Locked in endless winter, the Frostbyte Reach is a cold and inhospitable place of stark beauty and grim people. Life is hard on the Reach. Game is scarce, the growing season is short, and yields are poor. It is no surprise, then, that the inhabitants are both incredibly hardy, and doomed to bitter wars over resources.
Deep beneath the Frostbyte Reach is Dwarfholm Bastion, the ancestral home of the Hearthsworn Dwarves. The subterranean Torch Road provides the surest path into the realm of the dwarves, its magnificent halls providing ample protection from the harsh elements above. The halls of the dwarves extend down into the very heart of Crystalia, but the Hearthsworn do not claim only the stone beneath the earth. They also claim rights to the snow-capped peaks and black pine forests of the valleys on the surface - a claim that is hotly disputed by the feral felinoid Freyjan race.
For generations, these two proud races have fought over the Reach's meager resources, and even in times of peace, skirmishes between the two are frequent. As a result, the realm is covered in ancient fortresses and ruined strongholds, their monolithic stone walls destroyed and crumbling.
Deep within the Frostbyte Reach the winding path to the Lich King's fortress, Drenring, is lined with frozen examples of those who have earned his ire. Beware his undead clans, Elrik the Lich King has drawn vast tribes of orcs and howling packs of gnolls to his armies. crushing all who would resist him. Claiming victory against dwarven holds, freyjan enclaves, and even jotnar bastions.
On the highest peaks of the Reach, reside the Jotnar, towering ice giants of venerable wisdom and primal wrath. The realm of the Jotnar is forbidden to all, not by decree, but by climate. The air is thin, and all but unbreathable, and the cold saps the strength from even the strongest. Even so, may pilgrims seek the wisdom of the Jotnar and attempt pilgrimage to their summits. It is said that only one in a generation is able to survive the path. Sheltered within the Skull White Fastness, the barbaric race of Jotnar view the entirety of Crystalia from their barren peak.