The Orcish homeland of Kahad was a barren wasteland for the entire rule of Azgra. But places we tend to think of as wastelands do still have their own niche, specialized ecosystems. Whether it's scorching deserts or freezing tundras, there is always some form of life - in harsh climates, there is less competition, and so anything that can survive the cold and heat and smog and poison will have an easier time, simply because those environmental factors will kill anything else.
(Bear with me I'm going somewhere with this (a pretty dumb somewhere but it is somewhere))
And sure, seven thousand years is not a lot of time for something to evolve on its own. But it is a lot of time for cultivation.
I imagine that in the wastes of Kahad, there grew a plant. And it was probably a pretty gnarly and nasty one, with thorns the size of your palm, and probably called something like razorweed.
And razorweed could survive fairly well on its own, but the Orcish people discovered a use for it; when worked properly, it produces an incredibly durable yet comfortable textile. Sure it's a long process, as most textile production is. But the point is, this plant is now used to produce a textile, by a people who live in a harsh wasteland and are constantly marching off to war.
(Did you know Icelandic wool is warmer and has better water resistance properties than other wool? The Icelandic sheep was only cultivated for one thousand years.)
So the Orcish people cultivate razorweed to suit their needs; it is even more durable, even better in the cold, or the heat, and with proper working it might even provide some protection - in D&D terms, function as armor or grant resistances.
And then Azgra is killed, and the Orcs are free, and Kahad blooms; and the reason razorweed was doing so well was the fact that so little else grew in Kahad, which, with the fall of Azgra, has become a land of plenty. Razorweed can't compete with all these other plants, ones that are better suited for the fertile soil and non-acidic rains, and so it's natural habitat dwindles.
It still grows, in some rougher terrains; up in the Kavrosi mountains, you might find smaller patches of it.
So, I like to think there is a group of Orcish textile historians - less than half a dozen of them, since that's how it is with textile historians - who are obsessed with this plant. They document the patches they find and have made some limited progress cultivating it. They've reverse engineered the production process, but the problem is there's not much of this plant to go around, and the patches they've been finding aren't exactly healthy.
And then, one of them is travelling, far off at the edge of nowhere, and suddenly comes across the biggest patch they've ever seen. Just massive. And the plants look so healthy and well adjusted too! And the confused locals tell the tearful textile historian that yep, those things have been there pretty much as long as anyone can remember, damn nasty things.
And this dedicated group of textile historians decides to settle here and start making this fabric. It takes a while, but they do it! They recreate the garb that would have been worn by their ancestors as they labored beneath the thumb of Azgra - as they rose up against him. They refine their process. Perfect it even.
And at some point, they start to sell the fabrics.
And here's the thing. A limited supply of a historic fabric, that is both comfortable and possibly provides the benefits of armor? They wildly underestimated the interest. Soon enough they're selling at prices they couldn't have imagined. They can't keep up with demand. They start hiring the locals and training them. Money starts flowing into this tiny little ass-end-of-the-world town, something they don't really know what to do about.
And anyways, that is how I imagine a rediscovered old Orcish textile art would revive the economy of a very confused barony of Sloak.
2087
stormborns
theartofmadeline
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