Southern Province

Incredibly difficult to penetrate over land, the Southern Province is hailed as the most powerful military force and legendary for being the only province that could withstand being drawn in to The Last War through sheer determination and skill. No part of the Southern Province is welcoming to anything less than hardy inhabitants. It is vastly composed of the Titan's Spine, the largest known mountain range above sea level that accounts for the highest recorded peaks. Beyond this are hot scrublands, dry forests, and the least explored place on the continent: the Lotus Tendrils. Here minotaurs and orcs live peacefully in a mixed society in the shadow of the immense volcano Gruumsh's Fall, their deities Luthic and Baphomet still walking among them.

Geography

Mountainous, hilly borders to the mainland, accounting for some of the tallest peeks. Warm seas to the southern border, though the pass between the mainland and the waterways of the Harbor of Teeth is treacherous. The scrublands and dry forests experience dramatic dry and wet seasons. Land at the base of the mountains where silt is brought down from the peeks or runs from Gruumsh's Fall are very fertile, culminating in a gigantic jungle known as the Lotus Tendrils. This is a huge river basin with the widest river on the continent. Off the southern shore are the tropical Cat-Tail Keys near the Cat's Paw archipelago.

Fauna & Flora

The biodiversity of the Southern Province is impressive. There is a great number of unaccounted for species both magical and mundane in the Lotus Tendrils and dry forests beyond the mountain range. Very few large predators roam the mountain range itself. Creatures that succeed in expending little energy, generating little heat, holding water and going long periods without food or drink are almost all that is seen outside the Lotus Tendrils.
The mountain residents consist of primarily ungulates and large predatory or scavenging avians that boast impressive wingspans, with a healthy population of Rocs spanning the entire Titan's Spine. A unique varanid with a heavily restricted range, the Titan Monitor prowls the colorful valleys of the Crackskull Gulley. Gruumsh's Fall is home to the only known population of proto-phoenixes. This species is one of concern thanks to illegal poaching. Proto-phoenixes mate for life, and with a lack of mates they have taken to interbreeding with the closely related Rocs, producing infertile hybrids that show a vigor unsustainable by their environment of scarcity. Geothermic activity creates geysers and hot springs which in turn create micro-climates for some plants and extremophile micro-organisms and invertebrates. Fresh water is typically available only in the form of snow melt and rapidly running streams at higher elevations. Most life in the Southern Province exists outside of the mountain range as a result.
The lowlands are much more the place for wildlife, though it is still scrappy and hardy. Mammalian and flightless avian creatures tend to move in groups, but most usually herds, protecting them from the few saurian species that hunt the scrub lands or desert crossings: allosaurus, carnotaurus and velociraptor. Large non-saurian predators include thylacine and smilodon. Herd animals move between the river delta and the scrub lands depending on the time of year; retreating to the rivers when the dry season hits, and fleeing it when they begin to flood in the wet season. These are primarily ungulates, including mundane species such as the quagga, aurochs, red gazelles and scimitar oryx. Large flightless birds such as Gonkbamus, Axebeaks and Moas flock on the scrub lands year round brooding during the season when food is low. Small game birds such as quail and pheasant are common.
Before the chromatic dragon extermination efforts the Southern Province was known to be home to brown, yellow, green and blue dragons. The best known metallics were brass, bronze and coppers- silvers and golds were unheard of. Iron dragons were rumored to live in the dry forests. Like elsewhere on the continent Metallic populations are unknown. While hosting a large variety the Southern Province had one of the lowest dragon populations. Vishaps outnumbered their larger kin as they could more easily sustain themselves.

Natural Resources

The mainstay of the Southern Province is self-sufficiency. They are able to mine for a great deal of practical metals, though precious gems and metals are not terribly common in the mountains, have good hunting among the herds on the scrub lands, and has access to fertile farmland and good wood. Geothermal energy accounts for the majority of the electricity used, with hydropower from the Province's only dam accounts for the rest.
The Southern Province's goods are expensive as they are invariably costly to transport. Often times Southern Province goods have been on the caravan line longer than any of the others in the same journey. As a result most of the goods desired from them are purely luxury goods. Decorative grain hardwoods from the Lotus Tendrils, raw coffee bean, and teas account for the most profitable exports. Instruments made in the region as well as traditional weaponry are also highly prized.
The unique wildlife of Southern Province makes them the target of many a gaze. These species are already strained by their natural environment, and as many as 45% now suffer from poaching efforts of some kind of another, be it taking live proto-phoenixes for the exotic pet trade to killing southern elephants for their ivory. The law struggles to keep up- most poaching can't rightly be prevented, only the trade of goods being stopped at the border's choke points. In recent years navigating the treacherous Underdark beneath the Titan's Spine range has become a popular way to escape passing through typical caravan routes like Hellmouth, gaining them the grim nickname "death caravans" both for their cargo and the fate they risk meeting. Grave robbery is also a problem, with death caravan travelers not being against selling orc tusks and minotaur horns and skulls.

Type

Territory