Palestone
In the northwest of the continent sits a mountainous peninsula of snow, ice, and stone. A region of long winters, and short springs. A land of a hard and isolationist people, the predecessors of Men themselves, the Shorskal. This is Palestone.
Geography
Palestone is the smaller of the two northern territories on the continent of Astorias. It is a rather large peninsula, running roughly one hundred and twenty five miles north, and about one hundred miles wide at its thickest in the south. The land is made up mostly of rolling hills, large jutting mountain and thick forests of conifer pines. In the northern most tip, sits a massive ice glacier towering higher than most mountains on the entirety of the continent.
Ecosystem Cycles
Palestone spends the majority of its time in a perpetual wintery state, though the southern valley taiga does have a short spring like period of growth that lasts for around three months in the middle of the year. Elk and Caribou herds will often filter into the valley during this time to feed on the fresh growths of green, usually leaving about a month or two after its end.
Localized Phenomena
The massive glacier in the north, known as Northfather, is known to radiate extreme cold from its very being, causing the area for tens of miles around its base to be significantly colder than the rest of the region. According to the tales of the Shorskal, Northfather will gather the radiating cold over the course of a month, then release it, causing a wave of cold to extend throughout the region, causing bitter snap freezes where the temperature can drop up to thirty to forty degrees in a single hour. Tales from outsiders caught in these storms speak of trees exploding from the cold, rocks cracking open, and exposed flesh freezing sold before your very eyes.
Climate
The climate of Palestone ranges from cold, to bitter freezing. Snow is an almost ever-present feature of the landscape, with only small breaks in the sea of white found in the southern valleys during the short spring growth period. Storms blown in from the sea to the west are known to form into formidable blizzards, where feet of snow can fall every hour, and seeing any further than ten paces becomes impossible.
Natural Resources
Palestone is truly rather scarce of most natural resoures, but has a few in wild abundance. The broken mountains that dot the landscape are rich in granite. The forests in the southern taiga valley are teeming with tall ancient conifer trees., long and straight, good for making ships. Elk herds often come to this place in the summer months from the ice tundra to the east. Many of the low hills contain an abundance of iron ore as well.
History
Palestone is sometimes referred to as 'Humanities Homeland', due to the fact that in the old days, before the Elves left the world, the pre Men known as the Shorskal inhabited this region of the world. When the Elves left to fight the Gods, sailing into the sky and abandoning their old lands, the Shorskal eventually moved south into the warmer climate of The Westplains, where they changed as time passed and became the various types of Men found today. Some of the Shorskal remained however, and continue to live in this harsh land as they have for thousands of years, in tribal groups that keep isolated to themselves.
Alternative Name(s)
Humanities Homeland, The Place Good Soldiers Go To Die
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