Into the Wild

South of Rostland, the hills rise and forests bloom into a land that has long remained wild, despite numerous attempts by colonists from both north and south to claim and civilize it. Taldor made the most ambitious attempt to settle this realm, but even that great nation failed to tame the wilderness that lies in a green swath between Brevoy and the River Kingdoms proper. This region is known as the Stolen Lands, as the wilds are viewed as territory unfairly claimed (and lost) by the other. It has lain fallow for decades since the previous attempt at colonization, and some whisper that the time is ripe for another attempt.

Yet before the Stolen Lands can be claimed, they must be known. Old ruins, monuments to previous failures, dot the landscape, home now to all manner of savage humanoid tribe and ravenous glowering monstrosity. Bandits and barbarians are the closest thing to civilization an explorer can expect to encounter in this deadly but beautiful wilds.

-- from Taldan historian Gustav Devarr's "Kingdoms of the Lost"