The Rotakan world is made of deep oceans and tall mountains with over seventy percent of the world taken up by landmass. The oceans dive hundreds of leagues deep, often straight down from the mountain shorelines. The mountains extend far higher, beyond the line where air ceases to sustain life.

Rotaka orbits a twin planet, Ionia, which is of similar size. Except whereas Rotaka is a lush planet full of life, Ionia is a desert planet. The proximity of the celestial bodies generates large tidal forces on both planets. As such, Rotaka has extreme tides, pushing the ocean hundreds of paces in some places.

Dealing with the massive tides necessitates a variety of solutions. Port cities are often built on mountainous coastlines where massive floating docks can adjust to the tides. A few utilize series of water locks, though these "port" cities are usually further inland, taking advantage of a natural river to manage the incoming tides. Floodplain ports utilize a more natural solution of following the incoming or outgoing tides. The incoming tide carries ships inland, whereas the outgoing tide carries them back to sea. While this solution works, it necessitates a large, sprawling port able to accommodate massive waves of ships all coming and going at the same time. The most famous floodplain port is Castel, the capital of Santonia, where massive canals were manually carved out of the floodplains over thousands of years.

Despite the massive tidal forces put upon it, Rotaka has surprisingly little tectonic activity. There are no known active volcanoes, phenomena only known because of their existence in Ionia, and earthquakes that do occur are rarely a problem. This stands in contrast to Ionia, which has frequent, severe quakes in many regions.

There are other notable features to Rotaka. Perhaps the most well-known is a mountainous region between the Teres and Santonia provinces called the Elderall. Also known as the Elderwood or sometimes the "Whitewood" forest by the locals, both the forest and mountains are infested with terrifying beasts and monsters. Many of these animals would require an army to defeat, and yet for unknown reasons they never venture out, ever. If that were all, then the rest of the world would be quite content to ignore their existence. Yet within the Elderall are incredible treasures, most notably the tree after which the forest is named: The Elderin. Entire expeditions will risk horrible odds just for a chance to bring back just one Elderin tree, which has the potential to set them up for life.

Another notable feature is the Ice-blade mountains in the southern arctic, an unnatural formation of sheer ice cliffs rising leagues into the sky in even intervals across a large portion of the Yuan province.