The Grip of Sarvan

Nestled between the emerald peaks of the Sunset Mountains and the thundering waves of the Argent Ocean, lies a stretch of territory known as the Grip of Sarvan, so named after the corruptive Ancient Sarvan. It is an unclaimed, unregulated, and lawless area, a paradoxical geography where the laws of the kingdom— and often of nature itself— loosen their hold. The Grip is a land of contradictions, and it is believed that Sarvan's magic is the source of its strangeness. Neither fully land nor water, but an ever-changing mélange of marshes, quicksands, and misty moors. It changes its form throughout the day, heavily influenced by the phases of the two moons— Eirene and Prometha— and the weather, which is as temperamental as a scorned Ancient. During the day, steam rises into the air across the Grip, as the scorching sun cooks the wetlands. The soil is a rich purple hue, a rarity across Teralt, filled with precious but dangerous Imustones that glitter like stars with mysterious energy.
The region is not unpopulated; quite the contrary. A myriad of creatures— most unknown to the outer world— call it home. Ethereal wisps dance above the marshes, leading the unwary to their doom, while the lumbering moss-covered beasts known as Durs lurk beneath. The spectral song of the mysterious Ka'Shil echoes hauntingly through the night, a chilling lullaby to the myriad creatures that move under the cover of darkness.
Rumors whisper of a city of shadows in the heart of the Grip, where anarchists, outcasts, and exiles from the four corners of Teralt gather. They call it "Shade", a place where the dispossessed and the desolate create their own form of order out of chaos, beyond the reach of any king or council.
The few who dare to tread here, whether for exploration or to escape the hands of law, need to navigate by instinct and courage alone. Compasses go haywire, maps make no sense, and the stars seem to realign themselves whimsically. Only the Grip-dwelling nomads attuned to the arcane energies of the region— the Shade Guides— can traverse these lands without losing their path, or their sanity.
For kings and conquerors, the Grip of Sarvan remains an unconquerable challenge, an enigma that defies their rule and the laws of the land. Attempts to regulate or govern it have been met with failure and disaster—expeditions vanish, settlements sink into the marsh, and even powerful magic seems to twist and distort within its borders. It is Teralt’s wild heart, a testament to the untamable spirit of the world, a reminder of the unknown in an era of maps and kingdoms.
The Grip of Sarvan, in all its chaotic glory, is a land where fortunes can be found, destinies lost, and legends born. A land untouched by the dominion of crowns and scepters, a land that is a realm in its own right—mysterious, frightening, yet undeniably captivating to the outer world.

Type

Wetland / Swamp

Included Locations

• Shade

Inhabiting Species

• Grobians