Twin lakes plains

Many of the regions of the continent of Teria are quite habitable, like the fertile green plains of Southern Teria and the almost tropical areas close to the Interior and Stormy seas or the Northwest of the continent. Even life and civilization have found their way into the cold north. But if you are born in the area around the Twin Lakes area people might consider you either the bravest of people in the continent or the unluckiest person on Earth. But why is it?, well is a combination of many factors, like constant nomad raids but most importantly due to the region being prone to natural disasters.

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Characteristics of the area

The area of the Twin Lakes is located in North Western Teria, between the kingdoms of Wesdaland and Stormitia. The region is famous for their two great lakes called Omebusey, the biggest of the two, in the South, and LintestelbaIt in the North. It is home to at least five active volcanoes, three small and two big ones. The small ones belong to the "shield type" of volcanoes and usually erupt each 5 or 10 years and, because of their nature and the liquid lava they expulse, they tend to cover a considerable area of the northern plains with their lava.
The big ones, like Mount Shorough in the South or Mount Abungos in the north-east, usually erupt once each 200 or 300 years and can reach almost 3000 meters in height.
To add to the misfortunes, the plains area is also prone to Hurricanes, as the cold wind from the Dark Ocean clashes with the warm winds from the east, from the deserts on the borders of Steplia and from the semi-tropical regions of the south.
Being one of the rainiest areas of Teria doesn't help, especially during winter when floods and overflowing rivers usually occur and floods occur in the areas surrounding the two large lakes. That's the reason why the sedentary human populations there They build their settlements on the tops of the hills in the area, many of which are actually extinct volcanoes.

by Weebly

The dwarves also take advantage of the extinct volcanoes, but unlike humans, they have dug their settlements inside these mountains, where they have developed their civilization, isolated from the outside world, until about 150 years ago.

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Who lives there?

As it has been said, the two main groups that live in the area around the Twin Lakes are humans and dwarves.

by Peter Connolly

Humans have lived in the surface of these region probably for longer than the dwarves. This place is the ancient homeland of what are called the Wesdalandian-Sephenian peoples that include, aside of Sephenians and Wesdalandians, the Tushpites and the Radali peoples. The later seem to have populated the region around the turn of the Era. The Radali tribe that live in the region is known as the Astarobres. Their disperse hillforts formed a confederation that annually met near Omebusey Lake to choose their leader or "brogobratos" in their native tongue.
Their main occupations are agriculture in the fertile plains, and the pillage and plundering of neighbouring settlements, although they are also avid traders, selling furs, mead and grain to the dwarves in exchange for jewellery and other objects related to the famous dwarven jewellery.

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Dwarves, on the other hand, have recently emerged as a new power in the region following the Dawn of the Dwarves almost two centuries ago and, although their relations with the Astarobres at first weren't the better both peoples began to respect each other and because of the harsh conditions of the area they began cooperating between them exchanging goods, helping giving food or refuge when one of the two communities need it. They know this region as the Oran Gorzmur (the Black Lands) or as Oran Mithun (The Lands of Fire). Their biggest city is Enan Mithun, inside an extinct volcano called the Wizard's Hat.
The dwarves here have grown rich trading both with the Astarobres but also with the Witharfians to the north. They are sworn enemies of the nomads, who have tried in vain to gain access to their settlements, and who are always generous in giving refuge to their Radali neighbours whenever they suffer their raids or are affected by a natural disaster such as a hurricane or a volcanic eruption.

A dwarf couple by Midjourney

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Many disadvantages but also many advantages...

As you can see these plains are not the nicest place to live. The best season could be spring and summer. But a consequence of the continuous eruptions and floods is the extraordinary fertility of the soil in the area thanks to this volcanic terrain. Also due to this volcanic activity, basalt is very common in the area, and is the favourite stone of the dwarves to build their settlements (and is, along with solidified lava, the reason why the dwarves know this area as the Black Lands).