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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:41 pm

Deserts
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

The Endless Waste

Beyond the Chaos mountains the Endless Waste stretches on as far as the traveler can wander in shifting sands and desolation. No man is known to have crossed the whole of it and even the tribes of riders with their wizened loremasters know of none who have survived the journey.

It is said by the superstitious that long ago a band of ragged men set out to build a fortress in the center of the desert, but never returned from their doomed quest. They left a great white marble rose, carved with foreign runes behind at the last of the foothills to mark their passing into the desert so long ago that the marble has worn nearly smooth with time.

Salt Flats of Gilbain: Also known as Harrison’s Tears.

"Auch, Phew. Salt flats re bad luck. No cross em’ at least not without eating your friends. That how the Orcs did it, or so I hears. Cross near two hundred miles of empty desert and baking heat. In the day you roast and night you freeze. We send men out to collect the salt once in a while, but never beyond the edge."

"The rancid motherless Orcs came through anyway though, ten thousand, no idea how many didn’t make it. Didn’t look like we were going to be able to stop that many, not till Grayston showed up."

"Great man him, smarts too. Said to us ‘Look men, they are falling down from dehy-something and without water they’ll die.’ Then ‘e says, ‘Lets help ‘em along boys.’ And leads the charge right at ‘em. I’ve never seen such a man before in my life. He looked like he was going to kill all ten thousand himself and our army was along just for the show. Anyway we fought with them for a day or so and their survivors turned north and fled."

"Prince Grayston was right, they were so thirsty that they couldn’t stay and fight. We’ve been holding down the raids from the survivors ever since, but once they got into the north forest and picked up some water and game it got a lot harder."

"I just hope Grayston and Harrison have something figured out soon, or a lot of us’n going to die soon."

-Gurston Ohallas, Harrison Soldier


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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:42 pm

Forests
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

Ari Forest

‘Tak Bak Banor, that’s all I say on the matter you fool!’

‘The Ari’ Forest is the home of the Half Goblins, but wise you would be to call them the Ga’Vin or better yet call them not at all. We warriors of Susspin have dealt with their raiding parties longer than even the most ancient can remember. Its a wise man who knows where he is not wanted and avoids it like the plague. You Toevass members do not strike me as exceptionally wise men in this regard. Well luck to you scrivener, may your fire burn long. I will pass this on to the other members of your house, just in case you don’t make it back from that forest’

-Last words spoken to Stephan Kiljaro, Sixth Tome of House Toevass
before he entered the Ari Forest

Dorchak Forest

‘Ooky, Ooky laddie. Yupper, this forest is just that. Wasna so bad until the last thirty years or so. Before Gromm came there were fewer beasties in the forest and the wraiths weren’t all stirred about us humans. Now days though, Well lets just say we have our fair share of missing loggers. If it’s not the wolves it the orcs, if not the orcs its the trolls, if not the trolls, its something worse and even the forest herself will kick you out if you wander in too far. No one I know has ever made the center and I have been living in these parts nigh on sixty year.’

-Ballanto An’Tal, Head Woodsman of N’Tor

Sylv’An’Dar

‘Jus a pointy eared legend Toevass, and if you be knowing what is good for you, you’ll let things stay that way.’

-A’fa’Nashri, an elf wearing a star signet upon his lapel.

Vaunephasauk

‘We are the keepers of order and the preservers of fate Toevass, our legions of Vaunephasauk have been beating this forest into submission for centuries now. Each year, new spawn of the mountains flows into the valleys and must be dealt with. If even once we fail the entire kingdom shall be over-run with things so terrible you cannot even imagine, and they all lurk within the depths of that forest that bounds this mighty duchy.

‘Next time, before you think to call us gentle philanthropists in you speeches and books, pick up a boar spear and stand next to us. You worry about the king’s war against Gromm, but that is only a skirmish compared to the long fight we have had here'

‘I appologize, my temper got the better of me gentle scribe. I am flustered at how little aid and recognition my warriors get from the outside world for the work that they perform.’

-Captain Marcelus Auxius of the Order Guard


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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:43 pm

Mountains
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

Chaos Mountains

‘This arrow straight range bounds the western edge of the kingdom of Silverthorne in a North-South line. Within its twisting passes and sharp edged crags many a man has lost his life and even more returned as twisted shells of the men they were. It is said by some that the range is cursed, others claim it is linked to the very heart of darkness, still others believe that wild energies of change run rampant over lines of ancient ruins shifting whatever crosses their path to new form out of perverse will.

‘I regret that I cannot tell you more, but I can find no people who have been there or who will admit to having been there. Even in Westinon which borders the mountain slopes the people just frown and wander away if I ask about the range.’

-Guer of Silverthorne, Archivist

Crescent Mountains

‘I served in the high passes of the Crescents before joining the house, so I can tell you with fair accuracy what they are like. Cold, biting so deep it numbs the very bones, and snow to your waist or deeper so that you must walk on shoes of pine boughs.

‘Creatures of all kind and creed came together in the winter, dwarf, man, even elf, and an ogre, all just to survive the winter. There wasn’t time or energy for fighting anything other than those who tried to eat you, and it took every moment just to stay alive.

