When the human empire of Nerath was at its height about three hundred years ago, the Nentir Vale stood as the northernmost extension of that great realm. Would-be settlers navigated the Nentir River through a trackless swamp or forged their way through a thick forest that separated this area from the rest of Nerath. At the end of their journey, they came upon a pocket of rolling grassland and light woods more than a hundred miles wide and ringed by mountains and forests - a frontier area that held both promise and peril for those who braved it.
Several settlements sprang up in the area. Footpaths between these outposts of civilization turned into well-traveled roads, and most of the towns flourished over the next two-hundred years.
Nearly a century ago, chaos and ruin came to the Nentir Vale when an orc horde called Clan Bloodspear swarmed down out of the mountains to the northwest. By this time, the empire of Nerath had begun to crumble, and the hardy souls of the vale got no help from the south.Before the Bloodspear War was over, much of the Nentir Vale had been ravaged. When the orcs finally withdrew, they left behind a broken and battered land.
Now, for the second time in history, the vale is a destination for those of stout heart and great prowess - adventurers who seek to turn this near-wilderness once again into a place where peaceful folk can forge a life for themselves.