Balaal is the world beyond Hollin. Balaal is a world of metropolitan trading cities, religious zealots, and fell arctic barbarians.
Balaal's north pole is covered by the continent Hilde, which is surrounded by the Bellem Sea. In turn, the Bellem is surrounded by the continents Anhault, Kiln, Beiden, and Luhne, which are home to rival cities that trade on the Bellem: Hollin, Naumkaeg, Kravnik, Welkin, and Blackwells. One more great trading city, al-Watan, is further south near the equator.
Here is a map of Balaal's northern hemisphere.
Note: Kelly introduced the Caliphate as part of Ord Redding's background.
The Caliphate is a desert empire on the continent of Luhne, straddling the equator far south of Hollin and the other Bellem Sea city states. The Caliphate is aggressively expansionist, and enslaves and forcibly converts conquered subjects.
The Caliphate worships ninety-nine gods, collectively called just "the Ninety-Nine." The Caliphs, a council of the Ninety-Nines' descendants, rule as a theocracy.
The capital al-Watan is on the turbulent Bay of Nasir, at the mouth of the Jahara River. al-Watan's two most prominent features are the three-story-high coliseum and the walled citadel, which commands the city's highest point. Hundreds of churches in the city are devoted to the individual Ninety-Nine gods, and their domes and minarets clutter the skyline.
A shop near al-Watan's docks, the Grotesquery, sells curiosities from the four corners of the earth - withered monkey paws and masks made from long beaks and mystery creatures' hair. A few real treasures with forgotten histories are hidden among the curiosities.
The Jahara River's annual flood renews a narrow ribbon of fertile soil that gives the Caliphate life. But away from the Jahara, the Caliphate is a desert country, hostile to human life.
Hilde is the continent at Balaal's north pole. Hilde's periphery is cold but habitable, while the interior is an icy waste that attracts only the most hardened explorers.
The Bellem Sea city-states trade peacefully outside Hilde, but hold Hilde to be lawless, and war savagely on each others' settlements there. They struggle over Hilde's resources, like guano, needed to make gunpowder; and quinine, the best defense against malaria.
The Inkeri are Hilde's native barbarians. Inkeri clans are ruled by the strong, determined by single combat. The Inkeri religious leaders are shaman, and Inkeri warriors coming of age are expected to seek out an animal spirit through an intense physical trial.
Highpyre was the great Inkeri capital, and their sentinel city on the edge of Hilde's waste. An unknown attacker burned the city thirty-four years ago and killed everyone except the infant Beowolf, and the Inkeri fled their other cities.
The Inkeri were craftsmen as well as warriors. Highpyre's tower held their masterwork, Lethe's Star. Lethe's Star lit Highpyre through Hilde's sunless winter, but is now missing.
Here is a map of Hilde near Highpyre.
