Dragsbat

When the Sondaran Emperor Ting'ho was asked why he stopped his army in the foothills of The Knuckle, he answered that he only cared about the body and not the hair that grew upon the head. To him and the others in his court, the northern territory was a place of forest where Goblin’s and wild humans wandered the night. He had no interest in trading his legions for wood, not when he had ample forests in the south.

Dragsbat is characterised by its vast forests and wild rivers. It is bordered in the north by The Blue Mountains and in the south by the Oswine River. The forest to the west has no defined border, and the territory is contested by the throne in Arshen, capital of The Thousand Lakes. While to the east lies The Lake of Masran, a sea teeming with life and pirates.

The climate of Dragsbat is predominantly rainy, influenced by summer clouds from the Thousand Lakes and winter storms from the Blue Mountains. In the darkest months the ground will freeze and snow pile up so that it covers homes and castle walls.

The region's natural resources include large forests providing lumber for Dragsmund and its shipwrights, hunting in the forests, mining in the hills, and fishing in The River Oswine and the Great Lake of Masran.

Dragsbat is also known for having the largest city in Nostvary , Dragsmund, and being a kingdom of forests and wild folk. This isolation contributes to Dragsbat's unique character, making it a haven for those seeking refuge or wanting to live away from the more populated and controlled regions of Nostvary.

The land where this story takes place is part of the kingdoms of Nostvary - a realm that stretches from the towering Blue Mountains in the frozen north, beyond which lie the endless icy wastes, to the haunted land of ghosts in the south where no man dares tread. To the west, Nostvary meets the shore of the vast sea and the domain of the Leviathans, gigantic beasts capable of swallowing ships whole. In the distant east lies the ominous Rift, a scar in the earth that splits the frozen wastelands and plunges into the sea of destiny, its length burning and spewing volcanic shadows across the eastern sky. At the heart of Nostvary stands the Heaven's Spire, the loftiest peak in the Intraana mountain range.

In between sprawls the twelve kingdoms of Nostvary. The northernmost is the Kingdom of Dragsmund, situated at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Its capital city, the second greatest in the kingdoms, rests along a bay on the shores of Lake Masran, an immense body of water that stretches far to the east before cascading into the fiery caldera of Erensel and rising as billowing steam - said in ancient Nostvantic legend to be the place where life itself began.

The entire northern half of the Kingdom of Dragsmund is full of forests, lofty peaks and rivers. The other half, in the south, consists of marshland, numerous rivers and countless lakes. Some that still lived remembered how hazardous it was to live in the Northlands but people were drawn into the mountains and forests in search of wealth and the promise of a new life. The mountains held iron, gold and silver and, in an earlier age, had drawn the Dwarves into them. The forests that clung to their flanks and stretched south were teaming with beasts whose pelts could be worth their weight in silver so there was always a steady stream in and out of the forests north of Dragsbat, the capital city. Then had come the highwaymen and the brigands and they had attacked all but the most heavily escorted wagons. If the settlements weren’t prey to outlaws, then they were harassed by much worse. Great beasts had roamed the forests, darker things too, and some of them developed a taste for miners and lumberjack’s children. Orc’s, Ogres, Goblins and their larger brethren the Trolls had come down from their mountain tunnels and set upon the settlers with ever greater ferocity, until the City Protector, a noble appointed by the King and given command of the army and the city watch, had set out upon a crusade to sweep the forests and bring order to the land. With a great host, he marched into the forests and killed all the beasts, Orc’s and outlaws he could find, the rest he drove deeper into the ancient forests or higher up into the hidden mountain valleys. He also set the bounties to be paid to any who helped keep law and order in the north.