The East is known as a verdant land of plenty, threatened only by savage [[:squats|Squat]] raiders and the distant shadow of the Boarhead Confederacy. ====Eastern Hills==== The lands between the Great River and the Boarhead Confederacy are known as the Eastern Hills. The land closest to the Great River is the only part of the region that the name does not aptly describe. The plains there flood with swiftly-flowing water during the spring, and remain marshy, insect-ridden and unusable well into the summer. Beyond the plains, the earth rises gently, and the wooded hills are interrupted only by the Riche and Aska rivers, numerous small streams, and Lac-Ampan, Lac-Emfray and other lakes. The hills become rougher towards the White Mountains in the southeast, but travel is generally easy. The many blacktops and waterways that criss-cross the Hills allow for easy travel for those that don't want to risk the hills themselves. The eastern hills are the source of the much-sought-after maple sap, which Tribals decant into barrels and float down the Great River back to Vimary. Key locations are: * **Jardin:** a verdant garden sacred to [[:magdalites|Magdalen]] that is green and lush at all times of the year. * **Magog:** A Joshuan village, recently abandoned as the inhabitants heard Lilith's call to Crusade * **Crystal Mines of Be'dul:** A Z'bri fortress that is one of the targets of Lilith's Crusade * **Grand Bee:** a series of ruins infested with Z'bri monsters known as Gek'roh ====The Black Lake and the Valley of the White Death==== Due east of Grand Bee, the land becomes bare and barrens, with the exception of dry grass, dead trees, and a few sickly seedlings. This is the Valley of the White Death, which stretches several days' travel north, south and east of its western edge. Within the Valley, thin streams of fetid water carve paths through the grey-white soil, and windstorms whip the dusk up into great, pale clouds. Nothing lives within the Valley. The water causes nausea, the dust rots the lungs, and the soil is a deadly poison if ingested. Ghosts are said to haunt the Valley, both victims of the dust and those that linger still from the World Before. Scholars and Keepers claim the entire Valley is the work of ancient meddling in the World Before, given its apparently human-made shape and its resemblance to Tiskagin, far to the west. The Black Lake is just north of the Valley, and from its jet-black waters rises foul-smelling steam. Like the water in the Valley, the Lake offers no nourishment, and the air around it is thought to be noxious. It is just as lifeless as the Valley. ====The Flint Lands==== East of Lac-Emfray, the blacktop leads into a marsh that the Leox call the Erbro, where spirits and animals throng. Sites "holy" to the Squats are dotted around the area. Further east, old passes lead south through the White Mountains, where many streams and lakes empty into the Great Moose (or Moosehead) Lake, marking the northernmost point of the true Flint Lands, where the Flint Squats live. The holiest of their sites is Mount Katahdin, which they claim is the Crown of the World. The rivers leading south cut through primeval forests with no sign of the World Before. Beyond there are settlements held by the Z'bri , polluting both the water and the River with their taint. ====The Broken Coast and Beyond==== The Penobscot River and its tributaries lead southeast to the Broken Coast, far, far distant from Vimary. Hundreds of coves and inlets are scattered throughout the sandy beaches, and ancient ruins from the World Before mar the landscape. Squats trade with strange [[:keepers|Keepers]] who sail mechanical boats out to the island of [[:north|Fonland]] where they reside.