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Erissa is an open and friendly place, frequently visited by traders from the Inner Sea, both via the sea route and the eastern caravan route through the desert and the highlands. Many spices grow in the warm climate of the kingdom, which is, on the other hand, short on raw materials like ore or wool. The sea trade in turn attracts pirates, both those scratching out a meagre living on sheltered coves on the barren coast of the salt desert and those operating from Hanassar in the southern kingdom of Moih. The Sea Hawks, Erissa's navy, are out in force in small but fast sailing vessels to protect their home coast,
While most of the land trade ends up in the capital, Erissa, also the northern city Rilannon is an important port of call. Of course, the more adventurous traders risk the pirate-infested waters further south to get the best deals down in Moih.
The inland is less densely populated and mostly forest covered, most notable places can be found along the rivers draining the highlands. Several forgotten ruin fields tell of the inhabitants of the land long before the present-day Erissans arrived.
Folk tales tell how the magician Nunara came long ago to wrestle the kingdom out of the hands of the powers of the deep, and how, south of Erissa, on the cursed shores, the might of the deep still lingers over Utuna, the drowned island, ancient home of Nunara. Whatever the true core of these tales is, there is no denying that strange things happen in the depths of the sea in these places, and more than one ship venturing too close to the cursed shores has vanished, to never appear again.
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