The Lowlands: Stone, Ash, and Unyielding Blood
Dry winds scour the land, carving the foothills into broken spines of stone. Nothing grows here without a fight. The soil is cracked, the air sharp, and the sun rarely shows its face—only the ash-gray clouds drifting like ghosts above the ridgelines. Travelers cross the Lowlands only when they must. Most don’t make the journey twice.
Yet despite the desolation, life clings here—hard, bitter, and proud. Camps rise from the dust, forged from ruin and defiance. War bands gather in silence, and law is made not by crown or creed, but by strength alone. In this land, power is not inherited. It is taken, held, and defended by blood.
The wind carried the stench of scorched earth, but he didn’t flinch. Not when the messenger stumbled, blood soaking through his tunic. Not even when the words came.
"They struck again. No warning. No orders." She exhaled slowly, fingers tightening on the edge of the table. "They’re not just defying orders. They’re sending a message."
He nodded, jaw clenched. "And we either answer it… or lose everything."
"Let them call us beasts." The voice rumbles like thunder, quiet and steady. "We do not need their names. We have our own." He lifts the axe, its edge chipped but clean. "And they remember it when it falls."
Where the weak are broken and the wind sings of war.