I do not believe anyone has ever described Midlandt as a welcoming place. The first things travellers are met with when they cross the Imperial border into the duchy are fields upon fields of high grass. Something that would be considered a weed in any civilized nation is allowed to grow freely and abundantly in Midlandt. The people live of it. They fuel their fires with it, they make their roofs from it, they feed it to their livestock and in times of hunger, even eat it themselves.
The high grass prevents nearly every other kind of cultivation, so the Midlandians depend almost solely on the meat of their cattle to survive. Few trees are able to grow amongst the grass, so due to the lack of lumber Midlandians are forced to dig their homes in the slight hills of their country. The only trees that seem to be able to withstand the high grass are those of the Tilia species, and Midlandians worship these as if they are Gods, making prayers to them, and it is said, even sacrificing humans at their roots.
The attempts of missionaries to chop down these trees and to bring the teachings of the True Book to this savage land have all been met with violent resistance, leading to the death of many men of God. The tendency of these people to live beneath the earth might explain their pagan heathenism and rejection of the True Word of the Church, yet even the dwarves never treated the messengers of the Lord with such enmity. Some of my brothers say that the root of this pagan madness is the high grass itself. That within those walls of green, daemons reside that spread the ill influence of the Dark to the men that live amongst the grass. I do not condone these theories however and consider them nearly heretical.
This talk of daemons is merely the result of fearmongering soldiers returning from the last war. After our army ravaged Midlandt in its conquest of the duchy, the generals foolishly believed to have destroyed any resistance in the country, even though any person with an iota of historical knowledge should have known the Midlandians have a penchant for guerrilla warfare. The concealment of the high grass lends itself perfectly for this enterprise. It would not take long for stories to circulate among our ranks about monsters hiding in the grass that ambushed and butchered wagon convoys in the rear. A person of a sound mind would of course realise that no such monsters existed. This harassing of the supply lines was obviously done by the remnants of the duke’s army yet this is difficult to explain to the sole surviving soldier of a Dukesmen raid.
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The underestimation of our generals of the dangers Midlandian guerrillas would pose in the high grass would cost us even more dearly following the defeats at Wateren and Baaker. Our retreating soldiers were easy prey in the grass. The only solace that I find in the North following our defeat is that the Coalition is now forced to deal with high grass raids instead of imperial men. From the intelligence I have received nearly all attempts of the Coalition to build forts along the Imperial border have failed. The resources that have to be brought down from northern Midlandt, the lands along the Traak where the high grass stops and forests grow, rarely reach their destinations. Almost all of these caravans are ransacked.
If I were them I would simply give up on Midlandt all together and fortify the crossing fortresses. They would have done this I am sure if these forts were actually in their hands. Unfortunately for the Coalition their little puppet duke Bergar holds them, very tightly I might add, and might be persuaded to switch his allegiances if the Coalition becomes less inclined to support his claims to dukedom. I do not doubt that the emperor would happily welcome Bergar as his ally for a while in the next war. After imperial garrisons have arrived at his forts however I am not sure if Bergar will have any more value to us then. He would not want his country harmed, a wish the emperor and his military do not share.
The next time the Imperial army crosses into Midlandt the high grass will burn. All of it: the grass, the pagans, the trees, everything will be reduced to ash. Ash that will leave the land fertile for Maecktian settlers. Just like the True Book says: flame purifies everything.