Antarctica, the Shrouded Dominion

“Antarctica as kingdoms crumble, whispers spread of a frozen land beyond the maps—where ancient beasts stir beneath the ice, guarding secrets not meant for mankind.”

Antarctica sprawls at the world’s end, a vast and desolate wilderness of ice, wind, and ancient secrets. Towering ice cliffs and sprawling white plains define its contours, interrupted only by the jagged Gamburspire Mountains that scar its interior like the spine of a fallen titan.

Hidden geothermal vents breathe rare warmth into the frozen void, while the western Sea of Silence whispers beneath ice shelves with secrets never meant for surface ears. The infamous Blood Falls spill iron-rich water over ancient ice, their hue staining the region in a haunting, crimson blush. Many whisper of fissures that open deep into the earth, said to descend into the Hollow—an ancient, buried world populated by aberrations and forgotten beings. Lightning storms of unnatural green spiral in the southernmost skies, a mystery even to the oldest seers.

Known Settlements

Though devoid of cities, Antarctica hosts hardy outposts founded by master artificers who draw power from its elements:

• Camp Endurance: An artificer stronghold honoring Shackleton’s legacy, its workshops powered by geothermal forges built into the Larsen Ice Shelf.
• Highjump Station: Once a military expedition base, now reclaimed by technomancers who tinker with occult relics unearthed beneath the ice.
• Aurora Point: A mobile enclave of arcanists aboard ice-barges, crafting aurora-powered devices and mapping ley lines.
• Erebus Watch: A minimalist forge-lab at Mount Erebus’s rim, where artificers harness volcanic steam for elemental engines.
• Vostaryn Cache: A secret craftsman’s refuge above Lake Vostok, famed for forging frostforges that echo with subglacial resonance. Said to be watched over by automata of unknown origin.

Other Names

• The White Wilderness
• Frozen Frontier
• Southwarden’s Expanse
• The Bottomless Silence
• The Thirteenth Meridian

Description

This is a land that devours certainty. Winds howl across abyssal fields of ice, scouring everything not buried or bolted down. Below the surface, networks of frozen tunnels—some natural, some impossibly deliberate—worm through the black beneath. Light is rare. Noise is alien. The sun dips for months, only to rise with a venomous glare. Every journey is a gamble against madness, frostbite, and the uncanny. Horizon lines vanish in storms of diamond dust. The auroras dance like spirits, casting shifting shadows that whisper of watchers from beyond the veil.

Heraldry and Symbols

Though no unified banner flies over the Dominion, certain sigils have taken root among wanderers and factions:

• Blood Falls Emblem: A stark red droplet over a field of cracked white.
• Aurora Sigil: Wavelength lines flaring across a deep navy shield.
• Hollow Gate Mark: A spiral glyph, etched in stone, carved into flesh, whispered into snow.
• Erebus Flame: An inverted black flame inside a ring of ice.
• Knight’s Rune: A jagged cross of bone white upon black obsidian, the mark of the Brüderbund.

National Motto and Ideals

No anthem, no oaths, only the whispered creed shared in frozen breath:

“Truth in the Ice. Courage in the Silence.”

Moral and Philosophical Outlook

The Dominion fosters pragmatism laced with paranoia. Morality is personal. Ethics are situational. Alliances are fleeting, forged in the cold and often broken beneath aurora-streaked skies. The only code that holds weight is one born of hardship—respect for the dead, caution for the unknown, and reverence for silence. Many believe survival is the only virtue.

Spiritual and Religious Landscape

Though far from organized worship, the silence and sky-light of the south inspire myth and awe. Superstition is law:

• Aurora’s Whisper: The belief that the lights above are voices—echoes of the Hollow’s forgotten inhabitants or gods from the stars.
• Blood Falls Vigil: A quiet rite honoring those lost to the ice, believed to thin the veil between worlds.
• Hollow Earth Doctrine: Whispered texts and heretical lectures describe an inner world beneath, older than memory, peopled by beings that shaped humanity’s rise.
• The Cold Will: Some claim Antarctica itself is a slumbering god, dreaming in rime and death.

Rumors and Legends

What is legend elsewhere becomes chillingly plausible here:

• Ancient Cartography: Suppressed maps, like the Piri Reis fragment, depict an ice-free Antarctica veined with canals and cyclopean structures.
• Hell Knights of the Brüderbund: A Teutonic death-order said to guard the Hollow Gates—armored in obsidian, eyes aflame.
• Mount Erebus’s Voice: Rumors speak of chanting during solar flares—vocalizations that don’t register on tape.
• Lake Vostaryn: Emits sonar echoes inconsistent with geology—interpreted by some as cries or songs.
• Frozen Behemoths: Mountains that move when unobserved.

