The Lunae Badlands is an expansive, red-clay-filled plain with deep canyons, sparse vegetation, harsh manastorms, and skilled (if desperate) predators. Until recently, it was thought there was little of interest within the Badlands — there were no settlements of note, and the effort required to cart in supplies couldn’t justify the meager ore veins in the region. That changed a few decades ago, however, with the discovery of saltpetre and its importance in the production of gunpowder.
Now the region exists in a political limbo — most of the bordering countries want to lay claim to the minerals beneath the clay, but don’t want to commit the money and people to defend the overly-hostile plain. As such the homesteads and settlements in the badlands aren’t under any single flag but are instead owned and work for individual patrons (the most prolific of which being Lady Grave).