The Windward Steppes

Sheer cliffs and windswept plains encompass these steppes, where roving clans and the ancient foundations of human civilization prevail.

Geography

Wall of the Horizon. The name given the titanic cliffs that outline the region's inner boundaries. In the long held histories of the human Hon population that tell of them allowing the first human civilizations to take hold in the Age of Water, keeping the world spanning and catastrophic deluge at bay.

Waters of Khatao. A vast lake fed by the rains that retreat from the storms formed between the Air and Earth Divide. The waters are suffused with elemental spirits that the people who come to the waters honor.

The Weave Grass. The southwest edge of the landscape where the plains meet the Air Divide, the grasses have grown so that they become woven by the wind in a tapestry of the steppes.

Roads and Landmarks

The Barren Stelae. The name given the monuments that are across the landscape. Time enacting its will, the stone shows little of the reliefs that had once been, so none now know what they were meant to mark.

The Grasp. A lone and massive sheer mountain face that rises forth out of the region to make it second only to the Titanrest of the Earth Divide in height. The shape of the mountain like that of a hand reaching out from the earth, countless myths and legends tell of what the mountain might be. Whether a primordial titan of the Plane of Elemental Earth or the unfathomable, one of the Elders Ones sealed away by the gods of the Path in the Age of Air, people fear the mountain.

The Rising Road. The routes that fan out through the region, following the rises and cliffs of the terrain so that any traveler might see the miles upon miles of the open steppe. This system of roads were built to provide the master archers of the Hon the greatest ability to contend with any threat that could arise in their homeland.

Settlements

Aidenmark Fortress. One of the great fortresses of Synstasia. Where once they held watch over the fields of battle during the War of Extinction, the acolytes of the Holy Orders now keep the corruption of the Plaguereached at bay.

Asumakoro. A nomadic town that roams far and wide throughout the region, the Hon humans holding to traditions held since ancients times. Those who would seek out these people would find peerless riders of the great herds of horses they follow throughout the steppe.

Dhew'an. In the southeast of the windtorn landscape, overlooking the Air Divide, the air eleman seek to contend with the storms that tear across the region.

Jokyr. An air eleman settlement built into the cliff face where the Aurous Plains and Windward Steppes meet the Air Divide. Known for their mastery over the avian creatures that share their home.

Lhasa. Far northeast in the region is this Hon human settlement with ancient ties to the North Lycan Pack, choosing to honor the same traditions as the lycan.

Musan. Where the northeastern river of the Waters of Khatao meet the Wall of the Horizon a mighty port was built along the waters and the cliffs. Through centuries the town has proved a vital point of passage where lycan warriors meet to venture on or return from hunts in the Everblades, or for those foolish enough, the Faemark.

Omishou. South at the edge of the Earth Divide, this elevated city is carved atop a mesa carved into a bluff. One of the great and ancient settlements of the Hon humans, many follow disciplines of elemental earth in order to sustain the city so close to the tumult of the Earth Divide.

Roen Rohyg. A Hon human settlement in the far north of the region. Near the lone mountain of the Grasp, humanity has grown strong in its shadow, as the populace are known for their immense size and strength, and their horses to match.

Shingsi. A sovereignty in the southern heart of these plains. The settlement is centered around an order of monks with a supreme mastery of healing and the wellness of the body.

Shima. Situated atop one of the sheer cliffs of the Wall of the Horizon at the eastern edge of the region. The city is a grand testament to the enduring ambitions of humanity, as the city is largely unchanged from the earliest days of human civilization.

Xivala. A town of the Hon humans built within the ruins of a Gold Dragon King's palace. In the northern reaches of the landscape, the settlement marked by peaceful water gardens and purest of mineral pools among the architecture of dragonkind.

Yamatko. Upon the Waters of Khatao, this town floats about the sea as its people unfurl countless sails to take them as they pass from shore to shore. The whole of the populace honor the elemental spirits that dwell within and around the waters.

Ruins and Subterrane

Lying above various regions of the Depths, the Windward Steppes has fewer threats from below than any other region of the world. The Somberhome, responsible for pacifying even the most horrific of creatures comprises near the entirety of the Windward Steppes. The western edge of the landscape does pass above the Chaos Bleed near the border of the Faemark and over the Gaunt Vaults further south, yet there are few passages to the realms below.

The ruins of the Windward Steppes are unlike any in the world, as the Hon humans had taken a differing stance upon how to contend with their dragon tyrants. During the Age of Fire, they had perpetually resisted the rule of the dragons, their nomadic life never giving way to their power. After a time they adopted dragonkind into their cultural mores, though treated as a lower caste in any set settlements, the Hon were not enslaved as the rest of the races had been. This created trouble for the Hon at the end of the Age of Fire during the Ashbreak Rebellion. As the rest of the races sought to exterminate dragon kind, the Hon were those who, though knowing the reign of dragons must end, spoke for mercy. It is their action that ultimately that spared thousands of draconic in Kor'ak.

Iyethenk. A draconic ruin having been seized by plunderers when the reign of dragons ended, the ruin has become a sanctuary for a number of brutal human warlords through the centuries. A culture of roving warbands persists, known to ambush many upon the Rising Road throughout the whole of the region.

Hrovahkoh. Where the Hon humans were ruled over by the dragons in the Age of Fire, the ruin still stands as a mass grave site for the dragons and the draconic who fell in fighting of the Ashbreak Rebellion at the end of the Age of Fire.

Ma'kithross. Built at the bottom of a great fissure, this draconic ruin was once a palace lair of a Blue Dragon Queen who had her subjects heave wealth down into the recess.

Sro'xixes. These pristine draconic ruins were taken at the beginning of the Ashbreak Rebellion, where the human Hon had surrounded it with thousands of archers. In asking for surrender they drove the populace southward, were it met its end at the hands of the dark elves who were relentless in their vengeance.

Uhndyloshyr. In the hands of a vain Red Dragon King of terrible power, the ruin once of such grandeur and opulence, the population having been made to carve the name and visage of the tyrant into each stone laid within the city.