Wild Lands
The name given to the vast, largely unexplored northern territories above the Grand Plains and the Empire of the Golden Dawn — one of the largest territories on the continent, subarctic in character, where no organized state has ever successfully controlled the region and permanent human settlement is considered suicidal. No one rules here. The land rules itself.
What It Is
The Wild Lands are not a nation, a territory under dispute, or an abandoned civilization — they are a geographic reality that has never been domesticated. The subarctic north above the continent’s main political zones is simply wilderness in the fullest sense: organized monster populations controlling vast tracts, treacherous mountain ranges impassable except through known and dangerous passes, unexplored valleys whose ecosystems have never been documented.
Three zones describe the territory. The Frontier Zone is where civilization ends and the Wild begins — scattered failed outposts mark the line, many now ruins. The Mountain Wall is the natural barrier separating the Wild Lands from the populated south; crossing it is possible, but not safe. The Deep North beyond it is true wilderness where nothing survives long without extraordinary preparation.
Known Features
Monster populations in the Wild Lands are not chaotic — they are organized. Grimlock breeding grounds occupy significant tracts of the interior; Grimlock population levels are monitored by southern states as an existential concern. Feral goblin communities have established semi-permanent settlements in defensible positions. What other populations exist deeper in has not been reliably documented.
Resources exist for those willing to attempt the harvest: rare monster parts command high prices from alchemists and mages; unique herbs grow nowhere else; mineral deposits have been detected but not mapped. Possibly ancient ruins lie buried under centuries of growth — some scholars believe a significant civilization once occupied this territory, and that the current monster populations are in some sense its remnant.
Why It Matters
No state claims the Wild Lands — those that have tried were destroyed. The territory functions as a northern limit on continental expansion, a source of rare materials, and a constant low-grade threat that requires monitoring.
The Grimlock breeding grounds are the primary strategic concern. If Grimlock populations expand south in sufficient numbers, the frontier states are the first to face them, and those states are not large. Adventurers venture north regularly for rare materials; return rates are poor enough that experienced outfitters price expeditions accordingly. The Wild Lands take a consistent toll on the curious, the desperate, and the greedy.