Corithan Peninsula

The home of the Corithan Empire is the peninsula from which their civilization blossomed and is thus named for them. The peaks and valleys of the land have been home to the Corithan People for millennia and has played host to its many kingdoms, conquerors, and city states. The peninsula also contains at least one abandoned dwarfhold, and an active rock gnome burrow that predates it's oldest human settlement.

Geography

The Lowlands

Overall the peninsula has only a few flat areas of land that lie mostly in the southwest and northeast coastal regions and around the delta of the Corithan River. These lowlands served as the breadbasket in ancient times and were the scene of many conflicts between rival cities over their rich farmland with relatively rock free soil. Most of the forests and woods of the lowlands have been long since cut down for timber or to make room for agriculture. Farms, scrubland, grasslands, and pastures make up most of the terrain with marshes and swamps being common where the region meets with the hills.

Population and Climate

The lowlands are actually more sparsely populated than the hills and highlands because most of the land is covered in farms and pastures. Most people live far away from their neighbors and thanks to regular patrols by the Templar and legion and a lack of places to lie low the area remains very safe from crime and monster attacks so farmers stay spread out to maximize cropland. Many independent plebeian farmers are able to make a living in the lowlands, but most of the land is administered by nobles and patricians who run estate farm, tenant farm, or sharecropping operations; their work camps make up the vast majority of the hamlets in the region. There are few villages and no cities besides the capital in the lowlands; the single town is named Praven . Praven is a hardnosed working class port town which sits at the coast on the basin of the Corithan River and boasts a population around 3,000. The Imperial City is located in the lowlands but not considered part of the region.
The climate stays rather warm and has relatively warm winters with plentiful rain rarely getting cold enough for snow; especially near the coasts. Average winter temperatures hover near 45 degrees but can be as warm as 65 or as cold as 25. Summers in the lowlands are hot and average temperatures are more than 75 degrees; they tend to be dry as the ocean air pushes rain into the hills beyond, but fog during the twilight and morning hours is very common, especially around the coast, rivers, and wetlands.

Agriculture and Industry

Lowlands field crops are heavily skewed toward grains. Arborio rice is grown exclusively in the wetlands and Coritha River basin; hard wheat used for making pastas is grown in the northeast; the south produces soft wheat and rye for bread making; other grains include sunflowers and maize; tomatoes, legumes, and squashes are also important field crops. Tree crops include stone fruits like plums, peaches, tangerines, and cherries in the south while the northeast produces apples, pears, and hazelnuts; both lowlands regions grow sweet red grapes that are often eaten straight by common folk and nobles alike and are pressed to make a sweet but week wine used as a table wine by middle classes and in religious ceremonies to Dionysus. Sugar beets are a major cash crop while sugar cane and lavender are grown here, but in smaller amounts than many other places in the empire.
Black and white cattle are raised in the northeastern lowlands and fed with maize and local flora that is cultivated as hay and grows freely in the pastures; they produce, hides milk, manure, and tender beef that is popular with the noble and patrician classes, especially the veal. Pigs are also raised in large amounts, fed arborio, beans, maize, and squash, and provide hides, meat for the masses and manure for the fields. Maize fed peacocks are raised to feed wealthy people and chickens provide eggs and meat for everyone else. Large, strong, and intelligent horses from Goldaron and Amshiga are fed up and trained here to provide warhorses for the equites in the Templar.
Not much industry takes place in most of the lowlands. Water and wind mills grind grains into flower which is used for cooking and making bread and pasta, cow and pig hides are turned into leather, and fish and pork is is salted with salt boiled from the seawater near the shores. In Praven barges are built to haul goods up the Corithan River to the Imperial City and cogs are built to be sold to merchants and sea captains. The milk from cows is used to create expensive parmigiano cheese which can cost as much as 125 denari per pound in the capital and goes for more elsewhere. Flax from the midlands is rendered into linen in the lowlands.

The Hills

Most of the Corithan Peninsula is covered in rocky hills, plateaus, and valleys that start in a line in the northwest and run more or less along the center of the landmass. Most of the terrain is is grass, shrublands, and mixed forests - hardwood deciduous trees are more numerous in the valleys while the hills play host to evergreen conifers. Swamps, marshes, and lakes are often found in the valleys and farmland is often found in the area surrounding settlements. The area is also known as the midlands.

Population and Climate

Most of the Corithan people live in these hills; this is partly because its the largest geographical region, but also because the terrain made it easy to build defensible cities and towns during the rule of the city states in the Age of Myth. Four cities and nine towns can be found in the midlands including Heraclynthos, the last remaining city from the age of myth and oldest human settlement still inhabited on the peninsula.
Like the lowlands, the hills have hot summers with temperatures exceeding 70 degrees on average, but unlike the lower regions rain can be more plentiful in the summer months when the clouds release excess moisture before rising above the terrain. Winters are often cold compared to the lowlands with winter temperatures rarely exceeding 50 degrees and hover near freezing.

