Yellow River Canyon
The Yellow River Canyon is first and foremost a canyon and generally not a river. Once in a while, if there's enough rainfall in the west (which is becoming rarer and rarer), water will gather in the canyon and flow eastwards as a stream or small river until it either dries up or empties into the Red River. The vast majority of time, however, the canyon is dry.
Unlike the Red River, the Yellow River Canyon does not gain its name from the colour of the water (when it has any). Rather, its name comes from the rock that makes up the canyon, which is a yellow-orange colour. Sometimes, when there is water in the canyon and the light is just right, the colour of the rock reflects off the water's surface, giving it a yellow colour as well, but this is just an optical illusion.
The canyon runs from the Western Mountains, cutting east across the vast desert that makes up the majority of the northern part of the continent. It eventually flattens out just before reaching the Red River. It acts as the unofficial northern border of Taebur, separating it from the realm of Egg to the north.
The Khurvan people claim the length of the canyon and much of the desert north and south of it as their own. For the most part, they are friendly to travellers through the area, so long as those travellers respect Khurvan ways and acknowledge the land as belonging to the Khurvan. Those who are disrespectful find the Khurvan fierce enemies. They either die or end up fleeing the region.
Ecosystem
Situated well into the desert as it is, the region gets almost no rainfall (even during the rainy season). Water in the canyon is reliant on rainfall in the Western Mountains creating run-offs that collect in the canyon.
When there is water in the canyon, it is generally reasonably uncontaminated, especially nearer the Western Mountains where it hasn't yet had a chance to pick up contaminants. This has given it something of a unique ecosystem, where various hardy plants and animals that can survive for long periods of time on only small amounts of water have arisen.
Fauna & Flora
Giant lazzars are abundant in the area and the Khurvan use them extensively as riding and draft animals. The lazzars are the only large animals that exist naturally in the region, apart from an occasional black harvester that wanders in from deeper in the desert. Most other animals are no larger than a house cat and include various kinds of lizards, snakes, scorpions, and insects.
Plant life mostly includes small brush and occasional patches of grass. Most of these plants live within the canyon itself or along its walls. Very little lives at the top of the canyon, but it's not completely unknown for there to be the odd bit of brush.
History
It might seem obvious that there must have been a major river here at one point in time, one that carved out the canyon from the rock. However, like the Grand Canyon, which forms Taebur's southern border, no surviving Pre-War records mention a lengthy canyon in this region. But there are also very few Pre-War records describing the physical appearance of the Taebur region that survive anyway, so it could just be that the canyon existed then, but no records of it survive.
If the canyon didn't exist Pre-Wars, it opens up the question of just where it came from. Perhaps it was created by some weapon during the Final Wars, though there is no physical evidence to suggest any kind of explosion. Of course, perhaps the people of late Noetic Age and Final Wars Era (see Historical Ages) simply carved out the canyon for the fun of it. No one is entirely sure the technology for such a feat ever existed, but virtually every scholar will admit that it might have existed.
Photo of Wadi Hawir by Ahmed al Jaabri
