Antonica

Two coasts, two cities

Antonica launched with EverQuest in 1999, the largest of the three original continents beside Faydwer and Odus. Its two great human cities face each other across its width. Qeynos stands on the west coast, its docks trading across Erud’s Crossing with Erudin on Odus. Freeport stands on the east coast, where the Commonlands meet the Desert of Ro, and holds the only port with a regular boat to Faydwer, which made it, in the EQ Atlas’s words, the hub of Antonica.

Between them runs the long road that every classic player knew: from Qeynos through the Hills and the four Plains of Karana, over the Highpass, through Kithicor and the Commonlands to Freeport. A southern road ran from South Karana past Lake Rathe and the Rathe Mountains to the swamps and the Desert of Ro, little used but, the EQ Atlas thought, safer in the long run for those who knew it.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Qeynos · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Freeport · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Southern Desert of Ro · Allakhazam: South Qeynos (zone)

Qeynos and the north

North of Qeynos lie the Qeynos Hills, with the druids and rangers of Surefall Glade through a tunnel in the north and the gnoll warren of Blackburrow in the northeast corner. Blackburrow’s far door opens into Everfrost Peaks, where the barbarians of Halas keep their town in the western canyons and the ice goblins and the white dragon Lady Vox hold Permafrost Keep at the far northeastern edge of the plains.

The founder of the city is remembered in Antonius Bayle and Qeynos; the northmen and their gods of justice in Halas and the Northmen and the Tribunal; the gnolls in Blackburrow and the Sabertooths.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Qeynos · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Qeynos Hills · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Everfrost Peaks · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Permafrost Keep

The Plains of Karana

East of the Hills open the plains named for Karana, the Rainkeeper. West Karana is farm country patrolled by the Qeynos guard. North Karana is bounded by a river on its south and east, crossed by a guarded bridge to South Karana, where the claws of Splitpaw rise in the middle of the plain, and by a giant’s bridge to East Karana.

From East Karana a long, narrow pass climbs east to Highpass Hold, the mountain town of the McCabes and their keep, and the Gorge of King Xorbb leads toward the goblin citadel of Clan Runnyeye. Highpass sits at the centre of the continent on the main road between Qeynos and Freeport: a mountain pass held as well as they can manage by the guards of Highpass Keep, where the townsfolk have carved homes into the gullies and nooks of the rock and the road runs on south into Kithicor.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Western Plains of Karana · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Northern Plains of Karana · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Southern Plains of Karana · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Eastern Plains of Karana · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Highpass Hold

The middle road

South of Highpass lies Kithicor Forest, quiet by day and, by night, full of the undead of an old battle, told in The Battle of Bloody Kithicor. Beside it the halflings keep Rivervale, the hidden vale of Bristlebane’s people, and their walled newbie woods, the Misty Thicket, whose western gap leads to Runnyeye and on through the gorge to the plains: the alternate road between the coasts.

East of Kithicor, the Commonlands stretch to Freeport’s walls, with the haunted temple of Befallen hidden off their southern edge.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Rivervale · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Misty Thicket · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): West Commonlands

Dark elves and fire

North of the Commonlands, through a gap in the hills, lies the shadowed Nektulos Forest and, carved into the mountains on its east wall, Neriak, the city of the dark elves and of Innoruuk. North again rise the shattered Lavastorm Mountains, whose smoke keeps Nektulos dark.

Lavastorm opens onto four dungeons: the lair of the dark elf magician Najena in the southeast; the goblin and gnome caverns of Solusek’s Eye; Nagafen’s Lair, home of the red dragon told of in Nagafen and Vox; and the Temple of Solusek Ro, the Burning Prince.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Nektulos Forest · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Neriak · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Lavastorm Mountains

The Desert of Ro

South of Freeport the sands begin. The Northern Desert of Ro is a marketplace for desert hunters and a highway for the dark races, with a dock later opened by the gnomes for the ship to Velious. The Oasis of Marr, named for the Marr twins, is a lake of crocodiles and spectres with a dock for the boats to Kunark. The Southern Desert of Ro is orc country above the swamps.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Northern Desert of Ro · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Oasis of Marr · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Southern Desert of Ro

The southern swamps and the Rathe

In the far south, Innothule Swamp is the trolls’ home, named, Allakhazam says, for an evil pact between the gods of Fear and Hate; the trolls’ city is Grobb, and the frogloks of Guk dig beside it. West of the swamp, the Feerrott shelters the ogres of Oggok, the lizard men and the ruined temple of Cazic-Thule.

Northwest of the Feerrott, the Rathe Mountains and Lake Rathetear carry the southern road back up to South Karana. The frogloks’ rise and the trolls’ fall are told in Guk and the Frogloks, Gukta, Outpost of Marr and Ykesha and the Fall of Grobb; the ogres’ fallen god in Rallos Zek.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Innothule Swamp · Allakhazam: Innothule Swamp 2.0 (zone) · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Oggok · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Rathe Mountains · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Lake Rathetear

About the map

The map is an original illustration. Each zone’s place comes from the directions its EQ Atlas and Allakhazam texts give, and the relative layout was checked by eye against the game’s own continent maps; nothing was traced or copied.

Highpass Hold sits north of Kithicor Forest, with Rivervale to Kithicor’s south and the Gorge of King Xorbb on East Karana’s eastern side, where it meets Runnyeye. Sea routes run from Qeynos across Erud’s Crossing, from Freeport across the Ocean of Tears to Faydwer, from the Oasis toward Kunark and from North Ro toward Velious.

Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Highpass Hold