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{{geography
|map=Unclaimed Hills.jpg
|region=Frostlands
|world=Roshar
|
|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
}}
{{update|sa4}}
The '''Unclaimed Hills''' is a geographical region in eastern [[Roshar]] that contains the [[Shattered Plains]].{{map ref|Roshar}}
== Location ==
The Unclaimed Hills lie in the east of Roshar, covering the northern part of the greater region of the [[Frostlands]]. They form the eastern border of [[Alethkar]] and stretch all the way to the shores of the [[Ocean of Origins]], while to the south, they gradually flatten out. Their most notable geographical feature is the [[Shattered Plains]], which occupy the southern portion of the area.{{map ref|Roshar}}
== Geography and Ecology ==
{{image|The Unclaimed Hills by Marie Seeberger.jpg|side=right|width=300px|A slave caravan riding into the Hills}}
The Unclaimed Hills get their name from their uneven terrain. Some hills are little more than mounds; others are far taller.{{map ref|Roshar}} They are rocky, covered with tough, retractable grass stretching as far as the eye can see. On occasion, this green monotony is broken by spiny plants such as wild [[blackbane]] and an unnamed shrub with thick stalks and spiny green needles, but there are no trees or any taller vegetation.{{book ref|sa1|2}}{{book ref|sa1|4}}
The whole region is highly exposed to the [[highstorm]]s, making the plants skittish. At any sign of movement, they retract, leaving behind only brown stone.{{book ref|sa1|2}} Most of the Hills' fauna stays hidden, only revealing their presence after a highstorm. Then, one can find numerous [[cremling]]s, [[legger]]s and slugs coming out to drink the water.{{book ref|sa1|4}} Though the land is arable, it would be difficult to farm it properly -- rockbuds grow small, and crops give little yields.{{book ref|sa3|50}}
== Inhabitants ==
The Unclaimed Hills are, as their name indicates, held by no nation, and sparsely inhabited. The Shattered Plains were once occupied by the [[listener]]s, though during the [[War of Reckoning]], their presence is reduced to the plateau of [[Narak]], while the edges are taken over by the [[Alethi]] military.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}{{map ref|Alethi Warcamps}} The Hills themselves are home to a small population of the [[Natan]] people.{{book ref|sa1|36}}
What cities there are lie mostly on the ocean coast.{{book ref|sa1|4}} Most of them are small and independent, and nominally [[Vorin]], although their adherence to the doctrine -- particularly in terms of the prohibition on slave trade -- is far looser than in the western nations.{{book ref|sa1|2}} The largest among them are the city-state [[New Natanan]] and a settlement called [[Dawn's Shadow]].{{map ref|Roshar}}
After the [[Alethi]] move onto the Plains, several plans are made to reinhabit the land. Initially, [[Dalinar Kholin]] proposes homesteading the area and adding it to the Alethi territory, though that plan is stopped before it can be fully put in place by the coming of the [[Everstorm]].{{book ref|sa1|58}} Later, [[Navani Kholin]] suggests building a new kingdom there after Alethkar falls to the voidbringers, but the idea is discarded on the account of how difficult the region is to farm.{{book ref|sa3|50}}
== History ==
=== Ancient History and Abandonment ===
Back during the [[Heraldic Epochs]], the territory now known as the Unclaimed Hills was split between the [[Silver Kingdoms]] of [[Alethela]] and [[Natanatan]].{{map ref|Silver Kingdoms}} It's possible that the final battle of the [[Aharietiam]] was fought in a canyon within the Hills -- [[Stormfather]] would later bring [[Dalinar]] into a memory of it through a [[Dalinar's visions|vision]].{{book ref|sa3|38}}
Following the splintering of Alethela and the destruction of Natanatan, the land slowly dropped in importance. It's possible there was another kingdom there at some point; however, by the late [[Era of Solitude]], the region was essentially uninhabited, traversed only by travellers, hunters, bandits and, on occasion, [[listener]]s venturing out of the Shattered Plains.{{book ref|sa1|28}} In the absence of people, beasts, including the [[chasmfiend]]s, flourished.{{book ref|sa1|36}}
=== Rediscovery and the War of Reckoning ===
{{for|War of Reckoning}}
Several expeditions were sent out into the Unclaimed Hills in search of a river passage to [[New Natanan]].{{book ref|sa1|42}} Following the unification of [[Alethkar]], [[Gavilar]] and [[Dalinar Kholin]] went on their own hunting trip there, whereupon they encountered the listeners and discovered the Shattered Plains -- and on them, chasmfiends, the source of the listeners' gems.{{book ref|sa1|45}} Initially, the relations between the [[Alethi]] and the listeners, dubbed Parshendi by the humans, went well, but on the night of an important treaty between the two, the listeners chose to assassinate Gavilar to stop him from releasing their gods.{{book ref|sa3|prologue}} As a result, the Alethi moved onto the Shattered Plains and began to wage the [[War of Reckoning]] against the listeners.
The return of human population to the Hills brought with it an increase in both trade and banditry. Slavers and criminals flourished in the difficult, uninhabited wasteland, and the [[highprince]]s were either uninterested or incapable of stopping it.{{book ref|sa2|8}} Though the Alethi had plans for reinhabiting the Shattered Plains fully, those were put on hold, first by the war and then by the beginning of the [[True Desolation]].{{book ref|sa1|58}}{{book ref|sa2|89}}
=== True Desolation ===
As the [[Everstorm]] began circling the globe, the Alethi focused on the defending the [[Shattered Plains]], in particular the area around the [[Oathgate]] in their center.{{book ref|sa3|50}} The Hills remained simply a place people travelled through, whether to escape or on their way to and from the Plains.{{book ref|sa3|37}}
== Notes ==
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