The Warrift Pass transects the mountain plateaus of Alpheus and Rivenwar. Infamous as the overland invasion route taken by the hordes of Hellspawn from Rivenwar during the Great Upheavals. This is a broad seismic canyon rent through the Alphean mountains descending toward the Rimwald valley. The Warrift Pass is carefully guarded by a series of fortresses that follow this trade route as it descends into the Rimwald heartland. These fortresses each levy a tax on travelers to discourage the use of this route, as it has served as a footpath for the hellswan or Rivenwar in ages past. The Rimwaldi in conjunction with the Valiant Templar have asserted suzerainty over this small Crown, but has yet to receive an Imperial charter recognizing such a claim.
The Imperial charter, instead gives sovereignty to the local semisedentary population of pastoralists. This spare, but ancient culture has inhabited the canyon since it was cleft through the Alphean plateau in the torturous tremblings of Rivenwar in ages past. They speak their own distinct language and organize themselves around communal family units. The pastoralists elect a chieftain-family once a generation during the great winter festival of Luna. This Chieftain-Family is the recognized by the High Throne as possessing the magnatcy of the Crown for a period of 25 years. These pastoralists won their charter as an Imperial Crown by maintaining an elaborate beacon system which served as and early warning system for the forces in the plains of Trasteverre against the forthcoming onslaught of Hellspawn. The High Throne maintained a trading factory in the valley to supply, arm, and regulate the pastorlists.
These pastoralists are exempt from paying imperial taxes, except for upon the accession of a Chieftain Family, this nation is expected to deliver a handsome tribute to the High Throne. This exception is because their existence is so tenuous due to the pass being such a conflict zone, that they are often in famine and unable to render tribute.
The coming of the Rimwaldi and Templar to has greatly upset the calculus of this arrangement, bringing peace and prosperity, by securing the canyon as a protected supply route, promoting trade, and collecting usage tolls.
Many pastoralists have started settling down into villages to farm part of the year. These villages are sponsored by the Templar, who in turn set a Protector over the village with the aim of eventually converting it into a traditional manor. This has lead to a confusing overlap of jurisdiction within the Crown.
The pastoralists have a longstanding folk belief that the pass is forever cursed by the hellspawn which marched through it and the restless dead who were cut down in their wake defending the lands of the living against their advance. Much of the folk religion of the area revolves around placating or invoking these restless wights. The veil between the Realm of the Fading and the present is thinner in this canyon because so many lives have been lost here. Therefore, the pastoralists have produced a famous brand of shamanic seer or clairvoyants known as Dreamers. Dreamers are highly sought after and are perhaps over represented in every royal court of the Empire - save Vinton, as they are outlawed by the Bardic College there.
The Warrift Pass is a popular destination for shamans to embark on vision quests or those seeking to contact their ancestors.
The pastoralists have a legend of an ancient Batua Lord who rules a realm shrouded in shadow and mist on the fringes of the pass, a realm half in the Realm of the Fading and half in Galiastra. It is said that he is the liege lord of the legions of restless dead in the canyon. And as long as he and his thralls remain placated, the pass will be protected against any advance of Hellspawn. This Batua Lord is known in the folk tales of the pastoralists simply as the Prestor.
There is also occasional outbreaks of Hellspawn and minor infernal incursions within the pass, as it is a fracture point in the magical topography of the region. Therefore, it is not uncommon to encounter colonies of ifriti and jinn haunting the more remote crevasses of the pass.