Matheunis (the cold desert)

Wild and untamed, Matheunis, also called the Cold Desert, is the region of The Beyond SE of the Steadfast.  It primarily comprises dry stone with sparse vegetation and populated primarily with large black carrion birds. Many of those who populate this land have moved here from the Steadfast to form or settle in aldeas free from the rule of empires or kings.
The only large city within Matheunis is Nihliesh and otherwise the populace mostly comprises herders (brown wooled umlan goats, domesticated drakka are commonly used as herders) and subsistence farmers (common crop ice candles) scattered across many small isolated aldea that keep to themselves, sometimes almost to the point of xenophobia.
For unknown reasons Matheunis is also home to more than it's share of mutants as well as being home to many dangerous beasts and marauding abhuman tribes (i.e. margr and murden)