Farlin

Farlin is a small, poor, mountainous and hilly county in the region of Graefsher, some twenty miles North of the prosperous city of Telgen. Farlin was once a prosperous fief, with prosperous mines, populous Prism villages, and robust mountainside defenses - but the land was thoroughly broken and depopulated by the apocalyptic war known as the Fifth Scouring some three centuries ago, and has never recovered. The old mines and ruins are now infested with monsters and ghosts and have been sealed away to protect the people of the lowlands. 
Most visitors along the Cenotaph Road see Farlin along the coast, from something of a distance. They see the modest fishing villages and farming villages, with the mountains mostly in the distance. These travelers mostly know Farlin for its grand memorial plaza near the local Maubesh Castle, commemorating the great victories and defeats of the old Scouring war. They mostly pass Farlin by entirely, thinking of it mostly as a place of past battles rather than present-day life.
Those few who venture off the main roads and into Farlin proper tend to scoff at how much Farlin lacks. Small mines litter the countryside, worked by groups of extended families - mostly Prisms, Half-prisms, and Dwarves. Shepherds of all species tend to flocks of mutated sheep, goats, and other livestock, across the grassy hills and through the lonely forests. Small fortified homesteads and walled villages dot the landscape, built for monster attacks as if on the frontier. The old grand mines and castles lie abandoned, sealed shut with smooth growing stone and left to crumble away. Some outsiders write Farlin away as a backwater, somehow too stupid to rebuild what they lost centuries ago. These outsiders are wrong, of course; without population or wealth to build, the people keep to small mines and small works. And the careful fortified building style is well-considered given that pockets of buried monsters here are common - the commonfolk never know when monsters might be unleashed upon them, with only distant and ill-equipped lords to protect them. No, Farlin struggles by, but it slowly grows and it keeps on going despite it all.

The Nobles

Politically, the main authority here is the Graf, Lord Stalton Yegdrel DevFarlin. He is the young successor and new lord of the Yegdrel family, a line of Half-prism starspawn known for their patronage of art - and their campaigns over the years to use art to keep the old battles of Farlin in Hainish memory. Lord Stalton is a polite, gregarious, and generous young idealist with experience in law, theology, court dynamics, and navigating clerical politics -  but he lacks experience in infrastructure and logistics, which makes ruling the disjointed and poorly developed Farlin a challenge for him. He is a relatively popular lord, as he is fond of throwing feasts and festivals for the commonfolk, but he does have his detractors. In particular, he has ongoing problems and personal hostilities with the lord to the North, the Graf of Aenin - a much richer noble than he - which would spell certain political doom for him if he didn't have the support of the lords to the South of him (as long as the young lord Stalton stays in line). The conflict between Farlin and Aenin is partially one of money; Lord Stalton is eager to invest in the realm, but lacks many good avenues to raise money for investment without agitating his neighbors. 
There is one other notable lord in the realm, the Burgrave of Maubesh, Lady Yedla DeMaubesh, the largest vassal of the Graf of Farlin who controls a bulk of the coastal land and Western hills. The burgrave and graf jointly control the major trade route of the Cenotaph road, but the Burgrave has more involvement on a day to day level. Lady Yedla is more or less loyal; her family has prospered working with the Yegdrels, and she has no desire to change the status quo. Her family's main goal is advantageous marriages out of Farlin; Lady Yedla just holds down the fort. She does so merrily, as she is a great carouser and host of fellow nobles. Lady Yedla, unlike Lord Stalton, is a pessimist and a cynic who has written off the poorer hill villages entirely - she invests minimally in them and is slow to defend them. While some villagers and knights like her for her hands-off attitude, others are very bitter at what they feel is a one-sided and exploitative relationship. 
Aside from Stalton and Yedla, there are numerous small knightly families that hold plots and rule over local peasants. These knights are generally sworn to one of the two notable lords (and ultimately serve the Graf).

Geography

Farlin county is around 40 miles long and about 10 miles across. Most of the county is a mix of hills, mountains, and forests; very little of Farlin is ideal developed farmland. Plenty of people still farm, but in small plots without the aid of large irrigation systems or fruitful cleared basins. 
At the center of the Western mountains are the @Farlin- the ruins of the old Farlin Citadel and the center of the sealed-off caverns of monsters that many people avoid.

The two red castles represent the keeps of the Burgrave and Graf of the land. The white triangle marks where the Farlin Ruins are.

Type

Region

Location under

Graefsher

Included Locations

• Farlin Ruins

Ruling/Owning Rank

Graf

Owning Organization

The Kingdom of Hain