The Marcati Isles lie north of mainland Albain, separated from the continent by the narrow and often turbulent waters of the Marcati Channels. Between the two principal isles rests the infamous Bloodland, a barren and desolate rock said to be littered with the bones of fallen Marcati warriors from centuries of civil war and failed invasions. Even now, few willingly set foot upon its shores.

The two great islands—known formally as the Royalist’s Isle and the Loyalist’s Isle, though more commonly called the Black Cat’s Isle and the Queen’s Isle—share a climate of brooding skies, cold winds, and long grey seasons. Yet despite their harshness, both possess moments of remarkable beauty. During spring and summer, the lowlands of the Queen’s Isle transform into rolling expanses of green and gold, bright with wild grasses and flowering hillsides. Travel further inland or northward, however, and the landscape gradually surrenders once more to frost, snow, and glacial ice.

At the northernmost edge of the Royalist’s Isle stands Bresly Point, an isolated settlement so small and remote that it seems almost forgotten by the wider world. Eternal winter grips the region with relentless severity, leaving little room for crops, comfort, or mercy. Yet the hardy inhabitants who remain there endure with quiet stubbornness, respecting the brutal cold even as they refuse to yield entirely before it.

Among the most mysterious landmarks in all the Isles are the legendary Sealed Gates of the Queen’s Isle. Carved directly into the sheer face of a mountain from a smooth black stone resembling obsidian, the colossal gates tower over twenty feet high. Their origins are unknown, and no record exists of them ever having opened. Even during the height of summer, when the surrounding ice briefly retreats from their dark surface, the gates remain shut in absolute silence.

Many believe the Sealed Gates predate the arrival of the Marcati themselves, standing as remnants of a forgotten civilisation or perhaps something far older still.