The Wilds

Geography: The vast interior (approx. 120,000 sq miles) of the Demesne. 

Dominant Terrain: The "Endless Weald" — A flat, dense, and ancient forest broken only by isolated, jagged peaks.

I. The Landscape: An Ocean of Trees and Stone

The Wilds are not a normal wilderness; they are a battlefield that nature has only partially reclaimed. The terrain is deceptively flat, a boundless ocean of dark, twisted iron-wood trees and choking underbrush. Visibility is low, and the canopy is so thick that the forest floor exists in a perpetual, green-tinted twilight.

Piercing this green canopy are the "Spines"—jagged, solitary mountains and rocky buttes that "poke up" from the flat earth like islands in a sea. These peaks are critical; in the Wilds, altitude is safety. The lowlands belong to the monsters.

The Scars of War: The land remembers the slaughter of the Eastern Front. Travelers will stumble upon "Ghost Fields"—clearings where nothing grows, marking where a battalion of Aasimar was consumed by Baalzebul's horde. Rusted, colossal siege engines from Year 30 jut out of the mud like metal skeletons, now serving as nests for Wyverns.

II. The Ecosystem of Horror

The Wilds are densely populated, but not by natural animals. The ecosystem has been corrupted by the lingering presence of the Proto-Lords.

• The Fiends: Devils and Demons here are not invaders; they are wildlife. Packs of Spined Devils hunt like wolves. Hezrous wallow in the swamps like toads. They have gone feral, unbound from their infernal hierarchy, making them unpredictable and savage.

• The Dragons: The Chromatic Exiles rule the sky. Red Dragons roost on the volcanic Spines in the east (Malvosia's territory), while Black Dragons corrupt the river valleys in the west (Gorgoshin's territory). They act as apex predators, feeding on fiends and giants alike.

III. The Settlements: Islands of Survival

Civilization here is not a network; it is a scattering of desperate, fortified islands.

1. The Static Villages (The "Anchors") These are the settlements built on the "Spines" or inside the ruins of Larya Kreev's old fortified camps.

• The Population: A melting pot of refugees—Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings—who refused to leave.

• The Atmosphere: These towns are prisons with open doors. They are heavily walled, paranoid, and insular.

• The Tension: Prejudice is a survival mechanism here. A village of Tieflings (refugees from the south) might be at war with a neighboring village of Aasimar-descendants (who blame the Tieflings for the fiends). Conversely, in a village like "Unity," Dwarven smiths and Elven archers might coexist in perfect, desperate harmony, knowing that if they fight each other, the darkness outside will eat them both.

2. The Mobile Clans (The "Storms") Moving between these static points are the Nine Clans. They do not hide on the peaks; they own the forest floor. Their massive, armored caravans rumble through the trees like land-ships. They are the only force strong enough to face the fiends in the open. To the static villagers, the arrival of a Clan is a double-edged sword: it means protection from monsters, but it also means "tribute" must be paid to the Warlords of the Wilds.