The Haft
"Ah. The 'Aft," Buck smiled, "Tis' an important place in this land, that is, and good it is t'know about it. Yesee, the
heartland of Keledon, the oldest part of the kingdom, where our culture n' spirit lives most strongly, is in th' three Reaches of The 'Aft, Abrethed (that's the Dalelands today), and Elbana. The realm is a like a big wheel, and the heartlands are its hub. Everythin' turns around that hub in a sacred rhythm."
"What's that? Well, I don't rightly think anyone knows fer sure where th' name comes from, but me old Nan told me a story--and she was from the 'Aft herself, little town called South Barrow. She said that long long ago King Sothar kesGalen fought a giant up there, big as a mountain. In those days th' mountains were one solid range, without division in 'em. An' the giant swung 'his sword at the good king but missed, and so strong was 'is arm and so mighty 'is swing that is clove the range in two, carved out the valley, and the whole o' the blade got isself stuck deep in the earth. Only the 'aft was left stickin' up outta the ground. Me Nan said it stayed there for many a year until the wind n' rain rotted away the wood, and ever since the land been called after it."
Geography
Now the 'Aft, she's dominated by a range of hard, black stone mountains we call Born Melegmorn, meanin' the Blackfang Mountains in more common parlance. N' they start with a great peak in the west and march east, but they split, yesee, into a north and a south range. In between is a long, deep, beautiful valley o' deep woods and rocky hills. Those woods be thick, dark, and above anythin' else old. Yeh can feel it there. Like centuries slip by unnoticed an' time 'as marched on fer so long that its meaningless now. The air seems heavy n' still, and the trees so thick there's nary a breeze to be felt." "House Morym , bein' them what rules the Reach fer th' Crown, makes a fair bit of its coin from minin' the mountains. There be tin, iron, and copper in the southern range, and a wee bit o' gold, they say. But ain't no one found anythin' in the northern mountains that I ever heard tell of. An' the stone there be harder than stone anywhere else, and so it be that House Morym and their vassals, if they kin afford it, build their defenses from it. "Now, comin' t'ward the east, iffin ye make it through the woods, the forest finally gives way to open grassy lands n' hills n' fields. The Woodmere be there, n' The Whitestag too. An' I know ye know o' those sacred places, so ye kin imagine how deep run the spirits there."Climate
"When the summer comes, it be warm enough in the 'Aft. Hot, even, out in the farmlands, though not as swelterin' as it is here down South. It rains a fair bit, especially in spring and autumn, and th' farmers rely a lot on the rills n' rivers o' the mountains t' keep everythin' watered. Now, winter, that be a frozen hell. The snows start a-aflyin' by the end o' the month of Fadin' Sun, and once the ground goes white it stays that way until the end o' Quickens' at the very least. When I was up there long back I was present there fer Longest Night, and sure but didn't it take hours to dig out th' pit for the bonfire. The snow comes, but sometimes the rain too, but the cold comes back so fierce that the wet top o' the snow freezes into an inch o' ice that'll break under your foot and stay sharp enough t' cut yer shins. Ye kin imagine how much the people are 'appy when the spring comes and melts that dagger snow--for such they call it--goes fer good.Flora and Fauna
"Now, in th' woods you kin find all the' animals ye kin imagine in such a place. There be bears, wolves, badgers, and alla that, and many a bird. Sanwing be common up there, more so than anywhere else. The trees all be ancient and gnarled an' some say they kin watch yeh. No one fells em with no axe, least not in the deep woods, just on th' edge. Walkin' on the land deep in the woods be soft, since there be moss thick on all th' stones. East o' the woods it be farmland and so yeh find exactly what ye expect to--pigs, horses, cows, chickens, all a' that." "But there be plants, they say, what live in that wood and nowhere else, ones that don't seek the light, seein' as how there ain't much of it, but we'll talk about those another time."People
"Now bein' that the land is ancient n' hard and soaked in Mist--and yeh know I don't mean fog--the people there be grim and dour. Most of 'em are carvin' a living outta the stony soil of the hills and grasslands in the east, comin' near the Woodmere and the Whitestag. Livin' there is hard, and yeh gotta wring crops from the soil with the sweat o' yer brow. So when time comes for celebratin' the days' o the sacred fires, true 'tis they celebrate like no others, although they still keep grim eyes over gleeful smiles. "Livin' down 'ere in the South like yeh do, yer used to seein' bright colours all about, but the 'Aft folk got no truck for such. Brown and white and black ye see more'n anything else. Maybe some green if someone's feelin sassy. It's mainly darker hair up there, brown 'r black, n brown or eyes gray like th' stormclouds. "Now, as dour an' stubborn as those people be, there also be some what live inside the forest isself, and they be wilder. No farmin' among 'em, I hear tell, just huntin', gatherin' up nuts and plants, and a life like that. Those folk be harder than the folk o' Avendur I'll warrant. And there be some among them want little to do wit' life outside the trees, but those who do, they deal more oft' with House Buran--they be a minor one under House Aradin , who be under House Morym. The boys o' Buran, they know the woods, and their ancestral seat o' Highmoon is practically under the boughs, or as close as ye can get while still bein' under the skies. The other vassals o' Morym, especially Houses Dionne and Leolin, n' Brogan which be under Aradin, rule fer the most part in the open lands where most o' the people are, but Buran, they got a real fondness for the murk n' mystery o' the deepest woods.
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