Sur'Dhanza
The continent of Sur’Dhanza is made up of three islands; one large enough to rival Mordrekain in size, with a smaller mass at either end of its sprawling, crooked length. The largest of these islands, simply referred to as Sur’Dhanza, features an extreme range of weather patterns and biomes. A passion project of Malephesh himself, he sought freedom from the monotony he saw in the lands carved out by his fellow Elemental gods. By carefully arranging the mountains, fault lines, and water sources across the land masses, he formed a continent of extreme conditions.
On the northern arm of the main island, as well as in the sheltered valley of the comparatively-tiny Nir’Dhanza, precipitation is intercepted by the great Blade Wall, Nazzim, forming the expansive desert for which Sur’Dhanza is best known to the cultures of the northern hemisphere. The near-constant rainfall on the mountain range’s southern side has formed a lush - though equally deadly - rainforest which covers much of the continent’s great bend.
A river on the border of this great jungle gives way to the cliffs and canyons of the southeastern arm, where the soft red rock and multitude of natural springs have created a gargantuan maze of winding valleys and treacherous cliff walls. Steadily, towards the tip of this end of Sur’Dhanza’s main mass, the stone gives way to more fertile soil once again before finally giving way to a small stretch of grasslands, forests, and minor peaks.
Beyond the bay at the tip of this arm is the third island, Yal’Dhanza. At one time, the great lake at the center of this temperate region was considered a place of purity and life, giving even the swamps at the end of its largest outlet a sense of vibrancy that contrasted greatly with the dismal, festering place it is today. Since the fall of Malephesh, something has taken root in this place, warping the trees and corrupting the very earth with a foul energy that few intelligent beings are able to stomach. Beyond this, the frigid winds of the poles pound against the shores, creating vast fields of snow and ice over the shoreline and ocean, stamping out what little life has escaped the foul influence of the island’s center.
Nestled in the crook of these three islands, deep beneath the open ocean, is a massive coral reef. It is said that this place once served as a meeting place of the various species of merfolk, a social center where customs and goods were brought to teach and trade with their fellows. Since the rending of the world, however, there have been few signs of intelligent life in the region, and far fewer that seem friendly to curious surface-dwellers.
Fauna & Flora
Sur’Dhanzah’s southern jungles are vast, untamed regions bristling with life. Much of this life actively seeks to kill interlopers, but within the small fraction that doesn’t, one can find some of the sweetest fruits and most sought-after beans in the known world. The fruits are a major part of Sur’Dhanzan cuisine, even as far from their natural source as the Kiarren capital of Sharast, but the secrets of perfectly-made coffee and cocoa are attributed wholly to the Jalarren.
In their water-logged villages and temples, the first generations of Jalarren made frequent expeditions back into the jungles where their ancestors had lived and returned with various prizes. Among them were the pods of cocoa plants and coffee berries. At first, they struggled to find a use for these finds, as the former seemed utterly inedible and the latter simply unpleasant. Attempts to find ways to make the things palatable failed time and time again before a series of accidents - unrelated to one another, but surprisingly close in time frame - finally revealed the true potential of the formerly useless fruits.
There are a great number of terrifying beasts throughout Sur’Dhanza. Some, like the dreaded Kinywa, are fearful abominations that are good for little more than hides and hunting trophies. Others are too large to be taken down safely alone, but provide hundreds of pounds of meat if hunted by parties, such as the Nyangumi or the Msafiri. Among the smaller, less edible creatures, however, one finds many of the most loyal companions of the three arren species.
From the jackal-like frillhounds to the insidious trap scorpions, the Arren have been known to subjugate and domesticate almost any creature not large or dangerous enough to kill them outright, and sometimes even those are not spared the fate of servitude. This practice has provided all three with an eclectic but undoubtedly helpful collection of living tools at their disposal. Hunting, hauling, protection, scouting; if there is a job that requires only basic instruction and some motivation to complete, there is someone in Sur’Dhanza who has taught a beast to perform it in their stead.
Type
Continent
Characters in Location
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