Valendar
Valendar is a medium-sized continent located at the northwest of Iaga's map, in the outer rings. It's geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world, with the only communication between it and other areas being through nearby islands and the caverns of the Nightsea, and it's one of the few continents that hasn't received much influence from the Human Confederacy of Iaga.
Valendar has a wide variety of races and nations living in it, some of the most notable being the Crown of Kulala in the Kulala Rainforest, the former confederant colonies of the southwestern coast and the minotaur clans of the Lithzai Caverns. Recently, it's being threatened by the so-called Three Liches of Valendar, who plan to conquer the entire continent with their army of undead.
Geography
Subject to magic energy from various sources, Valendar's climate changes drastically from area to area, and as a result a wide variety of different ecosystems can be found in it.
The south-eastern coast is one of the few areas communicating the continent with the outside world, and even then the unusually frequent storms that take place in the waters around it make marine travel difficult. Monitorfolk clans, small human settlements such as Port Solae and lone green trolls can be found across the coastline. The sea around the continent is unusually devoid of life, and a mysterious building known as the Tower of the Seven Tides rests above the sea, near the so-called Wurango Peninsula. The peninsula houses the Wurango Woods, a small forest inhabited by goblins.
Northwest from the Wurango Peninsula several more small forestal areas can be found, such as Deadroot Valley and the Forest of Kings; the latter is well-known for containing the Crypt of Kings, and is mostly inhabited by wood elves and bullywugs. Mylegar and Dihyr, some of the few human cities in the continent, can also be found in the southeastern continental area.
A green grassland known as the L'ouna Plains can be found in the east-central area, with the L'ouna Watchtower at its very center. From here, the eldritch being known as C'ovelaft is said to observe the near-entirety of the map. Goblins, humans and bostaurs can also be found roaming the plains.
The Charmaran Mountains are located at the north of the L'ouna Plains, and is home to the dwarven city of Grellun, among other smaller settlements. This particular mountain range is also notorious for being the only known entrance to the Lithzai Caverns, a net of underground tunnels connected to the Nightsea, inhabited by the minotaurs of the now-ruined city of Lithzai and the surrounding settlements. Fruit of the lithzaians' fiendish rituals, the caverns are additionally plagued by various kinds of lesser demons, such as dretches and vrocks.
The west centre of the continent is occupied by the Kulala Rainforest, a large and lush forest crossed by several rivers. Most of the area is governed by the Crown of Kulala, a confederacy between high-elven kingdoms and various smaller populations of other races such as goblins, ash elves and wood elves, with the remaining territories being inhabited by chameleonfolk and grungs. This is also the location of Senth's Fortress, an abandoned stronghold built on top of Mount Kalbora by the engineers Senth and Cahg, which is guarded by various gnomish constructs. In recent years, with the Three Liches of Valendar threatening to conquer the jungle, the Great Wall of Kulala has been built around it in order to protect it from their undead armies.
The Great Swamp of Rottermoor, an area that currently serves as the lair of Vlakween Qatastroff, can be found northwest of the Kulala Rainforest, separated from its walls by the Marshlands of Terene. It used to be inhabited by clans of crested lizardfolk, hodgepokers, kobolds and bullywugs, as well as bubalotaurs, trolls and bezzan hives, but since the rise of the Three Liches most of its denizens have either succumbed to the undead forces of Vlakween or fled to the Marshlands. Additionally, the eastern area of the swamp serves as a bridge between the Eldritch Rift and the rest of the continent, leading to several aberrations inhabiting the swamp and its surroundings.
Northeast of the Kulala Rainforest can be found the vast Desert of Naiud. Nomadic clans of asabi, desert elves, tlincalli and thri-kreen tread across the dunes, which are littered by the ruins of the ancient Empire of Hu'Cenepes, while sedentary kobolds and yawpers make their home in them.
At the very north of the continent lies the Everfrost, a massive frozen wasteland where life is scarce. The area used to be occupied by the human kingdom of Levir, presumably in a time where the land wasn't as unhospitable, but it eventually fell due to unknown reasons. With the rise of the Three Liches, the remains of the warriors and oligarchs of Levir have risen, making the area highly dangerous to travel. The area is also populated by adlets, ice trolls, snow elves and yetis. The Alamyia Mountains separate the Everfrost from the Desert of Naiud, and are mostly inhabited by alaghi, aarakocra, trolls, siv and mountain dwarves.
