The World of Zerith

What is Zerith?
Properly speaking, the name just refers to a continent and it's major adjacent islands, but to most people, it's used interchangeably to mean the whole world. This has led to recent complications with the [re-]discovery of the High Blood Empire continent on the far side of the world. Still, no name has supplanted the usage of Zerith for the world.

Geography
The continent is roughly rectangular in shape and because of coast-to-coast mountain ranges that run north-south, is conventionally divided into three regions: Western, Central and Eastern Zerith.

The West
Western Zerith encompasses the lands to the west of the Iron Mountains (in the north) and the Starkspit Mountains (in the south). The Berland Highlands divide north from south, with the watershed areas for two great lakes anchoring each region. The north is mostly wide open plains and boreal forests, and the immense Coldwater Lake. The north-western shore of the Lake are the deep forests of Kotetäinen, the home of elves in Zerith. East and south of the Lake is the human Kingdom of Norlan. North of the Norwass River (which functions as the northern boundary of Norlan) are sparse settlements of humans and orcs up to the shore of the Frozen Sea (which hasn't been frozen in centuries). The forbidding Iron Mountains, once home to a vast dwarven kingdom, are said to be still rich in minerals. However, they are dangerous enough that only a few heavily-fortified mining communities cling to the foothills for fear of the terrible evils that are believed to dwell there.

South of the Highlands, the region is centred around Flankmeer Lake. The Three Kingdoms came to dominate the south after the fall of the First Zerithian Empire, and those realms were subsumed into the territory for the newly declared Third Zerithian Empire. Except for the White Mountains near the southern coast, all of the land south of the Highlands and west of the Starkspit Mountains is claimed by the Empire, which includes the rainforests of the western coast, traditional lands of the Kustmann people. The dwarven Kingdom of Gulriket occupies most of the White Mountains, although the range is also home to several other communities of dwarves and gnomes.

Central Zerith
The vast plains of the north are known locally as Buyuk Tekis, the lands of the Akamkap nomads. South of the Great Rift are the lands of Kef Sirran, home of the Bedewe desert nomads.

The East
Eastern Zerith comprises the lands east of the vast Rungstang mountain range. In the north is Oestereich, a one-time colony of the Second Zerithian Empire, while the south are the Wenegbund city-states. The south-eastern tip of Zerith is Sudenkap (southern cape in older dialects of Zerithian). To the east of the cape is the island nation of Jangu, while to the south-west is the treacherous region known as the Shifting Seas.