The Duchy of Maseau

(mah-ZOH)

• A realm in Greater Sembara

This land is a borderland and was essentially depopulated during the Great War. It was never a land blessed with rich natural resources, and before the Great War thrived on the trade flowing through the gap in the Mostreve Hills. During the war it suffered significant population loses, and to the extent that it recovered, it was from refugees who fled north from the fall of Isingue and the Istabor Alliance.

Now it is a frontier land and haven for refugees from the Great War, now resettled for generations. It is still a wild place though, and the frontier is near. Raiding hobgoblins from the Plaguelands are a yearly occurance and peace is hardwon. South of the Duchy is a wild and little settled land, but small bands of frontiersfolk live, especially along the Aurbez plateau. This area was devasted in the Blood Years, and many abandoned mines in the mountains provide easy riches for those brave enough to venture far from civilization. The people of the Aurbez plateau largely hail from the lost city of Insingue, now a ruin amidst the Plaguelands.

The capital, Valarin, is the largest city in the Duchy, although the border towns along the Great South Road – in particular, Cassons, in the south, and Evis, in the north, are, despite their small size, notable.