The Burning Lands

Connects to: 29.14.09, 40.06 and the City of Shuttered Windows

One of the reasons that the City of Shuttered Windows has never been conquered by any of the Twelve Nations (29.14.11) of the south is the land that lies between them. It has been called Bergolast (38.28) and the men of the City insist on calling it the South Marches still, but most call it the Burning Lands because of the fierce firestorms that rage over the plains in the high summer. Some say they are started by the red skull of Tiamat, others by a curse of the last Princes of Bergolast and others merely by the heat of the season, but they burn without fail every summer.

After the fall of Bergolast, the “Southern Marches” were claimed by the City of Shuttered Windows and cattlemen from the city ranged over much of the plains that lie south of the Keening Sea. But then came the gnoll clans and the Gnawbone Wars. The men of the City were slowly driven out of the South Marches and only the drowning of an entire gnollish army at the hands of the men of the Waterworks (29.14.09) saved the City itself from siege. Since then, only a bare handful of humans dare graze their cattle south of the Keening Sea and those that do are careful to pay the proper tribute to the gnollish matriarchs.

In the course of the wars, the gnolls learned the value of having a ready source of food and began herding beasts that are a crossbreed of the blackhorn aurochs and the City’s own cows. These cows are great shaggy beasts and gnoll jerked beef will last longer than nearly any other kind of food although that could be because, as men joke, the flies won’t eat it.

As is normal for gnolls (the gnolls of the Broken Spear (40.06) being a notable exception), the gnolls are ruled by clan matriarchs. Young male gnolls are driven out of the clan sod huts never to return. These exiled young gnolls form bands and engage in hunting the great beasts of the plains, raiding the nearby dwarven septs and other adventures. Most of these gnoll youths die, but the bravest, richest and luckiest are able to secure themselves places as the mates of the matriarchs of another clan. Some of these youths are not so lucky live out their lives beyond the Burning Lands as mercenaries or bandits, always dreaming of a chance to return to the gnoll lands in glory.

Some of the bravest of these gnoll youths slaughter beasts and consume their hearts raw according to an ancient gnollish ritual. The gnolls say that this binds their soul to the spirit of the animal and gives them great strength and other powers. This is usually done with aurochs but it has been known to have been performed on everything from mammoths to ghost apes, with varying effects. The gnolls report that the gnolls who do this enjoy no afterlife, for the souls of the gnolls are too closely entangled with the spirits of animals to leave this world and drink the honeyed milk of the Mother of All.

Hex Summary:

• 24.26 (Azurnay): this southern dwarven city is under the thumb of a cabal of well operators.

• 27.23 (Death’s Lovelies): a community of plague-afflicted bandits who seek out death.

• 27.27 (The Pigdog Sept): these fierce but ugly beasts help keep their dwarven masters safe.

• 29.24 (The Holding of Nororak): a dismal holding inhabited by the descendants deep dwarves who got lost while in Shuttered and stumbled out of a hill three hundred years later.

• 29.29: this revered beast is one of the most voracious hunters of this land.

• 31.27 (Khannah’s Leap): the site of a dwarven victory over invading gnolls after the fall of Bergolast.

• 32.22 (The Drowning Place): a fortress of the Whispering Sisters, it is not a good place for men to be.

• 32.32 (The Song of Dust and Flame): the starting point of a gnollish path that winds through the Burning Lands to the Keening Sea.

• 34.25 (Where the Razorgrass Grows): it’s sharp.

• 37.21 (Hairy Jack’s Tower): a man of Shuttered who raises cattle and pays tribute to the gnolls.

• 38.26 (The Gibbering Hills): a strange mechanism transports an army of cloned heroes here each month to attack dead Bergolast.

• 38.27 (The Boneyard): where thousands of shards of tarrasque bone have been driven into the ground.

• 38.28 (Bergolast): Ruined city which once held the Tarrasque captive, but was later destroyed. Those who drank the blood of the Tarrasque became trolls or immortals.

• 39.31 (The Cavern Out of Time): a remnant of the ancient Lands of Verdant Snow.

• 39.32 (Blackhorn’s Maze): the resting place of the red dragon head of Tiamat.

• 40.20 (Hyfalls): built on an old Bergolasti colony, the town of Hyfalls is the terminus of many of the caravans that travel across the Burning Lands.

• 41.24 (The Bone Field): thousands of lizardman bones and a few snakes that have escaped from their libraries.

• 43.22 (The Breeding Grounds of the Daggerfeet): hope to the vicious leaping predators.

• 43.27 (The Wood of Suicides): suicides that are hung from these trees rise as Grey Revenants.

• 44.17 (Sladder, the Isle of Crows): the ancient home of the crowfolk.

• 44.19 (Where the Fire-Line Meets the Sea): the leylines erupt in steam and magic where they meet.

• 44.22 (The Hungers of the Hippopotami): beware their gaping jaws and the crushing feet.

• 45.24 (The Great Skull): the largest of the many skulls of the Tarrasque serves as a bridge here.

• 48.18 (Sosaria): Imorcar the Many commanded the djinn to build him a city.

• 48.24 (The Footprints of the Tarrasque): flowers with strange properties grow within.

• 48.32: a strange dwarven village.

• 48.33: a strange gnomish village.

• 49.32: a strange elven village.

• 50.20 (The Last Moon Elephants): the last of these elusive elephants can be found here.

• 50.26 (The Whistling Reeds): where the gnolls gather reeds that produce sound high-pitched enough to allow the gnolls to whistle in lizardman.

• 50.29 (The Gates of Official Travel Pass Sanction): the entrance to the City of Smoke.

• 50.30 (Teodo, the Iron Lion): certainly the largest prize that Great Mother of the gnolls has won.

• 51.17 (The Haunt of the Jackalweres): these strange beasts take on aspects of what they eat.

• 51.29 (City of Smoke): Gnollish capital, in the far southeast. It is ruled by the Great Mother, a matriarch who murdered and devoured her predecessors.

• Gnolls: Relatively civilised, matriarchal gnolls with their own city and bard college, but still violent and barbaric, dwelling primarily in the Burning Lands.