>The map of tribes printed in Tales and Questlines doesn't
>show Sounder's River at all. Comparing it with other maps, I'd say
>there's room for a whole extra tribe between Dundealos lands and the
>river. But Dundealos is the southernmost Sartarite tribe...
This indicates that whoever lives south of the Dundealos most likely has no tribal organisation.
>The only other map with any detail is the old one from RQ2, which
>confuses me even more.
Even the Nomad Gods mapboard has hilly, winter-fertile terrain there.
The Holy Country map from RQ Companion and the redrawn version in Tradetalk show the entire area as well. Neither has much in the way of details, but foothills definitely are in the picture.
>It shows hill country (definitely not Prax) extending far south of Sartar,
>past Barbarian Town, possibly as far as the sea.
Indeed. The southernmost part is occupied by the Marcher Barons, i.e. Heortland exile groups who have survived there, and who have formed some defensive alliance against the Praxians despite fundamental religious and otherwise disagreements. The "Iron Age and Middle Ages meet Praxian Plains Indians" region.
>So why doesn't this region seem to be claimed by anyone? Either
>this map has been completely superseded, and Prax should creep closer to
>the mountains south of Dundealos territory, or it is hilly but infertile
>badlands.
The land is hilly, less fertile than the western slopes of the Storm Mountains, but far better farming country than chaparral would be.
>OTOH, if Barbarian Town was founded by the Pol-Joni, who have ties to the
>Dundealos, it should be a place for trade between those tribes - so why is
>it several days' travel from Dundealos, in lands which are desolate and/or
>occupied by unrelated clans?
Derek's ties to the Dundealos are those of a former member who has become an outsider. Thus most Dundealos are able to claim kinship to his descendants, who make up a good part of the Pol Joni leaders.
Most of his tribesmen have no personal ties to the Dundealos at all, since they were recruited from dissatisfied Grazers willing to herd cattle, reformed Praxian beast rider bandits willing to ride horses, and adventurer/mercenary friends Derek met while gallivanting off with King Yanasdros of Tarsh. I wonder whether some of the leaders of the three magician units of the Barbarian Horde (Flash Jak, And-Jay and Krise) are surviving companions of Derek from that time...
There are four clans not labeled "Pol Joni" in the Barbarian Horde, too, and at least the Amber clan sounds much like it could be effectively a former Grazer clan herding cattle, relocated to Prax, but keeping the tradition of Vendref support. (Praxians treat Oasis Folk even worse...) It would make sense for them to have a trade post established similar to those Sartar established in the Grazelands.
>Maybe Dundealos borders used to extend further south and they have shrunk
>or migrated north for some reason?
The reason why not would be the Praxians. There are two ways to deal with Praxian raiders. One is to be strong and numerous enough to fight them off, which is what the eastern Sartarite clans do. The other is to occupy only very defensible terrain, leaving much of somewhat arable or quite grazeable terrain to (comparatively) friendly (if tribute-taking) Pol-Joni clans.
>Perhaps these lands have become barren within recent history?
Do you have a reason or campaign idea why this should be the case?
For my own campaign, I always assumed that there would be really primordial Orlanthi high up in the mountain valleys, and also somewhat down the eastern foothills of the Storm Mountains. Small clans, without any tribal affiliation, probably some with animistic worship of Kolat.
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