Eastern Terrinoth
Eastern Terrinoth is a stoic land, in many ways out of necessity. Protected by a natural border of mountain ranges, eastern Terrinoth is divided between central lands and those closer to their eastern neighbor, the Charg’r Wastes. Although the jagged peaks of the Dunwarr Mountains’ southern range provide reassurance of Terrinoth’s safety, they can also be seen as one more wall closing in—a reminder that there can be no retreat from the struggle to maintain civilization.
Eastern Terrinoth’s interior lands are characterized by rolling hills dominated by the extensive heights of the Broken Crags. The most populous area of the region is the valley that cuts through the center of the range, where numerous fishing villages dot the banks of the River of Sleep. Much of the remaining territory is heavily forested and remains unsettled, with the Hanging Woods to the west and Whispering Forest to the east. Many dark rumors surround the extensive wood known as the Whispering Forest, yet nearby communities have little choice but to rely on it for game and timber.
Further east lie the Borderlands, a desolate stretch of land beginning at the southern edge of the Dunwarr Mountains. This unpalatable area serves as a woefully narrow boundary between Terrinoth and the Ru. Though the threat of the Uthuk Yllan is long since passed, the Ru remains an illomened and feared place, uninhabitable save for vicious and monstrous beasts. Several small keeps and outposts maintain a watch over the borderlands under order of the Citadel. This bleak landscape lies always on the horizon, and the people of Eastern Terrinoth prefer to instead turn their gaze to the placid waters of Echo Lake or the hills of the Jade Glen.
Not more than an hour’s march from Castle Kellar is a strange landmark, known by the ancient name Orrush Khatak, but generally called the Gate of the Furnace. It is a great arch of blood red rock, large enough for more than four hundred soldiers to march under shoulder to shoulder. Perhaps a natural formation once seen as a good luck charm for departing armies, or perhaps carved for a part in some ancient magical ritual, no one can now say; the arch is another mystery in a land already full of the same. When the wind blows, one need not strain to hear anguished cries, but few would admit them to be anything more than a trick of the breeze whipping against the stone.
Beyond the Orrush Khatak runs a long, wide river, the Lothan. Hernfar Isle rests at the point where the river is at its widest, the furthest eastern outpost of the Daqan Lords. Recruits to the Kell militia often joke that their commanders are the harshest in all Terrinoth, for insubordination is punished with an assignment to the garrison at Hernfar Keep.
Hernfar Isle is deceptively unremarkable. It has little to distinguish itself from any other common river island, save its proximity to the Ru Steppes. One walking through Hernfar offers little of interest—a few vermin, some light birdsong on the breeze—but it is this very semblance of calm that keeps the garrison on edge. Those posted on Hernfar soon find that shadows seem longer, or seem to flicker strangely in the light, and no few soldiers have tales of luminescent eyes staring from across the water. What these eyes belong to, none could say, and they seldom remain long. The knowledge that the river and the low foothills of the badlands are all that separate them from the Darklands does little to assuage the soldiers of the watch.
Some say that on nights when the moon is heavy and red, a cacophony of howls and screams rises across the water, and few can confidently say these are merely the calls of animals.
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