The Plains Kingdoms
Quite some way to the west of , the arid land turns to a mix of grassy plains and sparse savannah, around a sprawling network of rivers. A disunified jumble of minor polities make their home here, known collectively to the people of the empire as .
The Plains Kingdoms are fractious and violent. A majority at any given time are ruled by non-humans. Allegiances and borders are mercurial. A kingdom is typically named after its ruler, who might change with what to a resident of the empire would be alarming frequency. Nowhere in the empire maintains normal diplomatic relations with the Plains Kingdoms.
Raiders sometimes depart the Plains Kingdoms, bound either for the League of Gold to the west or Hadash to the east. Coastal settlements are sometimes rumoured to be used as pirate bases, although considering the scarcity of wood in the Plains Kingdoms, it is presumed that the ships must originate elsewhere. In 630, a hobgoblin ruler of a petty kingdom, Tizken, attacked , an oasis town held by House Anadun. The Anaduns defeated Tizken and proceeded all the way west to lay waste to his kingdom.
Overland trade from the Plains Kingdoms often passes through Min Nome, though that has diminished significantly since 631. Bolder merchants sometimes make port on the Salthosian coast and hope that the current ruler of wherever they have landed isn't the sort to simply seize goods. Such merchant ships are typically well guarded.