In all three major realms (Covenate, Aerelen, & Silverhold), the countryside is troubled by human bandits, orcish raiders, and rogue beasts and monsters. Twenty years ago, Etelel and Aerelen were each in their own way a secure, prosperous kingdom. But now they are no more able than Silverhold to control their wilds and what wanders out of them onto their roads and into their villages.
The reason for this is that in the years since the overthrow of the monarchy, the Covenate has waged in several bloody wars with the Kingdom of Aerelen. Between these wars and the Ruling Coven's suppression of royalist dissidents, the human nobles and garrisons who once enforced law and order now can do little more than hole up in their keeps, and the Aerelen army has been devastated. Beasts and monsters plague villages, bandits raid the roads, and Etelel has begun to wonder if the Ruling Coven can maintain its seemingly-declining grip on power or if it will destroy itself destroying Aerelen.
In answer, the Coven has expanded its tolerance of the Adventurers Guild into a full, official partnership. The Guild is now tasked with aiding law, order, and safety across the Covenate. This is a similar role to that which they already fulfill in the Republic of Silverhold, where a few independent city states have no common military to hold back the mountain goblins of the northern Silverpeaks and monsters of the Trollwild between their walled towns of Highreach, Halefjord, and Meadowhall.
In Aerelen, the elven heartland around Snowpeak Court remains relatively safe, though closed to outsiders. But the elven borderlands are beset by raiding tribes of Hinterland orcs and men from the north, Etelelin slavers and raids from the east, and Redcove pirates from the south.