The map is a) incomplete and b) large-scale, covering only larger city-states and important places but not, for example, where the ruins of empires are or the towers of wizards. Most of the accurate maps are owned by sailors and more concerned with coastal locations. As per the DMG, most towns have ~1K people, villages around 5K and cities are 25K+. There are no mammoth cities with 100,000+ inhabitants and such at present and most city-states are at least 500 years old.
(This means players are free to add their own city-states and towns for their characters to come from if they want to.)
No proper kingdoms or nations exist due to lack of raw materials to field vast armies and the varied dungeons, ruins and monsters that exist just outside the boundaries of civilization make expansion difficult on that kind of scale at present.
Note: The classes all maintain secret training facilities to train people up to level one; these are generally away from civilized areas and kept safe by being relatively difficult to find. Finding them is part of what sets the PC on their path towards level one in essence.
Aria: The city-state of Aria has one strange claim to fame: while most spells to raise the dead are almost unknown (and very, very rare), citizens of Aria who pay the 1,000 gold price can be Reincarnated within a week after death. The ungents and oils for the spell are well-known there but require a) the body and b) don’t travel well for purposes of being taken to other city-states. The weird benefit of this is that Aria boasts the strangest and most complicated family trees and is widely considered the most cosmopolitan place in the world. Those who try and come here just to get someone reincarnated alone are charged double the standard price since there are only so many ungents and oils available at any one time. The downside of this is that many adventures end up coming from Aria and seeking their fortune to get their families out of crippling levels of debt this magic can lead to.
Aragzar: A city-state ruled by arcane magicians, Aragzar has long been at war with Arknurdvik over magic and its uses. Attempts at diplomacy have only led to the deaths of any magic-user sent to the other city and the cold-war between them has been a grim affair for at least three hundred years. That Aragzar has not been able to win the war is, wisely, something travellers to the nation don’t bring up.
Arknurdvik: Once ruled by a tyrannical wizard, this city banned all arcane magic on penalty of death and working magic in the city is quite difficult due to ancient artifacts in use within it. A spat with an order of paladins in the last century has also led to a ban on all clerical magics. The gods have yet to respond though no one living can say why. The city is somehow still holding its own in the war against Aragzar and quite a few non-magic using adventurers end up here and become leaders of the city. The city is ruled by various noble families who worry that without the anti-magic propaganda holding it together, the city might collapse. Using magic here is naturally punishable by death.
[In game terms, no spell requiring Concentration works in Arknurdvik]
Cambia: A large, sprawling city, Cambia is a city-state ruled by strict patriarchal law. All power and authority reside with men though a wife is to be accorded at least the same respect that a husband gives to his cattle. As females count as property, harming anyone else’s property is a hangable offense and women have used this to make a large secret network of thieves that are, technically, not punishable by law. The male head of each household is dominant over all the other man (and their women) though the women who are yours (wives, daughters, in-laws) mean punishment is meted to you more than the head of the household proper. The villages and towns outside the city-state are less strict but still bound by Cambian law. In an effort to ensure the royal family remains intact, kings tend to have enough children that a civil war happens every century or so.
City / City (2): The only known cities on the Shattered Isle. their names lost to history.
Cuheath: One of the largest militocracies, Cuheath is ruled jointly by their army, navy and airforce (who fly on Hippogriffs) while magic-users form their special ops who function in any part of the arm as needed. The city has been ruled thusly for over two hundred years after a disastrous diplomatic incident with Gundinal almost saw the city razed to the ground. It is a very heavily taxed city-state but every town and village is walled with the same thick stone as the city and all buildings are solid and fortified as well. The streets are narrow and winding to limit invasion, even towns have more of an armed guard than other villagers and it is generally one of the safest city-states to live in as long as you don’t break their strict laws.
The military guard have the authority to execute any criminal on sight for theft by word or deed (this included deception in any form) and if there is doubt about the legality of their actions, truth spells are used to determine if they were out of line.
Davisham: No one visits Davisham if they can avoid it. The ruler is a dragonborn sorcerer named Minys who is the absolute and only authority in the entire city-state. Some say she has become a dragon, or that even dragons fear her, but her magics rule the entire area and she is considered the most powerful magic-user in the world and quite likely no longer mortal as she has ruled for over 1,000 years.
Dolone: An important trade-route, Dolone is a plutocracy ruled by the wealthy for the wealthy. You can buy anything in Dolone’s famous markets if you can afford it and caveat emptor is the rule of the day - if a merchant screws you over, that’s your own fault. (Granted, if a merchant does this too often no one trades with them.) The city taxes the merchants, and the city guard keep merchants safe from harm. Threatening a merchant is the fastest way to leave the city, and unless you’re very lucky you don’t leave alive. The ruling council of merchant-nobles have enough magic items paid to them as taxes that no assassin will even try to kill one. Who is one is unknown as their true identities are kept secret.
