The windswept wasteland between the Eceraen Mountains in the north and the Whitewall glacier fields to the south—a vast expanse of frozen emptiness that forms Venalthier's northern interior. The terrain is predominantly flat permafrost, broken only by the Blerian Hills to the east.
The tundra slopes gradually southward from the Eceraen foothills toward the Whitewall cliffs. Meltwater from the mountains cuts shallow channels across the surface—rushing torrents during the brief summer thaw, frozen otherwise. Visibility is theoretically unlimited on clear days; in practice it collapses to feet when wind-driven snow creates ground blizzards, a frequent occurrence given the persistent katabatic winds that scour Venalthier's interior at 30–60 mph and gust past 100.
Morya
The only settlement is Morya, a community of roughly 200 people clustered in the Blerian Hills, surviving on Nabuhe-supplied Frostfire. Without that supply chain from East Whitewall, the settlement would not exist. Morya accepts travelers only when they arrive with supplies worth more than they'll consume.
What little wildlife survives clings to the Blerian Hills, scratching a living from scarce prey. The open tundra itself supports almost nothing.
Crossing
The open interior cannot be safely crossed. Once the mountains are lost in poor visibility, there are no landmarks, no shelter, nothing to burn. Compasses become unreliable near the pole. Viable routes hug the edges: the Eceraen foothills along the north, the Scepter Mountains along the western coast. Anyone deviating into the open tundra without Frostfire for warmth and a chain of waypoints is unlikely to return.