The Flats

Stonetop sits on the easternmost edge of the Flats, a rolling tallgrass prairie that runs all the way to The Huffel Peaks, The Foothills, and The Steplands. Small hills, outcrops, the occasional copse of trees huddled against the wind, winding streams — but mostly mile after mile of grass.

The sky is the dominant fact. A southerly wind, ever present. A sky so big it beggars the soul. Birds of prey or carrion eaters floating high. Clouds always in motion — high and wispy, big and fluffy, or massive and dark like an anvil ready to drop.

Villagers call the Flats-grasses the Gwead — "the Weave" or "the Weaving." A bewildering array of species: short and wispy, thick and taller than a tall man, blooming in every color, sporting every manner of prickle, thorn, and seedpod.

The Gwead will not be tamed. Burn the grasses, plow the soil, tear things up by their roots — it doesn't matter. The Gwead always comes back, thicker and hardier than before. Sometimes the grasslands seem to take their revenge.

Why crops manage inside the Old Wall but not beyond it is for the table to decide. Maybe magic tied to The Stone makes the land pliable. Maybe something buried beneath the Old Wall keeps the Gwead at bay. Maybe whoever built the ruins Stonetop was founded on made a pact with the spirits of the Gwead.

• A herd of wild horses is seen north of the West Road, close enough to be captured.
• Gwead-grasses have started taking root inside the Old Wall, getting hard to weed.

• Stonetop sits on the easternmost edge of the Flats
• Stretches all the way to the Huffel Peaks, the Foothills, and the Steplands
• Villagers call the Flats-grasses the Gwead — a bewildering array of species that will not be tamed
• A southerly wind, ever present; a sky so big it beggars the soul