Gir Kur (GEAR ker)
the Red Lands of Irkalla
Extending off the Anbar, southwest of Craddle Valley and the Cutting Mountains, the Gir Kur peninsula has been one of the harshest environments of Ethae since time immemorial. When most of the continent was still a primal jungle, Gir Kur was desert. This is largely due to the heart of the land, the volcano Giru Mountain that from the earliest ages of Aldern has breathed out toxic gases and flame, destroying any life near it.
Gir Kur is sacred to the red Dragon, which believed it to be their homeland. It is in their legends that the first red dragon, Irkalla the Red Mother, was born in the fires of the volcano. To the reds, she was the mother of them all. For a greedy, selfish species of dragon, it should not be taken lightly that Irkalla is revered by them. Revered as much as hated however, as no red dragon will ever reach the prestige of the founding matriarch, and they hate her for that.
Before the Kephic Age the peninsula was a highly contested land among the reds. The dragon that controlled Gir Kur and Giru Mountains was both hated and respected by the rest of their kind. This respect was not birthed in reverence however, but rather jealousy and fear alone. A red dragon that reigned over Gir Kur had to be the strongest, most cunning, and brutally vicious of the dragons. Challenges were a constant for this dragon, and once challenged, it only ended with one of the combatants' deaths. Anything else was weakness.
After Dragonfall and the destruction of the Areian Nations, Gir Kur became a prime target for Elf dragon-hunters. Why hunt a dragon across the world, when they will come to the hunters. The elf knew the land would attract the reds. Stronger ones at first and the weaker later as they saw a chance to win the prestige of controlling their sacred lands without challenge. The elves exploiting this psychology it why so few reds remain today.
In the modern day, Giru Mountain is largely silent, and a dragon no longer reigns over the peninsula. Even so, few travel this dead land beyond an occasional adventuring party looking for glory. Most avoid it all together. There are accounts of shipwrecked sailors rather facing the waves than trying to cross through Gir Kur to reach civilization.
The only living creatures of the peninsula are the Karkon Kobold. Nearly one hundred tribes make their home in the land, just below the surface, in tunnels dug out over the ages. A land of little resources these creatures constantly compete for what little there is. Tribes carve out fiefdoms only to be over though, to later taking the tunnels back. An endless cycle of death that is indicative of the land they down.
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