"Pretty, eh?" the man replied with a bit of a snort. "Most people who want pretty tend to head south or west to the rest of the old Elven lands. There's still a lot of land waiting to be claimed out there I hear. And thousands of acres of forests just waiting for hunters and lumberers. New roads being cut and new towns going up. The areas deeper south have hardly been touched yet in all the years. Most people have gone west."
He showed Matner on the map where there were large rivers that cut through the land and tended to make up most of the borders.
"These two rivers," he pointed out, "make up where Callest used to have it's borders. Everything to the south of here was the Elven nation of Rashen trin Fralish. After the war with the giants it all became part of Callest, adding nearly a third more to our lands. Just beyond that lies another Elven nation, called Kair a Dahlst. They are even more reclusive than the Elves we have are said to have been. They are also said to have warriors who go through some brutal rituals in order to gain the title. They live in a dangerous land, thick rainforest that is rumored to be filled with all manner of strange beasts and insects the size of your head. They don't trade much, not many live to tell tales of these folk."
"This over here is the nation of Perfute," he said, pointing to another area on the map further north. "Nearly all Human in population, although they neighbor with a smaller area of Dwarves to the north at the mountains. Friendly enough and they take well to trade, but they are very strong on military. There have been a couple of points in history where we've pushed at their borders, but Perfute has always held it's side of the river. I'd say about half the population, both male and female, are trained in at least hand-to-hand there. Maybe more."
"Perfute also borders a small Orc nation in the northwest and then this other area along most of it's western edge. That used to be known as a territory held by Giants, much like this area to the southeast of us, beyond the mountains. Reports say, however, that around the same time that the giants were pushed back from the mountains on the east, they also left on the west. Not sure where they all went, but I hear tell that these lands are now fought over by a variety of vicious, beast-like races. Werebeasts, and dark creatures. Not a place I'd recommend for trade, although I hear tell that the land is beautiful. While Perfute is dry and full of desert plateaus and some areas of sand that stretch for miles, this area to the west drops lower. The border there is a long ridge, not a river. I hear tell that the area there has plenty of rivers and oasis of trees and grasses, but between them it is as if the land were burned - dry and brittle and black. There are supposedly an area of strange black mountains further in."
"What's here?" Matner asked, pointing to a small, kite-shaped area that seemed sandwiched in between everyone else.
"That, there, is the nation of Jundra," he answered, tapping the map. "If it weren't for the ridge and the rivers, I'm sure it would have been overrun by one of the other countries long ago, but the natural borders have helped them hold it. Mostly river and jungle there. Some beasts in the rivers that will eat a man whole, if stories be true, but also some strange flowers and herbs that will cure most anything that ails you if mixed just right."
"Who lives there?"
"Mostly Human again, though there were quite a few Elves who fled there during the war with the Giants afore they started coming here. I hear they have a fair population of them living there nowadays. And they have a huge city at this cross of the two rivers here. Trade city called Suz. Not many make the trek back and forth as it's quite a distance, but goods that come from there are worth quite a bit by the time they reach here. Mostly those flowers and herbs I spoke of, though there's rumor that there are small magical totems that are made by Jundrans living deep within the jungle, carved of special nuts that drop off trees that only grow there. I've yet to see one myself though, so I couldn't tell you if it's true or not."
