The Uldau

The Uldau is a large expanse of rugged hill country and rolling mountain ranges covering most of eastern Dranuria, and is typically considered one of the two major regions of the Dranurian massif (the other being the higher Gated Fells to the west). Its ranges are separated by meandering upland valleys which often contain long, narrow lakes. In some areas, the landscape displays extensive karst features, riddling the hillsides with caves and crevices. It’s name has an archaic Tuvai origin and means “abode of wolves,” from the roots “ul-” or “uldh-” (abode, dwelling place) and “aowh” or “haowh” (wolf). 
True to its name, the wooded highlands of the Uldau have always been home to a great many wolves, large and aggressive as well as numerous, which menace the flocks of local shepherds and can pose a serious danger to unwary travelers. Some speculate that these beasts are descended from common wolves that interbred with a strain of orcish wolves, perhaps left in the region following some long-ago incursion by the orcs up through Sularia. Strings of protective inns, to provide safe havens for wayfarers to spend their nights, are dotted at intervals of a day’s travel along most of the mountain roads that wind through the Uldau.
The highest peaks of the Uldau, and the exception to the general rule that its mountains are lower and more rolling than the Gated Fells, are the Bhodevars that run along its northern edge. Only a handful of passes allow travel through the high and jagged ranges of the Bhodevars, most famously the pass called Crow's Gorge, where the orcish horde of Gol Garga faced its final defeat in 1253 CV.