The Bilukan

A wide stretch of wilderness consisting of rugged badlands and rocky hills in the west to open, windswept desert to the east. The region has no central government, offering little besides miles of inhospitable terrain.  The nomadic Durinn tribes have long made this landscape their home.  Over the last few centuries, a number of tribes settled the fertile land around Lake Khez and built powerful merchant guilds that now govern those lands.  These prefects are autonomous, but cooperate with each other in trade and defense.  Beyond the lake region, most settlements are independent and offer little more than trading waypoints in the vast area known as the Barrens.  Here, tribal leaders have historically been distrusting of outsiders, but the vast wealth of trade coming down from the north has led to more influence and growing exploitation.

## **The Barrens**

The eastern half of the Bilukan is a wide stretch of cold wilderness, home to nomadic tribes both human and other.  The dry, windswept badland that begins east of Lake Khez and continues some 600 miles until it meets the northern edge of the Forbidden Peaks.  That same range borders the region to the south, with creating an impassable barrier to the lush kingdoms beyond.  In the north, deep gorges lead to steep cliffs.  From the edge, rolling plains lead to the tall pines of Khazanam Forest.  The Barrens encompasses three distinct regions of differing authority: the Birakath, the Gathiz Province, and the Khar.

#### **The Birakath**

The largest area of the region is the Birakath, consisting of a handful of small, distant villages that trade locally-made goods (including leather and cheese from oxen, iron ore, and scant precious metals) for wool, timber, and grain from the lake people to the west and the lake people to the north.  These relationships are uneven, pitting the small communities against the vast authority of their wealthy neighbors.

#### **The Gathiz Province (aligned politically with the ‘River People’ of the southern Rhaharian Empire)**

As the Great Rhararian Empire continues to expand, its influence in the Barrens has increased steadily.  The Dragontail Highway is one of the most important land trade routes on the continent, and the only road through the Forbidden Peaks.  Towns along the way are valuable, therefore merchant houses and river nobles have begun acquiring ‘land grants’ along the northern stretches.

#### **The Khar Region (aligned politically with the Prefects of the Lake)**

The southernmost region of the Bilakan is known as Khar, encompassing a rugged vale of foreboding timberlands between the Forbidden Peaks and the Greater Basalt Range.  At its center is an ancient fortress city named Thynathelune, the Queen's City, one of the few remnants of the mythical elven peoples that lived long ago. Monuments to dozens of ancient rulers have been well preserved, for which the city and its inhabitants, the Quenians are named

## **Prefects of the Lake**

The grassy lowlands along the shores of Lake Khez offer the only arable soil in the Bilukan.  Centuries ago, several of the more ambitious Durinn tribes sought to claim these lands for themselves.  After a series of battles known as the War of Ten Tribes, a council was called at what is now the city of Alarar.  From then on, the remaining tribes settled the lands and established eight distinct territories.  Seven of those prefects exist now as the Prefects of the Lake.

Lake Khez is over 200 miles long, and its calm waters make fishing and trade relatively simple. Agriculture flourishes in the lowlands around the lake, as fields of grain such as winter wheat and barley thrive in the rich floodlands.  Numerous small, walled orchards filled with apples, apricots, pomegranates and pears can be found on the northeastern side of the lake.  Beyond the floodlands, verdant grasslands provide bountiful pasture land for herds of woolly sheep.  Along the southwestern shores, a system of canals extends access to water for farms further inland, including small vineyards and textile farms growing flax and cotton. Ranches near the westernmost hills raise the only horses home to this region: the fast, durable Golden Te-ke, which have a reputation for adapting well to severe climates.

Each of the different prefects, and the independent Khargunar, will be detailed later in *Prefects of the Lake.*