Thundermaw

Geography

Three major rivers flow from the mountains to the Southwest into a bay called the Mouth of Thunder, from which the region gets its name. Each river has a few villages strung along them, as well as a major city on or around their mouths.

Fauna & Flora

The local climate ranges from tropical rain forest in the north and around the coasts to savanna.

The bay itself is a shelter for coral reefs that house many kinds of fish. In the rain forests, trees of various heights shelter a variety of other plants, fungi, and beasts with their limbs. In these regions, there is rain and heat year-round, with little distinction between seasons. There are birds, bugs, and reptiles of every hue, primates, felines, deer, pygmy elephants, and boars. Mangroves right on the coast are home to unique species adapted to live in the brackish conditions.

Along the transition into the drier savanna, the ecosystem of monsoon forests relies more heavily on the cycle of wet and dry seasons. Diversity decreases, but many creatures are bigger and fiercer.

Druids and nomadic peoples fiercely defend the wildlife of their region, even predators and grazers that make life difficult for rural settlements.

Natural Resources

A lot of the soil is clay-rich, so there are high exports of and using pottery. There are mountains to the southwest with a variety of ores to mine, and the many rivers that flow from it make the downhill transport easier. There are also some smaller deposits of these ores brought down to lower altitudes by the water table.

The tropical rain forests have unique fruits and animals, and the inland regions support large herds of large grazing animals. Each vertex has a continually developing growth of Aetherite, which is a key component of many modern technologies and is highly valued overall.

Currently, swarms of vicious sea monsters have halted most trade out of the Mouth of Thunder itself. They also make it difficult to fish in the local waters, harming that industry.

History

This tropical bay used to be the center of the Ereduarn Empire. It held many important cities including its capital, and thrummed with international trade. The empire expanded rapidly in its last century before the gods of its state religion, the Brazen Order, called for their faithful to prepare to be taken into Mirala because the world was about to be shaken. And shaken it was. Three days after much of the empire vanished, The Wake happened. There were long Days of Madness that followed until dynarchy spread to the region and granted it stability once more.

Since then, the few dwarves and the humans, gnomes, and others who didn't disappear have slowly rebuilt in the ruins of the empire's monumental cities. They and their descendants had frequent wars with themselves and with the Z'syliss and centaurs living nearby. Today, most Z'syliss keep to themselves, avoiding their red-moon neighbors whenever possible unless they feel the need to defend their hunting grounds. There are fewer centaurs than the other races, but they now get along well with the red-moon races.

/So was the general order of things for hundreds of years, until thousands of people, mostly dwarves, appeared in old empire ruins a year or so ago, claiming to be the lost Ereduarn. Whoever they are, their arrival placed enormous strains on international relations and the local food supply. The Ereduarn tried and failed to retake the region of their old capital city through a failed attempt on the resident dragonking's life, so they still are a people without a nation. Some have settled into the new order of power under the dragons and giants of the area, and some have fled the region to find the rest of the empire or avoid famine, but some who stay hold growing resentment, and may strike again when they feel the time is right./

Tourism

Historians and sight-seers visit Thundermaw for old Ereduarn ruins. Other than that, many travelers pass through vertex cities on their travels, so those tend to have more establishments that might interest passers-by.

Depicted is a map of the region. Red dots indicate cites, and the white spires dotted around mark Vertexes, which are points of interest for magical reasons and for transportation.

Maps

Thundermaw Region
Named for the unusual amount of lighting in the region, the Mouth of Thunder is a sea set right along Kyre's equator. The name extends to the larger sub-region of Ondala, which has a variety of tropical climates.