Report sour: ete Cs But vain the Sword and vain the Bow, They never can work War's overthrow. The Hermit’s prayer and the Widow's tear Alone can free the World from fear. illiam Blake, “The Grey Monk”Arne ctrl momen weet rossing into Falkovnia from Lamordia, soon noted achange in the atmosphere. Insteadofthe steady and heavy snowfall thatplagued my Lamordian travels, only athin layer of fallen snow now covered the ground. More importantly, the wind picked up, howling and chill, bearing the stink of squalor and unburied corpses, a sure calling card of what lay ahead. When I crossed into Falkovnia, the border garrison issued mea set of mandatory travel papers; fortinately, a few simple enchantments allowed me toavoid questioning that would have otherwise caused some unpleasant results. With the slack- jawed borderguards behind me, my way led onward to Lekar, capital of the oppressive kingdom of the Hawk. falhovnia at a Glance Cultural Levels Medieval (7) Ecology: Full Climate/Terrain: Temperate forest, hill, marsh, and plains Year of Formation: 690 BC Population: 64,300 Races: Human 93%, Halflings 2%, Half-elves2%, Gnomes 1%, Elves 1%, Other 1% Human Eth (100%) Languages: Falkovnian*, Darkonese, Balok, Lamordian, Mordentish, Halfling, Gnome, Elven, Dwarven Religions: Hala, Ezra Government: Military despotism Ruler: Kingfuhrer Vlad Drakov Darklord: Vlad Drakov Groups: Falkovnian Landscape alkovnia fills the Blacksoil Vale, the broad basin formed by the flood plain of the Vuchar River. Gifted with the rich, black sol that gives the region itsname, Falkovnia contains rolling lowlands of fertile fields and vast, lush forests. This natural splendor once spread from the Sleeping Beast ‘Mountains in the west to the Balinoks in the east. Following the Great Upheaval and the disappear- ance of the lands of G'henna and Markovia, the Balinoks also disappeared, leaving Falkovnia’s en- tire eastern frontier adjacent to the Shadow Rift. The wall of the Sleeping Beast spares Falkovnia from the frigid northwestern winds that plague Lamordia. Instead, Falkovnia enjoysa climate that has helped the nation gain its reputation as the “breadbasket of the Core.” Falkovnia’s year ischar- acterized by extended and clement spring planting and fall harvest seasons, Summers in Falkovnia are long and painfully humid, but punctuated with enough precipitation to encourage great fecundity. The Falkovnia winter is not as wretched as that endured by Lamordia, but still suffers near-con- tinuous frigid winds as well as thick snowfalls during the chill, gray weeks. This environment suits Falkovnia’s role as a prosperous agrarian pro- ducer. Were it not for the current leadership of the nation, the majority ofits citizens would ind much ‘more fortune in the use of agricultural resources. throtgh i Vour conten f for the mercenary shines itl litle Me ba itis certainly deserved. ‘The southward flow of the Vuchar River de- fines the landscape of western Falkovnia. Once an essential trade conduit for the northern Core, this broad waterway’s utility has diminished greatly since the Requiem, Today, Necropolis straddles the Vuchar River in the heart of Darkon, its deadly Shroud slaying the local marine life and blocking river traffic between eastern and westem Darkon, Because of the Necropolitan blight, the river trafic and fishing industries along the Falkovnian shores of the Vuchar have dropped by nearly half, fueling Falkovnian ill will against the northem domain. The Vuchar River crosses the border ruddy and filth-ridden from its journey through Darkon and Necropolis, even before the run-off of sewage and offal fom Lela rele the rivet toa ‘The Vuchar's course begins in the northwest: em-most corner of Falkovnia. Here, the western bank of the river is home to a thin ribbon of Falkovnian territory along the entire Lamordian border. This territory, knownas the Weissfalkund, consists of the last wooded slopes of the Sleeping Beast foothills, wherein merchants and bargemen ply their trades, doing business with fellow trades- ‘men from Lamordia. The Weissfalkund followsthere curvature of the Vuchar and the Lamordian border until both reach Dementliew Beyond the Weissfalkund stretches the Scythe’s Crescent, Falkovnia’s prime agricultural region. Beginning just south of the West Timori Road near Lekar, the waving golden fields of the Crescent extend southward toward Silbervas and Aerie. Here, Falkovnia’s peasants work the long fields of golden wheat and bountiful orchards, producing the exports Falkovnia supplies to mainsthroughoutthe Core. Despite the clearingof ‘wooded areas this cultivation requires, thick stands of Falkovnia’s dark forests dot the region, provid- ing a haven for wikdlife. The Scythe Road follows the spine of the region from Lekar to Aerie, and like all ofthe kingdom's roads, itis corduroy road, paved with timber. Eastofthe Seythe'sCrescent, agricultural land becomes increasingly sparse, yielding to the mas- sive dark forests of the interior. North of the West Timori Road lies the Dunkelhertawald, a thick extension of Darkon’s Forest of Shadows, which shrouds the region between the cities of Lekar, Stangengrad, and Morfenzi. South of the Timori Road, the Scythe'sCrescentgivesway to the equally dark Seelewald, the ancient forest that encom- interiorhasneverbeen seen by human eyes, though Falkovnian peasants tell many tales of woodsmen who discovered enchanted groves and haunted ruins within its blackness. The Vigilia Dimortia Forest, so named for its legendary “sentries of death,” rises to the east of Morfenziand Aerie. Here, the woods become sparser and the soil grows increasingly rocky as the land approaches the Balinoks. The eastern Vigilia Dimortia’s