The Northern Plains are the frozen grasslands at the heart of the Northlands, stretching between the Titanwurm mountain ranges that break this part of the tundra. The Beathamuir River cuts east-west across the plains—one of the few sources of liquid water in a region otherwise locked in permafrost year-round, fed by glacial melt from the Nysanna Range to the north. The plains sit west of the Wurmling Mountains and south of the Gwyndolsong Mountains. There are no permanent settlements; travel across the open expanse is slow except in the brief window when frozen ground supports loaded sleds.
Wurmling Mountains
Not true mountains but the colossal vertebrae of a titanwurm, the Wurmling range was the first titanwurm formation in the Northlands identified as such. The bones have stood long enough that ice and tundra vegetation have colonized them entirely. The range divides the eastern portion of the plains from the rest of the tundra.
Temple of Zicadia
At the northern tip of the Wurmling Mountains, where force and air leylines intersect, stands the Temple of Zicadia—a remote institution dedicated to turning air into solid structures capable of deflecting attacks. Master Felwana runs it: a reclusive woman who came north after losing her husband to distant war and became a master of the discipline. Life at the temple is brutal; students face constant threats from the creatures of the snowplains while mastering a demanding magical art.
The Plumes
East of the Wurmling range, the Plumes are a cluster of geothermal vents that periodically release intense columns of fire and steam. Strange archea grow in the hot vents, sustaining crab colonies around the vent rims and docile Magma Snails throughout the area—an ecosystem of warmth carved into otherwise lifeless tundra.
Jemco Mountains
A second titanwurm range on the Northern Plains, the Jemco Mountains mark the western reaches of the sub-region's terrain features.