If you have but a morsel of geographical knowledge, one glance at a map is enough to know why the Pontar Valley is strategically important. It is here that the borders of Temeria, Redania, Kaedwen and Aedirn meet, it is the valley that physically marks these frontiers. They say that "He who controls the Pontar Valley, controls the North." So it is no wonder that the cited realms have clashed here more than once. Blood has often mingled with the waters of the Pontar, though the reasons for this have varied. Wars waged by nobles in pursuit of political interests and merchants seeking trade privileges have been intermingled with riots and massacres, elven uprisings, and the revolts of frontier barons. All these have been garnished with the occasional peasant rebellion, an event that forces often quarreling factions to unite and crush plebeian mobs drunk on blood and carnage. As the reader will soon learn, this time the region would again bear witness to events both important and bloody.