Heavily wooded lands to the west of the Grove, filled with rolling hills, vales and scattered settlements. Few shards of the meteorite that crashed into the northern kingdom of Valentia landed across the expanse. Over the course of the dozen years since the star fall, isolated pockets of dark have grown around the impact sites, some substantial enough to swallow nearby settlements. At the very least, much of the land has declined or allowed to become fallow in the attempt to strengthen it against the polluting effect of the spreading dark.

The majority of the settlements have uprooted and moved further westward in an attempt to stave off the effects of the rotting landscape. But, few natural barriers are wholly resistant to the spread of dark, save large deposits of solid stone, which is scarce to be found outside of the northern and eastern reaches. So, the people have returned to a life of nomadic wandering, ever seeking a new home, and a potential cure to the curse that devours the lands they so cherish.

Even in the west, the march of progress had begun to settle the people, as agriculture became more of a staple in the economies that were steadily flourishing before the star fall. However, with the decline of arable land, and the loss of permanent settlements where fragments of the star fall impacted, many of the people have since returned to a nomadic lifestyle. At least, those who elected not to sojourn to the larger cities to the east. Instead, they move as the land wills, avoiding the polluting dark, and seeking a way to recover dwindling resources as the old ways dictate. For these wanderers, ties to the land are important, all the more so as that connection grows ever more tenuous.

The Elden
The Elden are a loosely organized tribal society, patriarchal but providing women with equal rights and considerations. Claiming the rolling green hills of Summit as their ancestral claim to land, the Elden are an agricultural society who share equal responsibility raising their youth as members of a tribe. Childhood is allowed to carry on unimpeded until the 12th year of life, at which point every child begins their education in the Elden ways. Each community will rotate their children from village to village in an astronomically determined order, where the youths will spend one year learning a new facet of Elden life. In no particular order, the growing youths are educated in the ways of combat and self defense, hunting, agriculture, oral traditions, child and medical care, and a brief introduction to the esoteric arts such as astrology and herbalism. When Elden youth reach their 18th year they are eligible to drink Curcuma tea.


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