The Black Brothers
Baldwin Black and his brother Hugh explored the west part of the continent 250 years ago. Baldwin's best remembered for his adventures questing for ancient yuan-ti artifacts, which led to a conflict with his patron, the great Lydia Sparrow. Some of that treasure is still lost, as Baldwin Black disappeared somewhere in the wilderness and Hugh died under mysterious circumstances a few years thereafter.
Baldwin had a passionate interest in the arts (whenever he was in civilization) and was a prolific author. Unfortunately he was a notoriously unreliable narrator, making claims that were demonstrably false and sometimes patently absurd. His most popular travelogue famously begins, “The first thing that the natives do not like about us is that we keep our fires burning so long.”
Hugh was an eccentric, who always travelled with a monkey at his side and was known for describing chess matches in his sleep. Baldwin and Hugh did not get along especially well but nevertheless explored together for 15 years before Baldwin's disappearance. Afterwards Hugh toured high society parties as a major, if sometimes barely tolerated, celebrity.