Lake Bemused
the Edin Sea
Lake Bemused is a great fresh-water lake sitting in the remote north of Jerain, the Southern Reach of Ethae, about 100 miles south of the Cutting Mountains. While the region is largely uninhabited and wild in the modern day, it was the home of history's earliest people, the Daemon, if legend is to be believed. Many scholars accept the lake as being what the Epic of Can knew as the Edin Sea, describing the lake as the golden sea of twilight. In the myths, the daemon spread out from Garden and the shores of the Edin Sea became a home for many, it being a land filled with sweet berries and natural grains.
Lost to history, if true, these early civilizations left no evidence of their time in the world. Today small fishing villages of the Falbiten people dot the northern shores, largely disconnected from the world beyond the lake's shores. These village stand on stilts in the shallow waters of the lake's north side, many connected by gangways, some over a mile long. This protects the natives from the aggressive predators that stalk the surrounding lands. These lake dwellers, many of which have never set foot on land, living their lives on their artificial islands, in their boats, and swimming the waters.
The lake's shores are generally shallow out to a mile, averaging twenty to thirty feet deep, but shapely drop off to over 2000 feet down in the middle. While there are carnivore life in the deeper waters, they exclusively hunt fish and avoid the shallow waters where humans live. The lake is also home to more than a dozen edible freshwaters seaweeds that the lake dwellers cultivate for food. Many of these seaweeds, as well as several nonedible species, are unique to Bemused and are highly sought by alchemists, wizards, and wealthy culinary experts.
While at first sight Lake Bemused may seem like a paradise for its people, a threat lies south of the lake, that is always in the minds of the citizen. That threat is in the trees of Pemplum's Labyrinth. As with much of the forested lands of northern and central Jerain, the Labyrinth is home to green Dragon. While these dragons of Jerain largely fight each other in territorial disputes across in the vast unpopulated forests that are their domain, those holding sway in Pemplum's Labyrith are close enough to the lake to threaten the population on its shores. The lake's is large enough to keep the dragons away, with the people ever vigilant of the air above the lake. Even so, if ever one or two of these dragons turns their attention to the lake dwellers it could spell the end of their civilization.
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