The Ashlands
This large oblast is the center of Hell's mining industry. Centuries of reckless mining of coal, phosphate, fossilized bad jokes
and balrog bodies (see History) have transformed the once lush meadows along the Wet into a moon landscape of ash heaps, holes
and craters. The orcs think it looks really nice. Here they go skiing and climbing on the Ash Heaps - the highest elevations in
the otherwise flat area - while their children ride on tame cliff racers.
The largest settlement, and seat of the oblast administration, is Bitterfelt, a major center of chemical industry. Worth a look
is also the village Gartzwailer, which sits at the center of a big crater about 100 meters below the surrounding area. Originally
scheduled to be evacuated and destroyed by coal mining, the inhabitants convinced the authorities to bagger away the coal
below them, so that the village slowly sank down in a controlled fashion. Today, about half the population works as
"bucketeers", a unique job: Because water from the close-by Wet continually seeps into the crater, they have to keep carrying
it out in large buckets.
Tourists are welcome in the Ashlands, but they are advised to stick to the marked routes. The uprooted ground can be quite
unstable, and some areas are prone to landslides.