Gildenhart is the metaphorical and geographical heartland of Aurendale. The people of Tidebells may have a point when they say that the Federation’s economy rotates around the hub of Bellharbor, but the Gildenhart is the agricultural powerhouse that drives that rotation, and the folk who live there are the hearty salt-of-the-earth people who perfectly typify Dalean culture. The Province is home to the Caldinus and Clearspring Commonwealths, as well as to the city of Graveskeep and the Moot that governs the Federation as a whole.
Gildenhart’s geography slopes down as one travels westward from the sea or the Vauldan border, starting with rugged hills and then gentling out into the lush and fertile flood plain of the Blackwater River. The plains of the Province are dotted with small woods that are lovely and filled with light and birdsong, but the valleys of the eastern highlands are notorious for being home to haunted woodlands. A massive oxbow lake, Lake Bitterwaithe, occupies the south-central portion of the Province, left behind by the Blackwater when its writhing path shifted to the other side of the Dale. The Great City of Clearspring is built on the Bitterwaithe’s shores, and dominates the southern half of Gildenhart. The north is governed by Caldinus, a Commonwealth with a heavy Vauldan influence due to the Empire’s proximity.
The coastal highlands of Gildenhart have never been economically significant, but they tend to produce a large number of fighting folk for the two Gildenhart Commonwealths. The Corsairs of the Jadefang Archipelago have historically gone after communities in the highlands only when they were truly desperate — there is simply not enough wealth in the coastal regions of the Province to make the risk of attacking the notoriously-capable highlanders worth it.
The western plains of the Province, however, are a breadbasket, producing large amounts of foodstuffs and herbs. Clearspring takes advantage of its position on the Bitterwaithe to export large quantities of fish farmed from the lake, while Caldinus has a thriving industry in growing herbs and tending to wild spaces where the more temperamental herbs grow. The Graveskeep is able to support itself quite easily off of the small circle of farming Steadings that it governs, though its primary industry is politics rather than anything truly economically productive.
With all of this wealth, however, comes conflict: Clearspring is currently disputing with Caldinus over which Great City should control the westernmost corner of the Province, in the region between Kelindel and Clearspring. Both Cities have historical claims to the territory, and the people living there are at present mostly just enjoying the attention and tax incentives on offer, but so far the mock battles in the Ebb And Flow and the quiet but vicious political knife-fights in the Gravesmoot have been inconclusive either way.