The Eye
I have long looked for someone to share their experiences with the Eye. I have yet to find one.
Geography
The Eye is an enormous crater, formed at the location of the great hobgoblin city of Scherbarra. It was formed circa 900 Be., although exact dates are impossible to come by.
The exterior of the Eye is a nearly 200-mile rim-to-rim crater, with side walls rising a mile above the surrounding lands. The crater is close to circular, with less than a mile of variation in diameter. The walls of the crater are sheer for about 4000 feet from the lip before the land starts to smooth into the surrounding land. Some vegetation has grown up on the sides, although almost exclusively vines that can attach to the steep sides.
The most notable features of the rising walls are the rain channels. Rain that falls on the Eye collects on the lip until it spills over into the rain channels. This has helped contribute to the name "The Eye", as the channels make it appear as though the Eye is crying during a significant storm. The water from a storm can continue to flow for hours or even days after the storm ends, forming waterfalls that feed into lakes and ponds around the exterior of the Eye. These lakes and ponds are extremely common in the area, and it is rare to be farther than a mile from a significant water source.
The Eye is a beautiful and terrible scar on the land. It can be seen from long distances, rising above the surrounding territory. From the west, Vorax's Wall lights up the sky behind the Eye - the permanent clouds of smoke that drift above let the sun filter through in the morning, bathing the Eye in red and orange. From the South, it sits alone, flat plains stretching out before it. The high cliffs are most daunting from here, as there are not even the hills of the other approaches to mask them. The Wall prevents approaching from the east, though the sight of it from Molac, the westernmost volcano in the Wall, would be one of the few places that the interior could be seen. From the north, the slopes of the Eye are covered in ice, reflecting the sun in a blinding ray during the summer, shrouded in shadow for almost the entirety of winter.
Ecosystem
The exterior of the eye covers a significant area. From where the slopes begin to flatten, the region of the Eye spreads about 10 miles farther out. The size of the Eye itself, plus this area, makes the region roughly 6500 square miles. The area including the interior, but not accounting for underground areas stacked on top of each other, is approximately 38,000 square miles.
The exterior band is rich with plant and animal life, although most of it tends to be deadlier than what is in settled regions - the settled regions have had hundreds of years to push back or eliminate the more dangerous creatures, and a lot of what they pushed back ended up in Conseptia, including around the Eye. Many of the trees and bushes in the area - although far from most - have been awakened by the magic leaking from the Eye. It is said that treants were once quite common in the area, but they are long gone or dead. Some of the apparent remains of these treants are tree blights, as blights of all sorts are common to the area. These plants are common enough that battles for domination become much more literal in the area.
The ample water supplies, plant life, and magic leaking out of the Eye result in abundant animal life in the area as well. The percentage that could be considered normal animals is very low - most would be described as monstrosities or aberrations, although the taxonomy established by the Koleran League would still classify the majority as beasts. The phrase red in tooth and claw is more appropriate to Conspetia in general and the land around the Eye in particular than elsewhere in the world - almost everything is a predator, and nothing has truly emerged as the apex for the region. Prey animals are in short supply, with one exception - leporids of many types. These include the arctic hares in the northern reaches, the zacatuche (or volcano rabbit) on the eastern slopes, the bunyoro and tapeti at the southern grasslands, and the cottontails primarily in the west but seen everywhere. These animals seem to be unaffected by the magic in the environment, except for the impact on reproduction rates. The leporids reproduce and grow at incredible rates. Without the various predator species in the area, leporids reproducing at those type of rates would be an environmental disaster.
Ecosystem Cycles
Seasonal changes are minor near the Eye, as both surrounding lands and the magic of the Eye itself are more prevalent than changing seasons.
The north and the east have very little seasonal change. The northernmost reaches, stretching farther around the west than the east, stay cold year round. Temperatures drop somewhat in winter, but plants and animals in the area are adapted to the cold and do not have major shifts when the temperature drops. The difference in daylight is the largest factor. This does not change much about the danger - it just shifts what types of predators are present at any time of the day. The east, by contrast, is hot throughout the year, due to the lava fields between the Eye and Vorax's Wall. Even daylight changes are muted in the region, as light from the fields interferes with standard cycles.
The south and west have much more standard seasonal changes, although even then the Eye region is not as affected as in the wider world. This is mostly due to magical leakage - plant growth is much more dependent on this leakage than light and water, so winter months do not slow things in the same way. The weather shifts much like other parts of the world, and this does have an impact on different species activity. The largest problem is that the impacts of the magic and seasonal changes is often unpredictable. While a cinnamon bear in Sulae can be counted on hibernating for several months a year, one on the western slopes of the Eye may need only a few days, or may sleep for years at a time.
Localized Phenomena
The magic from the Eye has resulted in several strange effects in the area. The following are observed effects - the hypothesized explanations have not been tested due to few expeditions every returning.
- Rain collection - During rain storms, it becomes nearly impossible to see across the Eye, and the rim becomes filled with water quite quickly, which overflows and provides the water to the various lakes and streams. Most believe that the Eye itself pulls the rain clouds towards it, resulting in the Eye getting much more rain than the immediately surrounding area. Consequently, it is assumed that the interior of the Eye is filled by a massive lake.
- Flying creatures - few flying creatures are present near the Eye, although the density a few miles away is normal. Some large birds of prey have been seen in the area, and there are unconfirmed reports of dragons flying near the rim, which has led many to the conclusion that the lack of flying animals is due to predation.
- Scopaesthesia - nearly everyone who has come close to the Eye has described a feeling of being watched nearly the entire time. A few have described how it would increase at times, becoming nearly overbearing. Those that did experience that increase in pressure were attacked by a creature before the feeling went away, although the small numbers with the feeling and the large number of attacks anyone in the area experiences may mean that this is a coincidence. The most accepted hypothesis is that visitors to the area are being watched constantly, and the magic in the air makes it easier to feel that.
- Shifting lands - some have reported changes to the very landscape. Trees moving position in the night, cave entrances disappearing, markings pointing to different places, and mold and slime coating areas that were clean hours or minutes before. The prevailing conclusion is that people are freaked out by the area and begin to see things.
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