The Land
The Wildlands is the land bordering Arcadia on the west, north, and east
sides. At the most basic, it is a buffer zone between Arcadia and the brutality
of the Dark Lands. Unlike the carefully groomed, gently rolling hills of
Arcadia, the Wildlands tend to be rough, largely left in their natural state. Arcadian
women who travel there first describe the space as ‘untamed’, giving them the feeling
that they are ‘at the mercy of nature’. There are five main geographical
regions of the Wildlands: the Western Steppes, the NorthWest Wood, the Great Grey
Mountains, the NorthEast Wood, and the Eastern Plains.
The Western Steppes
The Western Steppes are the one place where the natural landscape is
significantly altered. Grain farms abound through the land near the Lesser Bear
River, where the soil is highly arable. In the southernmost parts of the
region, where it is warm enough, some cotton is grown.
On the land where the soil is less suitable for large-scale agriculture,
hardy steppe horses are bred, ore is mined from the low, rocky ridges, and in
the sands of the southern beaches, glass is blown. The Circles within this
region do, as all Wildlander Circles, breed and train warriors, but the
majority of the population works in agriculture, mining, or goods production.
The Western Steppes are bordered on the west by the Great Western Dark
Lands, which are populated with Dark Creatures that are, overall, less deadly
than those in the NorthWest. However, a few, including deragons, are fierce
enough to kill warriors. Overall there are fewer deaths in this region than the
wooded and mountainous areas. Because of this, most Wildlander women prefer to
settle here. The disparity in gender is far less extreme here, leading to more
Clans with just two males to one female, or, sometimes even just one male and
one female, or even Clans made up solely of females.
In the Wildlander spirit of community sharing, the Western Steppe Circles
always send shipments of grain to the Circles who do not have the land to
produce such a resource. They are entirely responsible for feeding the Border
Circles, those small outposts closest to the Dark Lands where warriors patrol
and deal with the majority of the Dark creatures that try to cross over. Warriors
who live in the interior Circles take month-long shifts living and working at
these Border Circles. Incidentally, it was during one of these shifts where
Blaise and Killian’s fathers were killed.
Including the eight Border Circles and five Wall Circles (those settlements
built right next to the Arcadian wall) there are twenty-four Circles in the
Western Steppes. The largest of these is called the Circle of the Western
Steppes, and functions as an unofficial regional capital.
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