Yuruk-Tar (The Land of the Wild)

An ancient land of immense potential is this place. There is large amounts of resources yet to be gathered, land yet to be claimed, ruins yet to be found. It is a wild frontier with plenty of work to be done, perfect for adventuring. Although most of the region is unmapped and and uninhabited in the heart of it all is the legendary land of Silvaria, the Heart of the Western Lands. A land with civilization on a continent that lacks it, although, it is spread few and far between. This is the land of kings and queens, where only the strongest have survived, and where towering spires loom over city walls looking out upon the fields of Yuruk-Tar. Although there are few cities the ones that do exist are not to be underestimated. They only survived because only the heartiest, strongest, most cunning people lived to make them. This is because long ago war ravaged this land, each monarch seeking to slay the other. However after years of death and despair all the monarchs came together to establish the Silver Pact. It was engraved on a silver tablet and still exists displayed above the throne of Aerodouth. This pact stated that all the peoples of Silvaria shall live in peace with one another, and instead concentrate their efforts on expanding civilization. Silvaria already has Yuruk-Tar itself seeking their demise, giants, dragons, vampire lords, and the land itself swallowing them up, to the point where the people believe the land is cursed, the last thing they needed was themselves trying to kill each other. To the North are the Icy Wastes, a place where only death reigns. Nobody has ever made or obtained a map of this place, for every man who has ever wandered into them was killed by the harsh conditions or the harsher beasts. There is believed to be grand ruins in these lands filled with great treasure and fierce beasts, however no one has ever lived to validate these claims. The entire region is coated in a sheet of ice which makes it near inhabitable. The howling mountains run the length of the region until they reach their end in Silvaria. Icy winds torture the land and only the most vile creatures can inhabit this place. To the East are the Wild Lands. This place is scattered with small hamlets of people attempting to survive, but none of these settlements last more than a few years and the place itself is plagued with ravaging beast and monsters. The ground quakes every summer without fail and by the sea every winter the "Icy Mists" come and swallow up any who dare to stand in their path, why no man truly knows. To the South is the Land of The Sun, a vast dessert with only two cities inhabiting it who have been at war with each other for as long as anyone can remember. Arkensdale and "The Oasis". Their history is long and their contempt for eachother runs deep, back to two brothers. However that is a story for another time, you are off to adventure now, welcome to Silvaria!

Geography

Yuruk-Tar consists of four main lands divided by the nature of life there. Silvaria contains large tracts of plains home to the various races that have conquered the wild place. Mountains lie to North and a great and ancient forest to the South-West freezing deserts, and great river flowing to the sea, and Tundra to the north are but a few things this place has to offer. Despite having relatively few settlements this is actually the most populated land of Yuruk-Tar To the South is the Land of the Sun which is home to only two cities for it houses harsh desserts and scorching heat. Besides this the only things of note in these lands are the few rivers that flow from the shattered spine, a mountain range of small mountains that can allow a traveler to get lost in their many peaks. To the North are the Frozen Wastes, lands of ice, snow, and bitter cold. Largely unexplored the only thing known for sure about these lands is that the Howling mountains from Northern Silvaria continue through this land. Not a soul known to man lives in these places but there are many legends of frozen lakes, forests of ice, glaciers looking over the sea, chasms leading to the depths of the earth, and forgotten civilizations, but the validity of these legends is unknown. To the East is by far the largest tract of land in Yuruk-Tar but also the most dangerous. The Rabid lands. Like Silvaria these lands have a little bit of every climate in them however they are largely unsettled only because of the hostile environment and native fauna. Notably they contain the Spiral Lake which is a lake that was formed by the River of Life and the Golden River colliding together to form a whirlpool which trickles off into the Great Stream.

Fauna & Flora

In Yuruk-Tar there are few animals that can't be found because of the large variety of ecosystems. Although mundane wildlife is far more common than monstrous fauna monstrous fauna isn't exactly uncommon. A man might come home telling his family a griffon tried to kill him and might not get any more of reaction had it been a wild dog. Powerful creatures however are quite rare and exist only in legend. When people first settled Yuruk-Tar the powerful beasts were so much of a problem monster hunting guilds nearly hunted them to extinction because of their threat to civilization, however these guilds are long since gone and every day these monsters increase in number, requiring an adventurer or two to slay them before its too late. As for intelligent life there are now all the races of Karnum within Yuruk-Tars lands however this was not always the case. When settlers first came to Yuruk-Tar they originally thought only monstrous races such as the orcs and kobolds lived within the lands but as they began to build they found out that there were other races that lived here that would not immediately attempt to sack their village. The two most recognizable races that the settlers found were actually elves and dwarves, long dethatched from their kin with no record on the other continents of these peoples. Despite the settlers knowing what they were these two races were quite different from their kin from other parts of Karnum, with the dwarves favoring the coasts over the high mountains and the elves having far more beasts to their names than is expected from them. However there is another intelligent race in Karnum that has received very mixed reactions from the other races. The Rûhntír or "Fleshchangers" as most humans call them are a race of humanoids with skin varying from bone white to emerald green and can morph their body as they see fit, although they are rare to change too much as their culture has an extremely strict culture when it comes to "Abandoning the Form" as their people call it. Although heavily misunderstood due to their strange culture Rûhntír have been widely accepted in kingdoms as they quickly adapted to the culture and customs of humans and other civilized races, although this is not to say that many still do not approve of them since by their very nature most people find them to be unnatural.

Natural Resources

They have just about everything here except rare spices and other things from tropical lands. One must go to the nearby Huatlan Islands for such things. The north is ripe with ores while the east has plentiful fertile farmland. The south is where the quarries of stone are located for the most part near or in the Land of the Sun. Wood often comes from the Red Forest however forests aren't rare so it's not hard to come by. Although metal can be found throughout Silvaria (although to a lesser degree than the north) precious gemstones are almost exclusively found in the Howling Mountains.

Maps

Yuruk-Tar
Yuruk-Tar is the newly discovered continent of Karnum. Although it has been settled for a while compared to the rest of the world it is brand new. Civilization is new on it and so much of it remains untamed wilderness and unexplored territory. To the north the Northern Wastes, to west Silvaria, to the east The Rabid Lands, and to the south Uran Savnar.