The Calathi River
The Calathi is a wide, brooding artery that carves its way through the heart of Balgrendia, winding slow and dark between the haunted highlands of Breckheim and the weary fields of Guthram Vale. Neither placid nor swift, it moves with heavy intent—deep, cold, and silent, as though it carries not water, but memory.
Its waters run black with peat and silt, drawn from upland rain and forest runoff, and stained by centuries of decay. The banks are soft and treacherous—lined with waterlogged ferns, creeping moss, and the remnants of drowned trees. In drier stretches, reeds and marsh grasses crowd its edge, but in flood season, it swells across lowlands without mercy, drowning paths, fields, and sometimes whole hamlets before retreating without a trace but for the dead things left behind.
The Calathi has long been a line of division and pain. It once marked the border between the Bhal and Grenn during the Age of Strife, its muddy fords running red with blood in countless skirmishes. Later, under unification, it became a vital artery for trade and watch patrols—until the land turned strange. The rise of Borslev fen and the spread of the Darklight Swamp have choked many of its routes and buried others beneath moss and ruin.
In places, old bridges sag half-collapsed into the current, and ferry-poles stand rotted in the shallows—forgotten remnants of safer days. Few now cross the river without charm or prayer, for stories abound of shapes beneath the surface, of drifting lights, and of whispers heard through the reeds. Some say the river dreams. Others claim it is a wound still weeping from the fall of Niflheim.
To the people of central Balgrendia, the Calathi is both lifeblood and threat—a sacred thing and a sorrowing one. Offerings of salt and iron are still left along its banks, tucked into hollow trees or cast into the current, in hopes the river will pass by without incident.
It seldom does.
Type
River
Location under
