Cloutsdown Province
One of the poorer provinces, the Cloutsdowns, or simply “The Downs,” include the noxious Cloutsdown Fen, the Helmsreach Mountains, and the fertile lands around Haltshire Lake, as well as a short stretch of coastline including New Larkholm. This region is sparsely populated, but its inhabitants are industrious and tough-spirited bog folk and lake men. Cloutsdown is ruled by Earl Harlan Mosley, Lord of New Larkholm.
There is a social divide between the people of Oxmeath and those of the Downs, with the latter being dismissed as rural and backward. The region has a number of former Morridanes who settled here centuries ago after the fall of Morrdh. Deep in the fens, some of these villages have a culture resembling that of the “swampies” of the Widower’s Wood and Thornwood, although they have their own distinct traditions. The area is poor and some have survived and prospered by becoming skilled at hunting local fare and finding ways to make what others consider inedible into edible food.
The provincial militia is professional, and the area has its share of skilled trackers due to some of the hazards of the Fen and its environs. Haltshire Lake is known to be inhabited by a particularly fierce breed of bog trogs that have become inured to the cold of their mountainous environment. Trolls are also a common hazard in the region. Along the coastal areas, there is always the risk of Cryxian raids, and there are no sizable fortresses in the area. The Northern Fleet keeps those waters safe most of the time, but their patrols cannot be everywhere. Garlghast Island is only forty miles away at some points, and is thought to be infested with malevolent creatures.
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