Vardura

Varudra is a landmass on Gavros that lies eastward from Keshloam across The Vast. Much is unknown about the continent or its peoples. It has been over 500 years since anyone from Keshloam has had any significant contact with the people of Vardura, but it was not always this way.
At the very end of the Unknown Era, the two nations separated entirely under the The Decree Against Foreign Discord. There would be no contact until its expiration in 1080 AC.

The First Echwink Expedition

Chaus Echwink landed on the shores of Vardura with 100 explorers in Vision of 1080 AC. From there, they found a fascinating and wondrous landscape of what looked like 500 years of accelerated overgrowth. All signs of the previous Varduran civilization were buried under this growth, as if swallowed by the very land itself.
The Expedition would face a similar fate. When the ominous blood-moon of Gnet rose over Vardura in the year 1080 AC, the land erupted in insane violence. Monsters burst forth from the wilds and even normally docile fauna attacked the explorers with an uncontrollable bloodlust. The violence pursued the people from their excavation sites and encampments all the way back their ships. Of the 100 explorers that set foot on the shores of Vardura, only 27 survived the trip back home. Chaus Echwink was not among them.
In the years following, the survivors' stories would become largely regarded as just more tall tales out of Vardura. Few believed in the existence of the alleged "maizegrown" peoples born from corn, the seemingly living volcano and its mysterious attendant, or the circumstances surrounding Chaus Echwink's untimely death. The few survivors of the expedition would soon fade from the public conversation and largely forgotten. It was only after 30 years of deliberate lobbying, networking, and leveraging that Walden Echwink, son of Chaus, gained enough support to mount a second, much more robust, expedition.

The Second Echwink Expedition

30 years after the first failed Echwink Expedition, Walden Echwink would assemble a collection of scholars, explorers, and adventurers for another attempt to explore Vardura and complete his father's mission. Due to the intensely private nature of Gattish business, it’s impossible to know exactly what Walden did to raise the money and clout necessary for this second venture, though rumors claim that several government entities about Keshloam have become involved in the project.
The Second Echwink Expedition launched Ashes 1, 1120 AC, equipped with five times more people and support than 30 years earlier. This time, the Echwinks, and their dozens of public and private backers, were determined to stay.
Of what will happen to this second venture across the Vast into the legend of Vardura has yet to be seen.

Type

Continent

Location under

Gavros

Included Locations

• Swango Swamp

Included Organizations

• Echwink Expeditions
• The Ill Tide
• The Windblown

Related Reports (Primary)

• Harmony Session 1: A Fresh Start
• Harmony Session 10: And the Snails Lived Happily Ever After
• Harmony Session 11: We're Never As Lost Or As Found As We Think We Are
• Harmony Session 12: The Hidden Grove
• Harmony Session 13: Cardiovascular Telmotology
• Harmony Session 2: Rodent Rush
• Harmony Session 3: The Risen Harvest
• Harmony Session 4: Petrified Evolution
• Harmony Session 5: Laying the Foundation
• Harmony Session 6: Swango Tango
• Harmony Session 7: Swamp of Secrets
• Harmony Session 8: Diving into the Past
• Harmony Session 9: The Girl in the Swamp
• The Ill Tide: Late Rescue
• TMNS s01e01: Fire in the Dark

Related Plots

• Varduran Exploration

Important Events
The Decree Against Foreign Discord
Related Locations
Valen'taomi

Since the Decree Against Foreign Discord, the exotic trade from Vardura stopped completely. No Varduran ship has been seen on the Vast since that day, either at the island of Valen’taomi or elsewhere. Few Keshloamic ships have attempted to sail east to see what had become of Vardura. Likely because, of those that tried, few were ever seen again.
One ship that allegedly returned from Varduran waters carried an impressive tale. The infamous Saltbreath, captained by The Selachii Tan’net Churlo, sailed across the Varduran border in 617 AC to seek treasure, secrets, and bragging rights. They made it three days into what Selachii call the “Deep-deep” when they faced a huge wall of grey clouds. Fearing a storm, Captain Tan’net turned the ship about, only to be quickly surrounded by what appeared to be a small fleet of fast-moving skiffs under cover of these mysterious wisps of cloud.
The silhouetted craft moved impossibly fast, seemingly driven by a powerful wind that somehow avoided filling the Saltbreath's sails. Tan’net’s boat was dead in the water. The supposed Vardurans circled the ship like sharks closing in on their prey. Suddenly, the wind buffeted the Salthbreath’s sails with a force so powerful that the entire crew fell to their knees. When they stood, they saw only open water about them – the grey mist and mysterious skiffs were nowhere to be seen. What Captain Tan’net and his crew could see, however impossibly, was the distinct outline of the familiar shores Bragaki in the Drembari Isles. Somehow, they had traveled thousands of miles in a brief instant, propelled with haste back west across the Vast.
Few believed the full truth of Captain Tan’net’s tale, filing the incident as just another reason to not venture out into the Deep-deep.