Geography of the Alternaverse


Now updated with Final Quest information. Click on all maps to enlarge. Credit to Ramah,Vhailor and Wag of Cartographer's Guild for the mountain and forest brushes.

Father Tree and its surrounding forest were destroyed by fire in the sixth year of Swift's reign as chieftess, but now they have regenerated. Father Tree itself is no more, but the Wolfriders later established a new Holt - the Evertree, a day's travel away. Several days journey to the north are the Highlands that once sheltered Halfhill Holt, home of the Wolfriders before Goodtree founded Father Tree. A half-night's journey south of Father Tree are the remnants of Greymung's troll kingdom, and beyond it, the Burning Waste. A three days' travel across the Burning Waste brings the traveller to Sorrow's End, the former home of the Sun Folk and the Jackwolf Riders. Sorrow's End (renamed Sarazen) is now a thriving troll settlement.

The World's Spine mountain range is home to several dormant and extinct volcanoes, such as the famous Smoking Mountain which occasionally erupts just as it does in canon EQ. Midway down the World's Spine lie Oasis, and the hot springs of the Cinder Pools, where the healer Melati practiced many of her fleshshaping experiments. South of the World's Spine, lies the Black Snake's Bite, a large bay between the northern and southern half of the Homeland continent. In the far south lies the Forevergreen rainforest, and the new home of the Hoan-G'Tay Sho.

Blue Mountain collapsed during Winnowill's Great Egg scheme, and has been rebuilt by the trolls under Two-Edge. Small streams and ponds surrounding Blue Mountain are currently polluted with the remnants of Winnowill's magic. However, the larger Death Water River, which courses south of Blue Mountain, remains unpolluted, and continues to pour down the Deathwater Falls.

North of Blue Mountain is the Snow Country, the ancestral home of both the Wolfriders and the Go-Backs. The High One's Throne Chamber, a cave once inhabited by Haken and the eventual founders of Blue Mountain, lies near the coast of Darkwater Lake (the Muchcold Water of canon EQ). In the Frozen Mountains lies Wayfair, the original resting place of the Palace. King Picknose and his Mountain Trolls live underneath the Frozen Mountains, south of Wayfair. During a coup d'etat in the troll caverns, Picknose was briefly forced into exile to Picknose's Keep, and war between trolls and elves forced the Go-Backs to move westward. There they founded the second Go-Back lodge at what Teir and Kirjan eventually named Passage Point. The war has since ended, but Kahvi's Go-Backs remain at Passage Point. Mardu's followers continued west, and found the Northern Passage, a trail of islands leading towards the New Land. In summer the ice pack doesn't extend far enough south, and a traveller needs a boat to island-hop. In winter, however, the trip can be made over the winter ice sheet. This is how Mardu's Go-Backs crossed over to the New Land  and became the Plainsrunners.

In the New Land, the Wolfriders have established several holts. The original New Land colony, Thorny Mountain Holt, until recently served as a sort of "Wolfrider retreat" where Wolfriders could rediscover the Way in a familiar temperate forest setting. The Eldertribe under Redlance shared Thorny Mountain with the small Go-Back tribe known as the Yellow Creek Pack. Once the Eldertribe left for the Evertree, the Pack had the run of Thorny Mountain. They remained there for many centuries, but after increasing human incursions, the Pack moved north to Willow Camp.

The Plainsrunners, led by Mardu, dominate the interior of the New Land. Many separate clans maintain a nomadic lifestyle, roaming across the Plainswaste. But every eight years all the clans come together at a great Gathering. Over the millennia, many different camps have served as the location for the Gathering - Solstice, Refuge, or Howling Rock.

Howling Rock was once a frequent rest-stop for the Wild Hunt. Human settlement at the Rock led to frequent conflicts with the elves. During the Battle of Djaar Mornek, during which many elves died, Rayek sterilized the entire area with the power of the Palace. The land has been slow in recovering from the ecological devastation.

The largest elfin nation in the New Land is the Great Holt, located on the Great Spur peninsula. The Great Holt Wolfriders are led by Venka, Blood of Eleven Chiefs. The River Folk, descendants of Islanders and wandering Go-Backs, also live in the Great Holt.  The Great Holt was founded a few day's travel north of Crest Point, the southern-most tip of the Great Spur. The Holt sits alongside the Green River, a large tropical river that floods every autumn. The Holt is composed of the Grandfather Tree, a collection of large banyan trees which are constantly twisted and shaping in new dens and burrows. Just west of the Great Holt is a small hill that sits above the flood line. The Palace sits on top of the hill whenever its not in flight, and its lower chambers link up with extensive caves that rockshapers have shaped throughout the hill.

The Great Holt is served by the port of Saltgrove, several days journey to the south. They are connected by the Skyway, an aerial highway built among the trees.

 

South of the Great Holt are the Islands. These islands are the home of the Islanders, also known as the New Land Elves, the seafarers, and the pirates. They are scattered across several islands at the north end of the chain, but the main settlement is at Green Moon Bay. More like Sorrow's End than any other "holt", this collections of caves and huts serve as the home for about a hundred and fifty elves. The next largest settlement is Greywake, with nearly thirty elves. Another few "eights" are scattered over the islands that make up the Southern Coves.

Sailing out of Green Moon Bay is the pirates' ship, captained by Savin's brother Loosestrife. Several human settlements line the southwest coast of the Spur, and they are frequent targets for pirate "raids." Across the Great Spur from the Holt are the New Land troll caverns, inhabited by the descents of the first trolls who sailed with the pirates' ancestors over five thousand years ago.

 Across the Idyl Water lies the sun-blasted continent of Hearthstone. A very old and geologically exhausted land, it was settled by elves by accident when Savin's father Eastwaker was swept off-course while trying to navigate the open sea in his ship the Flying Fish. After drifting in the doldrums of the Idyl Water for many eights-of-days, Eastwaker and his surviving crewmembers washed up on the south-eastern coast of Hearthstone.

The elves made their Home Camp on the edge of a large estuary, within eroded limestone towers. For many years they could only focus on survival, as they found themselves at war with the reptilian dreadclaws. But after they made peace with the land's native inhabitants, they began to explore Hearthstone in an attempt to find a way home. They soon learned that Hearthstone was an island, with a worn mountain range along the western coast, and a vast interior desert they named Trickster's Forge.


 Elfquest copyright 2016 Warp Graphics, Inc. Elfquest, its logos, characters, situations, all related indicia, and their distinctive likenesses are trademarks of Warp Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. Alternaverse characters and insanity copyright 2016 Jane Senese and Erin Roberts. Abode maps by Jane Senese.