User blog:Glflegolas/Region spotlight -- Issue 21 -- June 10, 2017

It's been a while since I've written one of these posts. But that's largely because of the fact that I've been on vacation for a week, and working the rest of the week after that, and simply haven't managed to do the research needed to write one of these posts. A while back, someone suggested I feature the Blackroot Vale in my series, so, by request, here's a blog featuring the Blackroot Vale!

Where is it?
The Blackroot Vale is one of the fiefdoms of Gondor, as well as a biome. To be specific, it's located south of the White Mountains just west of Tarlang's Neck. If you want to get there, just follow the road west and north from the Minas Tirith waypoint. Alternatively, if you're coming from Pinnath Gelin, go to the eastern end of that, and head due north-east. Regardless of how you get there, however, it shouldn't be difficult to find this province of Gondor. It's best known for its powerful bowmen, and dark coloured grass.

What do you like about this region?
What I like best about this region is probably the hireable Bowmen of the Blackroot Vale. They are arguably the best bowmen of Gondor, and are available for a rather decent price of 50 coins apiece. Other interesting things that you can find in this region are the Blackroots used for crafting the bows and the dark green grass makes a nice contrast against the blue sky and the white Gondorian buildings.

Any advice for travellers?
As with any Gondorian region, I don't recommend visiting this area unless you're at least neutral with Gondor. If you're not, it will be very difficult to get this far into Gondor without being killed. If you are favourably aligned with Gondor, however, this region is very good for living in; it's not too forested, or too hilly, making large builds easy, and there's plenty of villages containing various types of useful Gondorian loot.