Most Aiians have only a general knowledge of geography. If an Aiian has been born upon the new island, there is no guarantee they have any knowledge of Surelain geography. If the Aiian is a new arrival, there is no guarantee they have any knowledge of the new island's layout.

Suraal

- The homeland -

Suraal is the island all Aiians came from. Aiia, mythically, dwelt here with the early Aiians, many hundreds of cycles in the past. Back then, the island was much smaller, and bore the name 'Aeel'. Upon Aiia's departure, the land slowly grew to its current size (or perhaps the seas retreated from the beaches, none can say) and was renamed Suraal. If one is speaking of something with Suraal as its origin, that thing is described as 'Surelain' (for example, the Surelain Navy).

Suraal (or Sural, as it is sometimes spelled) is a land of frigid winters and mild summers. A few hundred cycles ago it lost a large part of its landmass, the peninsula known as Gara, (In old Aiian - 'the tainted land') which sank into the sea rather suddenly, leaving the roots of the promontory closest to land submerged under a few feet of water, and the farthest out bits submerged far below the ocean's surface.

Whether Gara was always named so, or if it was called this only after its sinking, is unclear. Gara was populated by a branching off of the Aiian race, a bloodline known as the Islee (pronounced IZ-lee). In the Islee hearth-tongue, Gara was instead named Lilleal (pronounced lill-E-el) though one would have to speak to an Islee as to the translation of the name. This might be difficult, as supposedly all Islee perished in the sinking.

Sural has very few forests left upon it. In older times it had one large central forest, with an elevation somewhat higher than the rest of the island. This has since been largely cut and dwindled down to a minor wood, and most of the wildness within it tamed.

There are no mountains on Sural, and at best one might boast a minor hill or a cliff near the water.

The Aiians are ruled by a female monarch entitled 'Regent' who rules in Aiia's stead, from the mythical home of Aiia, in the town of Ai’shelanin (or, the less proper and more commonly spoken - Ai'shelan), which is located in the center of the continent, near the old forest.

Sural is bordered on all sides by the sea, and is small enough to be considered an island. Overcrowding has begun to take its toll on the Aiians, hence the importance of the colony, and the Regent's interest in it.

The New Island

- The Gray Harbor Colony and its Environs -

Little is known by any of the new island's topography. The Gray Harbor Colony sits upon a hill overlooking Logan's Bay whose calm waters are cradled by a large promontory.

On the tip of that promontory is the Opal Point Lighthouse, and a small village bearing the same name.

Far off to the west, the coastline continues, seemingly forever, with mountains and oceanside cliffs in the distance, the waters near them too rocky for any ship to sail through. The beachland continues, most claim, unblemished until it hits those cliffs, which rise sheer, straight up out of the land, and prevent any traveller not up to the climb from following the coastline west.

To the east, one may also follow the beach, until one reaches an inlet with an outpouring river of fresh water, springing roughly from the northeast.

Just steps off the beachland on these far west and east expanses is thick forest which continues on for a distance that is anyone's best guess. The brushers report that there is no end, that it simply goes on for as long as any mortal creature can walk. Certainly some have tried, and were not seen again.

Closer to the grey harbor colony, some of the forest has been cleared away, and there are grazing lands off to the northeast outside of the town walls. Off to the northwest of the colony atop the hill, the clearing has been much more extensive, and a small farming community tends to fields there, bringing their produce to the Gray Harbor Market Square to sell.

In between the Gray Harbor Town atop its hill, and the water's edge has been raised a boardwalk community, a large rectangle of wood a good thirty feet above sea level at the beach's edge. This structure has been rigged to avoid most of the flooding brought on with storms, staying high enough so that only the worst of gales bring water over it. Three long piers extend off the southern edge, the middle of which is the most expansive. These piers carry platforms of different heights, so that most ships may be accomodated, regardless of their deck height. The central pier is even tall enough to accomodate the Surelain greatships when they come in bearing imports and new colonists, and indeed a port has been set aside just for that purpose.

The picture is completed by the protective sea wall stretching about the hill-town of Gray Harbor, its construction a hodge-podge of old ship parts, island wood, and even the clothing and possessions of colonists long dead. The huge, u-shaped structure cradles the town, protecting it from the swells of water and wind, from the south, and (as it is built up from behind) the unknown dangers lurking in the northern, western, and eastern stretches of wood.