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The Heartlands

The heartlands are a rich agricultural region in the lowlands between the Enst, in the south, and the Teft, in the north. Much of this region, around the River Semb, is the Duchy of Sembara, a powerful and rich farming region, control of which is the source of much of the monarch’s power. This land is the breadbasket of Sembara.

Four other powerful duchies make up the rest of the heartlands: the Duchy of Wisford, around the Wistel River and stretching south to the Enst; the Duchy of Arnsbury, in the north; the Duchy of Cheimen, in the west between the Semb and Wistel rivers; and the Duchy of Seham along the coast.

The largest city in the heartlands, and the capital city of Sembara, is Embry. Perched on a bluff above the River Semb, the capital city of Embry is a bustling river port of approximately 25,000 souls. Embry is home to the royal court, and is bustling river port where grain and wool from upriver are off-loaded from river barges and loaded onto Tollender and halfling ocean-going boats for shipment to Tollen or further east in the Green Sea. It is also a major religious center for Mos Numena and contains significant temples to all of the Eight Divines. For all its size and importance, it is fundamentally an inward looking and pastoral place. The nobility grow rich selling surplus agricultural goods but for all its wealth it has smaller markets and fewer goods for sale than Tollen or Telham.

It sits along the Great South Road, a major road running from Maseau, in the south, to Wisford on the Wistel River, and then north to Embry.

The Economy of the Heartlands

The heartlands is the economic center of Sembara and is based on two main commodities: wool and wheat. The Semb and Wistel river valleys are extremely fertile and support dense agricultural production of wheat mixed with sheep and cattle grazing. The Duchy of Cheimin, in particular, is known for Chemin wool, a highly valued and exceptionally soft wool that is traded extensively to Tollen.

The area around Fellburn and the Enst boasts numerous cattle and sheep, and is particularly known for its leather and cheese, both of which are traded throughout Sembara.