‘Toward spring we had our first encounter with dark Elves, they raided through the Dwarven caves and sacked clan Stonebiter. (To be honest I am not sure if they were a clan or a war/foraging band, but that is what they called themselves.) They were followed above ground by a veritable horde of orcs and their allies, a unit of Gromm’s band had finally come to Northwatch.

‘The mountains proved to our advantage though, the orcs were not used to the weather or the terrain, and we had spent months learning what creatures to avoid. With careful baiting and guerilla tactics the orcs were dissuaded from that route, though none really made it out to explain why they couldn’t get across to their superiors.’

-Strider Al’Terra in his debriefing before joining House Toevass


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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:44 pm

Plains
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

The Silverthorne region contains a number of open land areas which fall into different categories. While many regions may be covered in open field, or gentle grasses, (especially the headlands above Silverthorne City and the plains around Susspin where some of the world’s finest heavy cavalry is raised) there are a few important areas that have circumstances due to nature all their own that should be detailed to prepare the iternerate wanderer.

Bonnifuss Plains

"The plains are life and death to these people. Sanctuary and destruction rolled into one. With the grasses standing higher than the tallest man, and razor sharp a predator ca be only inches away before you notice him."

"We greeve our horses in stiffened leather, and wear boots to our thighs just to negotiate the plain. Each man and woman among us a warrior, trained for the speed and safety that only the lightest fastest cavalry can provide."

"In the summer the grasses wave to conceal burrowers which steal our crops. In the winter sheets of snow and blinding blizzards hide the great snow lizards who run like lightning across the snow banks. Their own body heat creates clouds of steam as they charge faster than any man can move."

"Only the proud and the stubborn live here, and I am honored to count myself among them."

-Garrett Kendal


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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:44 pm

Rivers
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

Many of the major rivers of Silverthorne are well mapped and navigated regularly as chief trade routes of the kingdom. For the most part they are wider and safer than any road system which the military is able to maintain. That is not to say that rivers are not without their own dangers. In the place of the wild monsters and roving scavengers that are common to caravan routes overland are well armed brigands in their galleys and freebooting conartists ready to take the unwary sailor for all he is worth. The best way to travel the rivers is still well armed and in broad daylight.

Ari’i River

The Ari has been named for the dark forest of the Ga’Vin that stands along its western shore for much of its length. The river itself begins at the heart of Harrison’s lands in his capital of Gilbain. The river is rather deep and narrow, moving quite quickly along most of its length. Navigating her takes a strong arm and quick wits. Not a few ships have foundered on her shores never to be seen again.

Black River

‘Chure’ I tell bout the ‘Black. A slow and wide waste of land she is. Cuts Salleck from the king and ‘is knights surren as I can sink. Ferryin ‘is men and stuffs across done made me rich though. Verlan a day to my ferry ‘or use in da war. ‘On’t let the hole in ‘y eek scare you. Got it from an orcy spike I did. Done saved a barrel of apples at that. King rewarded me with a double days change. If’n you ever try to cross from the Moony mountains down to Da’Thanis, where’n those horsies are, you’ll have to cross at my ferry or one of my cousin’s. We gots a ‘nopoly on the ferry business.’

-Dugnar the Ferrymaster

Bonnifuss River

As a slow moving body of water, chilled in the high passes of the Cresent mountains where it begins, the Bonnifuss rivr is perhaps the most heavily plied trade river in the kingdom. Raw material from Alleria and the Dwarven homelands makes its way along this course to merge with the Dorchak River just before Castelion.

Dorchak River

This waterway begins in the northern edges of the Crescent Mountains but flows south and for most of its length passes through the duchy of duke Kendal. It has been diverted to flow around the frontier’s capital city with a series of dikes and trenches as a natural defense against foreign incursion. Farther south it provides fertile feeding ground to the horses of Da’Thanis where it merges with the black river.

Silver River

Aye she’s a might fine and pretty river. Fine as a ladies horse and ten times as strong. Never let her see you weaken though or the beauty’ll smash you on her shores. She makes the passage ‘tween Inner Sea and Silverthorne proper in a straight course with all the outflow of the three great rivers inland. She not be stopped or contained no more than a herd of flying blue trolls.

-Attributed to Osmund Car of House Jacorik, at Norrilon.

Serpent River

‘I have been plying the slow tropical eddies of this the magnificent Serpent for longer than your kingdom has existed manling. Of course I can tell you about it. I could fill your books with its wonders and amaze you with the many stories of the lands and peoples that have flourished along her banks for centuries. From headwaters within the Chaos mountains all the way to her outflow in the Inner Sea, she twists and turns in slow grandure.

‘Sea serpents you ask? Of course, we have serpents, and flowers and fishes, and many poisonous birds and beasties as well, it is a rainforest after all. Fear not though, most of them kill you painlessly and fast. Those that don’t can be cured with a quick amputation to the base of the limb. Simple enough even for a young human surgeon to perform.’

