Tamuz

Tamuz, the Land of Fire, the Place of Scorched Earth, is a vast, sweeping steppe-land scarred and shadowed by volcanic activity, its soil red as blood - and twice as rich - or blackened by the periodic rains of sulphurous ash.

Despite the fertile wealth of the soil, Tamuz is so often blasted by natural disasters and extremes in temperature that vegetation here is sparse, hardy, and stubborn. Harsh and unforgiving, Tamuz is dotted with the ruins of long-forgotten civilisations, sometimes eerily preserved by layers of choking mud and ash, mingled with the castle-sized scattered bones of titan monsters and fought over bitterly by savage tribes of orcs, goblins, gnolls, bugbears, trolls, ogres, giants, dwarves, elves and humans.
The barbarians of Tamuz - that is to say, everyone strong and wild enough to survive in Tamuz - are grimly determined scions of each race, seen as morbid, violent-tempered and fatalistic by the dwellers of softer and gentler lands, but possessed of a fierce and indomitable passion for life that blazes in their ferocious hearts until their last breath. That life is cruel and unrelenting, and the peoples of Tamuz expect no quarter from their environment or anyone else in it. They live fiercely, love wildly, and shed no tears over things lost. Their gratitude to honour shown them runs as deep and burns as pure as their unstoppable vengeance.
With resources scarce and death around every corner, warfare is a way of life in Tamuz. Tribal warriors are hardened into small, mobile warbands or stalwart defenders of their tightly-held dominions, and sometimes the charisma and prowess of a mighty leader will collect many of these quite suddenly into a vast, indomitable horde baying for the blood and wealth of plump civilizations further afield. Sea-raiders plunge across the ocean to ravage Sukima and the Silversea's isles, mounted raiders on monstrous beasts swarm the desert borders of sorcerous Qadoris, and the frontier fortresses of the Midkingdoms are sorely tested by sudden waves of invaders pouring out of the east.
Those "Born of Fire" in this dreadful land are feared and often hated the world over for their legendary penchant for violence, but that same reputation makes any warrior of Tamuz highly prized by mercenary companies, those who profit from gladiatorial slaughter, and adventuring parties looking for someone to leap laughing into the maw of the next terrifying monster in their path - and more often than not tear its head off with their bare hands, spit on its corpse and waltz off to the tavern for a hearty drink.
As wracked by storms, earthquakes and fiery volcanic eruptions as Tamuz is, it is little surprise that not all of its civilizations choose the surface as their domain. Rumours abound of vast subterranean realms beneath the blasted wilderness, lit by molten magma and blazing forges, where strange machines turn the fire of the earth's belly into energy to power mighty furnaces and keep the chill of the lightless world at bay. 
And there is no chill worse than that of the lands beyond northeastern Tamuz. It is much debated in Towers of high wizardry, debauched noble courts and reeking dockside taverns alike whether it is fortunate that Tamuz borders the Deadlands because the constant life-death-or-worse struggle with its nightmare horrors keeps the warlike hordes of Tamuz too occupied to conquer other lands, or whether it is fortunate because those brave devils keep the Dead Things mostly away from civilized kingdoms. 

The wisest recognize that, despite the world's distaste for the barbaric warriors of Tamuz, should the Fire Kingdoms ever fall, there would be no bulwark against the terrors of the Land of Living Death...
The people of Tamuz have no time for such philosophies. The war rages on.

Neighboring Nations

• The Midkingdoms