This land is not of soft stories, not of sunshine and sweetness. This place is where heroes fall, wanderers are lost to the deep wilds, and wonders dance in step with danger. Here live a contradictory people who are daring, self-sufficient, ambitious, and cooperative. They will do what needs to be done, and after pay the same serious attention towards revelry and celebration.
Every name you hear in these lands is earned and rings with story, and every story is treasured. Where the worst thing you can be is an outright liar, but some gentle bending of the truth for artistries sake is always expected.
Where scars are never sought, but also never shamed or hidden, and beauty never found in physical appearance but how someone wears what they have been through and how they choose to express themselves. It is common for people of all genders to adorn themselves in things they love, from lace to lichens, mud to makeup. Some people make their expression through song or dance or story. Beauty is found, not held, it is not always obvious or present at all times.
Beneath the cold eye of Whitescar mountains, In the lofty spires of Andhien castle, warlocks page through eldritch tomes searching for the keys to personal power, whilst in glittering ballrooms, games of courtly intrigue weave delicate webs that cast fates on a spinning wheel.
In the far villages, the young are sent out to be storied and become adults. Superstitions and rumours here are as colourful and common as tradition and festival. Leave a small serving of your meal outside, wear a hagstone talisman for luck, turn your coat inside out. Deep in the tangled wilds along the old roads, alliances between strangers are struck out of need, where motley travellers huddle around campfires telling tales of wonder and caution, some for merry entertainment, some as dire warnings, and some to keep whatever manner of creature shies beyond the edge of the fire light at bay.
Those who seek their heart’s desire can often find it at the Misplaced Market, if they can find the market at all. Where under silk awnings, wares as strange and singular as the traveling merchants who offer them, can be exchanged for coin, for promises, or for mere trifles, nothing you would miss, nothing you even value. Anything and everything, for a price.
This is a land of wonder and trepidation, where many seek their fortune, but not all of those who seek it claim their prize, and not all of those who claim it, are prepared for the consequences.
Geography
Long after the bright colours of the Wonder have quieted and the birds grown shy, an immense wall of thorns stands grim sentinel to the border of Valdraeth. It could never be considered particularly warm, ranging from mild to cold, and a lot of areas are blanketed in rains or more inclement weather. Its days are colder and shorter than its two neighbouring nations, and something in the soil makes the land itself harder to tame and cultivate. The area is made up of forests and valleys, bordered by what the locals call the Hedge on one side, a bleak mountain range on the other, with the battlefront pressing ever closer on the final side. The remaining city is perched below the mountain with high walls and an imperious castle, whilst numerous other towns and smaller villages are dotted through the valleys and forests below.
The Hedge
The Hedge stretches thick across the untrodden border area of Valdraeth, a giant dense weave of thorn bush and other tangling flora, growing wildly where no one wishes to venture. Many things live in the Hedge, including some brave and hardy people, but there are far more hospitable places to be. The Hedge is a treacherous maze-like thicket covering the far wilderness of Valdraeth.
It is whispered to contain monsters, legendary items, and pathways to other nations and other worlds. The Valdrae know for sure it is a good place for the daring adventurer to acquire rarer herbal resources, but that the cost to obtain them is often too high. People don’t go into the Hedge without a very good reason and diligent preparation.
The Deepwoods
Not quite as inhospitable or unmanageable as the Hedge, the Deepwoods lay just beyond the circles of civilization. The tall gatherings of trees are cut through with well worn paths kept by traveling merchants, hunters, and everyone else who regularly needs to venture to the next settlement. As these paths are generally tended, and some of the most popular even kept lit with wisp-light, they are largely regarded as safe. So long as you stick to the path and are sensible. Of course, not everyone is sensible, and not everyone sticks to the path. The Deepwoods are a dark fantasy wood or forest bordering most towns and villages. The woods themselves offer life staples such as wild game, foraged foods, fire and building wood and other such things.
The type of people who prefer solitude yet still want to be within reach of civilisation may be found living within the wood itself, along the path between two popular places.All sorts of strange creatures are relatively common here and are used to neighboring humans, but anyone who has lived in the area for any amount of time knows how to avoid the more dangerous ones and remain safe. Those venturing far off the paths and without heed however may find themselves in trouble.
Stumpwallow Bog
Far beyond the wisp-lit paths of civilisation lurks Stumpwallow Bog. So called because such strange things skulk and dwell there, the forest at the edge of the bog proper has been felled all around in a wide circle by those that fear it. So that any crawling creature trying to slink its way out of that choking mire can be spotted and shot through with arrows before it finds a place to hide or a child to eat, and so that any lost soul approaching the bog will find the warding sentinels of dead wooden tree stumps standing all around in stark warning to turn back.
Stumpwallow bog has swallowed into its murky depths many a hopeful and daring soul, and made many others both soggy and afraid. The bog is an area told of in countless tales, of its thronging, gnawing life, that sings strangely in tongues of chitin and mud. Its deadly mists lead people astray by the voices of lost loved ones calling from beyond their sight, or where their guide’s lantern light swaying just ahead sputters and dies. They find themselves completely alone in a night that’s suddenly turned silent, an area dared to be inhabited only by a few rare souls who are shrewd and sharp – and none too discriminating about what they eat.
Braeleven ValleyÂ
In the valley lies a network of bustling towns, sleepy villages, farmlands, and important trade stations and routes that connect to the rest of Valdraeth and the lands beyond. This flat hospitable land is now home to many of Valdraeth’s peoples, with the areas surrounding them rich in everyday resources, and adventure calling from the deeper wilderness just beyond. Walk into a tavern here and you shall find a concoction of stories brewing.
Whilst Waymakers stop in their shifts to share news of the roads, they are as likely to run into the miller’s second son fresh from the grind, as the legendary adventurer with a collection of impressive names under her belt and a wild tale for the lingering bard to turn into their newest epic, whilst a shadowy figure quietly conducts less wholesome business from the far booth.
Whitescar Mountain and the City of Andhein
Whitescar mountain raises cold and steep along the other border of Valdraeth, its peaks dusted with shining snow as it scars the sky and casts shadows across the lands it presides above. At the foot of the mountain lies the castle Andhien, and the city crowded around it. The older parts of the city and the castle itself, are an impressive affair hewn from spiring rock, enclosed on all sides by formidable walls or steep mountainside. Yet within the lower city itself there is quite a mix of structures.
Many of those who lost their homes in the old territories ended up as refugees in the city, and started new lives here, building what they could from whatever was to hand. This gives the lower city a strange motley look and feel to it, with many dwellings that began as temporary shelters being shored up over the years into unique permanent structures. Whilst this area is well defensible, virtually free of dangers from outside of humanity, and good for both trade and living, the city relies on the support and trade of the surrounding settlements in order to feed its people.
Castle Andhein
Once the most impressive seat of government in the Crownlands, and in their eyes, therefore the world, Castle Andhein’s walls are visible from all through the city.