The Dawnland is one of the Thirteen Dominions of Ulgu, an obscure region in a Realm already known for a significant amount of obscurity.
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The Dawnland is one of the settings where players battled during the NOVA Open Grand Narrative event, held in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
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The Dawnland is so-called because it is the outer region of Ulgu closest to the Hidden Gloaming: the Uhl-Gysh demi-realm that sits between the Realm of Shadow and the Realm of Light. Located far from the centre of the Realm of Shadows and closer to Ulgu’s realm edge than any other inhabited region, it is a peculiarity among the Mortal Realms. The Dawnland exists in a region so distant and remote, it should be well within the dangerous outer limits of livable real estate. But Ulgu is, itself, even stranger when compared to the other realms, and what you could expect from this realm is subverted even within it. The Dawnland is a contradiction within a realm of untruths, where the typical shadows and mists are thin… but what the eye doesn’t see, the mind becomes its true prey.
It is also is a land where the traditional pull of gods and ideology wanes, and beliefs become subtly altered and twisted. Personality, intrigue and ambition drive decisions and arrangements, amplified and driven by an unseen impetus.
ENVIRONMENT
The region is stable, with no shifting mists or meandering shadow magicks. It experiences normal weather patterns, has a clear day and night cycle, and affords a view of the void between realms uncommon in the land of Ulgu. It is a vast region, with its own inland sea, pseudo-continent, and varied biomes. There is a definite border to the Dawnland subregion, but to leave its protective properties, at most of its borders, would submit the traveller to the chaotic and lethal energies typical of a place so close to a realm’s edge. Only a few hard-to-traverse regions currently allow passage from Dawnland to the rest of the Thirteen Dominions.
Of all the odd illusions and reality-bending properties across the Ulguan Dominions, those in Dawnland are particularly potent but in very subtle ways. Living here affects the minds of its inhabitants, distancing them from the power and influence of the Gods. Entire parallel societies have lived in Dawnland, cut off from the larger politics of the Realms, for millennia. This has granted a level of political stability and prosperity to Dawnland that defied the upheavals of the Age of Chaos.
GEOLOGY AND MAGIC
The Dawnland exists in this state because of a large concentration of a material called Synder. This reagent was the product of a mortal sorcerer from the World-that-Was turned godbeast, named Nehnaxiir. This wizard developed and stockpiled a material imbued with properties to alter space and time, which was affected by the destruction of the World-that-Was and bound to the magickal Wind of Shadow. When these winds coalesced into a Realm, some of the Synder was embedded in the bedrock of a remote region. The mystical properties of this soapy, crimson mineral caused it to revert to a condition of magickal neutrality that resembled the Old World in its make, and not only stabilized the landmass despite its proximity to the Realm’s Edge, but interfered with Realmgate functions, causing travellers to be randomly snatched from other gates and trapped in Dawnland.
Synder also channelled the effects of Ulgu’s illusions on mortal minds, where it twisted the memories and beliefs of its inhabitants, disconnecting them from any conflicts of the Realms at large, particularly from the influence of the Gods. The reinvention of beliefs and culture that occurred for millennia in the Dawnlands was uncanny, especially from devoted followers of Sigmar, Allarielle or the gods of Chaos.
Thus, the Gods were also blind to happenings in Dawnland. Even the ruinous powers could not enter or see into it. This meant that, while the denizens kept their abilities and magicks, they were utterly free of the mental and spiritual yokes of their deities. The followers of Khorne would routinely become bodyguards, working alongside ogors and Stormcast (comparatively recent arrivals of the last couple of centuries), for example. Conflicts based on pre-Dawnland faction affiliation were uncommon… but infighting between the political houses and factions unique to the Dawnlands was all too common.
Much of the Synder contained in Dawnland is now gone, having been ripped from its surface by the destructive return of Nehnaxiir the godbeast, and the landmass suffered massive geological upheaval that brought it closer to the rest of the Ulguan continents. This has allowed easier access to and from Dawnland, as well as a normal functioning of Realmgates (although many are still very hazardous to cross). The cataclysm also created the crystal-powered Realmbubbles, scattered throughout the land.
POLITICAL HISTORY
The whole of Dawnland was ruled by a High King for centuries even during the Age of Chaos, before it was finally breached by the forces of Chaos at the dawn of the Age of Sigmar. The war for control over the shifting Shadow Ziggurat drew many into the Dawnland, with the Mortarch Neferata succeeding in wresting the High Throne for her own ends, for a time.
Centuries of civil war, political manipulation and geological destruction (the landing of the godbeast Nehnaxiir from the void, no less) have quite literally razed almost all of its settlements and kingdoms time and again. It has created a place that is constantly rebuilding atop its ruins and trying to piece together its own unique history.
Adding further to Dawnland’s peculiarity, the Rain of Crystals, created when Nenaxhiir ripped the Synder motherlode from under the old capital of Sy’dell, has made “realmbubbles” sprout all over the Dominion. These bubbles are not exactly realmgates to other Realms, but their presence makes the ambient magic of another Mortal Realm bleed over to Ulgu, further adding to the land’s peculiarity. The crystal shards responsible for triggering the bubbles are highly sought after, as they are said to contain archaic knowledge and memories of a lost world.
Dawnland Today
The Dawnland is no longer isolated from the rest of the Mortal Realms since the Godbeast departed, and while many were finally free to leave, several newcomers have since poured into the ruined Dominion, through dangerous crossings and now-active Realmgates.
In the following decades, only one power among the rival Warlords has risen to rule over the wasteland: the magocracy of Umberspire.
In the last great war of Dawnland, when the Warlords besieged Umberspire, even the mighty Archaon graced the battlefield, though what he sought in Dawnland is known probably only to him. While the city-state was breached and its defences were depleted, the attackers were beaten back and those who had pledged themselves to Umberspire reaped the rewards of victory over the Dominion.
With power over the Warlords of the wastes, Umberspire has since maintained a grip on the rest of the Dominion, through politics, commerce and sheer military might.
