Droaam

A mere two decades ago, Droaam was part of Breland. But while the maps reflected this claim, few Brelish lived in the western barrens beyond the Graywall Mountains. The place has always been dangerous, a haven for monsters of all sorts, and the land was never easy to work or hunt. A few brave settlers tried to tame the land over the years, but none of them ever met with much luck. As the Last War wore on, monster warbands became more aggressive, striking at Breland either at the behest of warring nations or for their own spoils of war. In 987 YK, King Boranel of Breland evacuated the few remaining Brelish and declared that the land west of Graywall was sealed and off limits. In that same year, a trio of hags declared the sovereignty of the new nation of Droaam.
In addition to hosting aggressive tribes of goblins, ogres, and Khorvaire’s largest gnoll population, the region has long been home to a wide variety of dangerous monsters—both natural beasts and strange creatures formed from dark magic. Aside from a few fertile valleys, the region is rocky and inhospitable; while glory-seeking knights often ventured into the barrens in search of adventure, no ruler of Breland ever considered the full conquest of the area to be worth the effort. For their part, the various monsters of the region never developed the organization or leadership required to threaten the eastern domain. Instead ogre and troll fought one another, pausing only to crush the occasional questing knight. And so throughout the history of Breland, the barrens were a place of dark legend. Mothers would threaten to send bad children to the barrens to be eaten by monsters, but otherwise few people thought much about the creatures lurking to the west.
The Last War did not go unnoticed by the monstrous inhabitants of the barrens. As Breland’s forces were depleted and diverted to the front lines, monsters began to venture into the lowlands, raiding villages or striking travelers and fading back into the barrens. But these actions were uncoordinated attacks with no long-term goals or effects, since no central authority could exert influence over the various creatures of the land. Other warring nations occasionally sent scouts into the barrens to rile up the monsters or hire monstrous warbands to strike at Breland. Karrnath was particularly good at convincing monster warlords who ruled various parts of the barrens to descend upon and pillage the lowland settlements.
The turning point for the region came in 986 YK with the arrival of a trio of powerful hags, the Daughters of Sora Kell—Katra, Maenya, and Teraza. These crones were already legends. The green hag Sora Katra had haunted the Shadow Marches for generations, while the annis Sora Maenya had terrorized the Eldeen Reaches and the dusk hag Sora Teraza romed the Demon Wastes in search of ancient knowledge. The hags had prepared for many years to claim a land for their own, and they arrived in the barrens with an army of fanatical gnolls, ogres, and trolls. The sisters and their minions established themselves in the ancient ruins at the base of the Great Crag. Over the course of the following year, the hags established their power through force of arms, destroying or scattering humanoid tribes and the domains of lesser warlords. After a sufficient numbers of examples had been made, the sisters called for the remaining powers of the region to present themselves at the Great Crag. There, the hags declared the foundation of the nation of Droaam—a haven for all the creatures feared and shunned by the common races.
Over the next few months, Sora Katra established the basic system of tribute that passes for government in Droaam. Since then the hags have been rebuilding the court at the Great Crag and slowly establishing contact with the outside world. (They petitioned, unsuccessfully, to be included in the talks that led to the Thronehold Accords, and thus the nation remains unrecognized by the rest of Khorvaire.) While Katra’s charisma is undeniable, the long-term goals of the green hag and her sisters remain a mystery.

Demography and Population

500,000 (20% gnoll, 19% orcs, 18% goblins, 5% shifters, 38% other races, including half-orcs, harpies, hill giants, humans, medusas, minotaurs, ogres, and trolls)

Founding Date

987 YK

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Government System

Kratocracy

Power Structure

Confederation

Major Exports

Mercenary services, byeshk

Location

Khorvaire

Official Languages

• Common

Neighboring Nations

• Breland
• Eldeen Reaches
• Shadow Marches

Related Ethnicities

• Brelish