Fauna & Flora
One of Valendar's most unique features is the fact that reptiles, birds and occasionally insects occupy a large amount of niches that are ordinarily occupied by mammals in other continents, and as such contains a wide variety of such fauna that is rarely found anywhere else in the world. Creatures such as ceratogryphs, domogryphs and macetails occupy the role of large herbivores in most areas, with species such as the Kulala Rainforest's emerald ceratogryph being absent anywhere else in the world. Some of the most prominent natural predator groups across most terrestrial environments are ankhegs, axebeaks, pouncedrakes, bulettes and non-avian theropods. Venomous snakes are rather common as well. Mammals do have a presence in the continent, however, mostly represented by rodents, bats, equids, swine and primates. The fossil record shows evidence of felines and ursines being common during the Creation Era as well, but they have become rare since, possibly due to competence with griffons and other aforementioned predators. Being one of the first continents to be formed, elementals are rather common across it as well, though not as much as in other continents due to Belthano's dislike of unorganic beings.
Valendar is thought to be the place where the first griffons appeared, and to date it's the continent with the most specimens and variety of this order; who exactly created them, however, is yet unknown. The proximity to the Eldritch Rift and the infuence of the Empire of Notheles, additionally, has introduced several Illithian creatures, such as chuuls and phasecats, to the ecosystem, though most of them reside in barely inhabited areas such as caverns and the Great Swamp of Rottermoor.
History
Creation Era
Due to the long distance between the continent and the Maws of Charatlas, its proximity to the Eldritch Rift and the influence of the archanthrope Belthano in it, it's agreed upon by most scholars that Valendar was one of the first landmasses to be formed during the Creation Era. At the time, as with the other regions that would later become their own continents, it was fused into a single landmass surrounding the Trocala Ocean. How exactly it developed its current geography, however, is a subject of debate to this day. The area appears to have been first inhabited by human at an unknown date, possibly with the intervention of the archanthropes, and they quickly spread around the continent and established several reduced populations everywhere except in the Great Swamp of Rottermoor. Goblins and proto-bugbears colonized the region few centuries after, entering the continent through the Nightsea instead, and conflict after conflict they took over the humans' territories with the exception of those in the southern coasts, the north of the Kulala Rainforest, certain parts of the Desert of Naiud and most of what is now the Everfrost. The goblinoids in particular adapted quickly to the various environments and gave rise to a wide variety of subspecies: goblins that settled in the Desert of Naiud evolved into yawpers, and the proto-bugbears developed into hodgepokers in the Great Swamp of Rottermoor and adlets in the Everfrost. The first freshwater scrags, and consequently the first trolls, appeared in the Great Swamp as well, though most researches agree that, rather than being the result of natural evolution, the archanthrope Belthano was involved in their creation in some way, due to the fact that they lived in the same continent, the status of trolls as giants, and their regenerative powers tying in with Belthano's necromantic themes. The year 2158 BHC, the Empire of Ha'Cenepes is established in the Desert of Naiud. Two years later (2156 BHC), in the northern areas of what is now the Everfrost, three large human settlements signed the Alliance of Lesmur in an attempt to prevent a possible military conflict between their factions, as well as to fight together against the growing threat of the adlets found in the south, setting precedence for the rise of the kingdom of Levir.Predraconic Era
After the death of the archanthrope Daraluun circa 2000 BHC, Belthano feared the same would happen to all other archanthropes including themself and started looking for a way to acheive immortality. According to legend, their distraction, along with that of the other Archanthropes and the growing tension within them, caused them to lose control over the Maws of Charatlas, which began producing too much water and flooded a significant part of the inner rings. Alarmed, the Archanthropes (which ones is a subject of disparity) decided to divide the single landmass into what are now the different continents, including Valendar, and expand Iaga's surface into the Eldritch Rift; this event is known as the Great Drift. Around this time, the kingdom of Levir had finally consolidated and was rapidly expanding through the Everfrost, while the Empire of Ha'Cenepes did the same on the Desert of Naiud. Around the year 1800 BHC, the two factions met in the Alamyia Mountains.Draconic Era
TBAContemporary Era
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