The Shadow Marches
Commonly, the region known as the Shadow Marches conjures images of a fetid backwater where illiterate humans mingle with orcs and other foul creatures, and practice strange rites by the light of the moons. These images are accurate—to a point. A desolate land of swamps and moors, the Shadow Marches have been orc territory for more than thirty thousand years. The region has suffered through a terrible war against the daelkyr that scarred the land, stranded horrible creatures in the shadows, and divided the orc tribes. The daelkyr were eventually defeated, but the schisms caused by the war remain.
Geography
The Shadow Marches lie in the lowlands west of the Byeshk Mountains and south of Crescent Bay. The hills bordering the swamps and marshes of the Shadow Marches start at the southwestern tip of crescent bay and wrap east and south to Blackwater Lake where Patrahk'n lies at the edge of The Vile Marsh. The Watching Wood forms the rest of the eastern barrier for the Marches. To the south of the Marches, Balinor's sorrow stands a solitary monitor to the swamp's progression past Unthold, while Zarash Bay acts as water source and custodian of the marshlands south of Lantern Tower as well as the primary sea access to Zarash'ak. To the west lies the ocean.
Natural Resources
The Eberron dragonshard fields of the Shadow Marches are among the richest in Khorvaire, and House Tharashk makes most of its profit shipping shards to the interior of Khorvaire. This commerce has resulted in an alliance with House Lyrandar, since that house maintains the shipping lanes between Zarash’ak and other cities, much to House Orien’s disappointment.
In addition to Eberron dragonshards, a variety of rare herbs and plants grow in the depths of the marshes. Of interest to alchemists and wizards in Aundair and Zilargo, these resources have quickly become valuable as secondary exports.
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