“…<span class="mu-i">The territory consists of three separate parts; one is inhabited by savages, another by Strangers and Witches, and the third by the people we call Cimmaroons, though in their own languages they have other names for themselves. The savages live in the deep mountainous interior of Outremer, which is poorly known. This red-skinned race is the revenant of a primitive civilization that once ruled over the entire landmass and its outlying islands, before they were violently displaced by the arrival of the Cimmaroons, who began migrating to Outremer more than six hundred years ago. If it were not for a few loan-words that were adopted by the Cimmaroons, and the ruins of several of their ancient megalithic sites, there would be no evidence of any civilization that preceded the arrival of the Cimmaroons in Outremer.

The Strangers and the Witches live in the Great Gloom, a primeval forest that covers almost all of Outremer, save for the coastal regions, the river basins and valleys in the interior, and the mountains in the deep interior. The Strangeness is endemic in the Great Gloom – the flora and fauna from there are Strange from germination or birth, and in some cases, generations of exposure has twisted them into new species. Interestingly however, specimens taken from the Great Gloom – and to a lesser extent, the rest of Outremer – are more resistant to the acute affects of the Strangeness then comparable specimens from across the Ocean. This resilience, or in the parlance of magicians, this stability, helps explains the Cimmaroons seemingly heedless attitude towards Strangers and Witches, who are allowed to live and breed unchecked in the Great Gloom. Witches are even allowed to organize into Covens, the allegiances of which are courted by the tribal potentates.

The Cimmaroons themselves live in the verdant river basins that run into the heart of Outremer. Portions of some of the basins are forested, but those forests are not part of the Great Gloom. The rest of the basins are farmland, enough to support large towns, and along the river, small walled cities. While Cimmaroons do not have anything approaching the industry that the Empire has, they should not be considered primitives in matters of the instrumental sciences. Cimmaroon artisans can compete in quality with the best that the Principalities has to offer, and arguably their Glassers are superior to ours. Additionally, they are also a fairly martial people, as small wars between the tribal nations are common enough for them to develop a disciplined professional soldiery. These armies do field muskets and cannons, though nowhere near the quality or quantity of our own, and they fight beside conscripts and auxiliaries that are still armed with longbows and spears. However, with nearly all of the Inquisitions Mitigators stationed with our tributaries across the Ocean, we have no answer for their Witches </span>…”

- Prince-Governor Heydrich II Boiohaemum's <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s"> In Outremer</span></span>