Dread Wood / Dread Wood: There are two Dread Woods. One between Jamoor and the Waysham Mines, the other between Pilkath and Gul’Drun. Both areas take fierce pride in how deadly the woods are and how their wood is far more Dread than the other wood that dares to take that name. In extreme cases, adventurers who drastically reduce the perceived level of ‘dread’ in a wood can be driven out of the area by mobs of outraged citizens. Outsiders, rather used to not travelling through forests that try to murder them as a hobby, find the situation utterly baffling.
Feywild: The feywild is possibly the original home of the elves. Displacer beasts come from it, along with dryads, owlbears, pixies, satyrs, sprites and even treants are found among it. If you make it there, or even back out alive. Feywild is larger than it appears on maps, hidden behind powerful illusions protecting it against the undead - and the living as well, often enough. No one who leaves ever has safe passage to return.
Gul’Drun: The easternmost city in the known world, Gul’Drun is also one of the most famous as 90% of the population are bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins and kobolds all living together. The city is also famous for bloody gladiatorial matches and boasting more dangerous back alleys than it has actual streets. The people are dangerous and breaking the few laws even moreso but they do welcome any traders of any race. Adventurers are often advised to go unarmed and tread carefully.
Gundinal: A newer city-state with a halfling monarchy, it is largely famous for the war against Cuheath when the old royal family of that city made the grave mistake of thinking that the ruling queen of the time, Aya, was a human child. Gundinal boasts a large number of dwarves, gnomes and halflings and much of the city is not sized for larger visitors except at the edges. This also helps defend them in case of war, but no one has sought out a war with them in some time.
Hamura: Situated between the wildness of the Feywild and the terrible undeath of Shadowsfell, the island of Hamura is not the place people plan to visit. Which is rather a pity. A true democracy, every citizen of the island is linked in a telepathic field and group consensus determines all laws and customs. Any race is welcome as long as they are part of the Democracy. The island is rather self-sufficient and makes calculated use of all resources at hand to deal with threats from Shadowsfell. People only journey from it to find items of power they require for use back home and often find other cultures baffling and half-mad.
Jamoor: Situated next to the Dread Wood (thank you very much), the city of Jamoor takes a terrible pride in how evil and nasty the Dread Wood is. Just about anyone is welcome in the city though those who dare weaken the Dread Wood will face mobs of irate locals. The trade routes are well guarded so that travellers to the city-state can safely view the Dread Wood and get told tales about it. The city is ruled by an oligarchy with a ruling family of humans as a figurehead through which the council operates.
Kibaram: Home to many elves, Kibaram is a gerontocracy ruled by the elders. This consist of elves and a few others but you need to be over 500 years old to be an Elder so it is largely only the elves. A deep vein of elder-respect runs through the city-state and it is generally considered conservative and slow to change with the times, taking decades to make many decisions and weighing every aspect of them. As a result of this, it is also one of the oldest and most stable of the current city-states and also home to the oldest library in the known world, the aptly named Library of Kibaram.
Klof: The city-state of Klof is a republic ruled by an elected king. A new royal family is elected every decade and only landowners who are native to the city and have a certain amount of wealth are part of the voting process. If the ruler dies, their spouse takes over. If they die, it is one of the children or an early election happens. The royal family has power that varies depending on the strength of the ruler and the state of the city-state at the time and it is generally considered a relatively safe place to be so long as you do not insult or assault a Voter.
Macot: The city of Macot is ruled by a half-orc royal line. As half-orcs don’t often breed true, this often leaves a vacancy that is filled by other half-orcs in the city. In at least one occasion, a half-orc adventurer was press-ganged into becoming the queen. The reasoning is that half-orcs have a low life expectancy so the other, long-lived races, can simply outlive any problematic rulers. The historical reason was apparently a very nasty gnome ruling the city-state for almost three centuries that led to the current system. The city is generally considered a decent place to live if you avoid any royal attentions and many longer-lived races dwell here.
Nalukkhol: Nalukkhol is named after the vampire-king who rules it. A human who desired power over death, he made terrible bargains with Shadowsfell and gained awful powers. Some say the undead only reach as far as Dolone because he acts as an anchor in the known world for Shadowsfell itself, and they are probably not wrong in this. With a massive army of the undead and the alive, Nalukkhol is a stain on the world that at least seems to be content to be a small one perhaps because it is mostly contained by a veritable army of clerics and paladins out of Kibaram and Cuheath who are stationed just beyond the borders of the city-state.
Neford: A fortified and walled city, Neford is ruled by hierarchical bureaucracy where the heads of each branch form a ruling council of elders. The city is matrilineal in nature and men cannot hold power - including military power and any use of magic. Strangely, they have never been at war with Cambia and both city-states diplomatically pretend the other one doesn’t exist. Unlike Cambia, males are citizens even though they have no real power in the city.
Northern Barrens: The north-most point of true civilization, even if it is mostly inhabited by barbarians. The barrens boasts only small towns who trade with the Oreland Mountains for supplies and the inhabitants know more about the undead than most of the known world.
