Hautkrig
This eerie and foreboding land lies between the two mighty rivers Rhor and Oltune. The old Herodi it is derived from means "The House of War".
Geography
Sitting between either side of the two mighty rivers that end near it, Hautkrig is seemingly only good for herding as it is a desolate land with little in the way of vegetation.
Ecosystem Cycles
Nothing truly lives here, the landscape is a permanent sea of gray, black, and cold blues. In the long winters, little snowfalls here but it remains misty and cold all the same. In hot summers, the sun rarely shines and does not dry the ever-present mud and puddles that never seem to leave.
Localized Phenomena
Hautkrig is a land shaken by conflict, in some areas the only signs of life are long dead trees and the bones of forgotten warriors, still clad in their armor and clutching their weapons. In the bogs between the two rivers, mists surround everything and cloud the landscape in a cloak of invisibility. Here is where the infamous whispers and voices prey on the minds of lost travelers and drive them to madness with their demands and their barraging sayings. Some speak a tongue so ancient it has been forgotten by every mortal in the world while some speak a tongue so modern one would think they were alive only hours before.
Fauna & Flora
As the land is only good for herding, livestock can be found with a shepherd along the few trails and paths of this place. Unlike other places, shepherds here seem to take extra precaution and come more heavily armed, carrying a dagger and sometimes a bow. Even nursery rhymes of nearby towns speak of the dangers of the land.
"No rest for all ye herders,
this house takes and does not barter,
this house takes and does not barter,
In the mist, will hear all manner of shouts and screams,
leave little left his herder hopes and dreams".
leave little left his herder hopes and dreams".
It seems that fear of this place has become something the locals have come to accept as a part of life and simply take precautions to avoid being put in a situation where they might not make it home.
History
This land has been known by many names, to the Areuls it was Tìrcnam, "the Place of Bones" and it seems signs of desolation are all one can find here as the land is known for its odd altitude and for its desolate landscape. Unknown to the wider world, this land was once a battlefield, a site of truly cataclysmic destruction as it was here that a large battle between humanity and the gods took place against their foes the Jotnar and the Kunkal. This land truly was filled with the bodies of the fallen, now sunk into its hard ground and forgotten leaving this a hallowed graveyard. With its haunting past, one would think mankind would avoid this area at all costs, this is not the case as it seems mankind is unable to escape the haunting call of this land as it has seen plenty of carnage since the days of the giants. Hautkrig has been contested between the Areuls and their Herodi rivals for centuries as a crossing for the Herodi into the lands of the Areuls, bypassing the typical Rhor river crossing. The land has even made it into Herodi myth as it is here that the hero Gundhar is supposedly asleep, waiting in the bellows of the land awaiting the call to rise once more in the final hours of the world on Dresirea. As a land with a history of war, the Areuls and Herodi traded ownership of this region for some time before both came under the banner of the southern eagle in the time of Kotta. The Rasenna garrisoned this area for centuries and fought numerous roaming Herodi tribes here with mixed success. With its rugged terrain, forts and constructions were difficult as well as dangerous for the garrisoned troops who seem to have made continual complaints of specters and shapes in the always present and changing mists. Such phenomena were even inscribed in the still intact journal of one such soldier,
"In these shadowed lands, we hear the cry of wayward strangers cast adrift in that sea of mist. They beg for odd things like hazelnut or berries, but some cry out for water or their mothers, drawing much sympathy from our number. One could even be tempted to run out and greet them, this is a mistake for those who venture off seldom return. The barbarians across the river call this place The House of War, a name I feel most right to describe a land so thoroughly untouched by any gods."
"In these shadowed lands, we hear the cry of wayward strangers cast adrift in that sea of mist. They beg for odd things like hazelnut or berries, but some cry out for water or their mothers, drawing much sympathy from our number. One could even be tempted to run out and greet them, this is a mistake for those who venture off seldom return. The barbarians across the river call this place The House of War, a name I feel most right to describe a land so thoroughly untouched by any gods."
To the Rasenna, this land was a part of the Limes Rhorium or The Rhor line which was a series of fortifications with the purpose of keeping the Herodi to their side of the river. As such most of the ruins that can be found here are Rasennan construction and fortifications which were abandoned during the time of Radimane's crossing. In relation to the crossing of the Rhor by the Hasdinians, a chronicle exists of an account by a Hasdinian soldier who also had something to say about the lands he had heard of which the army and people came upon.
"All of our people know of that land, that is a land inscribed into the bones of every man, woman, and child who calls themselves sons of Herod. That barren land is the land of our fallen kin, fallen at the blades and fingers of the Vesttens (Areuls) and the Laciks (Rasenna). Our forefathers shed their blood on that hard ground and we come across their bones with pride for no man of our stock shall fall there again".
In the memory of every people who came into contact with this land, Hautkrig typifies the old ways, the rough and hard ways of their ancestors, and represents in the mind of the conscientious, the horrors of conflict and war. For all, it is a no man's land, land left to the elements and left to posterity as a place never again to be taken into the lands of the kingdoms of man. Only recently has the land come into controversy as it has contested ownership between the expanding Kingdom of Tiranar which has reached the banks of the Rhor, and the eastern situated order of the Vyedymi whose fortress Erod-a-Raihan is nearby. Some skirmishes have taken place between the two and some have even brought back further accounts of the land which are stunning even in such days of magic and mysticism.
"I saw in the night such which I have never seen before, a gathering procession of those giants of folklore and legend. They passed by quiet like in the night many without a blink or gaze drawn my way. I thought myself mad when only one looked over to me in a quite sorrowful expression and uttered something in a tongue so incomprehensive I thought this giantess was chewing on something. A chill ran down my spine when that she giant wandered off, again giving me eyes as old as the hills and an expression of longing so sincere I reckon I could write a sonnet about it".
Alternative Name(s)
The House of War
Type
Wasteland
Contested By
Characters in Location
Inhabiting Species
Related Myths
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