High Rift
The Aurean province of High Rift is found on a large plateau in the center of The Dragonpeaks, and extends west from the plateau into the pass leading down towards the The Western Forest. Huge crack-like ravines cut across the plateau in a weblike pattern, making the upper portions resemble islands divided by many rifts. Most of High Rift’s inhabitants live on the surface of these islands, concentrated around the trading towns along its major roads. The islands have bleak vegetation and little moisture, making farming difficult, and most food is imported from the provinces of Hektanpolis and The Rise. The limited rainfall is collected in huge cisterns at most settlements, with the rest pouring into the ravines.
The major roads cross the chasms at huge stone bridges built over the shortest gaps. Long, treacherous rope bridges span some of the other ones, connecting the region's more disparate settlements. Orcs, goblinoids, gnolls, and opportunistic human bandits have made use of the unusual geography to attack caravans and travelers, hiding out of sight along the edges of the ravines, making travel through some areas quite dangerous.
The ravines themselves plunge down as much as a thousand feet, usually along nearly sheer cliffs. From above one can usually see only mist and the tops of a mostly hidden jungle canopy. The ravines are filled with a lush, swampy forest known as The Undercanopy which holds most of the region's water, but it is rarely visited as it is home to many giant spiders, mobile plants, and tribes of often aggressive lizardfolk.
The province's capital is the holy city of Sepentum, found on a large island at the center of the plateau. Said to have once been visited by the god Deyallor, a giant metal statue of a dragon situated on top of the city's Deyallor temple is visible for miles around. The city notably has no walls, relying on the ravines and a system of towers and forts spread across the island for defense. Much of the area of the city is taken up by huge cisterns that resemble lakes in the wetter months.
Demography and Population
Like most of Aurea's mountain provinces, the residents of High Rift are primarily human. It's dwarven population is larger then even most of the other mountain provinces, especially around the dwarven city of Cavernhold in the west. It also has an unusually large number of half-orcs, similar to the Rise.
Most of the population lives in a small number of towns and cities along the major trade roads that connect many of the plateaus. The rest live in small, often difficult to reach settlements where they graze livestock on the plateau's sparse grasses. The most notable livestock are the small Rift Goats, weighing only about thirty pounds, which are especially common on remote plateaus only accessible by narrow rope bridges. The goats are small enough to be carried, and in some places are the only livestock found. These villages are often highly egalitarian, with villagers electing their own chieftens in a tradition going back for millenia, and despite being at the heart of the Empire shockingly little has changed in these remote settlements since the dragon emperors conquered them thousands of years ago.
Type
Geopolitical, Province
Alternative Names
Deyallor's Archipelago, The Central Plateau, The Plateau
Parent Organization
Location
