The Edge Chronicles, a series of fantasy novels written by Paul Stewart and illustrated by Chris Riddell, is notable for its setting: a massive cliff named the Edge. The Edge is described as a massive spur jutting out into Open Sky like the prow of a ship, and is divided into several sections. From the base of the Edge to its tip, these are:
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The Deepwoods is a forest, both peaceful and deadly, that many woodland creatures call home. It is the largest area of the Edge; a seemingly endless panorama of teeming life in many diverse forms. At the western end of the Deepwoods, after the Nightwoods, or Waif Country, is a giant cliff that leads to the Riverrise. A legend exists about Riverrise; a place at the end of the Deepwoods with water that has healing properties.
During Quint and Twig's time, the Deepwoods was largely inhabited by nomadic tribes of various Trogs, Trolls, and Goblins. During the Rook trilogy, permanent settlements had sprung up in the Deepwoods.
In the far future, many permanent settlements were established in the Deepwoods. Two of the three great Third Age cities were in the Deepwoods: Great Glade and Hive (The city of Riverrise was in the farther-off Nightwoods). Additionally, several smaller towns and cities were established in the Deepwoods. Though the woods were far less wild than before, deforestation became a serious threat during the Third Age of Flight, as the stormphrax trade constantly encouraged cities to grow bigger and more powerful.
Another site in the Deepwoods is the Great Shryke Slave Market. It was constructed far above the forest floor and comprised a series of log bridges and platforms built in trees. It was critical for anyone planning to visit the Great Shryke Slave Market to first purchase a white cockade, and wear it in plain view for as long as they stay. The cockade would last for three days, over the course of which it would slowly wilt and rot to nothing, at which point a new cockade had to be purchased. Anyone not wearing a cockade could be captured by Shryke guards and sold as slaves, but those wearing the cockades would be safe. Despite the importance of the white cockades, time passed quickly in the Great Shryke Slave Market due to the frenzy and pace, and many visitors forgot about their cockades until it was too late. Wig-wigs were a common sight on the forest floor below the Great Shryke Slave market, as they were attracted by the commotion and the waste dropped from the market. The Wig-Wig Arena was a stadium in the Great Shryke Slave Market. Various individuals and creatures were sent into the Arena and pitted against wig-wigs, and spectators would bet on outcomes, such as the length of time that the individual could hold the wig-wigs off, or how many wig-wigs would be killed or injured. The Central Auction was the area of the Great Shryke Slave Market where visitors purchased slaves. Various enslaved creatures went to the highest bidder. During the events of Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, Twig and Cowlquape journeyed to the Great Shryke Slave Market in search of the missing crew members of the Edgedancer. They saved Goom from the Wig-Wig Arena.
In the Deepwoods there are a few settlements apart from the normal villages and tribes. There is the Foundry Glade, set up by Hemuel Spume in order to build his war machines, the glade-eaters; the Eastern Roost, which is ruled by shrykes; the Goblin Nations, a loose alliance between many different Goblin tribes against the rest of the Edge's species; and the Free Glades.
The Free Glades were set up by Maris Pallitax as a haven for any lost creature looking for peace and community. They consist of The Ironwood Glade, which is next to the South Lake and the Great Lake. Near the edge of the Great Lake there is Lake Landing, home to the Librarian Knights, which is near the Waif Glen where the Reckoning takes place. Next to the Great Lake there is the Woodtroll Timberyards, and in the North Lake there is Lullabee Island, which is inhabitated by a group of Oak elves who lived there before the Free Glades started. At the very edge of the Free Glades, there is a cliff, which is full of caves where cloddertrogs reside. And most important of all, there is New Undertown. New Undertown, as well as many of the villages, are only seen in the Rook's trilogy.
The Twilight Woods was a large forest east of the Deepwoods and south of the Edgelands. Surrounded by an eternal twilight glow, those who entered the Twilight Woods gradually lost their memories, senses of self, and minds, but not their lives. The glow of the Twilight Woods resulted in an eternal living death. Occasionally, someone would find their way out of the Twilight Woods after decades or even centuries of wandering. Such individuals, known as Death-Cheaters, sometimes recovered over time, but most remained insane, unaware, lost, and weak.
The Twilight Woods attracted Great Storms, and stormphrax formed there. In the Twilight glow, the stormphrax was gradually ground into phraxdust. Stormchasing voyages brought Knights Academic to the Twilight Woods to retrieve the stormphrax.
It was possible to resist the effects of the Twilight Woods if one kept one's mind constantly focused on one's identity and purpose. When Twig was lost there with the crew of the Stormchaser, this is how he managed to retain his wits long enough to escape. The Twilight Woods also had no effect on shrykes, possibly because their plumage protected them from it's effects.
