I was hoping to take the angle of an city-state, vassal to the Salished empire, in the midst of revolution. A faction of the populace--perhaps backed by a foreign power*--has become dissatisfied with the vassalage and feel that the dwindling empire can no longer protect them properly from beastly threats. As far as location: the eastern side of the mountains that frame the ashlands, perhaps as far south as the mountainous peninsula but possibly tucked into one of the large valleys where the ranged splits. 

The leader of the incipient revolution is a certainly unstable and sometimes self-destructively stubborn man, known to most as the Crimson Reaver. Seeking the power to change his country, he journeyed to the Blood Spring to strike a deal with the Gorelord. In exchange for his left arm, his sword was enchanted to drink the blood of those it cut, elevating both it and its wielder to ever greater power. Its corrupting influence incites a craving for bloodshed, an addictive, ever present urge to shed more blood. It was once his passion for a better world that drove the Crimson Reaver. Now, it is a lust for blood.

*This could be a plot of a lesser noble in the Salished empire, another player or no one at all. Just making an effort to tie existing politics together.