Along the Southern coast of the Imperial Fractals, the clouds break against the rolling highlands that stretch inland towards distant mountains and treelines. The staggered hills and bluffs are covered in a low green and dried tan grass in patches that are only interrupted by sod dirt ledges and strange blotches of stone. These imperfections are the ruins and ancient foundations of great castles, now sundered and brought to rubble - an eroding memory of the
Age of Darkness and the
War of Thorns which tore across this region in the days before the
Valedori Empire.
Named for the
Devilblood Companies who safeguarded these lands long ago, and still roam this region today, the Company Highlands is a massive swath of land that makes up the majority of the Southmark. Bound on all sides by varied forests and the foothills of distant mountain ranges, it is a beautiful countryside home to many quaint towns and criss-crossed with the well-packed dirt of merchant roads.
CASTLE RUINS OF THE PAST
Once grand keeps and fortresses built by the subjugated survivors living beneath the rule of the
Vampire Lords of the
Age of Darkness - these imposing structures have been turned to rubble centuries ago in the first battles of the
War of Thorns as the fledgling
Valedori Empire made landfall in
Reina's Landing. While little is left of these that hasn’t been salvaged or repurposed in other settlements - the people of the region often avoid these ruined sites. Both out of superstition of what these places represented in ages past, and the lingering dangers or curses said to still lie in the rubble of castle dungeons.
DANGER AT THE EDGES
While the region is much safer than it was during the
Age of Darkness, there are still a host of threats that plague the lands. The most prominent being raiding bandit gangs that hold up in the castle ruins or use the surrounding treeline as refuge - a threat that employs many local mercenaries and companies such as
The Red Riders to protect the small towns and humble farmland of the
Highland Harvest Association or the
South Vinter’s Guild.
Bandits are not the only danger in these lands, though. Along the fringes of the highlands, the great forests of the
Muldrotha Wilds, the
Opalwood Verge, and even the
Chapel Mire each hold their own set of strange monsters that can be found prowling beyond the treeline. The most dangerous of these can be the
Werewolf clans of the
Muldrotha Wilds which have been known to hunt together in the Northern hills of the Company Highlands.
