To the west of Ma-Abi and south of the Strait of Shandar begin the Breaklands, an uncivilized and generally uninhabited region of harsh, unfriendly terrain. The most notable sign that you’ve entered the Breaklands are the hulking goliaths of the Five Clans. Unlike their counterparts north of the Strait, who’ve been partially civilized by years of proximity to the Iswari, the goliaths of the clans are untamed, foul-smelling brutes. Those among them who reject their ignorant manner typically move north, perpetuating the squalor of their folk.
Periods of complete disarray are punctuated by more fearsome times when a powerful leader — such as the current Akna Twiceborne — unites the clans under their control. Uncoördinated raids against Ma-Abi are usually common, though under Twiceborne those have become few and far between. Trade with the largefolk has intensified, primarliy for furs, tin, and the messino fruit. The latter is a bit of a misleading name: the fruit does not come from Mezzi Island, but its vaguely biscuit-like flavor with a hint of cinnamon spice pairs beautifully with the digestif wines of Mezzi. The increase in trade and decrease in raiding perhaps signify a calming influence from Twiceborne, herself a rare Breaklands goliath who’s shown an interest in learning the ways of Doma and the east.
To the west of the Five Clans are the imisi, the Rovers, a group of elves nearly as feral as the goliaths themselves. The rovers are believed to be an ancient offshoot of the noble elves of Goeyan, the ancestral elven homeland far to the west. Perhaps the union of exiled criminals and lowlifes, or perhaps merely formed of those elves unable to fit in with cultured society, they have little in common with their cultured ancestors other than physical appearance.
Hardened by proximity to their goliath neighbors, Rovers’ raiding parties threaten any traffic much farther up the Straits than the city of Khuldani Purda. Skirmishes between them and their goliath neighbors are common, with their savagery so intense that the goliaths speak of them with a rare, grudging respect. Goliath chief Tarko Bronzespear once described them as having the heart of the jaguar, the tenacity of the kernu, and the speed of the antelope.
To the south, the Breaklands run into remnant mountains of the southern Burkhdyn Gazar and into the vast uncharted jungles of the interior of the continent.
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