Image Credit: Art by Will Ervin
Information
Location Tier Region Within Western Empire Other information N/A Governing Power House Wenglid Provinces/Houses Arcadia, Arenatown, Oceanside, Hrodan
📍 Overview
🌾 Tarldet Plains (The Eastern Frontier)
The Tarldet Plains stand as a proud, deeply militarized, but historically overlooked eastern frontier of the Western Empire. Settled approximately 1,000 years ago during a massive colonization push, this vast expanse of fertile farmlands and rolling livestock grasslands has traditionally served as the empire’s ultimate shield against the monster hordes of the Old Kingdom.
Unlike the decadent human supremacy found in the western interior, Tarldet boasts a highly unique demographic layout where a massive population of free Orcs, Goblins, and Ogres live side-by-side with humans. Deeply indoctrinated by early frontiersmen and legendary warrior-nobles who fought in the historic Ghul Wars, these non-humans are fiercely loyal to the local human houses and the concept of the Empire.
However, the modern era has brought a chaotic, existential transformation to the plains. Long plagued by political jealousy toward the resource-rich Middle Kingdoms, the region has been thrust into an active, multi-front war. With open skirmishes erupting along the western border, trade routes to the imperial heartland have been entirely severed, triggering widespread panic, hoarding, and volatile economic patterns.
In a desperate, radical bid to match the changing tides of global warfare, House Wenglid shocked the region by altering its ancient charter to systematically phase out slavery altogether. To field an army capable of surviving the conflict, the charter immediately grants freedom to any fighting-age slave who accepts a 5-year military conscription contract.
Adding to the regional powder keg is the coastal metropolis of Ptolus. While Ptolus has long outlawed slavery and maintained a fiercely independent posture, its forces—hardened veterans led by Commissar Igor Center and reinforced by elite Imperial Janissaries—stand as a powerful wild card.
The political stakes within Tarldet have reached a boiling point: the holy city of Ptolus currently plays host to The Holy Rehobath Ylestos, the third major claimant to the shattered imperial throne. Trapped between a burgeoning anti-slavery revolution, a grinding war with the Middle Kingdoms, and competing imperial loyalties, the legendary but severely out-of-practice Tarldet cavalry faces a brutal, bloody awakening.
📊 Demographics of the Frontier Heartland
The following metrics represent the standard free surface population of the region just as the current border conflicts began. Note that these numbers are rapidly shifting as House Wenglid’s emancipation conscription dynamically introduces tens of thousands of newly freed Orcs and Goblins into the active military ranks.
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Human: 58%
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Orc: 15% (Remarkably loyal freemen and integrated agrarian laborers)
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Goblin: 10%
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Hobgoblin: 3%
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Ogre: 3%
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Kobold: 2%
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Other Ancestries: 9% (Featuring an exceptionally low concentration of Elves, Dwarves, and sewer-dwelling Ratlings)
⚠️ Critical Demographic Variables
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*The Bound and the Brave: Historically, the slave population equaled roughly 25% of the overall free population, consisting primarily of Orcs and Goblins. Under the new Wenglid Charter, this demographic is rapidly transitioning into a massive, heavily armed vanguard of conscripted shock troops.
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*The Atrophied Legions: While 30,000 Imperial troops have been placed at the disposal of the Tarldet Regional House, centuries of peace have left the standard military severely out-of-practice. The average frontline soldier functions only at 2nd to 3rd level.
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*The Legendary Cavalry: The famed Tarldet horsemen remain the pride of the eastern frontier, operating at a far more formidable 3rd to 5th level, though they remain untested against modern, combined-arms tactics.
🗺️ Points of Interest
1. Ptolus | Ptolus: The City by the Spire
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Immersive Description: A monumental, ancient coastal metropolis defined by a colossal, rough stone spire that pierces the heavens, dominating the jagged cliffs of the eastern sea.
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Current Functional Utility: Operating as a fiercely independent, highly militarized sanctuary, Ptolus stands as the absolute epicentre of the region’s spiritual and political schism. The city has long outlawed slavery, enforcing total abolition within its walls. It is currently the seat of the Holy Emperor Rehobath, who uses the majestic Holy Palace to project his claim over the entire Western Empire. The city’s defenses are maintained by the Commissar’s forces—a elite vanguard of empire-hardened veterans and heavy Imperial Janissaries tasked with preserving a tense neutrality.
2. The Wenglid Conscription Camps
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Immersive Description: Sprawling, hastily assembled muddy tent-cities, wooden palisades, and active drilling grounds carved into the western farmlands of the Wenglid Province.
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Current Functional Utility: These sprawling camps serve as the crucible for the region’s socio-political revolution. Here, thousands of fighting-age Orc and Goblin slaves are systematically processed, stripped of their iron collars, and handed standard-issue steel pikes and leather armor. In exchange for signing a mandatory 5-year military contract, these freshly liberated conscripts are drilled day and night by ruthless human warlords, preparing to be thrown directly into the meat-grinder along the Middle Kingdoms border.
3. The Skirmish Line (The Western Marches)
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Immersive Description: A heavily scarred landscape of burning crop storehouses, deep trench networks, and fortified stone garrisons cutting directly across the flat western plains.
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Current Functional Utility: The active frontline of the border war. Having lost all overland access to the western markets of the empire, Tarldet’s economy has entered a tailspin, resulting in massive supply hoarding within internal cities. Local warlords use these outposts to launch aggressive cavalry raids into the Middle Kingdoms, desperately attempting to break the economic stranglehold before localized food shortages drag the province into ruin.
4. The Sentinel Line (The Monster Shield)
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Immersive Description: A 500-year-old string of monolithic, weather-beaten stone fortresses and high watchtowers guarding the rugged eastern passes leading into the untamed wilds.
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Current Functional Utility: Historically the source of the region’s “hero status,” these legendary fortresses are currently operating on skeleton crews. With the bulk of Imperial aid redirected to the western civil war, these atrophied garrisons are left dangerously exposed. Local commanders live in absolute terror that the monstrous races, Orc barbarians, and ancient horrors slumbering in the ruins of the Old Kingdom will realize the frontier is unguarded and spill over the mountains.