Type-8 Hex

Type-VIII Hexes are 6-mile hexes that are wholly natural areas, or "wilderness" hexes. These may be found inside the borders of civilized political entities and have no permanent residents apart from monsters or barbarian clans, nor do they have any infrastructure. There are three forms of Type-VIII hex, depending upon their distance from the nearest Type-VII or better hex (all hexes described here are 6-mile hexes): backcountry hexes, wilderness hexes and deep wilderness hexes.

Backcountry

Found within three hexes of an infrastructured hex, these areas have been thoroughly explored and prospected, and are used as seasonal hunting grounds or to gather sustainable resources such as timber or fish. They have not been settled for a variety of reasons: poor soil, a lack of good water, hunting or fishing are insufficient for most of the year or because the topography makes travel and communication difficult. Usually, two or three of these conditions prevail.

Dangerous monsters will have been cleared away, but there will likely be a good supply of common predators and unfriendly vermin. If adjacent to an infrastructured hex, the chance of a monster lair is only 1%; this will increase to 3% if the backcountry is two hexes away and 7% if three hexes away. No randomly-occurring dungeons will be found within the hex.

Wilderness

These will be found between 4-12 hexes from an infrastructured hex. They have been visited but hardly explored, and will almost certainly be inhabited by a wide range of monsters. The chance of a monster lair will be 15% if an infrastructured hex is only four hexes away, 31% if five hexes away, 63% if six hexes away and certain otherwise. There is a 2-5% chance of a fully-developed dungeon in any one of these hexes. Barbaric villages in the wilderness will be a single isolated group (Dev-4), possessing minimal contact with the outside world.

Moreover, there is a reasonable chance that the hex will make a suitable place for settlement, with either good hunting, fishing or arable land (10% chance of each). Most probably, however, the topography will be challenging and the vegetation overgrown, except in areas where there may be no vegetation at all. These wilderness hexes are rarely verdant or fertile, and certainly not idyllic or sylvan ... however, they could be pioneered and might turn up an unexpected resource. They should be treated as unprospected land.

Deep Wilderness

These wilderness areas are found 13 or more hexes away from an infrastructured hex. It is improbable that they have been ventured into during the last 5-10 years, and further out may never have been seen by civilized persons. The chance of a monster lair will be 10%, and only 1% if the hex is a waste, erg, or snowfield. The only monsters dwelling in these parts will be those who do not need food to live: undead or other unnatural malevolent creatures. There is only a 0.1% chance of a developed dungeon — which, if it exists, will likely bear characteristics of some unworldly, terrifying culture.

If encountered in the deep forest or jungle, a group of humanoid monsters, very well adapted to the environment, may have developed a Dev-5 culture, covering 5-20 inhabited hexes and 1-2 settlements. If able to support monsters, there will be many, making such places so dangerous that permanent settlement by outsiders is unthinkable.

See Hex Group