Broken Plains

Homeland to the Orcs.

Once a vast, rolling prairie, many ages ago earthquakes and volcanic eruptions shattered the flatlands of the east into a chaotic collection of razor-sharp crags jutting skyward, bottomless ravines cutting into the ground, and landslides that rain down from the huge, unstable mountain ranges. Although much of the original the fertile grasslands and roaming herds of animals were spared the worst of the devastation, the cracked valleys and rockslides have exposed some of the richest, and most easily accessible, deposits of precious gemstones found anywhere in Mennara.

This land became known as the Broken Plains, though the quakes that ripped the surface apart are rare in these days. The combination of wide flatlands and rough, torn landscapes makes it the perfect home for Orcs, for in it they have a land that mirrors their own tough nature.

THE ORCS OF THE PLAINS
Within the Broken Plains, Orcs trade the easily gathered minerals, hunt the open ranges, ambush prey among the rocky hills, and use the deep ravines as natural protection from attacks. The Elves even hold that the Orcs were birthed there, themselves a product of the same primordial cataclysms that gave the land its name. The wealth and bounty of the Plains allowed the Orc clans to thrive, while the terrain helped them defend against the near constant siege from treasure-hunting dragons, invaders from the Ru Steppes to the north, mercenary armies of Humans, creatures emerging from the jungles of Zanaga, and other threats