Famous Figures and Influencers

• Sir Ernest Shackleton (Echo): His ghost reportedly guides the lost, and some claim to have followed his spectral lantern.
• Admiral Byrd (Specter): He allegedly saw an entire verdant valley within Antarctica’s heart—but no one else returned to confirm.
• Komtur Dietrich von Eis: The Hell Knight’s eternal commander, entombed in black ice but seen in many dreams.
• Dr. Ilse Morgenstern: Exiled mystic-artificer whose lectures on spatial convergence remain banned in several universities.

Inhabitants and Creatures

• Frostwyrms: Semi-sentient leviathans of living ice and ancient hunger.
• Ice Trolls: Glacially slow, monstrously strong, and worshipped by lost cults.
• Hollow Shades: Shadow remnants of those who vanished in the blizzards, forever walking toward warmth that isn’t there.
• Spectral Krakens: Sightings of translucent beasts beneath the Ross Ice Shelf.
• Brüderbund Hell Knights: Undead zealots armored in prehuman alloy, their souls bound to ancient oaths.
• Aberrant Wombs: Pulsing biological structures buried deep beneath, guarded by time and entropy.
• Xenolith Sentinels: Alien creatures fossilized in meteorite impact zones—yet they sometimes breathe.
• Whispering Shards: Ice crystals that hum at night, echoing thoughts or madness.

Conditions, Temperature, Terrain

• Temperature: Drops to −90°C in the polar interior; warmest geothermal oases rise to −10°C.
• Terrain: Ice cliffs, scorched calderas, bottomless crevasses, obsidian pillars, and mirror-smooth plains where stars reflect below. Vast stretches of cracked black ice cover unknown depths, and some believe these plates move by will, not wind.

Weather Hazards (Expanded Mechanics)

Antarctica’s wrath is never passive. Its weather is sentient, its touch supernatural.

Hazard	Trigger/Duration	Save/Check	Failure Effect	Success Effect
Cataclysmic Blizzards	Within storm area for 1 minute	DC 16 Constitution saving throw	Gain 1 exhaustion; movement halved; must seek shelter or risk death	Half speed penalty only
Icequakes & Crevasse Swarms	Random (1d4 hours)	DC 15 Dexterity saving throw	Fall into crevasse (4d6); 1 exhaustion if trapped	Avoid or escape crevasse
Aurora Flare Storms	Geomagnetic pulse (1d6 hours)	DC 14 Wisdom saving throw	Disadvantage on magic-related rolls; hallucinations	No effect
Volcanic Steam Eruptions	Near geothermal vent	DC 16 Constitution saving throw	4d6 fire + 1 exhaustion; visibility reduced	Half damage
Black Ice & Mirror Sastrugi	Reflective terrain	DC 13 Dexterity saving throw	Prone + stunned 1 round; confusion in mirrored area	Move unhindered
Polar Darkness & Frost Fog	Exposure per hour	DC 16 Wisdom saving throw	1 exhaustion; hallucinations on failure by 5+	No effect until further exposure
Sea-Ice Drift Currents	Hourly	DC 14 Survival check	Drift 1d6×10 feet; forced to discard carried items	Maintain position
Solar Storm Surges	Roll daily during sun cycle	DC 17 Dexterity saving throw	6d6 radiant; magical gear deactivates for 24 hrs	Half damage
Sleet Rains & Acidic Drizzles	Volcanic/chemical regions	DC 15 Constitution saving throw	3d6 acid + gear condition loss; visibility impaired	Half damage
Glacial Pressure Shifts	During tectonic groans	DC 15 Strength saving throw	Knocked prone and pinned; weapon or item stuck in ice	Remain standing

Environmental Rules (Extended):

• Extreme Cold Damage: −80°C or below deals 1d8 cold damage/minute; DC 15 Constitution halves.
• Hypothermia Progression: Gain exhaustion every hour exposed without proper gear. DC 16 Constitution to resist each hour.
• Blizzard Obscurement: Reduces visibility to 5 ft. without specialized equipment or non-visual senses. All ranged attacks have disadvantage.
• Mental Degradation: For each long rest in the wild, roll DC 13 Wisdom save. On fail, gain short-term madness (DMG p. 258).

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The Shrouded Dominion is not ruled. It is survived.