The Northern Wastes

This map shows the Northern Wastes and surrounding features.  Along the southern edge are the rift valley cliffs (Montierra is southeast).  To the north are the polar Northern Plains.  To the west are the Claw Mountains.  And the east is an inhospitable badlands region known as The Withering.

The T’Lana Esh live in a low-lying area between the Claw Mountains to the west and The Withering to the east.  This area has numerous, often short-lived, oases created by something called ‘desert coral’.

It is said there are great seas under the ground and that sometimes, the fish of that undersea burrow up to the sky.  They die just as their heads break the surface but their corpses are a source of water and food (in the form of algae growing on the exposed skulls).  A shoal of these decomposing fish create a desert coral oasis … easily detectable due to the bad smell.

The T’Lana Esh are a hardy desert tribe composed of eight nomadic Kels (“families”) with several hundred individuals in each (mostly dragonborn).  They move independently from oasis to oasis, never staying long enough to deplete the local water supply.  They are known for their religious zeal and puritanism, and for being fearsome warriors.  Cooperation between Kels is strong.

The T’Lana Esh are a very private people but individuals sometimes venture out for years at a time, in search of fortune, in service to their tribe.  Some of these are on a pilgrimage.  They pass through Scarland and continue South … across more badlands, over the Shield Mountains, and (supposedly) eventually reaching The Orlot (the mythical land of the devout).

Hemdian’s Notebook