The Realm of Hadash
The is the only part of the empire not on the content of Elthos. It is across the Sea Between, in the northern part of the continent of Salthos, and occupies the immensely fertile land near the Emerald River. The river flows from the south, from the vast jungle called , to the Sea Between far to the north. The realm exerts little control over the dry grasslands to the east and west of the Emerald River farmlands, and the region is occupied mostly by herders.
Hadash is ancient, certainly predating the , although recorded history from that time is essentially non-existent. It is generally understood that Salthos generally suffered less from the depredations of the Greytides than Elthos. Its greatest threats over its many centuries of existence have been internal. The Hadashi noble houses, exalted of , are given to outbreaks of internecine conflict every few decades. There were once many more houses, but with each war, some vanish.
Hadash only joined the empire in 602 AF, to the surprise of many in it, but the then king, Kabzel , was not defied. His reasons remain his own. He died in 620 AF, and his son inherited. Misic is widely regarded as paranoid and dangerously incompetent. He never leaves his palace in Jewel, the great capital of Hadash, on the banks of the Emerald River. Though not often spoken aloud, many in Hadash believe that if Misic continues apace, the realm is destined for another civil war.
Hadashi nobility are extremely few in number compared with other imperial realms. Only the monarch of Hadash, Most Exalted of River and Sun, may name someone not of noble birth a noble. Within noble houses, the sufet, the head of house, may designate nobles' children as nobles, but do not always do so, especially for more distant cousins. Tradition means that the eldest child of a sufet inherits their role. Nobility are deemed special simply by dint of being noble, and whatever they happen to do is obviously therefore appropriately noble. The small numbers of nobles in Hadash mean that many commoners are involved in the administration of the realm.
Beyond the fertile farmland by the Emerald River, the land of Hadash turns arid and is home only to a few herders and nomads. Far to the west of Hadash, where a network of rivers turns the lands verdant once more, is a disunified jumble of petty realms and nomadic tribes called , some human and some not. Raiders occasionally intrude into Hadash and skirmishes ensue, but last major incursion by any of the Plains Kingdoms was in 630, into , ancestral home of House Anadun. House Anadun's response devastated the petty hobgoblin kingdom responsible, after which its neighbours gobbled up its remaining land.
To the east of Hadash is the Pearl Sea. It is important as a commercial link between the empire and the rather nebulously named Cornucopian Realms. Everyone in the empire is certain that mighty civilisations must exist there. Nobody knows the particulars. The merchants who come from those lands deal in various luxury goods, but say nothing of their homes. This situation has persisted for as long as anyone knows of and the empire sees no reason to disrupt it now. While ships can obviously navigate the sea, Hadashi mariners who attempt the voyage invariably find themselves sailing back towards the coast of Hadash, with no memory of why.
The northeastern part of Hadash is adjoined to the rest of Elthos via a narrow isthmus, beyond which is . The remains of ancient civilisations are rumoured to lie there, and it is generally assumed that something terrible happened long ago. The desert is utterly inhospitable, and people do not go there. The only inhabited portions of the Great Desert are a few small coastal settlements along the Pearl Sea. North of the Great Desert are the southern reaches of . Farther still to the east of that is the mighty mountain range, .