Has anyone worked out what the deal is with "Western Herath"? I can't find even a mention of it in any of the writings on Herath.

Here is the story of "Western Herath" as I have found it:

The original 8 mile per hex map of Herath, in the Voyages of the Princess Ark series, showed what it called "Eastern Herath", detailing it with the usual settlements, trails and variations in terrain. A small arrow in the corner pointed to "Western Herath".

Then, Dragon 196 included a 24 mile per hex map of the Orc's Head Peninsula, including a large part of Herath which had not been revealed before. Of course, the terrain was much simplified for the smaller scale, and the new part of Herath was shown as a large area of heavy forest. No borders were shown, and the caption "Western Herath" was placed on the new area.

Next, when it came to making the Red Steel maps, which are basically at 8 mile per hex scale (just without hexes marked), part of Western Herath was featured. At this stage, it would have been possible (and indeed sensible) to add some more details, but the cartographer simply drew the whole area as a mass of heavy forest. Then they added an arbitrary border, not present or even hinted at on any previous maps, dividing Western Herath from the rest of the country. Noticeably, there is no sign of the previous "Eastern Herath" caption.

Conclusions? Well, it seems to me that "Western Herath" is not necessarily supposed to be so bleak a wilderness, with not even a tower or keep marked. The northern region of The Wildwoods is described as being a pretty dense wilderness-like area, and even it has at least a few towers and villages.

The Red Steel cartographer clearly didn't know (or care?) much about the difference between large scale and small scale hex maps, or perhaps they simply didn't have the time or inclination to develop the area, rather than just making it appear as is.

Further, I am far from convinced that the border between the Wildwoods and Western Herath is sensible. It seems to me that they could be one region, given the description of the Wildwoods.

The alternative of course would be simply to develop Western Herath.

For a start, it would make sense for there to be some sort of defensive line along the southern border, probably on the trail that constitutes the only currently marked feature.

Next, I would propose that some light forest and forested hills be sprinkled into the forest, simply to relieve the tedium of such a large area of plain heavy forest - even Alfheim is not featureless like this. (And note that this forest is not the only area dealt with in a large brush size, so to speak, by the Red Steel cartographer; his other additions and extensions to the map are in some places even more featureless, and fit even less well with the wonderful Princess Ark maps.)

Other additions would be decided by working out the purpose of the territory. Is it really completely unsettled, and if so, why? Why would the araneas leave such a vast swathe of land unused? Is it similar to the Wildwoods? Is it in the process of being settled? Is it infested with some sort of awful monsters that keep it from being settled?

Depending on the answer to these and other questions, perhaps some towers, possibly some villages, and definitely some battlefields could be added.

Does anyone have any ideas about Western Herath? I'd be interested to hear if you have tried to explain its bleakness in your own campaign.

Before starting to speculate, maybe you can try to insert some old features (if any) showed in old official supplements, different from the ones you cited.
As far as i Know, maps and sparse details of this area are shown also in:

X9: "The Savage Coast"
Savage Coast "Orc's Head Peninsula"
Savage Coast supplement "Savage Baronies"
Dungeon #6 ("Tortle of the purple sage" adventure)

If you don't find anything, anyway, I think the best thing is to reasonably develop a bit this area:

I think this feature should be nearly necessary, considering the aggressive humanoids tribes living in the south. If i remember correctly, Herath's capital was ransacked by humanoids during WotI events. Where these humanoids came from? Did they crossed the defensive line in the south?

A couple of hypothesis: maybe this is a "hunting reserve" for araneas in spider form; or maybe it is a "kindergarten" for young araneas in order to master their shapecheanging ability and their magical knowledges before showing themselves in public. Or maybe it is used like Blackheart forest in Alphatia: a "trash can" for magical experiments gone awry...

Or maybe a composition of more of these choices.

Western Herath is not likely to be an highly developed area -- it's a borderland, so it will need to have as many towers as the Wildwoods, and it borders with the Dark Jungle, so it will be even more militarized. Moreover, these woods are likely to hide some of more monstrous creations of the Aranea wizards -- things the Aranea don't want to be seen by outsiders, and don't want to allow near their breeding areas, so Arasheem and Yeshoms are likely dwellers of Western Herath.

Just offhand, without having the maps in front of me, as I recall the Herath map showed a central tower, and several towers around it, and was described somehow as being linked (like a web)- central tower linked to equidistant "web anchor" towers. This, again IIRC, had something to do with protective or divination magicks that were able to be worked at the central tower (Belphemon).

Maybe, then, "western" Herath is simply those territories outside of the magic web?

[EDIT] Just checked out a map of the region- perhaps Western Herath is not part of the web, but is considered part of Herath, while the intervening "Wildwoods" are borderland territories. Western Herath may be a recent expansion/colony, and since it is outside the "web", it may be home to more independent minded Aranea.

I like Western Herath to be a wild wild wild land.
Wild: full of magic gone awry. Magic is a strange force, in woods full of magic energies strange things happen. In Alfheim you could find magic points. In Herath you find... Western Herath.
Lots of monsters. Strange constructs. Dangerous plants. Herathian voats.
Herathians had the choice to civilize this land, but they prefer to keepit wild, with lots of vegetal spell component.
And, maybe, you could find in Western Herath also some gate to Outer Planes, or to strange dimensions like the "Far Realm" or some hunted wood in Ravenloft.

Maybe there are some not-forest hexe in Western Herath, but no living cartografer ever come back to share this knowledge!

I have this map, found somewere in the web: [img=http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/4714/herathedintorni9gr.th.jpg]

LoZompatore, the problem is that all of these maps are 24 mile per hex maps, and so by definition they do not show any details. If they did, I would already have incorporated them.

Yes, there is a definite need for some sort of defence - or at the very least, an explanation for the lack of any defence as things currently stand.

I always thought that the destruction of so many Savage Coast settlements was a bit over the top. Nothing so extreme happened elsewhere in the world; even Glantri got off with just a few settlements in one corner trashed, while Alphatia got trashed and then resurrected elsewhere.

Moreover, the locations that suffered are often far from the places where humanoids and monsters would have attacked from. Who destroyed Belphemon? Was it the gatormen, or perhaps the shazak? It seems highly unlikely it was the orcs of the Dark Jungle, who would have had to start at the border on the other side of Herath.

The hunting reserve and trash can ideas are both things I was also considering. They might help explain why the Dark Jungle orcs don't just constantly raid Herath through its unprotected border.

I don't think it's a suitable place for young araneas, though, especially since their teaching (the split personalities thing) sounds rather involved. Not to mention that it is undoubtedly the most dangerous part of the country - not somewhere you want to keep your children.

Agreed on all points.

I think that Western Herath is most likely just an extension of the Wildwoods, but as it currently stands, it is nothing more than a poorly done conversion from the smaller scale maps.