The Warded March
One long valley, running inland from the sea. Seven zones, a capital and two outposts, and a road that only goes one way.
The March is not a wilderness that happens to have monsters in it. It is a containment structure that is failing, and everything about how it plays follows from that. The stones were raised in a ring; the ring is breaking from the inside out; and the further you walk from Aldermoor the closer you get to whatever the ring was built to hold.
Practically, that means you never need a level-range sign. The grass gets darker, the water gets stiller, the stone gets more broken. By the time a player reaches the Ashen Steps they know without being told that they are somewhere they probably should not be.
Seven places, in order
| Zone | Levels | Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Aldermoor The capital, at the safe mouth of the valley. Bank, trainers, the quest board, and the only place in the March where nothing can attack you. | Hub | 7 |
| Greenmarch Fields and hedgerow. Slimes, boars and a bandit camp. The first stone stands whole here — the healthy baseline every later stone gets compared against. | 1–8 | 6 |
| Thistlewood Old forest, and Spider Hollow beneath it. The first dungeon, and deliberately not instanced: players should meet each other underground at least once. | 8–15 | 7 |
| The Sunken Causeway A drowned road across open marsh. The third stone is only reachable at low tide, and the Fenmother surfaces on a forty-five minute timer. | 15–22 | 6 |
| Emberhollow Mines No stone stands here — the mine was cut straight through a stone's roots. That is why everything above ground is failing, and the story turns on finding out who ordered the digging. | 22–28 | 8 |
| The Ashen Steps Burned mountain. The fifth stone is still standing and completely silent, which frightens the Wardens more than a crack would. | 28–34 | 6 |
| The Riven Stone The breach, the world boss, and the answer. Three of the eight stones are never reached — that is what comes next. | 34–40 | 5 |
What it looks like
Greenmarch Road
Farmland at the mouth of the valley. Boars in the hedgerows, bandits in the bramble fold, and the first warding stone standing whole and moss-covered a field away.
Hollow Brook
The stream that cuts Greenmarch in half. The old ford is the only crossing for a mile, which makes it the first place players reliably run into each other.
Thistlewood Verge
Where the fields end and the old forest starts. Wolves hunt in threes here, and the second stone is split down one face — someone has been chipping silver out of it.
The Riven Stone
The breach. Everything you watched go wrong on the walk inland ends at this shattered ring, with lava coming up through the cracks and the dead Wardens still standing guard.