The cliffs and crags of Rupesta contain most of the oldest Human settlements in Antavia, for it is to this province, on the western edge of the Rift, that men first came after arriving in Antavia from the continent of Elsendor and expanding southward from the island of Nordor and the western regions of the Northern Wastes.

Rupesta might be best described as a vertical province, since there are very few areas of flat land. Much of the province is like the Rift that separates it from the rest of Antavia, steep and rocky. Still, the first human settlers managed to adapt to the landscape; they built their settlements into cliff walls and along the shoulders of mountains, adopting a vertical style of architecture that reflected their new homeland.

Artifacts even suggest that these earliest settlers mimicked the birds living all around them, fashioning gliders to swoop from cliff side to cliff side and settlement to settlement.Today most of these early settlements are in ruins, having been abandoned in favor of the areas east of the Rift that are able to support larger populations. Among the few remaining active settlements are the capital city of Hantan and the former fortress of Brun. Hantan is the undisputed cultural and arts center of Antavia; the city is full of musicians, writers and artists looking for wealthy patrons. Brun, meanwhile, is a rough and tumble down, reflecting its former role as a fortress that guarded the route between the western human settlements and the dwarven Skybridge that spans the Rift.

Today several of Rupesta’s abandoned settmements have begun to be repopulated, as the Technologist’s union looks for opportunities to exploit any mineral resources that might be found among the rocky cliffs.