The southern grasslands of Rakite—winter territory where the herds shelter from the cold winds that sweep down from the north. "Tyror Weklis" means "sleeping grass" in the Rakiten tongue, referring to the way the plains go dormant in winter, the tall stalks bending under frost and snow.
Character
Tyror Weklis is harder country than the north. The Vokas Pendi mountains block the southern horizon, and their foothills create broken terrain where the plains meet the rock. The grass grows shorter here—four to five feet in summer—and the soil is thinner, strewn with stones pushed up by ancient glaciers.
But the mountains also provide shelter. When winter storms howl across Tyror Miig, Tyror Weklis lies in a rain shadow. Snow falls lighter here, and the south-facing slopes catch enough sun to keep patches of grass accessible even in deep winter. The buffalo know this. So do the Rakiten.
The Winter Camps
The tribes converge in Tyror Weklis as autumn ends, gathering in the river valleys and mountain foothills. Winter camps are larger and more stable than summer camps—the same families return to the same sites each year, and the ground is marked by generations of fire pits and worn paths.
Kro Shiik Shore: The central lake where the annual convocation is held. During winter, tribes camp around its shores in an uneasy proximity, close enough to trade and negotiate but far enough to maintain independence.
The Bone Fields: A stretch of plains south of Kro Shiik littered with buffalo skeletons—the remains of generations of winter kills. The Rakiten consider it sacred ground. The bones are never disturbed; the spirits of the dead buffalo are believed to guide the living herds.
Pendi's Foot: The transition zone where the plains meet the Vokas Pendi foothills. Hunting parties range into the mountains for elk and bear, returning with meat and stories of what lives higher up.
The Drakwald Border
The southwestern edge of Tyror Weklis gives way to the Drakwald Forest, a dense woodland that the Rakiten avoid. The grass doesn't grow under those trees. The buffalo don't enter. The tribes have learned not to either.
Rakiten oral tradition speaks of a time when hunters chased game into the Drakwald and didn't return. Not killed—just gone, their trails ending at the treeline as if they'd walked into another world. The taboo against entering has held for generations.
The Roule Frontier
The eastern edge of Tyror Weklis includes the peninsula where Roule colonists have established their villages. This was always marginal territory—the grass thinner, the game sparser, the land less valuable than the central plains.
Now it's the front line.
The Rakiten can see the smoke from Roule cooking fires on clear winter days. They can smell the burning when the colonists clear new fields. Some of the younger warriors want to ride east and deal with the problem. The elders counsel patience—winter is no time for conflict, and the outsiders might leave on their own.
They've been counseling patience for twenty years.