-Il’Sionumb -The Redshadow, Elven boatman.

Susspin River

" Da, the Bear Flood gives us sustinence here in susspin. Without her cool floodwaters in the spring our crops would not grow and the great stone walls of our fortress city would be without food. She is still crops and beautiful here before passing into the dreaded forest to the south. It is the domain of sorcery and foul trickery you know. Well I must get back to my crops, have to keep the river leeches from the livestock and the prize horses you know."

-Unknown Farmer


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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:45 pm

Seas
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

The Inner Sea: As described by Asalanzar Captain of the Bloody Hind to Ferznicky the Nearsighted

"Yeah, I sail these here waters nigh on thirty suns now. Bloody long time on the Ol’Sea at that. You lubbers never know her the way we sea folk do, you have to love her in all her moods and keep the lady happy or’n she’ll toss you to the grippers below."

"Spring tissn’t bad, the maelstrom’s quiet then. But come fall the tide can turn and suck you benath the wave afore’n you can spit windward. Sometime ‘nights you can see the glow from the bottom o’ the hole and they say that the foul witchery of the Chaos is stretching. Mostly though we jus dodge the pirates and try not to get caught up in the luggers nets when we have imports like youse on board."

Bear Lake

Located in the northwest corner of Silverthorne, and within the control of Susspin, Bear Lake represents the largest body of fresh water within the borders of the kingdom. It is named for the peculiar bear shaped island found just off the southern shore. I questioned the shoreman Dainsmere Nell about the nature of the lake and he related to me a few of its high points.

‘You must understand, traveler, that we don’t talk with everyone who comes by. It isn’t safe these days, what with the nomads raiding off the plateau.

‘But I can spare a minute from the sun and tell you a word or two. Thank the Water for your wine as well kind sir, yes I’ll go on.

‘The waves here run soft and sweet with melt from the sage and juniper up north. Come winter she freezes right true, but in summer her water is crisp and clear. She is peopled with fish big and small, who’ll bite any that come near but are tasty enough in the pan. Each man here makes a pilrimage to the island just once to earn his name in the Rite of the Water if he chooses that over the Rite of the Horse. Tis a noble passing to brave the waves.’

Then he turned from me and set down his wooden arm upon the rock and rested back in the shade once more.

-Scrivener Kiben of Toevass


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Post  Jared T Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:46 pm

Misc. Features
Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

From A Biography of Silverthorne by Sathin Maevers, 1000 P.E.W.

Great Plateau

"Desert rats up there, in their turbans and hoopla. Come down in the night and the winter to raid on our horses. Nothing better than a Susspinese heavy, and the world knows it. But they live day to day on that flat barren waste, with no rain and few wells. They may be half a mile above the ground, but the land is flat as far as the eye can see."

"Occasionally a caravan comes through from that old city up there, Kar somethin’ or other. They head to the capital, and trade with the duke. Bring good cloth and jems, but little for us working men. So we deal with the raids, and the grit that blows off when the wind is from the west, but for the most part we ignores it, half mile high and all."

-Susspinese rancher

Savanna

"Careful where you wander bookworm, there are some places not fit for the travel of gentle men. The savanna certainly is one of them. I hear the tribes there eat the flesh of men and beast with equal relish. Troll and bog crawlers lurk around every hillock, and not enough cover exists between here and the end of the land to hide a flea. The ground out there may look lush, but it won’t carry a crop, as the colonies of settlers from Vaunephasauk have found to their despair."

"They say it is the taint from the mountains, washing to the ocean and destroying the land. I think that the land resents us. We civilized humans have no truck in some places and that may just be one of them."

"I heard tell of a man who crossed them once though. Went in with his horse and mule alone. Came back five years later changed. No horse, no mule, just a bruised and broken man, carrying a few bags. He was covered in tattoos and war paints, garbed in rags, and carrying more knives then any man I have seen before. He reeked of offal and had forgotten the civil tongue of men, or so they say."

"I don’t know if its true or not but they say he has a mansion over in Mordin now. Never did find out what was in those bags"

-Vaunephasauk Border Warden

Tundra

"A bleak land it is, yet strangely beautiful to me. I was once a woodsman, but have turned trapper in those northern climes. Once a year I make my way back here and sell those skins which are worth something. Many is the beauty that dwells within the frost rimmed ground and huddles under the winter sage."

"Every once in a while I still see the woolly creatures migrating, looking for the long grasses which will sustain their girth. I leave them alone myself, have to be a fool to attack something like that alone. No trap I can build will hold one, though the ivory would be nice"

"Anyway there isn’t much else up here. The occasional band of the Ga’Vin out gathering bones, some few tribes of barbarians eaking out an existence as far from civilization as they can. Some of them still migrate on horse, carry everything they own with them. They say they founded Susspin, and I wouldn’t doubt it too much except they never put two stones together in their lives. The horses do have a certain similarity though."

"Well if you ever have to cross the tundra, pack your water close to your skin so it doesn’t freeze. Hide your food from the animals, and hurry where-ever you’re going before winter locks you in a snowbank for a thousand years."

-Martinson Olwin

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