Shining Cove

Between coastal hills in the west and the World Spine in the east forms a long cove with sand shimmering on its shores like gold dust. Far in the distance a large barrier island keeps out the worst of the ocean gusts, making the coastal winds unusually mellow for the area. Green grasslands reach inward from the coast along a wide river, making for a picturesque river valley around an otherwise bare and dry landscape.

The shimmering waters of Jibisál Ghunu are one of the oldest known homes of civilization on a larger scale. During the First Age, it was at the heart of a region of competitive city-states engaged in trading and crafting luxuries such as gold and silver, jewelry and wine. Before that during the Silent Age, it was home to Bhasulud, an Elder God symbolized by a peacock dancing beneath a bright, blue sky.

Emerald Coast

Most of the heartland of the Shining Cove is watered by seasonal rainfall from the sea, giving life to greenery all around. Olive, hazel and oak trees give shelter to waxy-leaved undergrowth, their roots burried deep within the sandy earth. Grasslands near the coast offer fertile farmland and much of it has been in human use since the Silent Age, being used to cultivate mainly grain, flax and grapes.

Herds of wild, lightly built cattle roam freely across the steady landscape, threathened only by humans and small wolf packs. Foxes, martens and weasels hide in the rocky crevices of the western hillside where mice and rabbits among other small critters have learned to hide their burrowed nests. Among the rarest sights are the sacred peafowls of Bhastulud with their sunset-shaded feathers.

While the old name for the mainland shore is Emerald Coast, the entire region has come to refer to its city-states and settlements as being part of the Shining Cove instead of the mainland continent.

Guardian Island

A large, somewhat narrow island separates the cove from the Trade Sea in the south. Greenery covers the pale cream-colored bedrock rising as cliffs near the shoreline, and tall hills protect the beach and waters from powerful gusts of wind. The Guardian Island has been home to a number of settlements, from small fishing villages to large tradeports since the Silent Age, though the sizes of these settlements have varied greatly over the ages.

Alternative names: Jibisál Ghunu
Alt. Pronunciation: /ˌjibiˈsaːl xuˈnu/

Located in: southern Nalidin
Type: cove