oral history. Many risk their lives to pass information to the resistance or sabotage Avalonian efforts.

Resistance and Warfare

Skirmishes erupt daily along the Northern Line.
The Resistance uses guerrilla tactics, natural barriers, and synchronized spellcraft to strike and vanish.
Avalonia deploys conscripted soldiers constantly to thwart the rebellion that isn’t organized.

Despite decades of attrition, not a single inch of northern territory has been lost in over thirty years.

Lydia’s Refuge / Heaven's Eye

A city in the sky, born from sacrifice and still touched by starlight.

Suspended high above southern Anfang, Lydia’s Refuge is a floating sanctuary anchored by five ancient mana pillars. At its center stands the crystalized form of Lydia, daughter of Lazarus II, who gave her life to lift the island and protect its people. Her magic sustains the land, the light, and the peace that surrounds it.

Once a haven of harmony, the city now drifts in silence. Its markets are quiet, its guardians few, and its people weary from peace. Yet the Sixth Pillar still glows, and the sky still remembers.

The Refuge is not lost. It is waiting.

Dragon’s Eye

Dragon’s Eye is a reclaimed fortress city nestled along the Sapphire Coast, surrounded by jungle and protected by sea walls. Once a forgotten penal outpost overtaken by vines and time, it has since been rebuilt into a thriving coastal bastion under the banner of liberation. The lighthouse, known as the Eye Flame, now blazes atop the keep, its alchemical glow guiding ships toward a city of unity, resistance, and rebirth.

The image captures its defining character: fortified stone bastions, bustling wooden docks, cobbled streets, and a vibrant harbor pulsing with trade and warships alike. Crimson-roofed guildhalls and restored turrets rise behind high walls, while jungle creepers still cling to the edges, a constant reminder of the wild that once consumed it.

It is the seat of Armond and Aerin Pendragon, founders of the rebellion and bearers of a new kingdom. Here, survivors become soldiers, outcasts find belonging, and the Eye Flame watches over a people who refuse to be broken again.

The Twin Gates

Carved into the jagged cliffs of Anfang’s central spine, the Twin Gates stand as the last threshold before the wild southern plains give way to the reclaimed north. Once a forgotten checkpoint of the Old Elysian Empire, the structure has been reforged into a monumental bastion, equal parts barricade and beacon.

With its towering red-stone battlements and twin keeps, the gate complex is a marvel of early Elysian architecture, now reinforced by rebel stonewrights and Obraxan elementalists. Between its massive towers is a gate of ironwood and bronze, etched with wards, crests, and the emblem of the Pendragon Rebellion. The road that passes through it leads directly to the shores below Lydia’s Refuge and the battered fortress of Dragon’s Eye.

Though few Avalonian forces have dared to test it, the Twin Gates remain heavily garrisoned by Highland dwarves, Gaialeth wardens, and freeborn human scouts. Ballistae line the upper ramparts. Spellforged lenses watch the southern horizon.

Aphrodite's Garden

Aphrodite’s Garden stretches across the golden plains of Anfang, a vast expanse of fertile fields enclosed by high walls and guarded watchtowers. Once a sanctuary of beauty and love, it has been reshaped into the breadbasket of rebellion, where crops feed resistance cells hidden among the laborers. At its heart lies a fortified estate, part temple and part granary, where druids and farmers work side by side to preserve both harvest and hope. To Avalonia, it is a target to seize; to Anfang, it is sacred ground, a place where life itself rises in quiet defiance against empire and ash.

Dinah's Hold

Hidden deep within the forests of Anfang, Dinah’s Hold is a solemn temple built upon ancient stone, its golden dome gleaming faintly even beneath the canopy’s shadow. Named after Armond Pendragon’s half-sister, Dinah, the site carries both reverence and dread: a place of prophecy entwined with betrayal. Beneath its sanctified halls lies a labyrinth of dungeons, where Avalonia once chained seers and oracles to silence their visions. To the resistance, Dinah’s Hold is a sacred relic reclaimed, a place where whispers of IO’s truth stir once more in defiance of Avalonia’s chains.

Dragon's Claw
Dragon’s Claw is Anfang’s greatest river-port city, its sprawling markets and towering colonnades carved into the shape of a dragon’s talon gripping the coastline. It is a center of commerce and rebellion, where smugglers, freedom fighters, and merchants gather under Avalonia’s watchful eye. Though imperial banners fly from its walls, the spirit of Anfang breathes in every alley, with secret cells of resistance hiding beneath the bustle of trade. Named for the cliffs that curve like the claw of a great wyrm, the city is both lifeblood and battlefield, its wealth fuels Avalonia, but its heart beats for freedom.

