The Cascades

the great falls that unite and divide humanity

At a kilometre and a half tall, and almost a kilometre across, the Cascades are the tallest, largest and best known water falls in all of Ashvaarya.
The Cascades are also a cultural touchstone. Though it exists in the middle of the Foothills province, it's position along the course of the River Rothum, the heart of Austurian culture, creates a practical and conceptual dividing line. Barges and other river craft cannot continue westward up the Rothum past the great falls, and while a barge from Wilsadore might technically be able to continue east down the falls, it would be in many pieces. This dividing line coincides with old, but not forgotten divisions from before the unification of Austur. Namely, the division between the Steel Kingdom, and the rest of humanity. This conceptual line continues, despite the fall of the monarchy and unification, as a distinction between those people who live "above" and "below", The Cascades.
The Cascades are also home to one of the most notable engineering feats and wonders in Austur: the Lifts. These are a series of huge platforms pulled up and down on wolfrum-steel chains along the cliffsides next to the Cascades. The Lifts are used to raise and lower shipments of goods to and from the mountain barges at the top, and the river barges at the bottom of the huge falls.

Geography

The Cascades are a massive waterfall, or series of waterfalls, that fall down from the Ubonda Range to the Catric Pools. Both the falls and the pools are considered part of the River Rothum, despite being such a geographical and cultural dividing line in it's flow eastward. The sides of the Ubonda are so steep as to be considered cliffs, and they range for many kilometres both north and south, with hills and dangerous terrain at both top and bottom. The Ubonda Range is considered the geographical separation between the Western Mountains and it's foothills, though the official political border line between the Western Mountain and Foothills provinces, is significantly further west.

Natural Resources

Though there are no special natural resources linked directly with the great waterfall itself, the power of its falling could be considered a resource in and of itself. The water is harnessed by great wheels that are used to transfer huge cargo platforms up and down the height of The Cascades.

History

Though first discovered first hand by humanity two years after the Sunder, they had already known about it thanks to the Lashaan. Such was the beauty and scale of The Cascades, that it was famous and appreciated in illustration and story for thousands of years by the Lashaan themselves. Unlike the Lashaan however, when the first explorers saw the falls, they almost immediately became obsessed with discovering a way to scale them. As humanity expanded and spread new settlements across the southlands, and the River Rothum became an ever more important economic and cultural centrepiece, that instinctive desire had become deeply practical.
Attempts to levitate objects and even boats using magic were met universally with failure. Smaller waterfalls, rapids and obstructions could be overcome in such ways, but at nearly a kilometre and a half of height, most people couldn't even clearly see the top from the bottom, especially with the constant haze of spraying water. Even if someone with good eyes felt sure of their ability to keep their focus, no human or lashaan could not maintain the spell for nearly long enough to get it up the entire distance.
Such was the mineral wealth of the mountains however, and humanity so driven by a desire for expansion in those years, that a way was inevitably found. At first, ropes were strung together and long gantry arms constructed at the top of the Ubonda Range, next to the falls. A team of workers together, could use a couple of simple spells to lower and raise the rope with significant amounts of goods hanging from it's length. This system was quickly improved upon by adding multiple ropes, then by making several. Eventually, after too many accidents from broken ropes, huge chains were crafted to replace them. This proved too hard for even a group of workers magical abilities, as the simple weight of the chain would be too much. Within a few years, some of the small naturally occurring ledges along the cliffside were dug into the mountain side and expanded outward with great elaata wood platforms. Five of these were constructed, and each one was crewed with a separate lift team, bringing chained platforms up and down. Each one of these "lift stations" would also have a small crew to remove the cargo from their "stage" and transfer it to the stage of the next station. This system was revolutionary. The only down side was that the multiple ropes and teams of the previous teams had been replaced by a single system that could carry only a quarter of what the old system could at once, despite needing even more people to crew it. This was countered however, by the fact that accidents and lost cargo dropped to almost nothing, and the overall safety of the system improved. Moreover, the total net speed of cargo movement did not actually decrease. Since the everything was moved in phases, and each phase took only about 30 minutes, the bottom station could be lifting their sixth "stage", while the top station was still moving the first.
This lasted for centuries until the unification and the engineering boom that spread through the newly formed Austur. It was seen as imperative to modernize and solidify not just the nations defences against the Muada, but the supporting economy. While Sita Alorum and Council Halls were being constructed in Wilsadore and Insimbi, engineers from up and down the River Rothum to build a better system at The Cascades. Within a year, construction began on their new design. It, like the previous iteration that had lasted for centuries, was revolutionary. The new system was built to need hardly any human intervention at all. Great wheels were constructed to harness the power of the very water falling over The Cascades. The new system used only 2 lift stations, and the transfer of goods at them was nearly automated. The size of all the components from the chains to the platforms was increased, and the mechanical power of the water wheels meant that a great deal more mass could be moved. The reduction of stages from 6 to 3 meant that there was some efficiency lost there, but the size of the platforms made up for this.
Where previously the contents of a single barge could be be sent up the mountain over the course of roughly 4 hours, the new system allowed the entire contents of a single barge to transported at once. Though the total duration would still be 4 hours, the increased volume meant that the total rate of goods going up or down The Cascades was increased by 4 times.

"I av na'ir seen a thing so amazen. Them Cascades en't jus massive an tear'fayen, ther summ'ow mesmrizin an all. Thers reason that folk call a big patience a 'bargeman's wait' when yur sittin an waitin fer yer time tu unload, but with them falls to watch, it dun feel so long."

- Thulani Juma, metal trader (338AS)

Alternative Name(s)

catric falls

Owning Organization

Council