The city of Marienburg is vast and crowded, its name known by all that hear it and recognised as the largest and wealthiest port in the entire world. But it is a city that sits upon the edge of a desolate landscape, for to the north, east and west of Marienburg stretch great expanses of salt-tainted marshes, desolate moorlands and wind-blasted sand dunes known as the Wasteland.
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The Wasteland
Marienburg itself sits upon the fertile banks of the River Reik, surrounded by innumerable small towns and villages.
The land that surrounds the banks of the Reik and the city of Marienburg itself is populated by merchants, farmers and fishermen in great numbers, all working to harvest the natural abundance of the Reik and the rich farmland through which it flows in order to feed the vast population of the city and fuel its endless hunger for trade.
Directly north of Marienburg, on the eastern shores of the Manaansport Sea, lie the Cursed Marshes, a dark and desolate region of saltwater swamps in which sinister things are said to lurk. These trackless swamps give way to wind-blasted sand dunes that stretch far inland, bereft of civilisation but for the coastal driftwood hamlets of the fishermen who ply the waves of Manaansport. Less than a day's ride inland from the coast, the dunes meet the Tumble Downs, an endless expanse of mist-shrouded moors and treacherous bogs, named for its rolling hills and sunken wetlands.
Yet far to the north, where the Tumble Downs meet the Sea of Claws, and to the east, where the Wasteland meets the Laurelorn Forest, life returns. Under storm-laden skies, many small harbour towns thrive upon the coast. Places such as Hollum and Aarnau reap the bounty of the sea, their harvest feeding the towns that cluster along the North Road, the well-worn highway that intersects the Middenheim Road at Wouduin Tolstation on the edge of the Drakwald Forest, and which, eventually, connects the distant corners of Westerland to mighty Marienburg.
The Coming of Chaos
When the wolfships of Frydaal the Chainmaker first landed upon the docks of Hollum, bringing death and destruction to the people that dwelt there, it was no doubt the barrenness of the lands beyond the town's meagre palisade walls that prevented her warriors from marauding further inland. For several summers, the Chainmaker's warriors contented themselves with raiding along the northernmost coast of the Wasteland, sowing destruction and reaping despair, and raising foul monuments to their dark and twisted gods.
With the ruins of Hollum firmly under her control, the Chainmaker turned her attention to the larger town of Aarnau. Despite its size and defences, Aarnau quickly fell to the marauding Norscans, the town's demise gifting Frydaal easy access to the River Aarnau and the North Road. From there, the Chainmaker's forces quickly dispersed through the northern reaches of the Wasteland, besieging and destroying any town they encountered and raising great monuments to the Ruinous Powers throughout the Tumble Downs.
As the destruction they wrought grew, and as the obscene idols they raised attracted the winds of dark magic, the barren landscape became ever more corrupted and inhospitable.
With each passing season, the plight of the denizens of the Wasteland deepened and the grip of Chaos upon the Old World grew. Gradually, the barren landscape came to resemble the accursed Shadowlands, the skies darkening with great storms of unnatural vigour and the land itself warping at the touch of cold winds carrying the taint of corruption and mutation.
Battles in the Wasteland
It was into this blighted landscape that the armies of Miao Ying, the Storm Dragon, marched in the year 2278 of the Imperial Calendar. This was a momentous occasion, for it is rare that the armies of the Empire and Grand Cathay fight shoulder to shoulder. Yet, for those that fought under the banners of the Storm Dragon and the Empress of Coin, thoughts of such significance were not at the forefront of their minds. The soldiers of Westerland were fighting a brutal and protracted war against an invading enemy, one whose very presence was gradually warping and twisting the Wasteland, whilst the soldiers of Grand Cathay were fighting in unfamiliar lands beside unfamiliar allies.
Random Terrain Generation
These are tables that can be used to randomly generate terrain for your battlefield, thus removing any personal bias that may creep in when choosing terrain.