Therunin

Regions of Therunin

Overview

On the borders of Highguard, the water-logged bayou of Therunin provides a unique challenge to the stridings that travel here. As the Navarr have recovered territory from the vallorn, the forest here has grown still more malicious. Monstrous insects are a common threat here, even outside of areas where the vallorn still holds sway. Orcs from the east are a constant threat, although their incursions are made more difficult by the swampland.

Recent History

The Druj have long coveted Therunin. Since the fall of Reikos in 367YE, many Navarr had been expecting an assault from the barbarians. In the Winter of 377YE, this long-anticipated attack finally came. A major force of Druj moved across the border from Reikos into Peakedge Song. Only the courage of the Black Thorns slowed the barbarian advance. Outnumbered two-to-one, the Navarr army suffered grievous losses, but prevented the Druj from establishing a beachhead in Therunin.

While Reikos was dominated by the orcs, Therunin was connected to the Empire only by tenuous routes through the mountains of Morrow; with the Druj gone the old trade routes down from Chalcis Mount have been restored.

Major Features

The Thimble

The Thimble is a Bourse resource located in the Eastring. Custodianship of the Thimble is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 24 Imperial wains of weirwood every season. Since Autumn 381YE the custodian of the Thimble receives 20 wains a season, the Great Forest Orcs receiving the other four wains. Control of the Thimble is assigned to whichever Navarr candidate receives the most support from Navarr owners of herb gardens.

Peakedge Stead

One of the most important sites in Therunin, Peakedge Stead stands in western Peakedge Song. What initially began as a steading dedicated to fighting the vallorn of Therunin has transformed over the centuries to a place of contemplation and healing. Some stories claim the steading is a remnant of long-lost Terunael; there is something ageless about the trees here. Most of the buildings are built in the spreading branches of these great trees, or cluster around the trunks of these immense green giants. Many of the trees here are centuries old, and some are so tall that on a clear day a Navarr can stand on one of the viewing platforms and gaze across to the hills of Reikos and even the forests beyond.

Peakedge Stread has long been a place for the Navarr to meet with the people of Highguard, especially when it comes to their shared interest in the arts of the physick and the apothecary. Some of the earliest work mastering the transformation of vinum sap into liao took place here, for example. During the occupation of Reikos by the Druj, the great tree-houses served as a sanctuary for those who were able to escape eastward out of the territory. Since the liberation, many of those former refugees have returned to High Chalcis but many have also chosen to stay in Peakedge Stead. Some still maintain their Highborn identity, but a fair number - especially of the children born amidst the gentle tranquility of this place - have chosen to become Navarr. They have helped maintain the renown of the steading as one of the Empire's premiere locations for the study of herb lore and healing.

Feverwater lake

The Docks at Feverwater

Built along the western shores of Feverwater are a series of ancient quays of aged weirwood and white granite. Some have collapsed, and others are now submerged or exposed as the waters of the massive freshwater lake have ebbed and flowed. The docks date back to the time of Terunael, and have been thoroughly explored by the modern Navarr; they seem to be much larger than would be appropriate for fishing the Feverwater, and the ruins around the area are certainly those of a reasonably large Terunael settlement. Their purpose remains a mystery - all that lies to the east of Therunin are the dark woodland homes of the Druj. Even if the docks were restored, there would be nowhere useful for boats to actually go. During Summer 379YE, the Imperial Senate appointed the Dredgemaster of Feverwater to oversee and expand the docks; boats regularly ply the western end of the great lake dredging the waters for valuables.

Lake Aescalon in the Lower Tarn Valley.

Holt of the Oak

This unique fortification was constructed in the Lower Tarn Valley by the Great Forest Orcs from weirwood rather than white granite as part of the treaty between the refugees and the Empire. The commission was beset by challenges but work was completed shortly before the Winter Solstice 383YE. A series of majestic weirwood towers surrounded by a wall topped with living thorns, the beautiful and imposing fortification is also garrisoned by orc warriors - meaning that the Empire does not need to pay for its upkeep. Navarr and Great Forest orcs alike mix freely in the shadow of the towers, and traders from other Imperial nations - with the notable exception of the Dawnish - have found it to be an excellent place to meet and do business with the otherwise standoffish orcs.

If the treaty with the orcs were broken and the Great Forest orcs were motivated to try and seize the Lower Tarn Valley then the fortification would take no part in the initial fighting. If this were to happen, and the orcs were to consolidate their control of the region, then the fortification could provide full support to an effort they made to conquer the territory or resist Imperial forces.

Regions

East Ashes

Quality: Marsh
Stretching along the shores of the Feverwater, East Ashes is a twisted maze of great mangrove trees and murky water. Like the Tarn Valley it is home to several rare creatures, but the smaller beasts are overshadowed by the occasional incursion by a pack of hydra. Even the threat of the hydra is minor compared to the danger caused by the occasional marshwalkers attempting to migrate through East Ashes toward the Lower Tarn Valley - when they pass through Greenheart, they invariably rouse the insects there and emerge on the far side angry and twisted by the poisonous air of the vallorn. The Steading of Ruis Farkas is based in East Ashes. Since the death of Empress Britta, this small steading has been highly politically active in the Empire to ensure that Britta's successor has a strong Empire to lead

This region has a reputation for being haunted; the core of that reputation can be traced to Fever’s Wake. Once a Navarri Glade of the Dead, but over a small space of days all the corpses laid there disappeared completely, with no sign they had ever existed. The area is shunned completely now.