The Mire was a large, toxic wasteland between Undertown and the Twilight Woods. It was the dumpsite of Undertown's chemicals and was covered in bleached white mud. Before the construction of the Great Mire Road, the trip across the Mire was treacherous. The toxic blowholes and quickmud captured many an unfortunate soul. Most inhabitants of the Mire were bleached as white as the mud around them. Mire-Clams, mire herons, mire mistwraiths, mire-monsters, mud-demons, muglumps, oozefish and the white ravens. By the time of The Immortals the Mire is a large green plain home to many birds.
Undertown was the bustling main city of the Edge. It was founded on the principle of freedom, intended to be a haven for those seeking escape from the oppressive slavery and danger of the Deepwoods. Attempting to enslave an Undertowner was an action punishable by death.
On the side of Undertown near the Mire, factories and foundries operated. The side nearer the Stone Gardens was called the Western Quays, and is dotted with large, opulent palaces. The Boom-Docks was the part of Undertown where sky ships arrived and departed. In the very center of Undertown was the Anchor Chain.
Many Deepwooders believed Undertown to be a place of harmony and freedom, where the streets were paved with gold and all races were respected. In fact, for many, Undertown was a very difficult place to live. The League of Free Merchants controlled the entire city and would control the sky that sky pirates kept open for free trade, which devolved into a series of underhanded power struggles and sky battles.
The taverns and slums of Undertown were filled with a variety of peoples from all over the Edgeworld. The weak and slow never lasted long in Undertown.
Screetown was the ruins of the section of Undertown near New Sanctaphrax during the Rook trilogy. It was created when diseased chunks of the New Sanctaphrax rock fell and crushed that portion of Undertown, which included the Boom-Docks and the Western Quays. Screetown was infested with Rubble Ghouls and was greatly feared by most inhabitants of the Edge. The only civilized inhabitants of the ruins were the Ghosts of Screetown, which were a band of Undertowners who dwelled in the ruined region of Screetown.
The Stone Gardens was a region beyond Undertown, close to the farthest tip of the Edge. During the Quint and Twig trilogies, buoyant rocks grew in the Stone Gardens, pushing up rocks above and creating rock stacks. The White Ravens resided there and screeched when it was time to harvest the rocks for use in sky ships.
In the Rook trilogy, Stone-Sickness struck the Edge, and the Stone Gardens no longer produced buoyant rocks.
An enormous buoyant rock which is the site of the scholarly city of Sanctaphrax, which teaches students a variety of subjects—mainly concerning the weather and how to predict it. There are Colleges of Raintasters, Cloudwatchers, Mistsifters, and so on. Other scholars also come here to pore over the many texts here for study. Very little use is made of the knowledge acquired in Sanctaphrax; it is largely the home of pedants, each of whom attempts to outdo or destroy his fellows. Sanctaphrax is attached to Undertown by a huge metal chain to prevent its floating away.
Loftus Observatory is the tallest tower of Sanctaphrax which houses many weather forecasting instruments including several large telescopes.
The Knights Academy is the school where young scholars are trained to be knight academics. However, there are only thirteen that are chosen to be knight academics at any one time. The rest of the students become academics-at-arms: the guardians of Sanctaphrax who become catapult workers, swordsmen and a host of other positions that are required for the academics-at-arms to guard Sanctaphrax. The school consists of four main classes which teach the students key subjects to being Knight academics. These are: the Hall of Storm Cloud- subject ship building; the Hall of Grey Cloud- subject prowlgrin handling; the Hall of White Cloud- subject Stormchasing, and the Hall of High cloud- subject weather forecasting.
In Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, the chain holding down Sanctaphrax is cut, and the city floats away. It makes a return in "The Immortals", when the city is blown back to the edge and serves as the base for the gloamgloazers plan. After his demise it is once again converted into a city of peace and learning.
Sanctaphrax is replaced by New Sanctaphrax, a second giant rock, which in later books has given in to stone sickness, causing it to sink and almost rot away. It was supported by a forest of support beams, maintained by thousands of slaves. Its only building, as too many buildings could fall off the gradually crumbling rock, is the Tower of Night, originally intended by Vox and Amberfuce to be for everyone, but the sinister Guardians of Night used it as their headquarters instead.
The Sanctaphrax Forest is an enormous ongoing construction of support beams that holds up New Sanctaphrax. The Forest is inhabited by many dangerous creatures.
The Tower of Night, the head quarters of Guardians of Night, is the most powerful fortress in the Edge. Vox Verlix boasted its construction was so strong it could survive cannonballs and hurricanes. The tower is set on fire at the end of the book 'Vox' after being hit by a lightning bolt, shortly before New Sanctaphrax is destroyed by the Black Maelstrom.
During the Third Age of Flight the old cities of Sanctaphrax and Undertown are abandoned, and the technology of phraxflight has led to growth in the civilisation of the Deepwoods. The three greatest cities are Hive, Great Glade (A city which was once the Freeglades, but grew in the 500-year interval after which The Immortals was set), and Riverrise (A city built on the Riverrise mountain discovered in Midnight Over Sanctaphrax)