Wästland

the dry, dead, blasted west — the sundered land

The western reach of the dying world, called Wästland "in the songs of the simple and rhymes of the poor." Once the realm of Lake Onda's fish and a thriving river-trade, now a slow-dying countryside of starved villages and empty roads. The kingdom that rules it is the Western Kingdom of King Fathmu IX, schemer of Schleswig's sad-but-gaudy halls. From the west, says Misery 4:3, "forth comes fire, and a horde, and the Kingdoms burn."

What the locals carry says what the locals are. Mikhael the Merchant's Wästland goods — pouches of ashy valley-vapors not made for living lungs, jars of troll piss for the desperate camp, gaudy clothing for those who'd be mocked as nobles, a bloodstained pilgrim's compass that points only toward what will kill you, a peasant's kuksa that turns any liquid into adequate drink, a lucky fishing spear that always strikes something — paint a region of the half-starved and the half-resigned. Pilgrims who walk pointing at their own deaths. Fishermen reduced to one trick. Peasants drinking from a cup so they will not drink from the river.

The Fanged Deserter (origin 5) follows an army in eastern Wästland. The Pale One (origin 5) hatches from an egg in a Wästland swamp. The Forlorn Philosopher (origin 3) is brought up by pig-ignorant churls in a peaceful Wästland forest. The Sacrilegious Songbird (origin 3) makes their bargain in a Wästland noble's bedchamber. The Wretched Royalty (origin 1) loses a Wästland palace, reduced to rubble. Local fauna includes the Liar-bird, Three-thirds-pheasant, Feather Fox, Bautaboar ("only thirteen left in Wästland"), Schleswig Bog-feeder, and the Gold-crested Filth-crow (per Eat-Prey-Kill, p.9).