Situated on the southwestern shore of Ardenmyst, Ravencrest is the oldest of the Human settlements, being founded upon the site of their first landfall. Stone and timber construction make this city as much a military stronghold as it is a town of trade and commerce.

Home also to The Sacred Light Chapel, and the seat of Human leadership, the conditions of the treaty between the Humans and the Coonkin are most heavily enforced here. The other Human settlements lie over the mountain range to the North. While the journey over the mountains can be made by wagon, the roads are patrolled, and it is exceedingly difficult for mercenaries to smuggle captured Sparkless over the mountains. As such, The Shadow Market has little presence or operation within the walls of Ravencrest, or throughout Ravenwood Forest.

The town of Hawthorn is the second-largest Human settlement, having been built along the eastern end of the Briarwood Forest, just north of the mountains. Humans and Coonkin alike coexist in this booming town, in relative peace.

However, many Sparkless Coonkin find themselves struggling to survive, often homeless and surviving on scraps in the alleyways. Kaven and Kayla are Sparkless orphans who grew up in the streets of Hawthorn, dodging Shadow Market mercenaries who would seek to capture them, and would bribe corrupt guards to look the other way while they are smuggled out beyond the town walls, for delivery to the nobles of the north.

Upon the signing of the treaties between the Humans and the Coonkin, a group of Noblemen moved beyond the black-widow infested Grimshade Forest, and beyond the reach of the authority of any constabulary, establishing the town of Brindlewood, where they could do as they please with impunity.

Before their establishment of this town, the area was lush and full of life, fed by the snow-melt that would flow into the valley between the mesas. Their greed was insatiable, and the nobles built their estates as far north as possible, digging irrigation canals that would reroute and restrict the flow of water.

Hoarding the water to feed their own private gardens and estates, the valley further south became an arid desert, and the town became a new source of income for the nobles, charging the people of Brindlewood for limited access to the water that they now controlled.

While magic-wielding Coonkin are barely tolerated here, Brindlewood remains THE most dangerous place for Sparkless Coonkin.

Far to the north, beyond the mesas of Brindlewood, exists a settlement founded by Sparkless Coonkin who sought to escape the dangers of the Shadow Market and the mercenaries that hunted them.

Currently led by Chief Chillpaw, the Frostpelt tribe live in relative peace here. But, that peace is not freely taken for granted, as skirmishes between Coonkin patrols and Human hunting parties are frequent along the territory edges.

Having rejected the Spirit's call for peace with the Humans, the Frostpelt are as openly hostile towards Humans as the noblemen are towards them. 

Separating the open fields outside of Hawthorn from the arid desert of the Brindlewood region is a strip of forest that is home to a species of horse-sized, man-eating black widows. The path through the forest is dangerous, and generally only traveled with absolute necessity.

The most hardened and fearless of the mercenaries employed by the Brindlewood nobles will brave the harrowing journey for the promise of gold, as they escort captured Sparkless from Hawthorn to their employers north of the forest.

Established as both the safe-haven for the Coonkin, and their training facility for learning and honing their magic, The Academy exists in a space apart from Ardenmyst, and is inaccessible except by means of a magic portal, three of which are located in the Human settlements of Ravencrest, Hawthorn, and Brindlewood.

The Engineering Corps division of The Academy was established soon after the signing of the treaty between the two races. Here, Coonkin engineers and artificers work together to invent and construct magic-infused machines.

The steam-powered airship named The Lady Mae is one of the Corps' greatest accomplishments, having become the continent's primary means of supporting trade and commerce between the towns of Ardenmyst.

Now, Arti, the Head Artificer, and his team are constructing The Academy's newest innovation: a fleet of mechanical flying machines, intended for private-sector use, but destined to turn the tide of war in the skies above Hawthorn...