Anderfels
The Anderfels is a land of shocking extremes. It is the most desolate place in the world, for the Blight has left great expanses of the steppes so completely devoid of life that corpses cannot even decay there - no insect or grub will ever reach them. The Anders, too, are a people of extremes: the most devout priests and the most deadly soldiers, the poorest region in the world that houses the most feared.
It is the vast desert region on the server and a territory controlled by the Tevinter Imperium, though the Grey Wardens occupy holds across it still to operate out of, such as Weisshaupt Fortress.​​​
Environment
Anderfel summers are dangerously hot, and dust storms blowing inland during cooler months make it hard for anything for ever grow.
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Those in the Anderfels are suffering the effects of the Blight the most. Very little grows in the Anderfels, and what does grows poorly. They have small and bitter apples and sour berries that must be made palatable with vast amounts of honey.
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In its frozen spots, one must survive freezing temperatures and worry about the Donarks that come from their jungles. The tribe is an isolated, but lethal threat that proves it is not the Darkspawn alone that make the region so harsh. Disease, savage wildlife, and Qunari pockets in hiding do anything it takes to survive.
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If one journeys across the Anderfels, they will inevitably reach the settlement of Nordbotten. Once a sprawling village, it has largely fell to ruin amid the Blight due to relentless attacks by the Darkspawn. The purpose of Nordbotten was to produce food and a safe haven in such a bitter territory, but it now exists purely for its strategic choke point to prevent the Darkspawn from reaching Tevinter and other lands.
Culture Skills
Anders live poor and harsh lives, but are known as resilient and enduring people for it.​​
Standard Skills (+5): Brawn, Conceal, Customs, Deceit, Endurance, Perception, Willpower
Professional Skills: Healing, Literacy, Lore, Mechanisms, Oratory, Survival
Requirements: None​
Culture & Politics
The bleak Anderfels have produced some of the most ruthless killers in the world. Politics among the Anders is a brutal affair at all times. Murder is common, not with plotting or conspiracy, but outright bloodshed that breaks all form of guest rights and expectation of courtesy. It is seen as proper among the Anders, to make the knife stroke quick and clean rather than drawn out and a waste of their people's time.
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The Anders are under technical control of the Tevinter Imperium. The sparse populace is focused on maintaining what autonomy they can, more so now with their direct relation to the Grey Wardens who occupy their land. Most Anders fend for themselves in small, self-sufficient villages.
The Anderfels falls under the Tevinter Imperium's reach so its noble system was modeled after Tevinter’s with a focus on magic and wealthy families. However, with the Blight ravaging the region that infrastructure fell. With the Grey Wardens being founded roughly 300 years ago and the land being more disconnected from Imperium rule, the Anderfels developed their own nobility, centered around military leaders and families with Wardens. With the Imperium regaining control over the last few decades, most 'nobles' are still renowned warlords, surviving land owners, tribe chieftains who have vast claims of land, or they have a familial relation with current Wardens.
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Aside from dust storms, Darkspawn, and the Wardens, the Anderfels are famous for their combative arts and the relative piety of its people.
The rain had passed, and in the thin moonlight, the village was small and colorless. What passed for the main road was little more than a lopsided mud track lined with grey stone buildings. The entire place looked run-down, but steadily maintained, on the verge of collapse... yet oddly permanent.
The Anders people were the first humans to fight the Darkspawn, and it is from their language that Hurlocks and Genlocks received their names.
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Weisshaupt Fortress is the founding place and headquarters of the Grey Wardens. It is built on the edge of a jagged butte called Broken Tooth. The stone compound houses hundreds alongside a thriving stable of Griffons. It is still a miserable place, for Darkspawn are drawn to it like moths to a flame, but it is the safest set of walls against the Blight due to the expertise it houses.
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Nordbotten Fortress, once a bastion, fell to the Darkspawn as many places did during the Blight. With the Blight's end, the Imperium has regained much of its lost control and established a more cooperative relationship with the Grey Wardens.