The Vale
The traveller on the Great Trade Road west of Erenthean leaves Alladore the moment he steps off the bridge that spans the river. The more stable Tollonian Principalities lay about twelve days ride along the Great Trade Road; in between is a lawless and shifting land, to which one or another Tollonian prince sometimes takes a fancy, breaking the fragile balance of power before inevitably attracting the attention of warlike neighbours. The land is pockmarked by the violence of its history. In the north-east lays the Vale of the Whispering Wind, in whose wintry grip any uninformed visitor to Tijdit ( Village - Scattered Farming Community ) shivers and dies. Whilst the White Hills break the worst of the cold, they are not bold enough to stop the wind itself, so that the whole area down to the Road has slowly come, at least in Alladore, to share the name of the Vale. As for the Tollonians, they call this part of the world "The Torment". Great mountains overshadow the ...