Othrys Geographic Location in The Crossroad Realms | World Anvil

Othrys

Othrys, or Orthrys in some dialects, is said to be a series of swamp-worlds inhabited by trolls and titans.

Geography

The distance between Othrys' planetoids is approximately 100 miles. The Othrys worlds are all various kinds of swampland fed by the River Styx. Some were steaming bogs, others frigid slimes, all of them drab and unpleasant.   The marshlands were broken only by low mountains, which are the home of Titans. The ground is soft beyond these highlands, and the peat occasionally caved into sink-holes or canyons.

Ecosystem

Being heavy, the titans who live on this layer struggle to set up their societies in the swamps. Therefore, what few dry landforms exist on Othrys are controlled by titans in grim stone holds, with other lifeforms fighting over scraps in the bog.   Some fables describe towns on stilts in the swamp, most commonly featuring witches who offer the hero escape in exchange for a grim price. Devils often fill this role as well, though in those tales the fiends typically manifest in a puff of sulphurous smoke, rather than living in the plane.

Localized Phenomena

The presence of the River Styx is said to infuse all the ground of Othrys with its memory-wiping properties. Objects buried here lose their attunements, and corpses buried here, if raised, are blank slates with no memories.

Fauna & Flora

Trolls feature commonly in legends and stories about Orthys. It being a swamp-plane, various kinds of mosquito clouds, demonic crocodiles, and giant spiders are also common.   The horrors don't stop at animal-life, though. Several stories feature escapes and defeats at the hands of carnivorous plants and poisonous algae.

History

A Jotun legend says that the Titan homeworld once stood in what is now eastern Hades, the location where Carceri is shown on most world maps. According to this myth, the gods broke the titans' connection to the Crossroad Realms, ending their war with the Giants and trapping the titans in Orthrys.
Alternative Name(s)
Titan's Home
Type
Dimensional plane
Location under
Included Locations


Cover image: The Magic Brush by Zsolt Kosa