Eastring

Quality: Forest
The ground in Eastring is less marshy than that of the Lower Tarn Valley or East Ashes, but there are several expanses of bayou especially in the west or south. The iridescent butterfly is extremely common here, and the forests are rich in hard and softwoods making lumber a regular export. Eastring is also home to several fortified steadings, and a higher than average concentration of Thorns due to the constant threat posed by the barbarian lands to east and north. This was one of the first regions of Therunin cleared of vallorn influence, and is the site of the Thimble, a valuable source of weirwood.

Greenheart

Qualities: Forest, Vallorn
The vallorn holds the ruins at the centre of Therunin in a fierce grip. While other Navarr forests are generally more threatened by vine-infested husks, the monstrous insects of Greenheart greatly outnumber the unliving corpses. The ruins themselves are water-logged, with large sections submerged in marsh according to the few adventurous scouts who have penetrated into this deadly zone.

Lower Tarn Valley

Quality: Marsh, Great Forest Orcs
The lower valley is boggy and marshy. It is known as an excellent location for herb gathering, and the steadings here tend to have large numbers of herb gardens. The Lower Tarn Valley teems with rare wildlife seen nowhere else in the Empire - the delicate and deadly red crane, the somnolent bark alligator and the morose blue wave frog.

The Lower Tarn Valley is the centre of habitation for the Great Forest orcs. They do not control the region - it is still part of the Empire - but there is a sizeable population of orcs here living alongside their Navarr hosts. A small community of non-Imperial humans, all of whom are said to possess the briar lineage live with the Great Forest orcs, and are closely allied with them. While orcs from the Great Forest can be found across Therunin - and indeed the Empire since some of them began walking the trods - the heart of their community has been in the Lower Tarn Valley since they arrived. The orcs maintain and garrison the Holt of the Oak here - a unique fortification that protects the Lower Tarn Valley - and the whole of Therunin - from enemy invasion.

Peakedge Song

Comparatively lightly wooded, especially for a Navarr forest, the steadings of Peakedge Song maintain cordial relations with their neighbours to the north and south. The land here slopes quickly into the foothills of Morrow, and there are several valuable mines along the southern border. During the fall of High Chalcis the Navarr lead several rescue missions across the borders, and as a consequence a number of Highborn refugees camped there; with the final liberation of Reikos, many of them have chosen to return - but a significant number have chosen to remain as permanent residents of the steading. At the same time, a number of Navarr have chosen to move to Reikos - initially to help in the establishment of the Gardens of High Chalcis, but they have also established a small settlement on the edge of the forest not far from Peakedge Stead.

Sweetglades

Qualities: Forest, Vallorn
The forests of the Sweetglades are ironically named; the vallorn holds sway here.

Upper Tarn Valley

Looking down on the Lower Tarn Valley, the Upper Valley is comparatively dry but the soil here is rich and healthy. The steadings here take advantage of this fertility, and the relative dearth of trees, to maintain extensive agriculture. The largest steading in the Upper Tarn Valley is Return, a well-fortified settlement surrounded by tall watchtowers that look out across the forests to the north and east. A place of flowers and memory, the steading has a storied history, revolving around the tale of a Brand who spent too much time amongst the barbarians and became too much like them - where Stridings pass to remember what happens when you forget that you are human, and they are not.

Summit	Elected
Autumn Equinox 385YE	Travid Longest Path
Autumn Equinox 384YE	Travid Longest Path
Winter Solstice 383YE	Travid Longest Path
Autumn Equinox 383YE	Cybi Farkas
Autumn Equinox 382YE	Cybi Farkas
Autumn Equinox 381YE	Cybi Farkas
Winter Solstice 380YE	Willa Farkas-Vigil
Autumn Equinox 380YE	Caerwyn Summer Crow
Autumn Equinox 379YE	Caerwyn Summer Crow
Autumn Equinox 378YE	Caerwyn Summer Crow
Autumn Equinox 377YE	Caerwyn Summer Crow
Winter Solstice 376YE	Caerwyn Summer Crow

Recent Senate Elections

As an Imperial territory, Therunin is represented by a senator elected in the Autumn. As the territory is no longer Imperial, the senator cannot currently be elected. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.

OOC Note

• The vallorn infests Greenheart and Sweetglades; the Navarr (and thus the Empire) control the other five regions. Therunin is an Imperial territory, but the Navarr would lose control of it if they lost two more regions
• The Holt of the Oak is a unique level one fortification built and garrisoned by the Great Forest Orcs
• The Great Forest Orcs have their main settlement in the Lower Tarn Valley but hunting parties can be encountered everywhere except Greenheart and Sweetglades.
• Strategic consideration: Thanks to the presence of the Feverwater, campaign armies cannot move east from East Ashes to Sarangrave, nor can that region be invaded from the west, without an appropriate opportunity.