Nesmian Plains

Location overview

The Nesmian Plains stretch from the Marideth River south to the prairies around Kraggodan, a broad expanse of rolling prairie, low hills, and steep-walled gullies carved by the countless swift streams tumbling down from the Mindspin Mountains to the west. In a more organized nation it would be called a breadbasket — the land is extraordinarily fertile, and a single farm here can feed an army during the short but generous growing season. The Nesmian Plains are not, however, an organized nation. They are Nirmathas, which means the region is rich, largely ungoverned, frequently invaded, and almost impossible to hold for long.
The climate does much of the defending that the people cannot. Summers on the plains are mild and green, almost paradisiacal, with burbling streams and fields of sorghum and oats rolling to the horizon. Then autumn arrives, bringing howling windstorms and powerful thunderstorms off Lake Encarthan. Winter buries the plains in snowdrifts up to ten feet deep and cuts off every community from every other for three months at a stretch. Molthuni forces raid the plains every spring and seize territory and resources all summer — then the cold drives them back south before the snows arrive, and the Nesmian farmers return from wherever they were hiding to rebuild. They have been doing this for decades. They are very good at it.
Settlements on the plains are small, scattered, and built to be abandoned quickly. Halflings — many of them escaped slaves from Cheliax — are common residents, and they are particularly skilled at concealing entire communities in caves, ravines, and forgotten ruins when trouble comes. The land between settlements is far from empty, however. Nomadic centaur tribes migrate through the foothills of the Mindspin Mountains, growing more aggressive each year as they are squeezed between Molthuni soldiers, Nirmathi guerrillas, and roving bandits. Clans of goblinoids and troglodytes have carved out small kingdoms in the deeper gullies and prey on farms when they can. Griffins, manticores, and rocs hunt the open grassland alongside packs of wolves and axe beaks. The Nesmian Plains are beautiful, abundant, and deeply, persistently dangerous — which is why the people who choose to live here tend to be exactly the kind of person who can handle all three.
The Ironfang Legion has secured the Nesmian Plains and is advancing north of the Marideth River. The attacks in the Fangwood appear to have been a diversion, keeping rangers and militia occupied while the Legion's main forces operate in the west.