Hatraeshiante - the Shattersea
Just South of Qabarat, starting from the end of the Stormshield Mountains, running all the way to the Straits of Glory, lies a region soaked in blood and ichor, and also westward to the the Coast of Ukalam, and even the dreaded Colonies: the Shattersea. While Qabarat gets all the press (kinda like Paris or New York), the Shattersea presents one of the most central and dynamics area within Lashunta Society
The Shattersea, a major geographical area, maybe roughly a third of the size of the Mid-Atlantic, which takes its name from the tens of thousands of islands that make its borders and archipelagoes, including some of the odder features at its midst. The Seacrown, at the waters’ midst stands out as a spot of mystery, both superstitious and philosophical. When the Lashunta Warrior-Queens first broke out of the Yaro Valley, the Shattersea’s eastern shore was the next area they settled. Soon as they learned shipbuilding, they spread to the islands, a vastness of resources and wonders that has sustained huge populations, rich from both the lands’ and the Sea’s bounty. Over a score of Lashunta cities rise over its islands and shores, over here are merely the principal ones: Reshat, Lasahaua, Nivaea, Qoaronaea, Alendrastya, and Ofu Vou.
It is also one of the most heavily militarized places in existence. Every city is a walled stronghold. Every island has a watchtower. It is the theater for the longest and bloodiest conflict in Castrovel’s history: the Lashunta’s War with the Formians, an endless cycle of violence culminating from both species’ desire to exterminate the other. The Formians control the southwestern continent now called the Colonies. Yet once the Lashunta dwelt there, who have neither forgotten nor forgiven.
Here is something that caught me eye: in looking over Starfinder’s map of Castrovel from the Pact Worlds Guide (though obviously I’m not doing Starfinder, I try to pay attention, since that is where much of the recent development on Castrovel has occurred), just beyond the Shattersea’s southeastern edge lies the fortress-city of Komena. In Starfinder chronology, Komena is surrounded by the blasted ruins of other similar cities in this region, which are Pre-Gap victims in the Formian War (now ended). This is so tantalizing, as if the writers were leaving something sheerly to to stir my imagination. So what shall I do with this clue within my Pathfinder-contemporaneous setting??
Welcome to the Valmaeyana Confederacy, the closest thing to a Lashunta nation-state in this age, of which Komena is a minor member. If much of Lashunta Culture is militant, then the Valmaeyana are Sparta-level insane (there’s a reason they named it the Straits of Glory). Their whole livelihood, culture, and purpose is dedicated to the overthrow and eradication of the Formians who have built their hive-burghs on the Colonies in the West, but where once stood a Lashunta city, whose name now echoes in legend: Valmaea-Yazanta, Lost Valmaea, whose cult is enshrined, like Camelot, in song, literature, and even religion, as one sees if one visits the Valmaeyana Capital in Qoaranaea - the City of the War-Goddesses.
It’s a big region, with huge opportunities to develop, possibly more than I can hope to touch. Who would like to explore it?
Type
Sea
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