The Sunken Lands

The Sunken Lands are the name given to a large area of continental shelf, with a total underwater area of 372,877 square kilometers in size. Originally having an average elevation of 200m over sea level, the entire area slowly sank for several million years before finally sinking beneath the waves about 3000 years ago.

It is bordered to the east by the Ladgan Swamps and Keys, a series of coral reefs and barrier islands that makes up the eastern edge of the Continent of Kenerif. The main land area of Ladgan itself is actually the former river delta of the Black River, which now empties into the Void Lagoon to the west. Running through the center of the sunken lands, and appearing above sea level as no more than a few islands is an extension of the Eastern Mountains, which starts in Southeastern Kenerif and makes its way to the Northeastern part of the continent.

To the Southwest is the Shattered Plains, a series of large twisting canyons with a tunnel system that stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Also to the southwest is the ruins of the city of Emnil-Wreth, formerly the largest city on the continent, now, reduced to a few thousand people and sprawling overgrown ruins. To the west of that is Knife Ridge, an impossibly thin mountain range that separates the Sunken Lands from the ocean to the west.

In the center of the Sunken Lands, making up part of the Eastern Mountains, is a large island and volcano named Edagatsra that regularly erupts, sending ash to the east over Ladgan and occasionally to the west as well.

The reason for sunken continent is attributed to the large hotspot below Edagatsra, causing the entire area to slowly sink. The entire area also rests on a burgeoning fault-line that will one day join the western ocean, fulling splitting Northern and Southern Kenerif in two.

3000 years ago when the lands started fully sinking under the sea, Regalti civilization was already well re-established by this point. The land was a mostly flat plain other than the mountains running through the center. There were several large lakes that were rather deep. The old capital of the Vefarian Kingdom, Wrethilin was built on the eastern slopes of Edagatsra, then called Rensadsra. There were a number of settlements all over, attracted to the many hot springs and fertile land.

In the Imperial records, dating to 2,637 years B.E. (Before Exodus), an especially powerful storm wiped out the city of Rethvalka, about a hundred kilometers south of Ladgan. The floods never receded. A few years later, another especially powerful storm connected several of the large lakes in the area and the sea, turning the water to brine and killing the wildlife there.

At this point, most Vefarians got the message and went to higher ground to the west. The Emperors of Vefaria were rather stubborn however, and kept the capital where it was, New buildings were just built higher up the mountain of Rensadsra. In the year 2,454 B.E., Rensadsra became an island, and most of the area that makes up the Sunken Lands was below sea level. The Imperial Palace was complete, being built on top of Rensadsra in the year 2430 B.E. Then, the mountain started to come alive. There were earthquakes before, sure, but never on the mountain itself. Still the rulers of Vefaria ignored it.

In 2429 B.E. It Erupted, obliterating the Imperial Palace, ending the Empress at the time and killing over a hundred thousand people. In 2424 B.E, The Empress's Son had built the new city, Barun-Deth, in the mountains to the west, well away from the waterline, where Vefaria's government has been to this day.

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