by Kris Kramer
On the people of Lir…
The people of Lir are a strange folk, indeed. They stand at least a foot shorter than a human, similar in stature to a Happaran actually, but nowhere near as stout. Liren people are thin, reed thin, their extremities only marginally thicker than bone. In addition, their foreheads slope back slightly, and that, in conjunction with their large noses, has earned them the nickname of ‘ratmen’; that and the fact that they have a reputation for incredibly fraudulent business dealings.
Before the White Horsemen uprooted them, the small nation of Lir could be found nestled in the hills southwest of Neratos, where the Lirens herded goats and sheep. Lirens are dexterous people and had a well-deserved reputation as excellent cloth workers and sewers. Liren cloth was by far the finest material to be found anywhere in Leranon.
On the History of the Senin Valley…
I’ve spent very little time in the Senin Valley, despite my long life, but I shall surely return there one day. The Senin Valley is quite a different place than the Lore Valley, even the Outerlands. The lands of the Senin aren’t as open as the Lore, it’s much more mountainous and rugged, and there are entire nations there that are separated by impassable terrain, making the people of the Senin Valley much more secluded and isolated. As such, you can find strange customs there that have survived for centuries, and whole cities of people who have never seen an Outerlander.
Don’t get me wrong, the people of the Senin Valley aren’t cut off from the rest of the world. The Trohmans still control port cities there and pass on goods and news to the nations of the Senin, but the difficulty of movement keeps the people there confined more than anywhere else in Leranon.
On the Baran Desert…
The entire western portion of the Lore Valley, the area that edges up against the Rhavidan Mountains, is known as the Baran Desert. Divided into the Upper Baran in the south, which was a little north of the Trin Lake, and the Lower Baran in the north, which edged up against Himmitte lands, this desert and the mountains next to it, were home to creatures and places that had born legends for centuries. I could spend the rest of my life chronicling the assortment of animals you would find only in this area, and perhaps I should considering my age already, but I say that only to give my readers an idea of just how fascinating the desert is.
Unfortunately, unless you are incredibly well-prepared and supplied, or already a creature of the Baran, you would not survive long there. Once you entered the desert, you would find no water above ground until you reached the Rhavidan Mountains, which is why most of the indigenous life lives underground in caves and tunnels. Food is scarce for humans, and the heat alone could kill a weak man.
But anyone with the time and resources to explore the Baran would find magical places beyond recount. The landscape in some areas is dotted with the ruins of the great cities that once stood there, before time and nature took its toll.
On Tyran Prisons…
Tyr was widely known for its Pits, the many underground arenas built under the Old City where slaves, criminals, or even professional fighters would kill each other for sport. Some were small, where only a few dozen spectators could gather around a cage while two captives would fight for survival, while a few were much larger, hosting up to several hundred people and numerous small or large-scale battles.
* * * * *
What was less widely known, was the existence of the Tyran prison of Deep Hold. Built even father below ground than the Pits, Deep Hold was a dungeon of the most ruthless sort. The worst of criminals were brought here and tortured, or just jailed and forgotten. Though everyone speculated on whether it was a real place, with parents using its name to scare little children, most Tyrans had never seen it, since the only people who ever went to Deep Hold, never came back.
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