Alefgard

The Kingdom of Alefgard is the only location to make an appearance in all three games of the original Dragon Quest trilogy. Thus, it's a natural place to begin our exploration of Torland for The Saga of the Ortegids. The entirety of Dragon Quest I and the latter third of Dragon Quest III take place within its borders - using the same map, in fact. This was apparently a big reveal when the games first came out, one that was completely lost on me because I played III first as a kid. Furthermore, while Dragon Quest II's map covers the whole of Torland, Alefgard is present on it, and several of the locations from the first game can be visited.

In the second game, the map of Alefgard is shrunken and many locations have been dropped in order to make it fit into the larger map of Torland. I feel like there is no greater proof than this that the maps we see in the games are simplified representations of the actual in-universe land masses. If the worlds were real, there would surely be many more towns, dungeons, and points of interest than we can visit in the games; we're just seeing a zoomed-out version of the map that only has the highlights included. The Alefgard we see in DQ2, then, is merely a further zoomed-out version of the Alefgard of 1 and 3. However, because two of the three entries in the trilogy limited their scope to Alefgard, our gazetteer of it can afford to be more detailed and granular than that of any other region, and it has the most discrete locations of all of them - though we should remember that this too is a simplification.

Alefgard is a small continent located in northwestern Torland, in between its two main continents. Conveniently, the world map in 2 is the exact same size as the Erdland map in 3, which makes sense if we interpret these maps as representing both sides of a hollow planet. Thus, we can assume the Alefgard in DQ2 is in scale to the map of Erdland, while the version in 1 and 3 is comparatively zoomed in. If that's the case, then Alefgard is roughly the same size as the Worldforest. If you wanted to compare the map of Erdland to Earth, we could hypothesize that Alefgard is about the size of Krasnoyarsk Krai, but we have no reason to believe that Erdland is as big as Earth, and I think the degree of interconnection we see there would support a smaller planet.

Culturally, there seems to be a vaguely Norse theme to Alefgard, and to Torland as a whole. The name recalls Norse realms like Midgard and Asgard, and characters from there often have Scandinavian names like Lars. Visually, Alefgard, like most places in the Erdrick Trilogy regardless of geographical inspiration, has usually been depicted as generically medieval European - sometimes you'll see a horned helmet, but then, those were everywhere in 80s fantasy art. I feel like a tabletop take on the kingdom could draw more from Nordic sources, but I'd probably lean toward the post-Viking era, as there doesn't seem to be a strong raiding or seafaring culture in Alefgard.

Alefgard's greatest treasure is the Sphere of Light, given to Erdrick by the Queen of Dragons, and then passed on to the royal family, where it has been guarded for generations. The Sphere seems to have a non-specifically beneficial effect on the kingdom, blessing it with fertile harvests and protecting its people from monsters. DQ3 reveals that Torland is located on the inside of a hollow world, and for most of that game Alefgard is shrouded in darkness until the Sphere is used against Zoma. It's possible, then, that the role of the Sphere of Light is to somehow control the Inner Sun. There's still vegetation in Alefgard in DQ3, so clearly sunlight isn't needed to grow crops in Torland (maybe it runs on Mythic Underworld logic), but it's possible the Inner Sun is centered directly above Alefgard, and it may provide more direct effects on its land. While most of Torland is in a state of perpetual twilight, never getting dark enough to restrict vision, Alefgard in particular might be constantly at midday. Funnily enough, like Scandinavia in the summer.

Towns in Alefgard include:

• Tantegel: The capital. Site of the royal palace.
• Brecconary: A mercantile center located just east of Tantegel. This town only exists in the NES release of DQ1, in which Tantegel consists entirely of the palace; in subsequent releases, the two are combined into a single location. Still, it gives us another location to work with - and there is plenty of historical precedent for a state having separate administrative and financial capitals. They may even be separate but contiguous settlements - compare Westminster versus the City of London.
• Galenholm: A port town located in the northwest corner of Alefgard. It was founded by a bard named Galen, who owned a magic silver harp, the music of which draws creatures closer. He is buried with the harp in a crypt under the town. Given its position on the coast, close to Lianport and Samartoria, Galenholm is likely an important trade center for Alefgard.
• Kol: A rustic woodland village in the northeast of Alefgard. It holds a natural spring, and at the time of DQ3 the town blacksmith was an emigrant from Zipangu who fled after his wife was set to be sacrificed to the Orochi. He knows the secret to working orichalum.
• Rimuldar: A city located on an island in the southeast of Alefgard, known for its locksmiths. It's separated from the mainland by a tunnel under the sea, which by the time of DQ1 has become the lair of a dragon. Given the city's apparent size and wealth, it's likely that most commerce with the mainland is performed by sea, and the tunnel was likely an aborted project that fell into disrepair. Though we don't see other settlements there, the island is large enough that it could easily support several, so it's probably self-sufficient.
• 
  Hauksness: A trade center in the Domdora Desert, located in the southwest of Alefgard. Originally built around an oasis, but this has dried up by the time of DQ1 and the town is abandoned, save for a single knight guarding a magical suit of armor that once belonged to Erdrick. I like to interpret this as him being part of a lineage of knights tasked with such a job, and even though everyone else has fled the town, he stays, refusing to let the armor fall into the wrong hands. A vein of orichalum is also located nearby.
• Cantlin: A heavily fortified city in the south of Alefgard. In addition to its walls, it's located in a defensible chokepoint surrounded by mountains and swamps, and has a golem that guards the entrance. Likely it is an important redoubt that may have developed from a citadel. Also has an arena.

Dungeons in Alefgard are mostly unremarkable caves, but there are a few sites of interest:

• The Tower of Rubiss: A tower in the northeast of Alefgard where Rubiss, goddess of creation, was imprisoned after being overthrown by Zoma in the God-War, until being freed by Erdrick. Later became home to a hermit in the posession of a staff that could conjure rain.
• The Nailmark: A cave in the north of Alefgard where Zoma was said to have clawed his way into reality, either during the God-War or from being summoned. I just had to talk about that, because the thought that an entire dungeon, with all its traps, denizens, and dangers, is merely the mark a god made on reality with his fingernail is very evocative in a Lovecraftian sense.