Caloria is a coalition of kingdoms of flame and heat beyond the frozen forests of the land of hielo ardiente (“burning ice”), long at war with a southern nation allied to the powers of cold. The name was given to “the kingdoms where there is still heat”.
| Type | Place (coalition of kingdoms) |
| Chronicle | SGL |
| Ruler | Burkestein |
| Capital | Karlstorf |
| Spanish entry | Caloria |
Description
The land of burning ice is the mixed Gehenna onto which the Arch of the Not Yet opens. Caloria’s pockets of heat rest on the “heat bridges” of an unstable plane, beside a trembling volcano. Fire allies keep its elemental strongholds standing; its dwarf allies have withdrawn to their mountains; it distrusts the elves of Aurora Polaris, said to have once allied with the enemy.
The war
The enemy is Bythamar Betheril, a human nation to the south (“the cursed of the south”), headed, according to the convoy, by a queen, Calíope, “a queen of ice, some say”. Allied with the lordships of cold, it now also attacks from the north with the hosts of cold iron, led by General Ajani, rumored veteran of the War of Blood.
An augury gave the cause: «El ardor del amor ha traído el frío a Caloria. Divide y triunfarás.» (“The ardor of love has brought the cold to Caloria. Divide and you will triumph.“) The company suspects a spurned woman behind the war.
The lifeline
From Karlstorf, the coastal capital (a “captaincy” in early accounts), a single reopened route, the Road of Mertylmane, leads to Nothenvell, the volcano city that mines obsidian. It carries obsidian weapons and supplies, and the enemy attacks along it, from the Halls of Frost. Uken put the living gesta (campaign-cycle) of Sogol on Caloria’s side. The Basalt Pits are the land’s other obsidian source; the Temple of Ashtar of the Ice is a frontier post known to Caloria by rumor.
In Karlstorf, Burkestein separated the conflict with Gamada, a related human people, from the war against Calíope and the forest dwellers, which he traced to an old dispute over logging. The Halls no longer serve the force that harassed the road, but their new mercane administration needs agreements. The five travelers defeated the guardians of the Threshold of Aries; the war is not yet won.
Conflicting accounts
- Burkestein placed Calíope in Aurora Polaris.
- Earlier accounts separated two enchanted kingdoms and named Bythamar Betheril as the human nation of the south. The archive does not equate the two.
Open questions
- Who loved and who betrayed, behind the augury, is not identified.