Hollow Valley
The Hollow Valley is a long series of highland valleys within Meyland's southern regions. Through here, the Esmer River flows and gives life to temperate forests and pines, and the tall cliffs are home to giant rams. Very little grows within the valley itself, and much of the region beyond the forests near the river is comprised of flat, softly rolling grasslands.
The Hollow Valley is also renowned for its bandits and brigands, and the high cliffs provide the lawless with ample crevices, caves, and hideouts to inhabit and create their bases of operations. Because of this, it is difficult to track criminals back to their redoubts without the means to scale the cliff-faces, and the unscrupulous residents of these retreats are often well-prepared.
The Hollow Man
While most would consider the valley in and of itself is mundane and fairly uninteresting, its folklore is what defines the region. When natives of Meyland speak of the Hollow Valley, the conversation invariably veers towards the legend of the Hollow Man, and such tales involving the mythical figure are popular among fireside ghost stories. Historically, most archivists date the first tales of the mythical figure, known as The Hollow Man, to as early as 1400 AE. The local folklore weaved stories of a wealthy nobleman from Morkney who fell in love with a young maiden soon to be wed. She was a flower merchant by trade who sold roses, and her father had already arranged a marriage for her to an older, far more wealthy baron. When the baron and the father discovered the illicit tryst between her and the nobleman, the baron hired highwaymen to kill him. The nobleman was ambushed along the roadside within the valley, and local stories go into grim detail describing his disembowelment and beheading. This nobleman is said to wander the valleys as a lonely, wailing spirit, now hollow from his broken heart and absence of innards. Modern depictions of the Hollow Man portray him riding a black horse with a flaming mane of hair, wearing a dark, hooded coat with no head to cloak in shadow. He is said to wield an infernal rapier with which he vows to pierce the heart of the one who plotted his murder. Black roses are used by superstitious trades traveling through the valley to ward off any supposed presences of the Hollow Man, as it is believed that black roses harbor far too much heartbreak for the Hollow Man to approach. Burning roses are said to be omens of his presence, which are symbolic of his burning, vengeful rage.
Type
Valley
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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