The Night Court · Warrior Country
Illyria
“Cold stone and colder custom — where snow, brutality and old loyalty are bred into the bone.”
The Illyrian Mountains and Steppes
The harsh, mountainous warrior-territory of the Night Court — the forge that produces Prythian's aerial legions.
A high country of windswept steppes, snow-locked peaks and scattered war-camps, ruled in name by the High Lord but held, day to day, by entrenched war-lords and their old, cruel customs.
At a Glance
The Land of the Illyrians
The High Country
A constellation of war-camps
Illyria is not a single town or castle but a whole high country in the Night Court's north-western reaches — a sweep of windswept steppes, steep valleys, isolated plateaus and snow-locked peaks. Across the Illyrian Mountains and Steppes are strung scattered war-camps such as Windhaven and Ironcrest, where the Illyrian warrior caste lives, breeds and trains. At its heart rises Ramiel, the sacred black-stoned peak that stands as the holy mountain of the Night Court.
The Forge
Cold, joyless and brutal by design
Illyria is the forge that produces the Night Court's aerial legions, and the birthplace of Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel. Cold, joyless and brutal by design, its mountains are a place of suffering — most of all for its women, and for the bastard-born thrown into the snow at birth. Its culture is rich with tradition even as that tradition cuts deep into the bone.
Old Customs
Ruled in name, held in practice
Illyria is governed in name by Rhysand as High Lord, but day-to-day authority is held by entrenched war-lords like Devlon of Windhaven. These war-lords cling to old, cruel customs — wing-clipping, bastard-exposure — that Rhysand has forbidden but cannot fully stamp out, so the country's brutality endures beneath his rule.
Connected in the Codex
