Mukebahari Bay

General introduction

The Mukebahari Bay is a major marginal sea that cuts deep into eastern Erana. It separates the cool temperate to temperate Northeast of the continent from the subtropical to tropical Southwest by stretching inland from the eastern ocean on an almost straight east-west-axis. North of the Mukebahari Bay is the Vívarar Fold, south the Madini Steppe and Madini Desert and in the West it touches upon the Úhtisnálbjó. One major feature of the Mukebahari Bay is the Mukebahari Mountain, an active volvano forming an island in the centre of the Mukebahari Bay.

Geography, climate and features

The Úhtisnálbjó directly border the Mukebahari Bay in the West, causing the western shore to be very steep and rocky. The cliffs end, where the Blauðir streams into the Mukebahari Bay. From there on, all the way until the bay meets the ocean, the shoreline is flat and the beaches, sandy or stony, border on a sea that is for the most part quite shallow. A number of small rivulets drain the Vívarar Fold and flow into the Mukebahari Bay, but most of them are only temporary or shift their bed every now and then.
The climate to the North is temperate, to the South warm, almost tropical. Water evaporating from the Mukebahari Bay is almost exclusively carried north and east by the wind, leaving the Madini Steppe and Madini Desert with an arid warm to hot climate and the eastern stretches of the Úhtisnálbjó arid, while the Vívarar Fold and the smaller mountains to the Northeast as well as the Austara Hrís see plenty of rainfall or snowfall. The southern shore of the Mukebahari Bay is mostly sandy until it reaches the mountains of what the Madini call the Ipindi Mountains.

The main geographical feature is the Mukebahari Mountain. This giant volcano is the biggest in Erana and the seventh biggest in Samthô, with the other six all being in Emniyama. Its volcanic activity dominates the local climate, as it heats up the bay to an amount, that is not normal for this latitude. The evaporation caused provides the North with precipitation and also with nutrients, as volcanic ashes are carried north, too and are washed onto the land either by just falling to the ground or by being washed out of the air by rain. This causes the Austara Hrís to be especially lush, but also the Vívar to be quite poor in species, as regular algal blooms pose a constant challenge to most fish and water plants.

History and culture

While the Vívarar Fold is mostly uninhabited and the western shores of the bay are mainly steep cliffs and sharp rocks, there used to be major activity of the Madini people in ancient times until about 4600 years ago the events around the Great Scorching lead to the destruction of almost all settlements along the southern coast of the Mukabahari Bay.

Before the cataclysmic event, at least three major settlements lay at the shore and made use of the numerous resources the sea has to offer. Apart from fishing and salt farming, the Madini engaged in maritime trade, although the closest trade partners, the Andaperna people were far off. Nonetheless sea-trade was far more easy than transporting the goods south over the Ipindi Mountains. From a few murals we know, that the Madini used long, narrow ships with triangular sails for trade.

Otherwise not much is known about that time, as the Madini were for the most part illiterate, except for a few limited uses of the Andaperna cuneiform script, which was adapted for notes on trade or to keep track of royal genealogies, enthronements and occasionally also historical events, like the arrival of a foreign embassy or an uprising. The use of the script became only widespread well into the Era of the Earth.

During the Era of the Earth, the Mukebahari Bay and its shores stayed a place considered cursed and shunned by the Madini. Trade with Andaperna was continued on the more arduous land-way, although some better roads have been built to ease the passage through the mountains. Apart from the Andaperna people, the Madini also traded with the transient Duiniken kingdom in northern Andaperna and later on with the Duiniken in Nuat Duinis Talou.

Currently the shores of the Mukebahari Bay have become home to those driven away by or marginalised within the Madini societies. They make a living by fishing and harvesting salt, much like their ancestors. Also, at least for a short time, the Tarrabaenians exploited one of the very western small side bays of the Mukebahari Bay for pearls of the Avennas Oyster. The bivalve eventually died out - at least in that small bay - and the Madini did not allow for further exploration as they feared to draw the gods or spirits attention to the Madini again.

Type

Bay