Enemies

The Great Cleave is a frozen frontier shaped by open conflict with the Corrupted. Rangers and other defenders have spent generations trying to prevent hostile forces from pushing south through its mountain passes, while old Ancient structures and later human military factions add additional dangers to the landscape.

More than most territories, the Great Cleave feels like a defensive line. Its enemies are not merely occupying ruins; many are positioned along routes that connect the safer southern regions with the hostile north.

Enemy Families

The Corrupted Front

The official history of the Great Cleave describes Rangers fighting to push back a Corrupted foothold, and that conflict remains the defining feature of the region.

Battleclast Crossing is one of the clear examples of a Corrupted-held position. Other Corrupted groups occupy elevated camps, caverns, and passages through the mountains, while Corruption Breaches can erupt across the territory and reinforce the sense that the Cleave is part of a much larger northern war.

Mangled Heights is another dangerous area associated with elite Corrupted enemies, including powerful swarmers. The terrain itself strengthens these forces: narrow passes and steep slopes make a relatively small hostile position capable of controlling travel through an enormous area.

Forgotten Yeti and the Angry Earth

The Great Cleave also contains the Forgotten Yeti, an unusual Angry Earth enemy associated with Aeternum’s winter events and frozen wilderness.

These creatures are a reminder that the Angry Earth does not belong only to forests and jungles. Its power can take forms suited to the cold, just as it produces Dryads and Terrawolves elsewhere. The Forgotten Yeti make the mountains dangerous even outside the organized Corrupted front.

Ancient Remnants

Ancient ruins are scattered throughout the Great Cleave, linking the territory to the civilization that once controlled enormous portions of Aeternum. Guardians and surviving mechanisms around these structures add another layer of danger beneath the modern conflict.

The region’s connection to Ancient technology becomes especially important in the wider story of the Empyrean Forge, where old machinery, elemental power, and later attempts to exploit the facility collide. Even when Ancient Guardians are not the most numerous enemies in the Cleave, the civilization behind them continues to shape what later factions are fighting over.

Varangian Pressure

The Varangian Knights also intersect with the Great Cleave’s history. Their campaign is driven by the pursuit of magical and Ancient power, particularly the ambitions of Warlord Varik and his connection to Myrddin.

This makes the Cleave part of a broader human conflict as well as a supernatural one. The mountains contain resources and sites powerful enough to attract organized armies in addition to Corrupted hordes.

Notable Threats and Areas

• Battleclast Crossing — A major Corrupted-held location.
• Mangled Heights — Dangerous area associated with elite Corrupted enemies.
• Corruption Breaches — Recurring manifestations that reinforce the territory’s role as a Corrupted front.
• Forgotten Yeti — Powerful frozen Angry Earth creatures roaming the Great Cleave.
• Ancient ruins and mountain complexes — Older sites whose defenses and technology continue to attract danger.

The Enemy Landscape

The Great Cleave is dangerous because nearly every hostile force benefits from the terrain. The Corrupted can fortify mountain passes, Ancient defenses survive in isolated ruins, winter creatures roam far from settlements, and human armies seek the supernatural technology hidden among the peaks.

The region therefore serves as a threshold. What happens in the Great Cleave determines how easily the powers of northern Aeternum can reach the territories to the south.