Issylra

Issylra (pronounced "eh - seel - rah") is one of the continents on the world of Exandria. It is a "very large continent [...] almost like the equivalent of Asia and Russia [...] very wide", much of it "wild, untamed wilderness."

Geography
Issylra is north of Marquet, northwest of Tal'Dorei, and even farther northwest of Wildemount.

Given the description of Issylra's size, very little of Issylra has been explored onstream or even described.

Most of Issylra's developed territory is within the country of Othanzia, which is home to the ancient city of Vasselheim, widely considered the cradle of civilization and the center of several faiths. The city is located on a mountain spire 20 to 30 miles from the coast. Surrounding it is the dark and sprawling Vasper Timberland, through which mountaintops occasionally jut; the Timberland stretches far to the north of Vasselheim before fading into tundra. This is the Thorain Tundra from which a white dragon, Rimefang, hailed.

Two days' ride northwest of Vasselheim, through the Timberland, are ruins and a lake that were frozen over by proximity to Rimefang's lair in 810 PD, and farther along the road is the bitterly cold town of Muldire and the Tordusk Pass. Beyond that are the Zenwick Mountains, with woods at their base. In the Zenwick Mountains is the Silted Vale, a valley with natural healing properties that attracted a particularly violent ecosystem. It used to be the location of the Crypts of Thomara, until Vecna animated the Primordial earth titan in which the dwarven vault city had been constructed, leaving a large gash as it unearthed itself to march toward Vasselheim.

Several hours' travel to the southwest of Vasselheim is the Marrowglade Loch, a small lake surrounded by swamp. There are ruins of structures that were dedicated to the Raven Queen before the area sank underwater.

Further southwest, two days' ride from Vasselheim, are the steep Sunderpeak Mountains. Immediately appearing at the top of a path scaling the mountains is a valley caldera containing a rift to the Elemental Plane of Fire, responsible for the creation of the Cindergrove. The rift is overseen by the Ashari village of Pyrah, which was devastated in the wake of Thordak's escape from the Plane of Fire.

Even farther southwest of Vasselheim, 200 or 250 miles away along the coast, is the small fishing city of Shorecomb. About five miles offshore is the volcanic island of Scaldseat, beneath which is the fabled Core Anvil.

There are lesser republics in Issylra, but the dangerous Utesspire Mountains prevent Othanzia from expanding at their expense.

Demographics
People from Issylra are notably pale compared to most people, standing out among the cosmopolitan crowd on Bisaft Isle.

History
Humans, rock gnomes, and tieflings originate on Issylra. Rock gnomes and tieflings migrated across the Ozmit Sea to Tal'Dorei during the Age of Arcanum, and humans sailed across centuries after the Divergence.

Behind the scenes
The religious sites and relics of Issylra are inspired by ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian temples, and the settlements around them are patterned after 12th-century Norway.