The Azyron Times: March 13th, 2026

Summary

In this week's issue of the Times, we will take a deep dive into the geography and zone structure of WoA's open world, including zone structure, physical geography, and planned instances.

Development Insights

This week we continued working on the open world, more specifically terrain sculpting and texturing the Azyronian Heartland zone. Next week we hope to finish texturing and move into model placement.

Deep Dive: The Geography of Aeytherax 

Each zone in WoA and future expansions will share the same zone structure. Each playable zone will be its own level (map file) and invisible walls will be placed along the borders of the zones. Traveling between zones requires either the Riftrite crystal fast travel network, or by using a transition point. Transition points appear as door-like objects on the borders of zones. Walking through them takes you to the adjacent zone.

Physical Geography

The physical landmass of Aeytherax is split into 13 major zones across several political regions.

Blue - Kingdom of Azyron

Lime green - Takrali Tribe

Brown - Fairwind Harbor

Purple - Loch Itala

Gold - Shirazi Empire

Orange - Aldûri Thaneship

Lime - Kingdom of Zakaroto

Gray - Unaffiliated

Kingdom of Azyron

The Kingdom of Azyron is led by the Aspects Dremm and Endar Inferniclaw, and has the most diverse geography of Aeytherax. In the center of the kingdom is the Azyronian Heartland, a peninsula split between vast plains in the west and rich forest in the east. It is also home to Azyron proper, which sits perched atop a sea stack in the Gulf of Aeytherax. Towns include Lower Azyron, Farmdale, and Oakendale.

North of the Heartland is the Quagmarsh, a linear swamp sitting against the Jörthka Uplands. It is home to the Muckstone Quarry, home of the valuable Muckstone ore, known for its healing properties. Towns include Quagdale and Mossbottom.

East of the Heartland is the Grimwood, a dense forest allegedly cursed by witches. Not many who stray from the roads are seen again. The only safe town is Grimdale.

The easternmost part of the Kingdom is Evershale Valley. It is an arid region home to the durable Evershale stone. Major towns include Evershale Village and Lakeshore Pier. The valley is also the breeding ground of the Shal'ar Dragon lizards, which have been domesticated and are used worldwide as beasts of burden, effectively AETHEREYA's version of horses.

Takrali Tribe and Fairwind Harbor

South of the Kingdom of Azyron is the jungle of Faey'dal, home to the Takrali troll tribe led by High Priest Dar'alann. Major towns in this region include Jungleheart, Southwind Port, and the troll capital of Takraital. Also in this region is the pirate town of Fairwind Harbor, led by the infamous captain Ryker Fairwind.

Loch Itala

Loch Itala lies at the center of Aeytherax, and is the home of the world tree Italdrassil and the Tree Elves that live around it, led by Archdruid Ran'dakor. The only major town is Italis. The Tree Elves are known for their neutrality and a platform in Italdrassil's boughs is used as a meeting area for the other nations.

Dunaari (Shirazi) Empire

The Dunaari Empire, now known as the Shirazi Empire, occupies the deserts of Dunaar and, more recently, parts of Wildwind Mesa. The Empire is led by Emperor Shiraz after the murder of the king and queen. Major towns include Shiraz'aa (formerly Dunaarh'aa) and Cactiza'ar in Dunaar, and Wildwind Town and Frontier in Wildwind Mesa.

Aldûri Thaneship

The Aldûri Thaneship occupies the Jörthka Hinterlands and Uplands, and is led by High Thane Magnus Thûrdassun. The capital is Dun Aldûr. Major towns include Snowfall Village and Zenith in the Uplands, and Pinewood Village and Northreach Harbor in the Hinterlands. Zenith is particularly special as it is the only settlement in Aeytherax that is built on top of a bridge.

Kingdom of Zakaroto

The Kingdom of Zakaroto is one of isolation. It spans the Zakaroto Hinterlands and the Eastern Archipelago, ruled by High Shogun Koshuji and its capital Zakaroto City. As of writing, the Archipelago is not accessible, so the only major town is Kazara Village in the Hinterlands.

Class Areas, Dungeons and Raids

In addition to open-world zones, we also plan to add 5 dungeons and 1 raid at launch. We cannot reveal details of these instances at this time.

Also in Aeytherax we will be adding dedicated micro-zones specific to each class. We are still deciding on the final locations of these areas, and we expect to announce them in next week's issue. These areas will be the starting experience for each class, and there are 8 spread across the continent.

And that concludes this week's issue! Have a wonderful day!

Written by Dremm Inferniclaw

Written 3/12/26, Published 3/13/26