The Stair

The Stair is the army pass over the Spine between Aldmere and Tharax, which the Bridge Treaty of 1052 gave to Aldmere to garrison, and which Duke Durift's Westmarch holds. It is the home of the Stairfolk, about two thousand fading goatherds and guides who speak a Tharaxi dialect with Aldmere words and know every path over the Spine that is not a pass, a knowledge they have sold to smugglers, Tyrthas hunters and Bound runaways alike. Bound who flee Tharax over the Stair are free under the Charter of Hearths the moment they touch Aldmere soil. The Talodin's headwaters lie far to the south, in the Sastorid Crags, where Zarvand planted Faashab-Talodin in 840.

See also: The Watcher, Kemvos, The Westmarch