Arid Frontier

**Arid Frontier** are *those who live in the desert wasteland known as The Arid Frontier. The land is inhospitable and the practice of magic strictly forbidden.*

## Description

The Arid frontier is a vast desert land of shifting sands and dunes. Within are small oases, fed by underground rivers. These are difficult to find and few maps exist of the region due to the everchanging nature of the terrain.
During the day the land is unpleasantly hot and dry, but becomes cold as soon as night falls. Winds roll across the open land whipping up dangerous sandstorms that can strip the flesh of the bones of unwary travellers.

### People

The land is mainly occupied by great cats. There are smatterings of other races across the land, many trying to eke out a living as a wandering merchant.

### The Royal Court

The Royal Court is located deep in the Arid Frontier at a larger oasis called the Ethereal Basin. It is situated in a valley between multiple sand dunes and rocky mountains and you can miss it entirely until it appears in front of your eyes.

The palace is opulent and filled with the usual sycophants and richer nobles.

The current ruling monarch is King Gior Spiritclaw. The ruling Leonin family has passed down the crown over many centuries to the eldest child, whether male or female. The History of The Desert Throne is a long and interesting tale.

The monarch is responsible for the rule of law and receiving petitions for guidance or aid from the people of the desert lands.

Visitors, ambassadors and emissaries must present themselves to the King on arrival to The Arid Frontier, if they can survive to find the palace they are deemed worthy of an audience.

The Royal Court has 2 predominant groups of advisors. A Tabaxi family called The Shimbleshanks and a Tiefling collective. These two groups practice the only magic within the desert realm, the tabaxi family have a link with the Gods and the Tieflings hold the remaining arcane knowledge, left after the Mage Wars.

### Society

Outside of The Ethereal Basin life is hard and sparse. The people traverse the desert from oasis to oasis with a nomadic lifestyle. Small villages of tents move from place to place, and many have skills in reading the hidden waterways and understanding how to travel.

Deep beneath the sands are reserves of precious gems and metals, upon which the Royal Court established its power.

Traders take items crafted from rock and precious metals to trade via ships on the western border.

### Religion

There is no formal divine aid outside the Ethereal Basin. As such very little traditional religion exists in the Arid Frontier.

The only clerics in the desert are The Shimbleshanks family and they are rarely seen within the general populus. Their reach however is powerful and many traders bring information to them in court.

### Allies

The Desert People tried to remain neutral in the war by funding both sides. as such they are on neutral terms with most of the surrounding Kingdoms with some exceptions.

The ShadowFell are rather unknown as a power and this interests the court. The Winter Pact are rarely found this far South due to their poor tolerance of the conditions.

### Enemies

The primary enemy is the swarm, with whom the Desert people share a long Northern border.

## History

During the Mage Wars the swarm were indifferent to promises of funding and came instead for the source of that wealth.

The desert almost fell to The Swarm on several occasions and were driven back by the arcane power of the Tieflings, while the clerics protected the Royal Court.

There is a deep resentment and distrust of The Swarm and the border sees regular incursions and fighting. It is a notoriously dangerous place to linger.

The Royal Court hold hopes of one day decimating The swarm and avenging the heavy losses sustained during the wars.

The Royal Court is run largely by two families with a ceremonial monarch. Magic is entirely forbidden and its use is punishable by imprisonment or even death.

The families hold their extreme power by controlling access to magic, and it has been absent for so long that many of the nomadic population have forgotten it ever existed.

The population lives a hard, frugal lifestyle based on craft and trade.