Ruthland lies in the northeast, bordered to the south by Casovel, to the west by Levaria, to the north by the Frozen Fields, and to the east by the Emerald Vale and assorted small territories ruled by potent forces. Ruthland is the largest of the northern kingdoms, controlling much of the northern portion of the continent. Its rule is inherited matrilineally - the king's eldest sister's first son is the next in line to the throne. This arrangement, which often seems impractical to outsiders, is perfectly normal to a Ruthlander. Curently the king is Bernhart Raven-Eye, a man so noted as an archer that they say his mere gaze brings ravens, ready to feed on those who fall to his arrows.

Currently, Ruthland has an intense and strained relationship to both magic and nonhumans. Nonhumans are allowed to live in Ruthland's cities and towns, but only under sufferance, and they are often lynched for crimes they had nothing to do with. Mages, as well, are routine targets for mob "justice," and it's not at all uncommon for even those without magical talent to come under suspicion and be charged with crimes or lynched.

Ruthland is a deeply conflicted nation, and wherever it goes next, it won't be an easy road.