A Region of The Iron Valley
Heartland of the Iron Valley, Windholme is a region full to the brim with homesteads, villages and history. Traditionally the most peaceful of the Lees, Windholme tells the story of growth and family, with many of the Iron Valleys oldest histories being based here, if not its most boisterous.
That is not to say that Windholme is a blunt axe, with some of the most imposing mountains in the region and flanked by two imposing fortresses, the Valleys martial culture is as much a part of Windholme as crops and commerce is.
Windholme has also been marked by its borders, with the Mercenary Wars against Lerona Mere to the west not lost to the history obsessed valley folk. Even the ancient Wars of the Peak against the eastern Lees are not forgotten, even though the unity within the Valley is at an all time high.
Now, Windholme stands as the last bastion of the Iron Valley, it's beginning and its end. Farmers become soldiers fighting skirmishes among their crop. Miners charge from the earth to defend their hidden wealth. New histories will be made here and old legends preserved.
The Towns
Brakkenloh is the most notable town in the region, clutching the crossroads that follow most of the travel in all directions. A large township of taverns, craft folk and churches, Brakkenloh is the very model of an Iron Valley settlement. Fine carved pillars of a variety of fine timbers mark each street, the road is paved with ancient cobbles and the people are prosperous. Nearby, some of the largest farms in the region can be found, supporting some rather successful boroughs.
Abelard is unlike much of Windholme in that it is nearly entirely preoccupied with warfare. Home to many mercenary warbands that ply their trade to the West of the Valley, Abelard lays claim to being the hometown of Deorling, master of the citadel. A bit more rough and tumble than the rest of the region, Abelard is a fine place to find folks with a strong sword arm and a desire for action.
While Brakkenloh may lay claim to being the largest town in the region, Rumwold is certainly the most productive. Between the strategically important Rumwold Vastness, an ancient mithril mine now under the control of the Concord and foothills that produce every mineral known to smiths, it is a place of notable wealth and success. Even the farms in the region are notable for their fine grains, albeit in quainter, smaller burroughs than those in Brakkenloh.
Heinsgraf is a quiet settlement in the foothills of the Steinvault Mountains that is known as the gateway to the north. Thanks to a series of craggy valleys that are comparably easy to navigate, anyone interested in exploring the Steinvaults for wealth, glory or a good death likely passes through Heinsgraf. As such the town is a serious place known for its Churches (particularly to Cervitas and Arcadian) and its hardy people, even by Valleyfolk standards.
The Fortresses
Baelags Holdfast is the most powerful fortress in Southern Esterra, rivaling some of the great Drummond castles or the border fortifications on Artebazans frontier. With three layers of fortification, Baelags is more notable for its role as the military heart of the Iron Valley, moreso than its raw strength. Within its walls are barracks for more than eight thousand warriors, dozens of wells, forges and mines creating closed loops of weapons manufacture and tombs of the Valleys greatest heroes. From within its Arcstone Keep the defenders can control forces far afield with the Holdfasts complex system of signal pyres in the surrounding mountains. Built to centralise the warfighting efforts of the Iron Valley after the Wars of the Peak, Baelags Holdfast was the unified centre of the Valley.
Looking out over the western lowlands of Bolsterlee, Deorlings Citadel was once a piecemeal construction, held by volunteer warriors and defenders of the Valley against the Artebazzani mercenaries that pushed them from Bolsterlee more than a century ago. The central fortress now functions as equal part barracks and customs house, ensuring that Windholme can levy its piece of travel, while the walls that stretch north and south are home to hundreds of boroughs of warriors, some youngbloods festooned with new responsibility, while others are ancient defenders protecting the same crenellations as their forefathers.
The Lands
The Vale of Stags is unique both in Windholme and Southern Esterra as a whole. Within Windholme, it exists as a rare stretch of natural woodland, unharmed by human ambition. Deemed a holy place to the worship of Cervitas, The Vale is known for its tall firs and population of Iron Valley Stags. Possibly more notable is the Valleyfolk assertion and possible truth that the Vale of Stags has never been a part of the Greenweald’s stretching embrace. A wholly unique natural place unlike any other.
The Heights
The Steinvault Mountains are a challenge and a deadly one at that. Despite the dedication of more than a millennia of Valleyfolk, the ambition of Artebazzani treasure hunters and more, the mountains remain thoroughly unsettled and largely unexplored. Between harsh winds, year round snowfall and the only known extant population of Dragons in Southern Esterra, The Steinvaults are a tomb for many heroic legends. Even the mightiest sagas mention the Steinvaults as a place where old heroes go to die, rather than a place where young champions gain their courage.
Southernmost of the Steinvaults within Windholme, The Hollow Hearth is the silent remnants of one of the few volcanoes of the region. No Iron Valley legends recall the mountain ever doing more than smoke on a rare occasion, but the stubby peak is an imposing landmark. While the smallest of the three mountains of Windholme, Hollow Hearth is a challenge to even the hardiest adventurer due to its razor sharp hide and ragged shale cliffs.
Far more navigable than the Steinvaults, The Cildfrau Mountains spread far to the South and East of Windholme. Filled with hidden lakes, woods and hideaways, the Cildfrau Mountains are explored to some extent, but certainly too treacherous to truly be considered part of the Valley. Some Valleyfolk trace their lineages to those clans that descended from the Cildfraus as a mark of strength, Challengers are common among these folk.
Traitors Watch or Rain-Grave is the middle of the Windholmes three peaks, however it is the only that has never been summited. The wind whipping up from the coast across the low plains of Bolsterlee and a propensity for rainstorms leaves the exposed mountain treacherous and nearly impossible to progress upon. The tooth of granite gained its title for originally being the greatest position to view the approach of Artebazan mercenaries until Deorlings Citadel was built.
Goddream Pinnacle harkens to a time before the Church, when the Valley perceived the spheres as divine beings. It was said that upon the peak of Goddream Pinnacle you could see into the home of the gods. The tallest mountain inWindholme and the Cildfrau Mountains, Goddream has been tamed by an ancient carved staircase into its northern face, allowing warriors to climb the Mountain to its peak where signal fires can be lit in the defense of Baelags Holdfast.