Twilight of Empires

An area of the Asterian Empire bordered on the north by the Aster River, on the south by the Altun-Shan Mountains, to the east by the Verrn River, and on the west by a rough line from the imperial capital Aster City down to the Upper Aldenrod River. The dominant feature of the area are the Central Highlands wine region themselves.

The history of the area really begins thousands of years ago, towards the end of the Divine Era, or perhaps the very early Slumbering Era. At that time what we know as the Central Highlands was a gentle, well aged range of mountains predating the rise of the Altan-Shan Mountains. This range was the heart of a nation of Sun Giants, who apparently saw the direction the world was progressing, and used their vast and bizarre powers to chop the range off about one to two hundred feet up, and float the entire mass up into the skies. Today, after eons of erosion, the Highlands aren't as abruptly flat as they once were, but the giants never returned.

When Douje I came around in the First century, responses were mixed. The north-western lords either welcomed him as a liberator and joined up, or had been wiped out in the war as Draacht's minions. The central and eastern domains either required quite a bit of diplomacy, or military force. And in the densely wooded hills of the Evergroves, the situation looked like it might drag on for generations, until empress Tarna rode out with her retinue, and within a week the populace was her most fervent adherents. Even today, the emperor's wives are guarded by Evergrove huntsmen.

Wine is produced in most of the empire south of the Aster river, but the Highlands are particularly known for their red grapes. Wood-crafts from the Evergroves are also exported, and the region does a brisk business in the mineral wealth from the Altan Shan Mountains. Banditry is a drain on the economy, but there are no current spots of outright rebellion to make things worse: these are Tarma's people.

• Arborwatch: Set astride the watercourse fed my much of the Highlands, this town sees most of the wine trade pass through it.
• Bergund: City guarding the juncture of the Altunwash and Drunkensong rivers. Known for darker red wines.
• Bloodspine Hall: Dwarf hold known for blood silver, exotic metamorphic gems, and that weird pink salt that high-ranking noblewomen are so giddy over.
• Hollenridge: Gateway to the high hills and mountains proper. A smaller, though lively city by Asterian standards. The road to Bloodspine Hall passes through here.
• Jotun Hall: One of the youngest large Dwarf holds. When the Lost hall was, well, lost, much of the population found its way to these caverns, which house the amethyst graves of the Sun Giants. Feeling an unexpected sense of kinship, they made their homes here.
• Oakencask: Good sized city, and as far up the Drunkensong River that barge traffic can manage. A lot of the wine traffic passes through here.
• Seven Springs: A large town in the Evergroves, clearly atop one of those chopped-off mountains the Sun Giants are responsible for. Known for it's impressive defenses, the seven water sources, and or course, being home to the General of the South.
• Vintnar: Town in the center of the Highlands, and source of the best red wines in the empire. One of the very few non-Dwarven communities with access to the Deep Ways.

• General of the South: One of four Named sentient elder drakes that have served the empire since slightly after the Battle of Kingsfall. The general's name is Cervernos, and he is a three-headed Wood element hydra. His signature maneuver is to blanket the battlefield in a toxic, hallucinogenic pink mist, and wait to see what manages to wander out. Currently residing in the town of Seven Springs.