An old and careful nation on Terrenia's northwestern coast, Aal Salma has survived centuries by trading with everyone and trusting no one. Its people are merchants, sailors, and cartographers—pragmatists who measure wealth in ships and alliances in contracts. Where the Scalawags of Poum Titch throw festivals, the Salmani sign agreements.
The nation is shaped by its geography: the sheltered waters of Masaad Takid in the north, the tiered capital overlooking Prison Bay in the south, and the great Whitewood forest running along its eastern border like a natural wall. Aal Salma has always been a buffer state—between the chaotic interior and the ocean, between northern Terrenia and southern, between what people want and what they can afford.
Now, with Poum Titch tearing itself apart next door, that careful neutrality is being tested. Refugees pour across the border. Both sides of the civil war send envoys seeking support. And in the halls of Hillat Abu Hizam, the old families debate whether to help their neighbors—and what such help might cost.
Whisper River
The primary waterway connecting Zamrat Aqabah to Hillat Abu Hizam, flowing south through the Hiska Wissa forest. Named for the way sound carries over its glassy surface—conversations on the water travel farther than they should, a feature that makes the river's boatmen famously tight-lipped.
Villages cluster along the Whisper's banks, farming the fertile floodplains and fishing its waters. The river is Aal Salma's internal highway, carrying goods, people, and information between its two cities. Control the Whisper, and you control the nation's circulation.
Bonecrunch Hills
A troll-infested range on Aal Salma's western border, home to numerous troll clans who've lived there longer than humans have sailed these coasts. The hills get their name from what happens to travelers who ignore the warnings.
Aal Salma maintains an uneasy truce with the trolls—humans don't settle the hills, trolls don't raid the lowlands. The arrangement mostly holds. Occasionally, brave or foolish merchants venture into troll territory to trade for bone-work and hides, commodities the trolls produce in abundance. These traders either return wealthy or don't return at all.
Some troll mercenaries have found employment in Aal Salma's less reputable enterprises. They're expensive, unreliable, and terrifying—which makes them perfect for certain jobs.
Generations of uneasy proximity have also produced a scattered trollkin community along the border—half-blood children of troll and human pairings, claimed by neither side. They cluster in the lowland villages closest to the hills, working the rougher trades and learning early that silence carries them further than explanation.