Laakrote (lah-CROW-tuh) holds most of the Tomarran border with the Vauldan Empire, and was the pathway for the Empire’s invasion and conquest of the Clans centuries ago. What resources and infrastructure the Tomarrans didn’t burn down as they retreated before the Legions’ might, the Empire used up and threw away during its dominion over the region. Though the Province has recovered significantly in the two centuries since the Empire withdrew from the Steppe, it still has much work to do to catch up to its former glory before the invasion, and the Laakrotans have not forgotten the scars that the Empire left in their homeland.
Laakrote is the classic vision of the Steppe that most foreigners think of when they picture Tomarr: a vast rolling plain of green and gold grass, dotted by small groves of trees and the occasional oasis, with the horizon only broken up by a handful of tall mesas that loom over the Steppe like monuments to the Gods. The mesas are frequently home to Khramadzi, temple-cities dedicated to the worship of the Gods, which support themselves by mining the iron, copper, and Adamant seams that criss cross through the heart of each mesa.
The Province has little proper farmland, depending instead upon the vast herds of bison, sheep, antelope, and horses that traverse the grasslands and provide a bountiful supply of food for the inhabitants. Indeed, there are few villages or towns at all across the Laakrotan plains, as the Laakrotan people have a deep and abiding distrust of permanent settlements, as those were the first things the Vauldans attacked during their invasion. What settlements do exist are massive fortified cities built around an oasis or mine, first laid down by the Vauldans during their occupation and then built up even further by all four Great Clans after the Vauldans retreated from the area.
The people of Laakrote are a wary and militant folk, keeping an eye out for anything that might be a threat and all-too-willing to resort to violence if something doesn’t quickly prove itself non-hostile. Most are part of a nomadic Kith, traveling across the Laakrotan plains with their herds and only stopping at one of the oasis fortresses or mesa Khramadzi when they need supplies they can’t find or make out in the grasslands. The Krovodny Clan that rules over the Province ensures that all who wish to train in the art of war have opportunities to do so, holding large combat exercises outside the fortress cities and regular training camps in places where the nomadic Kith gather. The Laakrotans may have lost their land to invasion once, but they are dedicated to ensuring that that will never happen again.