Anyway, for you to understand my tale, I have to describe to you – my faithful readers – the complexity of the situation that befalls the lands north of us: the lands we know as The Northern Kingdoms. Most of us halflings never venture more than a league out of our burrows, so it would be impossible for me to describe the immensity of the distances between their cities, or the throngs of crowds that live within them. Suffice it to say that the humans that populate these far, magnificent places are as varied as our weather can be. There are villains that would kill a child without a frown, and there are heroes that would sacrifice their lives for a stranger.  This story only makes sense once I tell you a bit about these lands. Someday this knowledge may save your lives, so read very carefully indeed…

There are several nations that make up the Northern Kingdoms, some surviving as city-states, and others more sprawling. Firstly, there is -- or rather was -- the isle Kingdom of Tilloniti. After the destruction of the island’s capital, the land fell into ruin. Anyone who could, left for the mainland, disembarking mainly in Feroll, including the island’s ruler – King Loren, who was asked to stay in Feroll as a guest of honor. Feroll, the land immediately south of Tilloniti, was at the time ruled by the Council of Elders, consisting of Feroll's most respected citizens. South of Feroll we find Meldora, a fairly ordered and stable state ruled by theocracy. South and on the eastern coast we find the merchant city of Pirs – ruled by a government of traders. Below that lies the powerful Kingdom of Rotan – led by King Anwell and home to the famous Lords of Rotan. Further south of that, over the mountains separating it from the rest of the northern continent reside the people of Outreach – our close and very volatile neighbors.

Now at the time of my travels, the times were tough in the human lands. The influx of people from Tilloniti to Feroll, coupled with the partial destruction of the city of Feroll by the same disaster that had levelled the island, brought a lot of hungry squatters into those lands. As the chaotic migration continued, the lands, already under the strain of a bad crop, could not support such a large populace. The resulting famine that struck the North enraged the desperate farming populace as it did the squatters invading the lands. But, instead of clashing, they united under the leadership of Jarron Tilessin, adding their cries to his own for the rulers’ seeming complacency.

Add to the cooking pot the fact that nothing is simple in the human lands. Humans worship many different – and often contending deities. They have created many cults and churches that contest one another for supremacy. For example, in Pirs, the priests of the merchant god Brador often compete with the Church of Artafor for privileges – and yet Brador is the son of Artafor! The human clergy can be very aggressive in their recruitment, often pursuing potential worshippers, and even bribing them with divine favors in exchange for their prayers.

But my friends, all this confusion pales in comparison to the economic complexity of the lands. Humans love gold. They could not barter enough to satisfy their hunger for it, so they create rules, laws and organizations – all aimed at making more money. The Rotan Merchants’ Alliance, the Pirsian Traders’ Fold, the Simipian Trading Houses, the banks, the temples, the marketplaces – the list goes on and on. These organizations become so rich, so powerful that they dangle rulers like puppets from their fingers. Throw into this the Council of New Ivrea and its attempts to unify the lands once more, the Manticorum with their ceaseless watch over the lands, and you have a mixture ready for adventure.

So read on my friends, for so begin my journeys into the human lands. Caught up in politics, treachery and betrayal, I would be privy to events that would cause a war, dethrone a king, sacrifice a noble soul and create a new land called the North Ivrea…”