The Mostreve Hills

🔈 (mohs-TRE-vuh or mohs-tre-vay)

The Mostreve Hills are a stretch of rough, rocky hills, with some higher peaks, that run in a series of long ridges from the flat plains of the Maseau Gap to the Mistfold Mountains, dividing Sembara, Addermarch, and Tyrwingha from the Plaguelands. They are largely wooded, although some of the highest peaks are above treeline, and the drier southwestern sides of some ridges are high plains with only scattered trees. The climate is temperate, with warm summers, cool winters, and frequent precipitation year round, with occasional winter snowfall on the higher peaks.

Geographically, the Mostreve Hills are composed of four distinct ridges: two mountainous ridges running roughly north-south, and two gentler ridgelines of rolling hills running roughly east-west.

The two north-south mountainous ridges are:

• The Westcliff ridge is a sharp escarpment that runs in a truncated north-south ‘C’, on the western edge of the Mostreve Hills. The western edge of Westcliff is particularly steep, forming a dramatic cliff line against the flat Maseau Gap. The northern edge of the escarpment, in contrast, forms a series of tumbled, broken ridges that blend into the Sembaran Borderlands. The Clavert, to the north, and the Valmont, to the south, both have their sources in Westcliff. Some of the highest peaks of the Mostreve Hills are here, especially along the western escarpment, where winter snows are frequent.

• The Maerwyn Mountains are a line of higher peaks that run in a north-easterly line along the border between Addermarch and Tyrwingha, roughly from the Valenfray Hills to the Enst river valley. These mountains are highest in the south, near and north of the sources of the Branth, and gradually slope to a gentler series of rough hills towards the Enst.

The east-west hills are:

• The Valenfray Hills form a line of gentle rolling hills that run in a broken east-west line, from roughly the Aure to where they meet the Maerwyn Mountains. This ridgeline partially separates Addermarch from the Darkwood. The westerly parts of these hills are typically gentle, rolling hills with light forests, and are settled by foresters and others. As they ascend to meet the Maerwyns, the terrain grows rougher, with many sharp ravines, making travel challenging. These hills have been extensively fortified over many years by Addermarch to guard its southern borders from the Plaguelands and the Darkwood.

• The Tyrwinghan Hills form a line of hills and valleys running roughly east-west from the Maerwyns to the Mistfold Mountains.

In between these ridge lines are several major gaps:

• The Aure river flows north between the eastern edge of the Westcliff and the western edge of the Maerwyn Mountains, forming a broad and fertile river valley fed by many small streams.
• The Darkwood creeps north between the Westcliff ridge and the Valenfray Hills, forming a hilly wildland on the southern borders of Addermarch. The Shadowmere, a low-lying swampy depression, sits in this gap.
• Between the Maerwyn Mountains and the Mistfold Mountains, the land is hilly but there are few high ridgelines, and multiple passes cut through the Tyrwinghan Hills immediately northwest of Orenlas.

The Mostreve Hills, then, can be divided into a number of overall regions based on these features:

• The Westcliff Ridge and associated hills
• The western Aure river valley, where the hills are gentler and rolling and typically wooded except where cleared for pasture and orchards. This is a land of rushing river valleys broken by rugged, hilly forests, but with few truly high peaks.
• The eastern Aure river valley and nearby foothills, between the Valenfray Hills and the Maerwyn Mountains, where the soil is poorer and the land is grasslands mixed with rocky outcroppings
• The Darkwood itself, between the Westcliff and Valenfray Hills, and stretching south beyond the reach of the Mostreve Hills
• The Tyrwinghan foothills, between Maerwyns and the Tyrwinghan Hills, a land of rolling forested hills
• The Tyrwinghan highlands, along the eastern side of the Maerwyns, a land of high occasionally snowcapped peaks and difficult to pass valleys