I'm going to respectfully disagree.... this paragraph basically establishes that we're on Earth (Tuscany in Italy) and also roughly WHEN we are (although medieval +700yrs is not very far into the future!). And we're back in Goren's fear soon enough.
Seven hundred years ago, Haadam Base had been a thriving medieval city-state, whatever that was (he’d hardly paid attention in the primer class). The high-climbing city walls kept the guards in and curious tourists out, and the fields and vineyards surrounding the mesa provided food and covered the entrance to the dock. They kept the atmosphere intimidating, with formal threatening signs in different languages on the few roads leading there. It could have been the military base of some barely friendly foreign nation, and they made sure to act that way any time a group of soldiers ventured off base (which was almost never, and things got so boring sometimes).
Above Acuity’s Monolith, a seldom seen aurora, a disharmonic schism which heralds contention and strife. The Anodecum’s journey across the Divides is begun, but Destiny rarely walks her chosen in a straight path. Come Harvester, Necromagians in tow.
I'm going to respectfully disagree.... this paragraph basically establishes that we're on Earth (Tuscany in Italy) and also roughly WHEN we are (although medieval +700yrs is not very far into the future!). And we're back in Goren's fear soon enough.