The Aurbez and the Andonne

• A region in the Istaros Watershed

This region is a borderland, caught between the Sentinel Range to the west and the Plaguelands to the east. It is a marginal land, with hot, dry summers when the ash-wind blows from the east and cold, dry winters when the westerlies blow over the mountains. The main rainfall is in the spring, when in lucky years several soaking rains will replenish the land, and in the summer when the punishing thunderstorms race from the east, bringing flash floods, lightning, and hail. In autumn the rivers shrink, and the temperature is briefly moderate before the cooler winters come.

Snow is rare, but sometimes a large winter storm will blanket the Aurbez Plateau for days, and the upper Aursen can freeze in particularly cold winters. The Douren, however, rushes too fast to freeze even in the coldest winters.

Borders and Overview

The region is bordered by the Plaguelands and the Darkwood in the east, the Maseau Gap and the ~Sentinel Range Spur~ in the north (which forms an informal and shifting border with the Duchy of Maseau), the Sentinel Range in the west, and the Andonne and Douren rivers in the south.

The land is lightly populated, but what people there are mostly live along the two rivers: the Masance and the Aursen. A significant road, the Maseau - Dunmar Road also runs through the region, providing a link between Sembara and the west. Traffic along this road grows every year.

In addition to these rivers, the land is divided into a highland and a lowland. A large plateau, the Aurbez Plateau, stretches out from the mountain foothills from the just west of the headwaters of the Masance to the headwaters of the Aursen. This highland is gentler than the rest of the region, as the ash storms fall less strongly here, and there is marginally more rain. Here ,aspens thrive amongst small streams and alpine meadows. The Aurbez plateau forms a steep escarpment along much of its eastern edge; to the east of the plateau, beyond the Masance, the land flattens significantly into long scrubby grasslands, the Andonne Plain. The soil here is marginal, but can support grazing, especially north of the Andonne where the plague ash lies less heavy on the land.

The region is divided into six areas, with different climate and politics.

The Andonne River

The land along the banks of the Andonne and further south is largely a no-man’s land. The ash storms are fierce here, and at times the air can get too thick to breath easily. Much of the Andonne itself is corrupted and unsafe to drink, and crops do not grow on its banks. Before the Great War this region was a productive ranching land, and adventurers and treasure seekers occasionally venture into this land – in the winter, mostly, when the ash is less – to see what they can find. Most do not return.

The Andonne Plains

The broad, flat Andonne Plain stretches from the eastern edge of the Aurbez Plateau, south and east across the upper Masance towards Westcliff and the Darkwood. This is a land of scrubby grasses and small dryland trees, with little rain, where most water comes from the spring snowmelt when the Masance often floods. Most settlement is along the upper Masance and east along the Maseau - Dunmar Road. Few venture within a day’s ride of the Andonne, and the ash storms are more intense to the east and southeast, so settlement clusters under the eaves of the Sentinels and the ~Sentinel Range Spur~. In these more hospitable regions, marcher lords establish fortified ranches. Cattle and goats are the main livelihood, as crops die too often in the ashy summers. The ranches along the road have grown into fortified rest-stops and places of refuge for travelers, and one does not need to camp in the open between Cassons and the crossing of the Masance.

The Triangle and the Douren Valley

On the west bank of the Masance, the terrain gradually climbs, shifting from wide, flat plains to rocky scrub. This area, between the Maseau - Dunmar Road, the Masance, and the Aursen, is often referred to locally as the triangle, and is very similar to the Douren river valley further south. The terrain here is less well suited to cattle ranching, and these regions are lightly settled. What settlement there is is a mix of marcher castles protecting small scale irrigation-driven farms, goat-and-sheep herders, and self-sufficient frontier farms that depend on hunting, fishing, small vegetable crops and ranching.

The Aurbez Plateau

The Aurbez Plateau rises sharply just north of the Dunmar Road, and is the heart of the Refounded Alliance of Aurbez. These highlands are better protected from the ash storms, and were the first areas settled after the Great War by refugees from Isingue. The upper Aursen meanders across a highland basin here, forming a marshy area that has been home to lizardfolk for many generations.

The Douren Highlands

The mountainous region stretching south from the headwaters of Douren, where the South Dunmar Road clings to a broad shoulder of the Sentinels, is a region of rocky slopes, dramatic waterfalls, and highland forests. Though few humans settle here, this area is the heart of one of the major Stoneborn communities in the southern Sentinels.

The Sentinel Passes

About 50 miles after the Maseau - Dunmar Road crosses the Aursen, it begins a long ascent to the high passes over the Sentinels into Dunmar, climbing through a broad valley dotted with sheer rock cliffs, stands of alpine trees, and rushing brooks fed by snowmelt. This area is mostly unsettled, as the hard, rocky soil is unproductive for agriculture and little but goats could graze on the steep cliffs. The higher elevations here are several thousand feet above the Aurbez Plateau, and deep snow covers the passes for the winter and parts of the spring and fall.