Spine of the World

From A Wheel of Time Wiki

The Spine of the World is a vast mountain range that stretches from the Blight in the north to the Sea of Storms in the south, forming the eastern border of the Westlands and separating it from the Aiel Waste and the Termool to the east. The rivers Erinin, Iralell and Gaelin all flow out of the Spine. The Aiel refer to the Spine as the Dragonwall.

The range has two major spurs which extend into the Westlands: Kinslayer's Dagger and the Maraside Mountains, which respectively form the northern and southern borders of the kingdom of Cairhien.

There are several passes through the mountains. The Niamh Passes cross from the Aiel Waste to Shienar. The Jangai Pass crosses from the Aiel Waste into Cairhien. It is also possible to circumvent the Spine to the south through a narrow coastal strip between the mountains and the Bay of Remara, but this route only leads into the hostile swampland known as the Drowned Lands.

There are several Ogier steddings in the Spine. From north to south these are: Qichen, Sanshen, Handu, Chanti, Lantoine, Yongen, Mashong, Sintiang, Taijin, Kolomon, Daiting and Shangtai.