trees suffer from a strange “blight” that creates the “sentries of death.” The afflicted trees lose their leaves and bark, with only a dead, dried white trunk left behind. Most Falkovnians believe that these vigilia dimortia, as they call these.trees, are not actually blighted, but spontaneously com- bust with every death perpetuatedin Vlad Drakov's name. I observed the spontaneous combustion of ‘one tree, thanks to Sage Siderous Totenfeld; the root cause of this phenomenon remains unknown, but the explanation offered by the peasantry is unlikely. Beyond the Vigilia Dimortia Forest lie the Crumbling Hills. These stony foothills are the remains of the Balinok peaks ripped away from the. eastern border during the Great Upheaval. Riddledwith tunnels and caves, The Crumbling Hills suc- cumb to unexpected sinkholes. Indeed, the entire region feels unstable, as though it will break apart and tumble into the Shadow Rift at any moment. Despite these factors and the tendency of the surface stone to crumble swiftly, the region is rich in minerals just below the surface. Thus, much of Falkovnia’s mining industry is based in the Crum- bling Hills region. In addition to the Vuchar River, Falkovnia’s fresh-water resources include several breathtak- ingly beautiful lakes. The largest of these, Lake Kriegvogel, is justly famous for its icy, midnight ‘blue waters and is a notable point on the Musarde Rivertrading route. Thecity of Silbervasoverlooks Lake Kriegvogel, its fishing fleets harvesting the crystal-clear waters. In fact, Kriegvogel’s waters are surprisingly clear and clean, especially given the Falkovnians’ typical befoulment of their natural resources. Thecitizens ofSilbervascredicthe beauty ‘of Lake Kriegvogel to the fact that the lake is bottomless, allowing eternally fresh watertobubble up from its elemental depths. While determining if Kriegvogel is truly bottomless is impossible, the lake's bed lies out of reach, even at the shoreline. Fearless divers find that the shores ofthe lake drop straight down, presenting only sheer stone faces as far down as anyone has ever reached. Falkovnia’s other lakes lie along the Vuchar, with the Raptor Lakes (Lake Falk, Lake Adler, and Lake Eule) near Lekar, and Lakes Schvort and Beschir near the Dementlieu border. Inaddition tothe Vucharand Musarde Rivers, Falkovnia contains a number of other waterways. Nearthe Darkonianborderrunsthe Drogach River. Once; this river poured from springs in the cold G'hennan wastes, cutting a broad course along the Darkonian border; since the Great Upheaval, the Drogach isno more than a trickle asthe G'hennan springs that fed it have disappeared. Today, the Grashen River, a tributary of the Drogach, pro- vides the majority of the river's westward flow, while the eastern Drogach isa minor tributary ofits primary course. The Grashen flowsnorthward across the eastem regions of Falkovnia, where it joins a tributary known as the Umysher River. The point atwhich the Grashen meets the Drogach is known as Grashen Falls and is home to a small village of the same name. According to Dr. Van Richten, the fiend Elsepeth entered the Land of Mists here via the process of transposing bodies with a young woman by the name of Ammie Weaveron ‘A few short miles south of Lake Kriegvogel, the Arbket River flowsintothe Musarde. Originat- ing from a spring at the confluence of the Borcan, Richemuloise, and Falkovnian borders, the Atbket defines the border between Falkovnia and Richemulot. The Arbket’s Falkovnian tributaries are the Talon River and the Zhukfer River. Falkovnia’s cities connect via an extensive and continuously maintained system of corduroy roads. The West Timori Road links Lekar to Morfenzi, and the Scythe Highway, running south out of Lekar, turns east to connect Silbervas and Aerie before reaching its terminus in Borca. The poorly maintained Seelewald Road runs through the backwater region between the smaller cities of Morfenzi and Aerie. The Lecher’s Road splits off from the Seelewald, running due east to Lechburg in Borca. To the west, the Prey’s Road stretches from the city of Chateaufaux in Dementlieu, con- necting to the Scythe Highway. Finally, the great King’s Highway of Darkon passes through Stangengrad before joiningthe West Timori Road. Despite Falkovnia’s great natural beauty, the domain’s settlements lack any aesthetic sense. Falkovniia's buildings come in two simple varieties. Thefirst, the style used for common structuressuch as homes and taverns, consists of squat, cramped, blocky buildings of unfinished stone and woo, possessing thatched roofs and bearing the marks of shoddy construction. More poverty-stricken peas ants forego these shelters, living out theit lives and raising families in wattle and daub hovels or con- structing lean-to shelters from scrap wood, loose stone, cast-off cloth, and other garbage. The con- structions of Falkovnia’s military government employ a second style characterized by impersonal monolithicbuildings fashioned of gray stone. These monstrously ugly, wasteful hulks tower over the surrounding structures, augmenting the oppressive air of Falkovnian settlements. Falkovnia’s cities are ill kept, filled with gar age and dung. Built in a cramped, haphazard fashion that inevitably leads to overcrowding, with unpaved streets long since churned into morasses of stinking, clinging mud, Falkovnia’s cities ate cesspits of squalor and urban blight that rival the worst excesses of Nova Vaasan settlements. In addition, all Falkovnian settlements are fortified. Imposing stone walls surround larger settlements such as Silbervas and Stangengrad, while stockade walls or palisades of sharpened tree trunks guard rural chorps and hamlets. i