“Between the Ringing Mountains and the Sea of Silt, the traveler finds hermits, thri-kreen packs, nomad tribes, isolated villages, and the Seven Cities known to remain on Athas. One meets people of all races and classes: human nobles and slaves, elf raiders, half-giant mercenaries, and even the rare halfling wanderer. This region is the great mixing bowl of Athas, in which the different cultures of many peoples are forced to mingle or clash.”
—The Wanderer’s Journal
What remains of Athasian civilization is cupped in the broad plains and deserts between the mighty Ringing Mountains and the impassable Sea of Silt. This wide area is known as the Tyr Region after its oldest city, although these days, Tyr is no more powerful or influential than its neighbors. (In fact, Tyr, mired in turmoil, is desperately vulnerable at the moment.) Beyond the borderlands of this region lie desolate wastes; some people believe that the Tyr Region is the last habitable area on Athas, and that all the people remaining in the world live in these lands.
The sorcerer-kings have ruled the Tyr Region for longer than anyone can remember. For generations, no one contested their power and lived to tell about it, but everything changed recently when a spear impaled Kalak, the sorcerer-king of Tyr. Kalak’s death and Tyr’s liberation marked the beginning of a new era, shaking thrones that had not been threatened in countless years. Rumors of Tyr’s newfound freedom spread like wildfire across the Seven Cities, giving pause to sorcerer-kings who hoped that thoughts of rebellion would not spread to their own domains.