Shadow Marches

The Shadow Marches are little more than fetid backwater swamps where Orcs have lived for thousands of years. Still, a glimmer of civilization lingers here, if one has enough tenacity and endurance to seek it out.
Detail of Shadow Marches
The Shadow Marches lie in the lowlands west of the Byeshk Mountains and south of Crescent Bay. The hills bordering the swamps and marshes of the Shadow Marches start at the southwestern tip of crescent bay and wrap east and south to Blackwater Lake where Patrahk'n lies at the edge of The Vile Marsh. The Watching Wood forms the rest of the eastern barrier for the Marches. To the south of the Marches, Balinor's sorrow stands a solitary monitor to the swamp's progression past Unthold, while Zarash Bay acts as water source and custodian of the marshlands south of Lantern Tower as well as the primary sea access to Zarash'ak. To the west lies the ocean.
Society The Shadow Marches are not a recognized nation. Rather, the Marches are an independent territory whose established relationships with its neighbors and the outside world comes largely from the presence of House Tharashk. The folk of the Shadow Marches have a reputation for xenophobia. Outsiders are rarely welcomed here.
Orcs make up more than half the population of the Marches. Humans. half orcs. and members of other races aso dwell here. The Shadow Marches feature two distinct cultures - the orc tribes that settled those lands. and the clans formed by later human lmmigrants.
The orc tribes are an insular society, but humans and half·orcs are sometimes accepted into an orc tribe if they can prove themselves. The tribes are territorial. and typically attack trespassers on sight.
Closer to the outer edges of the Marches, mixed clans of humans and half orcs are more accepting of the outside world. mostly through their association with House Tharashk. The clans have more in common with the folk of civilized Khorvaire than do their kin in the orc tribes, and they demonstrate a greater level of trust toward outsiders.
Power Groups The Shadow Marches are not a nation. Other nations or business concerns looking to deal with the Marches inevitably deal with House Tharashk. Anyone who hopes to do business in the Marches - or to stay alive while traveling here - knows to keep on the house's good side. Two religious traditions hold sway in the Shadow Marches: the path of the Gatekeepers and the Cults of the Dragon Below. The orc tribes of the deep swamps are split evenly between the two faiths.

Structure

Clan Warlords

History

House Tharashk originated in the Shadow Marches, and the house retains strong ties to this land. Today, Tharashk makes a majority of its profits shipping Eberron shards from the Marches to the rest of Khorvaire. The swamps of the Marches contain some of the largest Eberron dragonshard fields in Khorvaire, and Tharashk operates prospecting and distribution centers throughout the region. The daelkyr incursions laid waste to these lands, and ruins from that long ago conflict are still scattered throughout the swamps.

Demography and Population

Population

500,000

Races

Orcs 55% Humans 25% Goblins 10% Half-orcs 7% Other 3%

Religion

the Gatekeepers and the Cults of the Dragon Below

Type

Geopolitical, Tribe

Capital

Zarash'ak

Government System

Tribalism

Major Exports

Eberron Dragonshards, Herbs

Neighboring Nations

• Breland