Dawn Republic—A nominally democratic state created by the Chosen as their numbers dwindled during the Plague. Originally, the Republic encompassed all the land that had been part of the Chosen Empire, but in the four hundred years since the Plague, much of the territory has broken away, forming smaller polities collectively known as the Splinter Kingdoms. Even so, the Republic remains the most powerful nation in the known world, with its capital at the old Chosen city of Skyreach.

The Republic has a sometimes uneasy relationship with the Twilight Order and its centarchs. The Order was charged by the Chosen to defend the Republic and humanity, but not to rule it, and so normally stands apart from the daily running of Republican politics. However, the centarchs collectively wield unmatched power, and in addition the Republic’s elite military forces, the Legions, rely on Chosen-built weapons and armor that only the Twilight Order can maintain. The upshot is that the wishes and suggestions of the Order carry considerable weight with the Republican government, and centarchs are legally empowered to dispense justice and commandeer any necessary resources in pursuit of their missions.

The Republic is ruled by a Senate, which is theoretically elected, but the franchise is restricted to the wealthy, and senators almost always come from a small group of powerful families. The Senate elects two consuls every year to serve as chief executives. The Senate appoints a dux as military commander and chief magistrate to the various regions of the Republic, typically one per major city. The duxes command the Auxiliaries, who handle policing and local defense, with the Legions retained under the consuls’ direct control or seconded in small detachments as needed.

Deepfire—A city deep in the Shattered Peak mountains. Deepfire is an exclave, considered Dawn Republic territory in spite of being far outside the Republic’s borders, connected by a Gate under the Chosen fortress known as the Spike.

Originally, the mountain that stood where Deepfire is now hosted a major ghoul city—perhaps the ghoul capital, though stories are conflicted. The Chosen deployed a weapon of unparalleled destructive power against it. While the nature of the weapon is unknown, it blasted the mountain into a kilometers-wide crater and left a giant fissure in the rock known as the Pit. Immediately afterward, the Chosen’s forces began a systematic purge of the ghoul tunnels in the area that had survived the blast.

As the Chosen died out, the Twilight Order continued the purges. Humans from the surrounding areas flocked to the crater, since heat from the Chosen weapon—still burning at the bottom of the Pit—kept it warm in the depths of winter, and the Order and Legion presence provided protection from plaguespawn then devastating the former Chosen Empire. Scavenging in the tunnels eventually became a major industry, and the Order maintained their presence to manage it even after the ghouls had been wiped out.