Old Port: The oldest port in continuous use, Old Port is worn and battered but still in use. It is ruled by a dragonborn monarchy who keep uses of sorcery to a minimum to avoid comparisons with Davisham and their light taxes on trade vessels make it a popular stop, the city making up the revenue in sailors visiting various brothels and inns. It is one of the only city-states without any villages or towns beholden to it and survives via merchant traders.
Oreland Mountains: The only mountains with readily accessible mineable ore left in them, the dwarves (with the aid of gnomes) guard them with their lives. It is said that half the world's dwarves live there and the rest would return if summoned. The mountains aren’t old, relatively speaking, which is why the ore exists in them but they are quite dangerous at the best of times.
Pilkath: Pilkath is a town-state, a collective of towns and villages bound together for mutual defense rather than having any central city to call their own. The Pilkath Collective has survived for over a hundred years with only the loss of a few small towns to show for it, and given their location beside the one true Dread Wood that is likely more impressive than outsiders believe.
Shattered Isle: A long time ago, a monster ruled the northern end of the Shattered Isle. Only it died and became an undead monstrosity owing to the proximity of Shadowfell. A wizard summoned another of the creatures to do battle with it their war has been waging for centuries with all who end up on the island drafted into an undead army or charmed into a living one. Both creatures believe themselves to be perfect and seek the destruction of their rival by any means necessary.
Shadowfell: The land of undeath, domain of the vampires, shadow dragons and all undead underneath them. It is said to be vast, with the barest edges of it on any maps and there are far more undead in the eastern half of the world than the western just due to its influence. No one travels there by choice and it is a place of monsters and madness.
Shifting Isles: The shifting isles used to be the basis for various pirates until a band of adventurers unleashed a magic on them that alters their state. The islands change from jungles to swamps to deserts and all things between overnight, making survival for most creatures quite, quite difficult indeed.
Tul’zen: Detailed below; the starting location for the game.
Tythorp: Ancient springs supply this landlocked city with water. It is ruled by the wealthiest families, who in turn pay for various guards and merchants to take goods to and from the city. Any coinage is welcome in Tythorp and the artisans are famous for their skills in spotting cursed items and will often tell whether items are cursed or not for a very small free, or take the item and keep it, removing the curses and selling them at a later date. Adventurers are welcomed into the city with open arms but are still expected to obey the rule of law.
Uldiz: Perhaps it is proximity to the north or being between a Dread Wood and two odd city-states, but after the Shifting Isles were formed, the city-state of Uldiz became the go-to location for pirates and thieves in the known world. The result is a kleptocracy of breathtaking scope, where the ruling guilds elect five members who serve as the ruling council every five years. Uldiz has no taxes per se, but bribes and corruption are necessary to get anywhere and even barbarians call it as unsafe as a city can be and still be called civilized.
Underdark: Not on any maps, the underdark is an area of vast caverns and underground rivers below the world. The remnants of a terrible Illithid empire exist down there and the Drow did once until the ‘white wyrm’ arrived some centuries ago. No one knows if it is a dragon or something far more loathsome but it claimed the entire underdark for its own, slaved creatures to its will and drove everything else out. Only the Drow and the Flumph properly escaped.
Waysham Mines: The Waysham Mines are the only old working mines that aren’t infested by monsters or the underdark creatures at present. The mines are heavily guarded and linked to every major trade route. The owners identities remain a secret but the workers are very well-paid for their labours and the mines are surprisingly safe, all things considered.
Weebluff: The city-state of Weebluff is situated on a bluff. The Wee part comes from long ago when it was a small port but a magical accident raised the entire area up and what was once a port is now ruins and jagged rocks the ocean collides with. Weebluff is ruled by a ruling family of human lords who don’t call themselves anything more; they tend to just keep to themselves, trade with other city-states as needed but mostly guard the towns and villages under their protection and tell stories of the old Empire that Weebluff was part of long and long ago.
?: Everyone agrees there is a city-state here, but no one can recall the name of it.
Tul’Zen
Fed by rivers around with the various towns and villages tied to Tul’Zen dwell,Tul’Zen is a large town aspiring to be a city-state. The towns and villages around it are in a tacit agreement and each ruled by a local lord who has sworn to be vassals of the monarchy of Tul’Zen. The ruling line of Mordrin are human though there are some half-breeds in the royal family. The distaff branches of the royal family are not allowed to be Lords of the other towns etc. and mostly take on varied diplomatic roles after brief stints in the military. Few members of the royal lines have practised magic, and it is generally considered taboo for ruling Lords as well.
The PCs are sent to the proto-city upon reaching level 1 as Tul’zen wants the area clear of bandits and wealth in the ruins scattered about the area explored. They had one group hired a year ago but they vanished into a dungeon and never returned; enough funds have been raised to employ another group. Tul’Zen is making no demands on the name of the group being tied to this place or that you must remain in Tul’Zen proper. The three towns and five villages connected to it are aware of who is coming and you can expect at least cheap room and board, becoming free once the PCs prove their worth.
King Mordrin is not expecting you to remain here forever - he’d be stunned if you all did - but clearing out bandits and making your superiors aware this is a good place for adventuring and to send adventurers. Helping the city in their goal will earn his graces.
