Brokk (BROCK) is a mountainous land, with two high plateaus at its center. The larger one, Great Plateau, is rugged, too infertile for much farming. Its people are mostly herders. The other, Sunrise Plateau, is more fertile, and is covered with ash from old volcanic explosions. Most mining is done on Great Plateau, though there are rumors that the richest mines are buried beneath meters of ash on Sunrise Plateau. Brokk's coast is on the Inner Sea.

Apart from the fertile central valley, cut by the River Surva, the climate is very harsh, and bitterly cold in winter.

Earthquakes are common. Very occasionally smoke arises from one of the volcanic peaks, but they have been dormant for thousands of years.

Trading is done by river where possible: rafts of timber or brushwood, supported by 200-800 inflated sheepskins, float down and are hauled up the River Surva. The largest can carry up to 30 tonnes of cargo. On Great Plateau the remains of ancient roads are still in use, but on Sunrise Plateau they have been buried under ash.

The people are the Brokki (BROCK-ee). Long ago, Brokk was the center of the Empire of the Mages, and is still strewn with the ancient wreckage of that sophisticated and legendary civilization. Despite this, the social organization is now tribal. The people are semi-nomads, moving to new pastures to feed their cattle, sheep and goats through the winter, but returning to the same summer lands each year, to farm them.

Those tribes that own and use mines of a valuable mineral also form it into beautiful works of art.

Peasants are free-spoken to nobles and kings, though they respect the armed protection they get from them. Nobles are aware that it is the peasants who provide their food, and feel responsible for their welfare. The King of each tribe is first among equals, elected by the tribal council, and he would soon be deposed by it if he ignored its advice, or failed to consult it.

Criminals are exiled, unless their shaman looks at their aura and sees great evil there, when they are executed, and the body burned. The family deals with lesser crimes.

The people are wary of Gods: their civilization was destroyed once, and something similar could happen again at any time. Gods are propitiated, rather than loved.

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