Boram

Boram is a massive peninsula to the Northwest of Stildane. Much of Boram is frigid forest and taiga that slowly fades into arctic tundra, but its Southern forests are warm enough for temperate agriculture. These Southern lands have gone from a land of isolated and mostly peaceful farmers and sailors, to a land of victorious raiders, to a warzone between Desmian and Stildanian religious factions.
Northern Boram is still a land that is free of churches and kingdoms. Tribes have their occasional hold or farming commune, but political boundaries and state structures are notably absent. While tribes occasional feud with one another, the threat of organized invaders from the South has unified the North. Now, most warriors would rather venture South to raid than squabble with their neighbors. Many exceptions exist to this rule.

Geography

Boram is 1700 miles across West-East and 850 miles North-South. The Arctic winds blow down across the North, freezing the taiga and tundra acros Northern Boram. A large mountain range, known as the Akridean mountains, shield the Southern coast from these harsh winds. The Akrideas range around 4000 - 5000 feet in elevation on average, with some being much higher or lower. The Southern coastline is mostly temperate forest, which grows steadily colder and harsher the further North one goes. A large lake known as Lake Loralorn sits at the heart of West-Central Boram, 42 by 35 miles across. And a large frozen island known as Amorden sits of the Northwestern point 65 by 25 miles across.
The islands East of Desmia are 100 miles South of Boram's southern point.

Fauna & Flora

The forests of Boram are home to a wide variety of large mammals. Herbivores of Boram include moose, reindeer, beavers, mountain goats, and muskoxen. The carnivores of Boram include lynxes, bears, wolves, and wolverines. The Southern parts of Boram have a large number of salamanders, and the freshwater rivers and lakes have uniquely large crawdads (though not quite as big as Giant Lobsters). You can also expect to find lots of geese and owls here.

Natural Resources

Boram is rich in lumber, tar, amber, and salt. The Northern coast is rich with walrus and whale ivory. The land is rich in alchemically-valuable plants and minerals, and the unusual red lumber is famously valuable for construction and carpentry.

History

Early History

Domestic crops arrived in Boram in the 200s ME, but took a while to catch on. The first cities arose along the Southern coast the 700s ME, and they squabbled amongst each other in near-total isolation from the rest of the world. These infant kingdoms and states craved any and all trade, and great prestige was heaped on those who were able to sail to the distant East to bring back luxuries and goods. Eventually, one of these sailing crews ran into a foreign boat of a different variety: those of the islands between the Desmian colonies and Boram. These strangers had little to sell or offer, but did tell of a strange warlike realm to the South. 
It wasn't until 1218 ME that a stranger from the North helped pioneer the passage South to this warring land of Desmia: Kamdra the Stormbreaker, a legendary Moon Druid. The Desmians, while militarized and experts at war, were secure in their Eastern island holdings and had few defenses. The kingdoms of Southern Boram united together to feast upon this undefended land, and their tales of loot and glory attracted warriors from across the peninsula. The surge in loot and unity strengthened the kingdoms, and new states began to emerge. The moon druid Kamdra later returned to Boram and created a great coalition of traders, healers, and peacemakers: the Healing Circle. The Healing Circle attracted settlers to the Eastern coastline and built up the trade route connecting Boram and Stildane. Boram flourished, and entered a kind of golden age of privateering.

The Kivish Moment

The first faith to invade Boram was Kivishta. The Exalted Path, a radical and violent sect of Kivishta dedicated to pursuing the secrets of reality across the globe, began conquering port cities and seizing food stores for themselves in the 1440s and 1450s. At the same time, a massive exodus of a different and more peaceful sect, the Promised Path, flooded into Eastern Boram seeking refuge from persecution. Most of the Exalted Path's main force left Boram in waves during the late 1400s and early 1500s to go invade Desmia, but groups of them continued to raid and hold territory even afterwards. These remaining Exalted Kivish acted as "waywatchers" who would guide later Exalted groups to Desmia and supply them with arms, food, and ships. The people of Boram were furious at these depredations, and waged constant war against the Exalted Path. They allied with the Promised Path, and in 1530 the famed evangelist and prophet Savrela the Reborn mass converted much of Boram to the Promised Path of Kivishta. This Borim version of Kivishta was less Kobold-centered, but rather played up the salvationist themes. The new religion gave the Borim a structure to organize their militaries, and they were able to successfully remove the Exalted Path completely by the end of the 1500s. Rather than destroy them, though, they took up their role: whenever new Exalted Kivish arrived, the Borim turned them around and launched them at Desmia, just as the Waywatchers had.
This tactic of "use the insane magical Kobolds as a battering ram to knock down Desmia's defenses" worked like a charm. The victories of the Promised Path ushered in a second golden age of loot and piracy. The Borim alliance was able to conquer the island of Traya from the Desmians completely, and Borim raiders traveled far enough that they stumbled into Samvaran pirates. Raiding breeds familiarity, though, as does conquest. The occupation of Traya was particularly important in allowing Desmians to enter into Boram - as warriors, merchants, magicians, and residents. This Desmian presence grew over time and culminated in the rise of Saint Emerost the Skald: a warrior-bard of Borim upbringing and Orthodox Desmian faith, that brought bardism to the Desmians and Desmian religion to Boram. Emerost rose in power at just as a new power was rising: the united kingdom of Gokoboram. The conquering monarch of Gokoboram, Tresk the Conqueror, used Emerost's charisma and allies to solidify control of his new kingdom, and so in 1810 the infernal bargain was struck. Orthodoxy had a foothold in Boram. 

The Desmian Counter-Invasion

Orthodoxy in Boram unleashed a reign of terror that targeted local dryads and prisms, just as it did everywhere. But just as Kivishta changed when it entered Boram, Orthodoxy was transformed. Elements of local religion were absorbed, but so were elements of Promised Path Kivishta. Foreign Orthodox priests tended to suffer politically and be overturned whenever they attacked the local Kivish priesthood- they needed to be absorbed, not destroyed. And, in 1860, one Kobold brought the two foreign priesthoods together in terrible unity: Dovesha the Blood-Prophet, a Kobold whose sainthood is fiercely debated back in Desmia. Dovesha saw Orthodoxy, local Borim religion, and Promised Path Kivishta as one true faith, and she led the Kivish to don the red robes of Orthodoxy and join the new order. She became the Speaker of the local Orthodox Ecclesia and reformed local Orthodoxy to her whims. Without her intervention, the brief experiment in Orthodoxy may have ended not long after it began - but now, Orthodoxy was palatable for Borim religious tastes. 
in 1880, a grand invasion of united Borim tribes targeted the fledgling Orthodox kingdoms - and the war of religions began in earnest. And it wasn't long before other religions jumped in to cash in on the violence. In 1910, an Ishkibite evangelist named Bartrin the Golden was able to lead a group of defecting psuedo-Orthodox warriors, Promised Kivish, and Ishkibites together to form the Northern Temple of Ishkibal. The Northern temple set to work organizing resistance, undermining Orthodox advances, and converting local groups. Most of the coastal kingdoms outside of the Desmian core joined the Northern temple, while the inland lake-area tribes kept to their psuedo-Kivish ways. The tribes even further inland proudly kept to their own pre-invasion religious traditions. And so Boram was divided in 4. The last century has been relentless war between these four groups.

Alternative Name(s)

Borkray

Type

Peninsula

Location under

Stildane

Included Organizations

• Borim Healing Circle