Editing Acrozatarim/Gazetteer (section)

=The Northern Drakkath Hills=

'''Icons''': Flame Guildmistress Ceresa

The northern reaches of the Drakkath meet south Huron where the steppelands rise into hills and valleys.  Here, the karst landscape makes the terrain extremely unpredictable and rugged, covering a sweep of land that rolls down towards the Central Drakkath Basin and Sukumvarang.  Many small rivers wind through this region, and a great number of lakes pockmark the landscape.  Many are said to be where Ishrak bled during her great battle with Hammasztu during the Dawn War.

Once the Volca and Saijen Prefectures, the Northern Drakkath Hills are now a disputed zone.  Much of the region still remains out of the control of any major power, but two Drak tribal federations are currently the main bulwark against Huronese expansion south, while Adhuri influence is expanding north into the region through the medium of harsh conquest and enforcement of authority.  Much of the Saijen region is now under Huronese control, but the Husaara people of the Techari and Merrusi federations are providing stiff resistance to further inroads from the northerners.

The Techari and Merrusi both operate from the remaining towns and structures of the Imperial age; the Techari, in particular, use a Dawn-era Imperial winter palace as the heart of their federation of tribes, although it is far from its old grandeur and more akin to a real fortress after the new owners' efforts. However, these loose coalitions of towns and villages under the guidance of dominating warlords lack the resources, manpower and organisation to truly emerge as fledgeling nations thus far - and, if the Huronese have their way, they never will, being relegated to newly conquered provinces instead.  Indeed, Huron commanders are turning from blade to boon in their efforts to break the resistance of the northern Drak tribes; envoys carry offers as often as they do threats, promising the petty warlords and independent town-states great gifts and positions of import as part of a new Huronese province.

As one might expect from such loosely controlled and rugged terrain, the Northern Drakkath Hills are a dangerous land.  On the one hand, there are innumerable valleys, hidden basins, lakes and wild reaches where all manner of creatures and beings dwell, from cunning goblin clans to the ferocious winged drazhikar.  Lacking any central authority, there is little organised effort to push back such threats and civilise the landscape beyond the little circles of control that the towns and old Prefecture capitals offer.  On the other hand, it is this confusion of lesser tyrants and inward-looking settlements that can be a great threat for the unfortunate traveller.  There is no higher authority to appeal to, no great system of justice or law.  In many ways, the Northern Drakkath Hills have crumbled and fallen from Imperial Prefectures to a wild frontier.

The hills have their mysteries, too.  By all accounts, the region displays an unusual level of strange, spiritual activity; fey, eerie creatures are commonly said to trouble travellers or plague the settlements in the area, varying from minor mischief by near-phantasmal beings to horrific attacks by flesh-hungry monstrosities.  The gnoll clans that roam the forested hills here maintain many sacred sites of spirit-wards and have, upon occasion, been witnessed hunting utterly abhorrent beings that seem to make reality itself spasm and weep with their presence.  It's not entirely clear what these beings are, or where they come from, but those who have alliances with the Thornmaiden believe that there may be small areas of of Dawn War damage that still linger, scars and wounds in reality that seep out corruption.

There is also, of course, the Pyre.  In the west, the hills level out into the Ashen Basin, where three volcanoes form one flank of a basin of extremely fertile land.  Here the Pyre stands tall and strong, bastion of the Flame Guild.  Within the mighty fortress burns the eternal, sacred flame of the Guild, an arcane spark that links Guildsmen together into a greater whole.  The Pyre can be seen from leagues away at night, its lights illuminating the sky.  It is essentially the heart of a city-state that controls the entire Ashen Basin; a highly desirable fief for any of the nearby nations or warlords, but one protected by the fearsome reputation of the war-magi who dwell there.  Whatever their former loyalties, it is well known that those who swear themselves to the Scarlet Union now hold loyalty only to themselves and the contracts that they take on.