A covered wagon crossing a stone bridge over a deep gorge on the Continental Roads, mountains and sea beyond.
  1. Vows of War
  2. The World
The world of Vows of War

The world of Dorenvar

Two continents, one wound between them, and a peace that both sides are starting to doubt. This is where Vows of War is set.

After the last war

A world that has already survived its worst war

To end the last war, the old powers spent nearly all the magic there was. What remains is personal in scale. A caster can ward, mend, brand or siphon, but nobody alive can move a sea or raise a mountain.

The war left a scar you can sail across. Aurethain and Varkesh were one land until it tore them apart, and the Sundersea filled the gap. Two generations later, the Concord and the Scarred Dominion still watch each other across it.

A painted map of Dorenvar on aged vellum: the forested, snow-capped continent of Aurethain to the west and the fractured, volcanic continent of Varkesh to the east, divided by the deep channel of the Sundersea.
Aurethain in the west, Varkesh in the east, and the Sundersea between them. The coasts still match, cliff for cliff.
The shape of the world

Two continents and two ways across

Aurethain
The western continent and the Concord’s homeland: woodland roads, farm country, fens and high passes, with the hill city of Caelmont at its heart.
Varkesh
The eastern continent and the Dominion’s: calderas, obsidian uplands, black sand and white sea cliffs, ruled from the rift city of Scarhold.
The Sundersea
Not an ordinary sea. It fills the gap the war tore between the continents, and both sides guard the crossings like the wound it is.
The crossings
Whitewake Passage by ship and the Galehook Skyway by air. Both keep real departure times, and you ride them with whoever else is aboard.
Two factions

The Concord and the Scarred Dominion

Neither side is the evil empire. They are two answers to the same catastrophe, and each is sure the other is about to break the treaty.

A Concord hill city of pale stone and gold domes rising in ceremonial terraces, hung with blue-and-gold banners above a green valley.
The Concord

Former rivals who chose to share one crown

The Concord rebuilt by refusing to do it alone. Its council keeps one seat for every race and elects a High Sovereign in turn; today the Sovereign is a Thaeli elder. Caelmont, its capital, exists to prove in stone and ceremony that old enemies can live under one roof.

Capital
Caelmont
Continent
Aurethain
Races
Human, Voren, Thaeli, Solmara
Faction class
Accordant
Colors
Blue and gold
A Scarred Dominion rift city: tiered basalt terraces and canopies stepping down a chasm lit from below by forge fire, iron bridges spanning the gap.
The Scarred Dominion

Strength endures where sentiment fails

The Dominion prizes strength, discipline and results over diplomacy and ceremony. A single Iron Regent rules from Scarhold, a city built down the walls of a rift, while the Kovar hall of the Vaultworks shapes its industry and arms. Its people love, build and grieve like anyone. They just don’t make speeches about it.

Capital
Scarhold
Continent
Varkesh
Races
Dominion Human, Kaldreth, Vantik, Kovar
Faction class
Forgestorm
Colors
Soot-grey and red

The cold peace

The borders have been closed for two generations. Moving an army is an act of war, and each side’s guards treat the other’s people as enemies.

Lately something has been testing that peace: raiders on the roads, wreckers on the coast, and evidence that always seems to point across the water.

Regions

Places you can walk today

Every region below is open in early access, from the starting regions of each race to the capitals and the contested roads between them.

  • Woodland roads, a stone footbridge and a thatched village in Greenreach.Concord · Starting region

    Greenreach

    Woodland roads, warm hearths and an old forest behind the farms. The East Road has gone quiet, and the road wardens are short of hands. Humans and Voren begin here, and Briarwood waits beyond it.

  • Pale stone quays and clear turquoise water in Tideglass Reach.Concord · Starting region

    Tideglass Reach

    A harbor of pale stone, brass tide instruments and clear water, where the Solmara keep their oath to the sea. The Solmara begin here, and you can swim its shallows.

  • Homes grown into giant roots beneath a living canopy in Rootwake Glade.Concord · Starting region

    Rootwake Glade

    Grown-root homes, stairs and bridges beneath a living canopy, kept by the Thaeli, who begin here.

  • Golden wheat fields, a mill and a farm road along Sungrain Road.Concord

    Sungrain Road

    Golden fields, working farms and the open road that carries grain to the capital.

  • The pale walls and towers of Caelmont rising from street to citadel.Concord · Capital

    Caelmont

    The Concord’s capital, a hill city of pale stone and brass rising from crowded streets to the citadel. Its council keeps a seat for every race, and its auction house serves the whole faction.

  • Reed-roofed homes and lanterns on boardwalks over the Amberfen at sunset.Concord

    Amberfen Basin

    Reed roofs, boardwalks and lanterns over a fen that has gone too quiet.

  • A stone bridge and highland trail below snowy peaks in the Crownspine Highlands.Concord

    Crownspine Highlands

    Highland trails, broad skies and brass-bound crossings, with snow in the high passes.

  • A covered wagon crossing a stone bridge over a gorge on the Continental Roads.Contested · Whitewake

    The Continental Roads

    The long roads between familiar places, and Whitewake, where both factions meet: a practice green for duels, a harbor for the crossing and a signal field worth fighting over.

  • Terraced works and lifts climbing the walls of a dry caldera in Cinderwake Hollow.Dominion · Starting region

    Cinderwake Hollow

    Orchard terraces and working lifts inside a caldera. Dominion Humans and Kovar begin here.

  • Bright cloth canopies and flowering terraces on black volcanic rock in the Ashen Crucible.Dominion · Starting region

    Ashen Crucible

    Bright cloth and flowering terraces on obsidian, where the Kaldreth clans settle their arguments in the open.

  • Rookery decks and teal cloth on white sea cliffs above the sea at Galehook.Dominion · Starting region

    Galehook Rookeries

    Perched decks and wind-tugged cloth above the sea. The Vantik begin here, and the Galehook Skyway leaves for the far shore.

  • Scarhold’s arched bridges and terraces spanning a deep rift lit by lamps.Dominion · Capital

    Scarhold

    A living city held above the rift, ruled by the Iron Regent, with the Vaultworks at its heart and an auction house for the whole faction.

  • A caravan shelter on black sand among glass-dark stone in the Glassfire Expanse.Dominion

    Glassfire Expanse

    Caravan shelters among black sand and glass-dark stone. Nobody crosses it alone.

A living world

The world keeps its own hours

  • One sky for everyone

    One real hour is one hour in Dorenvar, and every player shares the same sky. Dawn, dusk and moonlit nights arrive for everyone at once.

  • Weather by region

    Rain rolls in off the coast, snow settles in the Crownspine passes, and ash drifts over the Dominion’s fire country.

  • Shrines along the road

    Fall in battle and your spirit is released at a shrine. Walk back to your body and pick up where you left off.

  • Folk with their own lives

    Quest givers want something now, guards will tell you the way to a trainer or a vendor, and many people speak their lines aloud.

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