Swardlands

A donkey pulls a cart through the Swardlands.

The Swardlands, also referred to by locals as the Sward, are the plains located on the western side of the Isle of Kortos. The breadbasket of Absalom, the lands owe their fertility to the four Aeon Towers and their aeon orbs that have magically sustained their flora since Aroden raised the Isle of Kortos from the Inner Sea.

Since Aroden's death, two of the Aeon Towers have failed or greatly diminished. The aeon orb of the Marsh Tower was stolen a decade ago, while the Old Forest Tower is rapidly declining in efficacy, and it is unknown how the remaining ones can endure before Kortos' agricultural bounty fails.

Geography

The Swardlands stretch from the Kortos Mountains to the Sulwen Hills and contain the Inland Hills, western Immenwood, the Husna and Irr Rivers, and Potter's Lake.

Encroaching disaster

The Swardlands are not only threatened by the lack of agricultural productivity due to the Aeon Towers' loss of power, but also by the ever-expanding Welt. This blight begins at the western edge of the Dunmire and continues to expand to the west at a pace of a mile a year.

References

Paizo published a gazetteer of the Swardlands in Life's Long Shadows.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.