Vassos

Vassos is the northern march of Thalassan, a hard and rising country where the warm coast gives way to cold upland against the mountains. It is the poorest and most rugged of the regions, and the most martial, a frontier that breeds soldiers because it must. Vassos is held by House Assa, which took the throne briefly before losing it to House Siorain. Today the Palatine of Assa fights a war on two fronts: pressing a claim to the empty crown while holding the northern frontier against the armies of Ormatha, who pour overland into the kingdom. Of all the claimants, Assa bleeds the most and schemes the least, resentful that the others leave the fighting to the north.