Velious · The Scars of Velious
Iceclad Ocean
The Iceclad Ocean is the cold sea at the top of the world: the open water between Velious and the rest of Norrath, and the Icy Fingers, a broken chain of steep-sided islands that leads travellers to the frozen continent itself.
Sea and islands
The EQ Atlas splits the zone in two. One part is the open ocean that separates Velious from the other continents; the other is the Icy Fingers, a string of small, fragmented islands that reach toward the mainland. Allakhazam describes the same chain as small iceberg islands set in a massive ocean.
The Fingers have always drawn outsiders. The oldest of them built the Tower of Frozen Shadow, which stands on the last island of the chain, at the far end from the dock where the raft from North Ro comes in; the newest are the gnomes from Ak’Anon who sailed the ship Icebreaker here and, the Atlas says, are now busy turning pirate. The Snowfang gnolls live here too, and Allakhazam adds a small band of Kromrif frost giants from Kael Drakkel.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Iceclad Ocean · Allakhazam: Iceclad Ocean (zone)
Turtles, gnolls and cougars
Allakhazam describes the Snowfang gnolls as a clan constantly at war with two great ocean turtles, Lodizal and Corudoth. The EQ Atlas warns that Lodizal is aggressive to everyone, and that a rarely seen creature named Garou is just as dangerous; both usually appear on the tower’s island.
Most visitors come for the snow cougars. The Atlas calls the hunting good and fairly safe: the cougars are aggressive but slow to start, they are not usually mixed in with worse creatures, and monsters in Iceclad are spread out. The real hazard is the terrain. The islands rise in sheer sides, so a monster can be upon you before you see it, and the guardians of the tower are fiercer than anything else in the zone.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Iceclad Ocean · Allakhazam: Iceclad Ocean (zone)
Arriving in Velious
For most players this is the front door of the expansion. The EQ Atlas calls Iceclad a transit zone above all. A boat from the Northern Desert of Ro lands on an outlying island, and from there travellers cross on the Icebreaker to the main islands. Druids and wizards can teleport straight in, close to the bridge to the mainland, and melee characters can bind at the dock.
The Atlas has a warning about that teleport spot. People wait there, or worse, pull monsters to it, so a newcomer fresh off the spell can be jumped the moment the zone loads. Its advice is simple: arrive ready to run.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Iceclad Ocean · Project 1999 Wiki: Iceclad Ocean
The Great Span
The way onward is the Graitspaign, or Great Span: a huge bridge, visible from far off, that runs from the largest of the Icy Fingers to the mainland. Its far end stands in the Eastern Wastes, and the Atlas notes that one arm of it lies in Iceclad. The ship route back to North Ro keeps this the link between Velious and Antonica.
The Project 1999 Wiki lists the same three neighbours: North Ro by boat, the Eastern Wastes, and the Tower of Frozen Shadow. Allakhazam gives the hunting range as roughly 25 to 45, matching the Atlas’s 28 to 40 for the island creatures.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Iceclad Ocean · Project 1999 Wiki: Iceclad Ocean · Allakhazam: Iceclad Ocean (zone)
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Iceclad Ocean · Allakhazam: Iceclad Ocean (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Iceclad Ocean