Hollin is a cosmopolitan city with a million souls of all races. It's the New York City or London of its time, and a good mental model for Hollin is eighteenth century London with a dash of medieval Cairo. It's near the northern extreme of the continent Anhault.

Hollin is home to the Anhault Charter Company. Originally chartered by rival city Naumkaeg to trade in opium, whale oil, and other products, the Company grew over time to become the de facto government of Hollin and much of Anhault, with its own fleet and Admiralty. Many Hollin locals still consider it a foreign power.

Other business in Hollin includes shipbuilding, fishing, and a financial industry. The financial industry supports a range of enterprises, like funding a whaler's season, underwriting the Admiralty itself, or chartering new settlement companies.

People are afraid of the supernatural in Hollin and can turn violent, so magic users beware.

Here is a map of Hollin. Besides the borough of Braddock described below, sites in Hollin include:

Lofton Castle. Lofton castle was built outside Hollin in a past age, and Hollin has since grown around it. No longer useful for defense, it's now abandoned. The flooded caverns under Lofton are the sometimes home of the tentacled sea monster Aachen.

Apogee. Apogee is a cliff high above Lofton Castle. It has a good view of Braddock across the river below.

The campaign's home is Braddock, one of the oldest boroughs in Hollin. The riverside in Braddock is a bustling hive with commercial ports, an Admiralty shipyard, and an open-air market. Braddock also has hospital and financial districts.

The commercial ports include the salt and fish market. Fishing vessels returning from their season in distant waters drop off holds full of salted fish here and take on more salt for their next voyage. The hulks Mothernaked and Stiles are also among the commercial docks. These obsolete ships hold overflow from Braddock's prison and asylum, respectively.

In the Admiralty shipyard, there are partially completed ships in the drydocks and the keels of future ships being laid nearby. The community of craftsmen supporting the shipyard seems to be a small city in itself. Admiralty press gangs prowl nearby looking for hapless men to draft into service.

The open-air market is the congested Times Square of Hollin. It includes costermongers, who sell fruit and vegetables; a rag fair that sells clothes; and a meat market with live animals called the Shambles.

We're using the map of Freeport as our map of Braddock. Sites in Braddock include:

Meade Hospital Morgue. Meade Hospital includes a morgue that takes in bodies, often crime victims, from all over Hollin. Because people fear being buried alive, the morque is a "waiting morgue," where bodies are watched for signs of life for several days before burial.

Milla's boarding house is on the river, overlooking the docks. Jennish has a room there.

The Mooncalf. A former mechant hostel, the Mooncalf's upper floors are a boarding house, while its basements are an infamous labyrinth of opium dens. Kasskar has a room here.

Werner's sanctuary. Werner maintains a secretive sanctuary for untouchables and girls in trouble. The enclosed courtyard has an entrance to the sewers that can be used to enter the sewers without being seen by outsiders.

The Whipsaw. The Whipsaw is a tavern with illicit bare-knuckle boxing and gambling in the basement. Since it's intensely crowded and noisy, it's a good place to slip a note into someone's pocket unseen. Other illicit boxing rings in the city include the Kill-courtesy near the Whipsaw, and the Stuck Pig near Hobnail Prison.

When Kasskar tries to organized paid fights at the Whipsaw, the Whipsaw is attacked by the Hobnail Prison gang, who are protecting their turf.

The Winter Wolf. Beowolf's adoptive parents' weapon shop and home.

The wider world is called Balaal. Balaal's north pole is covered by the continent Hilde. Hilde is surrounded by the Bellem Sea, which serves the roles of Arctic Circle, Northwest Passage, and Mediterranean Sea. The Bellem is surrounded by continents including Anhault, Kiln, Beiden, and Luhne, which are home to rival cities that trade on the Bellem: Hollin, Naumkaeg, Kravnik, Welkin, and Blackwells.

Here is a map of Balaal.

The continent of Hilde covers the north pole. Hilde's periphery has the climate of Canada or Scandinavia, while its interior is an Antarctica-like waste. Some valuable resources bring traders and settlers here. Hilde's waters are good whaling grounds. Quinine, the main defense against malaria, comes from Hilde. Guano is found here -- it's used in making saltpeter, which is needed in turn to make gunpowder.

But, Hilde is a lawless land, where the rivals that trade peacefully on the Bellem war savagely on each others' settlements and people.

Here is a map of part of Hilde. Sites on Hilde include:

Bruegel. Bruegel is a surreal hell-town on the Pollard River. With the explorer Ammiral, the party retrieves the meteor Noreste there.

Highpyre. Highpyre was the great city of the Inkeri, Hilde's spartan warriors and craftsmen. Highpyre was a sentinel city, guarding against abominations coming out of Hilde's inhuman waste. When it was burned 17 years ago, the residents were killed, and other Inkeri fled their cities. The Inkeri need a Hero with a capital H who can reassemble them, rebuild Highpyre, and take up their fight again.

The Inkeri were great craftsmen as well; the ruined tower here once held Lethe's star in the top, which lit the city through Hilde's long sunless winter.

Highpyre was Beowolf's home as an infant, until it was burned.

Pitcairn. The abandoned fortress that overlooks the entrance to Hilde's bay.

Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a Blackwells city that guards the river to Lake Annika, where Blackwells maintains a greencake facility.