Absolute power over the Lands is detained at any given time by the eldest Ironbound then existing, who assumes the title of Fell Overlord. Beyond this premise, there are very few properly defined laws in effect, chief among them being the one decreeing the undisputable and total domination of the Ironbound universally over their Riglir subjects. In spite of this, the hierarchy of the Fell Lands' masters is firm and rigid, if somewhat arbitrary. The Overlord typically appoints his advisers and direct lieutenants, who may, in turn, choose their own immediate subordinates, and so forth until the point where every Ironbound in the domain is in someone's service - a process which would be impossible to maintain were their population more numerous, and their rulers to succeed each other more often. The Riglir do not have such luxuries as being individually distinguished from one another, and are therefore largely treated equally; that said, there do exist among them two groups, the magic-wielding Adepts and the armoured Reavers, who are accorded certain privileges given their greater usefulness, and possess sufficient prowess to cow others of their kin into recognising them as superior.



The Fell Lands are broadly divided into three major regions, each of them more or less uniform in terms of terrain features:

The tract to the north of the Lake of Sorrow, the great body of water at the heart of the Lands, is a grim, inhospitable tundra, barren save for the occasional thicket of coniferous trees. Its cold, dry earth happens, however, to be rich in metals, and several mines have been dug in it at the command of the merciless Ironbound.
Its most notable feature, however, are the numerous dilapidated buildings, and in some cases entire towns, to be found there. Once built by the mysterious race known as the Ancients, who inhabited the Fell Lands in times immemorial, these structures remain, even in their decrepit state, extremely odd, their strange angles combining into complex optical illusions and seemingly impossible shapes if looked at intently. These sites have been declared to be sacred, and "temple-cities" have been founded around several of them to preserve them and learn their secrets. Due to this, the northern region is usually referred to as the Land of Memory.

South of the Lake lie the Lands' most populous provinces. Along its banks, where the soil is most fertile, stretches a vast expanse of fields and pastures, which feed the ever-ravenous hordes of the Riglir. Further yet, the earth is scorched and desolate, having been stripped of all life; upon it there stand numberless forges, furnaces, arsenals and strongholds, and there is wrought and housed the hideous strength of the Fell Lands. Most notable among these things is the Cauldron, an immense pit along whose sloping walls weaponsmiths toil ceaselessly, and at the core of which blazes an inferno of black enchanted fire. As the region has its heart there, it is named Land of the Black Flame.

Lastly, the two islands, known as the Isles of Sorrow, in the Lake are the domain of the Overlord and his highest servants. On one there stands the Dread Keep, a fortress with walls of black steel, wherein reside the master of the Fell Lands and his cohorts. On the other rises the Balespire, a metallic tower housing the Lands' chief temple. There the Ironbound are forged and brought to life. The ancient magic has tainted the Isles, and their once-vibrant forests have grown empty of wildlife and eerily silent.





What is perhaps most curious about what vestiges of culture there exist in the Fell Lands is that, despite the latter being inhabited by full two races, neither of them is responsible for the foundation of said remnants, and, though both zealously follow their supposed dictates, they have no clear idea of what that culture actually was, or even who exactly were its founders.

The most numerous of the two races are the Riglir - foul creatures half as tall as the average human, and of roughly similar shape. Their hunched backs are covered in a segmented layer of brown chitin, and their black limbs and underbellies have an unpleasantly coarse surface. Their squat, elongated heads are graced by a pair of bulging, entirely black eyes and insectoid mandibles. Riglir are vicious, short-lived and frighteningly prolific thanks to their sex being flexible when necessary (and otherwise absent). Their minds are mostly dim and crude, though they can learn how to perform such comparatively complex tasks as smelting ore or forging metal, and the brightest of them may even learn to decipher the writings of the Ancients and evoke their strange mystical powers.

The Ironbound are suits of armour given life by ancestral rituals, and who must fuel their vital energy with regular sacrifices of sentient beings. Their intellect, though cold and eternally lusting for dominance, is equal, if not, in some cases, superior to that of humans, and they regard mortal races with disdain, scornfully referring to them as "fleshlings". The Ironbound believe the first of them were created by the now-vanished Ancients, and believe it is their duty to preserve their precursors' legacy; however, as they themselves know almost nothing of these beings, all they can do is try and reproduce the cryptic rites described in their few remaining written texts, and pay obeisance to gods whose names and guises have been lost to time. Remarkably, the Ironbound are incapable of wielding magic, even though it is integral to their nature, and must rely on trained Riglir Adepts to maintain that aspect of the Ancients' heritage alive.