Dragon's Nest
Dragon’s Nest clings to the northern cliffs of Anfang, a proud harbor city where Avalonia’s banners have never flown. Its stone walls rise directly from the sea, shielding the bustling docks and watchtowers that guard against imperial fleets. Known as both fortress and sanctuary, it serves as a haven for free sailors, smugglers, and rebels who defy Avalonia’s rule. The people of Dragon’s Nest live with constant vigilance, yet with fierce pride, for theirs is one of the last bastions of Anfang still wholly free.

Dragon's Spine
Dragon’s Spine, once a thriving harbor of Anfang, now bears Avalonia’s iron grip. Its white stone piers and terraced streets bustle with trade, but every ship that docks pays tribute to the empire, and every market is watched by Avalonian guards. The city’s name comes from the jagged cliffs that rise like the bones of a fallen wyrm above its coast, cliffs now scarred with Avalonian banners and fortifications. To Avalonia, Dragon’s Spine is a jewel of conquest and a vital artery for their fleets; to Anfang, it is a city shackled, its spirit broken but not yet extinguished.

Dragon's Tail
Dragon’s Tail is the crown of northern Anfang, a vast and thriving city that Avalonia has never claimed. Its wide markets and stone streets teem with merchants, farmers, and sailors, while banners of freedom hang proudly over every gate. The city is both trade hub and fortress, its wealth feeding the resistance and its walls standing defiant against Avalonian siege. Named for the great dragon said to have once wound its body across the northern hills, Dragon’s Tail remains a symbol of Anfang’s unbroken spirit, a living reminder that the empire does not rule all.

Lighthouse of Beginning
The Lighthouse of Beginning rises from the jagged cliffs outside Oro’Hof, its cold flame guiding ships into Avalonia’s most infamous harbor. To traders and nobles it is a beacon of profit, but to the enslaved it marks the end of freedom, the final light they see before chains. Its foundations are carved with runes of binding, said to silence the cries of those taken through Oro’Hof’s gates. Standing as the first line of the city, the lighthouse is both watchtower and warning, a reminder that Avalonia’s dominion begins not on land, but on the tides.

Mythril Hall
Carved deep into the spine of the northern mountains, Mythril Hall is both fortress and forge, a bastion of Anfang’s resistance and a jewel Avalonia has long coveted. Its walls are cut from living stone, and its forges burn day and night, producing weapons and armor of unmatched strength from the mithril veins that run beneath the peaks. Generations of dwarves and rebels alike have shed blood to keep it free, for the hall is not just a stronghold but the lifeblood of Anfang’s war effort. To Avalonia, it is the key to crushing the rebellion; to Anfang, it is hope itself wrought in steel.

Oro'Hof
Oro’Hof sprawls along the Ebhoran coast, its marble docks and gilded halls masking the rot at its core. Once a jewel of Anfang trade, it was seized by Avalonia and transformed into the empire’s largest slaver hub. Every street echoes with the cries of the chained, as auctions fill its plazas and ships heavy with captives sail under Avalonian banners. Overseers and priests call it the empire’s lifeblood, but to the conquered it is a city of despair, where freedom ends and bondage begins.

Ravenholm
Ravenholm rises from the roots and branches of a colossal world-tree, a city of elves woven seamlessly into the living heart of nature. Once a sanctuary of peace and druidic harmony, it now lies scarred by Avalonia’s war machines and burning sigils carved into the bark of its great tree. The air hums with the clash of steel and spell as druids and rangers fight desperately to protect their home, while Avalonia seeks to sever the city’s lifeblood and claim its magic for the empire. To the elves, Ravenholm is sacred ground; to Avalonia, it is simply another conquest waiting to fall.

Warden's Ash
Warden’s Ash yawns like a black scar in the mountain, an ancient escape tunnel branching from the depths of the Mythril Mines. Originally carved as an emergency route, it has long since become a hidden refuge, sheltering a quiet population of outcasts, miners’ families, and rebels who refuse Avalonia’s yoke. Smoke from its hidden hearths often drifts faintly into the night air, giving the cavern its name, though few outside Anfang know of its existence. To Avalonia it is nothing but a forgotten crevice, but to the resistance it is both sanctuary and secret weapon, ready to open when the time for retreat, or ambush, comes.