> [!infobox|wikipedia] > # Borealia Range > [![[Borealia_Range_small.webp|cover hsmall]]](Borealia_Range.webp) > ###### Location Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Type | Region | > Continent | [[Valtorra\|Valtorra]] | > Defining Feature | The lesser eastern mountains, walling the interior off from the coast | > Connections | [[Silver Mountains]] (branches from)<br>[[Borealia Forest]] (north)<br>[[Luminor Plains]] (south and west)<br>[[Darkwood]] (east) | > ###### Status > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Status | Active | The Borealia Range is the lesser eastern mountain chain of [[Valtorra]] — a spur that branches off the great [[Silver Mountains]] spine and runs east toward the coast, forming a long natural wall that seals the continent's interior off from its north-eastern edge. Smaller and lower than the central range it springs from, it is nonetheless a real barrier, dividing the open [[Luminor Plains]] from the cold woodland and broken coast beyond. ## Geography & Landscape The Borealia Range branches eastward from the northern end of the [[Silver Mountains]] and runs toward the north-eastern coast of [[Valtorra]], a chain of lower, weathered mountains far short of the central spine's scale. It meets the [[Borealia Forest]] in the north — the gap between the [[Silver Mountains]] to the west and the Borealia Range to the east is the very saddle in which the city of [[Val Aran]] stands, the last great settlement before the northern treeline. Running east and south from there, the range walls the [[Luminor Plains]] off from the coast and from the monstrous eastern forest of the [[Darkwood]] beyond it. Its slopes are forested low and bare high — dark conifers climbing the foothills before giving way to rock and snow along the ridgeline. The range is colder and quieter than the plains it borders, a thinly travelled frontier of high passes and lonely valleys. Like the continent's other smaller mountain chains, it is home to scattered communities of gnomes, who keep to the higher reaches well away from Imperial notice. ![[Borealia_Range_Location_small.webp]] ## Significance The Borealia Range matters chiefly for what it divides. Together with the [[Darkwood]] it walls the rich central interior off from the north-eastern coast, shaping where roads run, where cities can stand, and where the wilds begin. The saddle it forms with the [[Silver Mountains]] is the gateway to the far north, guarded by [[Val Aran]] — and so the range, for all that it is the lesser of the continent's mountains, helps decide how the cold north is reached and held.