Brechtür

A map of Brechtür

Life is hard but rewarding in the Western Reaches. Mining is the primary industry, and all the guilds maintain some tie to the deep mountains of the land. Defense is a major activity as well. The Urga-Zai goblins threaten to sweep down from the Wild Lands every few years and the Gorgon's Crown is an intermittent danger whose threats have grown ever more serious in recent years. All the cities of the Western Reaches are fortified and many are built almost entirely out of stone, unlike both their Rjurik to the north and the southern Brecht.

Since their early beginnings, the domains of the Western Basin States have endured a troubled and sometimes tragic history. This region was once almost as fertile and and inviting as the Eastern Basin States. Now only Rohrmarch and Treucht offer promise to the Brecht.

The Eastern Basin States did not prosper because of luck or special favoritism from the gods, but rather through the leadership of Müden in implementing a planned program of development. In many places, the sheer abundance of land and resources allowed lords and their subjects to simply extract those resources to meet their needs, Müden took the extra effort to intensify resource development rather than remain content to just exploit what was already present. The result was that Müden, and in their wake, the whole Eastern Basin became more populous and richer in the long run, because Müden colonized the interior lands, forming colonies in Treucht, Berhagen, Horstmarch, and Rheulgard. Every Brecht realm in the Eastern Basin was once a colony of Müden.

The domains of the Overlook survive by being too stubborn and fractious to conquer. Tiny, independent domains and organized bits of anarchy. They hover on the edge of ruin, yet stand fast against the warring tribes of the east. The Vos have pushed west in force before, and maintain a constant pressure from the Great Steppe.