Khorinis

An Island of Strategic Value

Khorinis is an island lying off the coast of Myrtana, the human kingdom ruled by King Rhobar II. Its extraordinary importance comes from one thing: deep within its mountains lie deposits of magic ore, the material from which smiths can forge weapons capable of penetrating Orcish armor and flesh. With Myrtana locked in a war against a relentless Orcish assault, magic ore becomes the most strategically critical substance in the kingdom. Every decision Rhobar II makes regarding Khorinis flows from this need — including his choice to turn part of the island into a penal colony staffed by convicted criminals condemned to dig ore in perpetuity.

The Colony and the Barrier

To maximize ore production, the King condemns criminals to labor in the Valley of Mines, a mountainous region in the island’s interior. To prevent escape, he commissions twelve magicians to raise the Barrier — a dome intended to wall off the mine complex. The ritual goes catastrophically wrong, and the Barrier expands to cover the entire valley, sealing off a large portion of Khorinis from the rest of the island. For the duration of Gothic, this sealed zone is the only part of Khorinis the player can access. The rest — its port town, surrounding farms, and forested hills — exists as background context, a world the prisoners can hear about from newly arrived convicts but cannot reach. Ships dock at the port; merchants pass goods through the dome; life outside the Barrier continues without interruption.

Beyond the Barrier

The wider island of Khorinis has a functioning port town, also called Khorinis, that serves as the commercial hub connecting the island to the mainland of Myrtana. Merchants escort shipments of goods to the Barrier’s edge and lower them through to the Ore Barons; newly sentenced convicts are marched to the dome and thrown in. Citizens and traders on the outside live entirely apart from the chaos within. The Barrier’s collapse at the end of Gothic suddenly reconnects the valley to this outside world, and survivors can walk out across the island toward the sea — a freedom many have not known for years.

Khorinis in Gothic II

The island becomes the primary setting of Gothic II, the 2002 sequel. With the Barrier gone, the Nameless Hero re-enters Khorinis from the mainland and explores the port town, surrounding forests, farms, a harbor district, and mountainous regions now hosting new threats. Gothic II reveals that the collapse of the Barrier had consequences: freed Orcs, dangerous creatures loosed from the valley, and a new supernatural threat have spread across the island. Locations only hinted at in the first game become fully realized environments in the sequel. Khorinis serves as the geographical thread connecting both games, its history shaped by the ore in its mountains and the demon that slept beneath them — a small island that inadvertently became the pivot point of Myrtana’s fate.