Bruinswald is a relatively small town, for being such a major agricultural hub. The population is primarily humans and mammalian creatures, with a few reptilians and avians moving in in recent years. Situated near an enormous forest, the town is home to several dozen large farms that take full advantage of the region's temperate climate, as well as the blessings the forest seems to bestow upon them. The town was originally founded near a small shrine at the edge of the woods, and it wasn't too long after the founding that local farmers figured out that leaving offerings at this shrine tended to result in bumper crops.

Naturally, this practice continued. The shrine became a place of power, and the forest with it. Nobody logs in that forest. Nobody cuts down a single tree. Dead wood is collected daily, and the kitsune who live in the forest keep it safe for the citizens and travellers. In return, the foxes receive a small amount of food for free, from each crop.

A few days' ride to the north is Haven's Reach, a port town built into the side of a sheer cliff. Haven's Reach is avian town, with most of the citizenry capable of self-sustaining flight. It was recently attacked by the pirate, Hecate Mirrorblood, and is still in the process of rebuilding from her destructive rampage. Thankfully, very few citizens were seriously wounded. Haven's Reach is known primarily for its port, and for its seafood and textiles. The various bird species who live there make excellent weavers, as do the otters.

To the west of Bruinswald is the sea, roughly a week's steady ride by horseback. To the east, a mountain range. To the south, the plains open up and extend immensely, leading to the rest of the continent. Bruinswald is a temperate climate, but when the weather gets nasty, it gets very nasty. Storms capable of levelling smaller villages roll through about twice per year, during the rainy season. And when winter comes, it hits either with lethally destructive force, or barely gets cold. There doesn't seem to be much in between.

Seafaring terror Hecate Mirrorblood is a pirate and Bladesinger; a profession combining arcane prowess and defences with virtuosic bladework to devastating effect. While she is apparently human, her skin and hair are both exceptionally pale. Her destructive spree of piracy was accompanied by a magically conjured super storm, and all the towns she hit were shielded by illusions so neighbors wouldn't see or hear the destruction until it was far too late.

A group of adventurers confronted her crew and defeated most of them, but barely survived the encounter themselves. When Mirrorblood made her appearance the beleaguered adventurers exchanged words rather than blows with the notorious pirate, where they learned that the cause of her violent rampage was a search for someone precious to her.

Mirrorblood had lost her wife Shanoa, and was told she'd been reborn into a new body; a girl with silver eyes and a starburst pattern around the pupil.

Kitsune are a varied, bipedal, fox-like race known to inhabit the forest surrounding Bruinswald, where they are supplied food and their territory respected in exchange for keeping the forest safe to traverse and, generally speaking, free of threats to the established communities.

Bird-like people. A large population occupies Heaven's Reach, and recently more have been moving into Bruinswald.

As the name implies, lizard-like people that inhabit a few areas, namely Bruinswald and Heaven's Reach.

Below are people and their contributions, with varying degrees of accuracy.

Samson: Bruinswald
Zerika: Bruinswald, Hecate Mirrorblood
Zakura: Haven's Reach Ilkay: Bruinswald