East Rendland (CCW)

An ancient safe haven for the Adenite Faith and perennial doormat for surrounding nations. During the dissolution and partition of the Dalcerannean Empire, East Rendland was given to Celtheste for its cultural and religious similarities. Since then the region (now within the cultural sphere of Celtheste) changed hands several times and was for a time ruled by the Fourfold Knights, an Adenite religious fraternity. More recently, East Rendland landed in the hands of Great Caltania as a relatively remote colony. The territory, while never rebellious, has always been a difficult area to control and defend, just on the brink of more trouble than it's worth.

Adenon
The Holy City, Black Bell (literary)

Like many cities in Rendland, Adenon is blocky and walled, old and sturdy. But unlike its peers, it is built on holy ground—the very site where the Immortals of Aden imparted their final mandates and ascended to another realm. It is a city of tolling bells and charcoal black stone; less mournful than it is clinical, a place for the honest drudgery of justice and charity. Its narrowly laid streets pen beggars and pilgrims in between high, solemn walls. Yet the city isn’t quite as miserable as it sounds. There is enough weary kindness between strangers and in the eyes of the clerics and acolytes to make the austerity comforting. And this kindness has never been so critical, as Fourfold Knights shoulder their way through crowds, armor clinking as they gather on the temple steps, waiting for their high priestess to will a war into being.

Wellgar
The Shield of Aden, White Well (literary)

A small place with a big reputation, every corner and surface in this city is engraved or memorialized with the name of a fallen hero or a marker for some last stand. Wellgar didn’t earn its title as the Shield of Aden for nothing; this square walled city is situated within a narrow mountain passage guarding the headwaters of the River Luca and the Rendish Vale. And guard the Vale it has, for hundreds of years, repelling barbarians and invaders alike off its stout, towering white battlements. For its role in several famous defenses of the Adenite Faith, the city has become a pilgrimage site and a common setting for romantic tales of heroism and time gone by. This is as much action as Wellgar gets now, however. The city lost its strategic importance as borders shifted and raiders adapted. Yet Wellgarians remain prominent in Rendish politics, maintaining a quasi-religious authority second only to Adenon’s. Notably they were the first to reject the authority of the Fourfold Knights, a move which effectively ended the order’s rule in West Rendland. They have been uncharacteristically silent about the resurgence of the Knights in the past year, though. In fact, no messages have gone in our out of Wellgar in some time…

Rendish Vale
The Bone Havens

While the two most influential cities of East Rendland go down strange and disturbing paths, the rest of the villages and walled cities live in the characteristically sparse and difficult circumstances of the region. An unfortunate buffer zone between Celtheste and its rivals to the north, Rendland is also known for its sausages, ice skating, and being invaded by steppe tribes and foreign powers. Life here is boasting about your resilience and, naturally, finding someone to blame for you problems—there are plenty of enemies to choose from.