Vale of Aren¶
Contested
This page is named in the Open Question Wood Elf homeland; Vale of Aren and Vale of Avernil: the Vale of Aren of S073 and S078 may be the same valley S077 calls the Vale of Avernil, in whose southern reach the High Vale lies.
The Vale of Aren is "a large sheltered valley of farmland" that opens from the Aren Gate, the southern gates of Proturas, and runs nearly a day's ride on horseback to Tugard Pass (S073). The Children of the Light "rule the City of Light (in Proturas) as well as most of the Vale of Aren" (S078, which spells it "Value of Aren").
Also called: possibly the Vale of Avernil (S077); see the High Vale.
The road south¶
The itinerary of a tomb-digging expedition gives the only description of the valley (S073). From the Aren Gate the road crosses the Vale to Tugard Pass; at the base of the pass is the town of Hulbeck; on the far side stands Tugard's Tower; beyond the pass lie the Marshes of Algher, and "Pemeril Basin (where the capitol city once was) .. essentially a big lake .. is center-west" of them (S073). Travellers hire mules in Hulbeck and leave from the Laughing Bear Inn, and "there are some well-known camping areas only a few miles south of the tower" (S073).
Hulbeck¶
The town at the foot of Tugard Pass, with the Laughing Bear Inn as its point of departure for the marshes (S073).
Tugard Pass and Tugard's Tower¶
The pass out of the Vale, with a tower on its southern side; the Warden's track runs from it "south and east" toward the Sulfur Creek Ruins (S073).
Gap
The sources do not say who Tugard was, who holds the tower, or whether the Warden's track and the Council Wardens who ride it are the same Wardens who police magic in the city.
The Marshes of Algher¶
A day along the Warden's track reaches "the Sulfur Creek Ruins by late afternoon", and from there the track is left for the foothills; a full day due south into the marsh along Sulfur Creek reaches "a small stone ruin on a rise over the creek" (S073). The marsh is crossed by few: "there isn't much traffic on the track, and even then not many hauling anything valuable … but there are always a few desperate enough people", and "goblins from the foothills sometimes raid or extort travellers" (S073). Mutated lizardfolk "frequently roam the area, sneak in to steal at night". Giant pythons, crocodiles, giant crocodiles and swarms of stirges or bloodflies are the pests; skeletons, zombies and ghouls "roam the marshes"; and "legends of even more terrible things can be found in the marsh, but sightings of them are rare: Hydra, Bunyips, Will-o-wisps, Shamblers and Blights" (S073).
The marsh's settled people are the Ra'ana, "primitive toad-people the size of horses", who "have many villages around the Pemeril Basin and aggressively defend their territory. They have crocodiles and pythons as pets" (S073). They are also called simply the toad-people, and "live somewhat peacefully nearby" unless roused.
Pemeril Basin¶
The great lake at the centre-west of the marshes, "where the capitol city once was" (S073). The Broken Sea nation of Pemeril has its own page.
Gap
S073 does not say whose capital drowned in the basin, nor whether the Marshes of Algher are the sunken remains of the kingdom of Alghert, which S107 records "was left a sunken swamp after a series of massive floods".
The Tomb of Deron¶
West of the stone ruin on Sulfur Creek, found with a divining rod, lies the recent tomb of the warlock Deron, guarded by "demons from Dae'medeis" and watched over by his brother Ather, a young hermit warlock of twenty-one with a bone demon (S073). Warlocks of Deron's kind "speed up the reincarnation cycle by allowing their souls to transition in a matter of decades. When the full transition from body to vessel, a sacrificial child will be brought to the tomb and possessed by the warlock's spirit" (S073). The brothers are among the minor figures of Proturas.
In Play¶
Eliron of the Warlocks of the Blue Flame, carrying "a Passage and Import Writ from the Proturan Council giving permission to/from Proturan lands citing Council Business", led diggers, hired soldiers, two Council soldiers and a Council Warden priest of Nyx down this road to excavate Deron's tomb (S073); the two-session expedition is recorded with the Proturan Campaign.