Senjō Region

Out of all the lands to die for, Senjō must be the worst.

— Ahkan, the Warrior

Senjō is an Outer Shell region centered around the Bore, a massive sinkhole that opens straight into the deep. The cold, cramped tunnels that surround it are nearly devoid of life, forcing those who settle here to huddle along the Bore. Beyond it, the Surface is an inhospitable waste of ice and Blight. It is only in its lowest depths that the caverns of Senjō expand and there is more life than stubborn lichen.

In spite of that, Senjō sprawling tunnels connect to many other parts of the Outer Shell. This access means that at almost any time, someone is fighting over some part of Senjō and control of the trade and travel that passes through.

by Rock Cafe.info

Geography

Senjō is a cold and wet place, with frequently plagued by cold snaps that seep in from rifts to the Surface when the winters grow bitter. Much of it is desolate, endless miles of lifeless stone coated in ice. Further down into Lower Senjō, the chill breaks and the fertile caves serve small gatherings of beasts and people. There's rarely enough to go around and each such cavern is precious.

Once, Senjō was a primary connection to the Khālī Region before its degeneration into a polluted, poisonous waste. Decades, if not centuries, of work in hewing the great roads were thrown away when they were collapsed to prevent the poison from spreading.

Upper Senjō

The caverns of Upper Senjō are small and cramped, slick with ice or frost and barren of life. The tunnels are labyrinthine and nearly impossible to traverse, sometimes opening right into the glaciers that cover the Surface above Senjō. Despite centuries of habitation, much of the region remains largely unexplored with many passages only barely allowing someone to squeeze through. Most consider Upper Senjō to have little of value and focus instead on the rest of the region.

by Rock Cafe.info

With its proximity to the Surface and its glaciers, some tunnels are flooded by thawing ice or shifting icebergs. This source of water is one of the few valuable commodities that the Lower Senjō has, but access has become difficult. Most readily available sources have been either exhausted or polluted, forcing humanity to use lesser tunnels.

Lower Senjō

Further down into the region, the Lower Senjō divide is marked by thawing frost and wider, more expansive caves. While not as large or as lively as the caves of the Inner Shell, life here is at least sustain itself. The fate of the neighbouring Khālī Region has been a reminder of how fragile it can be. Even so, long stretches of the Lower Senjō are barren and the farmlands here are small and desperately insufficient.

Almost every great road in Senjō runs through the Lower region, as well as a bulk of all settlements. Most who visit Senjō never see any other part of it but then again, most never wish to.

The Bore

Don't let the name fool you. It can be plenty exciting if you aren't careful.

— Tawai'ni the Iron Maiden, Rake

The Bore is a titanic sinkhole, reaching from the surface to the deepest point of Lower Senjō. The bottom has long since been lost to centuries of accumulated garbage and waste, giving the Bore a stench that has been described as an evil spirit. The walls are lined with ladders, stairs and crude elevators. Galleries have been cut from the stone and face each other across the chasm. At its widest, the sinkhole is measured to around a hundred yards, narrowing as it descends.

The minor city-state of Xiba spirals around the sinkhole's interior, homes cut from the stone. It is the most populated settlement in all of Senjō, with the often and ironically used epitaph "City of Feasts".

Flora & Fauna

Other than the people, Senjō has remarkably few things that'll try and eat you. Got to give it that.

— Sodai, Kaia

Senjō is mostly barren, with much of its upper region devoid of any life at all. Only lichen and moss cling to the stone here, with the only other source of food being the humans who live in Senjō. Pests and insects are constant troubles in the Upper Senjō, with some showing a remarkable ability to hibernate for years if required. The Lower Senjō has more diversity, with blooming fungi and mushroom feeding a wide variety of insects and blubber-hided amphibians.

by Michael Michera

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Compared to much of Araea, wild life in Senjō is of little threat to people. Most are too small, too isolated to pose a threat even to lone travellers. The biggest dangers come from above when Surface beasts make their way down into the tunnels or into the Bore.

The same dangers are an important part of Senjō's culture and societies. When food is scarce, the hunters take to the Surface in hopes of providing for their families.

Feast and Famine

Scarcity is a fact of life in Senjō. There is rarely enough to go around and famine haunts the region on a regular basis. The barren tunnels in Upper Senjō support almost no life and the situation is only moderately improved further down. The people of Senjō might be called ghoulish by some, but they challenge those who do to live where they do. They are a grim, determined people for whom suffering and sacrifice are familiar. Death is just another part of life and they approach it with an attitude both casual and of reverence.

by Rock Cafe.info

Outsiders come to Senjō for passage elsewhere. Its connections to Khālī Region and the Sprawl are important routes for traders, explorers and couriers. Conflict over these important roads are common and can range all the way to Xiba. Skirmishers dual in the dark and try to stake their claim over the roads, while scavengers claim the corpses left behind.

Kings and emperors have tried to make the Roads theirs alone, each campaign ending in a slow and painful failure. Senjō is a graveyard that have swallowed every army that have marched into it. The bleak and barren lands of Senjō leave only their bones behind.

The Outer Shell
The Outer Shell are the caverns and tunnels located closest to the Surface. Fissures and rifts in the earth sometimes connect the Outer Shell directly to the Surface, as with the Bore. The spaces here are typically smaller than those found at greater depths. More often than not, its caverns are barren and empty.
Read more about it

by Mathieu Lauffray

Glacier Grottoes

Not all tunnels in Upper Senjō are made of stone, with some burrowing right into the glaciers that cover the Surface above the region. These glacial caverns are occasionally house ice-cutting camps. Unfortunately, most of them are close enough to the Surface for Blight to seep in from above.

by Calder Moore

The Deep Roads

The Roads of Senjō are paths carved from the stone, forcing a path through the endless expanse of rock. Few of them are a straight line to where they need to go, with most utilizing whatever tunnels and caves are available as a foundation. These are widened and straightened to the extent possible, allowing larger parties of trade and travel to pass through easily.
The trade on these roads are the life-blood of Senjō and they must be frequently maintained when damaged from quakes and cave-ins.

by Dragon Age Origins

Blizzard-Spawn

Blizzards frequently sweep across the Surface above Senjō, birthing the heat-hunting Zaveru deep within the storms. Hunters and foragers that brave the Surface will often leave offerings in hopes of appeasing the spirits, with mixed success.
These Least Spirits from time to time find their way down into the tunnels to menace any traveller through the Upper Senjō. Such attacks are an ill-omen and to slay such marauding spirits brings great glory.
Read About Zaveru, the Blizzard-Spawn

The Bore is frequently plagued with flying critters from the Surface, attracted by the sound and movement. Many are little more than pests that threaten spare food supplies or household pets, but some come to hunt rather than scavenge.
Such visitors are particularly numerous during the Seasons of Storms, seeking shelter in the sinkhole when the skies are tortured by lighting and fire.