Ledon Frontier Lands

The Ledon Frontier Lands is a cold and snowy area. Despite being in Southeast Cassel, the lands are heavily influenced by the icy aether of Nivema's Sorrow, a massive, ever frozen glacier sitting several hundred miles offshore. The only location in Cassel that is colder is the Aelurus islands to the Southeast of the frontier lands. The land is bordered to the north by the Elf Kingdom of Ledo. The Dragonscale Hills make up most of the western border and the Venefik River makes up its southwest border.

This place is for the most part unsettled, and the reason the land is unsettled is because it is useless. The ground is too cold to grow a meaningfully large amount of crops. The forests are too thick to clear into grasslands for grazing animals. There are no known magical leylines or concentrations of Aether. The only thing of any use here are the hot springs which do seem to have some magical qualities. Most of these hot springs are locating in the Califons Hills along the eastern coast.

There is some evidence of human and elven settlement in the past. There are a number of Bronze Age villas dotting the landscape. These structures are made almost entirely of stone and have mostly stood the test of time. All of them have been abandoned for thousands of years, but travelers through these lands, mostly hunters, keep the ones near the roads clean and maintained, at least maintained enough that they are useable shelters.

Cassel founded the town of Farossa in the year 1782 I.A., on the location of an old Bronze Age Villa and a Silver Age watchtower. The Town never grew to more than 1000 people. It is a popular destination for people looking for an isolated location to get away from everyone else, and also for its hot springs.

Currently Captain Oros is in charge of the city of Farossa, and the entire frontier lands by extension. There is a rumor that Larielle Vernador, former Queen of West Cassel, also lives in Farossa. She stepped down from being Queen in the year 2977.

Year Created:
Capital:
Controlled by:

1782 I.A.
Farossa
Captain Oros

Land Area:
Climate:

19,511 km²
Cold Continental

Population:
Demograpics:

> 1,500
85% Human
5% Elf
5% Lamia
3% Troll
2% Other

Farossa

The only settlement in these lands is the town of Farossa. The town sits on a naturally raised area of land circling around a shallow harbor. Under the city are several hot springs, and the harbor itself is usually ice free throughout the year.

The town has advertised itself as a resort city in the past. This attracted many people, who stayed for the isolation and hot springs. Most of these people also never returned due to how far away from the rest of civilization it is, and the never ending cold weather.

The Town is known for few other things. One such thing is the ancient Silver Age Watch Tower of Nessa. the Crystal at the top is said to be sentient and glows bright when enemy ships or monsters approach. Iron Age humans fitted a mirror behind and pendulum in front of the crystal to warn passing ships of the rocky shores. They don't really care if the crystal is actually alive or not.

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Beacon's INN

An old Bronze Age villa sits at the bottom of the Tower of Nessa. It was originally used as a summer home for the rulers of Cassel. The building was later sold and converted to an INN to serve weary travelers and hunters. The building is said to have room to accommodate around a hundred guests, though that number rarely gets above fifty.

The building has direct access to caves below with a large opening into the sea. Hot Springs feed directly into these caves, creating three pools: one with hot fresh water, one with hot salt water, and one with warm salt water. Many travelers will spend all day soaking in these springs before heading upstairs and eating.

There is a rumor that the owner of the Beacon's INN is the former Queen Larielle. She was a popular Queen of the West, but after the death of her brother Brenon, the King of the North, she stepped down and disappeared.

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Economy

Hunting

The Ledon Frontier Lands are popular for big-game hunters, who come here to hunt a variety of animals, from bears to elk, aelurian lions, and more. It is popular to hunt here because unlike the rest of Cassel, there is no permit system in place and anyone can freely hunt anything they want here. The remote nature of the land does present a challenge.

Another challenge is the presence of Olimian Trolls, who do not tolerate humans, elves, or otherwise in their territory, often attacking and attempting to kill on sight. The town of Farossa regularly places bounties on these creatures to keep them off the main roads. Many, many inexperienced hunters meet their end attempting to kill one of these trolls.

Hot Springs

The only other thing that attracts people to this part of Cassel are the many hotsprings in the area. Most are unexplored and nearly all of them have a slightly different magical signature.

There are rumors of a secret hot spring in the califons hills that can add years to your life. There are also rumors of other springs that can do anything from cure any disease, make you taller, cure hair loss, change your gender, etc.

If there was a known leyline or aether hotspot this would certainly be possible, but all known hot springs only have mana, which allows some magical alteration but unlike aether can't rewrite reality.

Most hot springs in the Califons Hills are untouched by humans. The locations are simply too remote to reach normally.

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Wildlife

Aelurian Lion

This subspecies of Lion is native to the Aelurus Islands, but made its way to Ledo by means of ice bridges. This variety of big cat is infected with the Aether of the Goddess Nivema, and is said to be entirely resistant to water and ice magic.

It is rumored that these cats are smart enough to take advantage of their aether infection and cast simple ice spells, but these rumors are yet to be verified.

Giant Boar

Often weighing in excess of 300 kilograms, these boars are massive compared to varieties elsewhere in Cassel. They have been observed killing and consuming other animals, including bears.

Luckily these boars are like the rest and are deathly afraid of flashy magic. Often a well timed fire or lightning spell is enough to scare them away.

Black Bear

Black Bears are rather common in this area and are on the tiny end of the scale for this species of bear, typically weighing 45 to 90 kilograms.

They are so small compared to bears in other lands that most hunters don't even consider them worth going after. It is important to take note when you do see them in the trees though because this means that much larger, much scarier animals are nearby.

Elk

Aside from the Elf Kingdoms of Ledo and Lyonne, the frontier lands is one of the few locations in Cassel that has a sizeable population of Elk. They are a popular target for hunting here and are much less dangerous than other big game in the region.

Every year during their breeding season, which is in late summer, early autumn, these elk will head to the coast, numbering in the thousands. After this, they migrate north into Ledo for the winter.