Agriculture and Industry

Field crops grown in the hills are planted on terraces and are mostly root vegetables and similar foodstuffs that can thrive in rocky environments. Potatoes, carrots, onions, and such things are most often cultivated, as well as varieties of beans and squashes, and tomatoes. Tree crops like figs, walnuts, grapes, and olives thrive in the hills; oil from olives, and wine and vinegar from many varieties of grapes are the two most important agricultural products from this region. Flax, sugar beets, cork, and small amounts of tobacco are cash crops.
Goats, pigs, and sheep are the primary livestock of the midlands. Pigs are fed, bred, and used in much the same fashion as the lowlands. Goats and sheep are herded into the highlands to graze in summer and into the hills for winter, during the coldest parts of the season their diets are supplemented with hay and silage; goat's milk is used in cheese making and drinking for plebeians, their meat also feeds the plebs, and their hides are used to produce leather. Sheep provide wool for fabrics and mutton which is a popular meat with the middle class. Oxen are raised here too as beasts of burden.
The midlands are the industrial heart of the peninsula. Windy hill tops and fast running streams power mills that grind grain, cut logs into lumber, and even power looms to spin cloth from wool. Presses make wine from grapes and other fruits, olive oil, and vinegar that are the largest exports from the region and are sent around the empire and the world.

The Highlands

The mountainous regions in the near center and north of the peninsula are mostly populated by those seeking to profit from the mineral resources and volcanic soil. The terrain is dominated mostly by high but gentle slopes that suddenly terminate in high peaks of rock jutting from the landscape and the slopes and craters of volcanoes both living and dead. The highlands contain some sparse evergreen forests but natural regions are mostly shrubs, grasses, badlands, and lichens.

Population and Climate

Highlands population centers are overwhelmingly villages or camps that only see use for part of the year but there are a few towns and a city named Messambria that grew around the castle at the entrance to the largest pass between Coritha and Dondar. Hill dwarves and rock gnomes are nearly as common as humans in this region and a gnomish enclave named Rivvenastorp has been inhabited by generations of rock gnomes for more than 6,000 years.
Precipitation of any sort is rare in most of the highlands and some places remain frozen year round. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 65 degrees and winter months are almost always below freezing and rarely warmer than 40 degrees. Strong winds often blow between the peaks and passes of the mountains making the air feel much colder.

Agriculture and Industry

Most of the farming in the highlands is subsistence gardening as opposed to a commercial enterprise. Highland field crops are much the same as the one's grown in the hills but in much smaller capacities. Large scale farms on the sides of volcanoes both extant and extinct grow mostly dark purple and sour grapes used to make potent wine that is watered down and served with the intent of causing drunkenness; they also grow various berries that like the year round cool climate, olives, and laurels. Few cash crops are produced because of the difficulty of large scale farming.
Goats and sheep are herded by shepherds into the highlands during the summer months to graze but spend the rest of the year in the hills. Small and shaggy cattle are fed exclusively on sweet mountain grasses and hay, they produce hides, manure, sweet and lean beef, and rich frothy milk that's popular for making cream and butter. Short and tough ponies that are popular for long journeys are bred here as well as nimble donkeys known as onagers that are famed for their loyalty as well as their vicious kicks.
Industry in the highlands is unsurprisingly focused around the mining and smelting of ores into usable metals and smithing them into finished products. Burners produce charcoal within the timberline of the mountains to power forges and smelters to produce ingots. The mass production of weapons and armor for the Emperor's legions is the most lucrative industry here by far and only rivaled by the mining of silver for the express purpose of minting coins in the capital.

Fauna & Flora

The Lowlands

Most of the natural vegetation in the lowlands has been replaced by agriculture but a few wild places still remain. Poplar trees grow where water is plentiful, bay trees, as well as cypress, and varieties of oak and evergreen trees grow here as well. Varieties of wild lavender, heather, rock roses, and similar shrubs grow throughout the region. Herbs such as the healing flower yarrow (known locally as Achilles Flowers) and members of the sunflower family grow abundantly and are often treated as weeds.
Most larger wild animals have long since abandoned the lowlands because of human settlement and so most of the wildlife are small creatures that can adapt easily to living near people among their farms, fields, and homes. Unique animals to the lowlands include the greater flamingo which feed on brine shrimp and are a nuisance animal in ponds designed to trap salt water. Badgers, jackals, and wild dogs are commonly the most dangerous creatures to be encountered by residents of the lowlands but there are the occasional infestations of giant vermin or arachnids. Wild pigs can damage crops and are hunted year round to cull their numbers. Many varieties of eel and catfish are found in the marshes and swamps of the lowlands that aren't found elsewhere in Coritha and the channel catfish can grow as long as 8 feet in the Corithan River.

The Hills

The hills are home to a number of small forests and woods, and larger areas of scrub-land, with a few badlands and other biomes. Common trees include bay, oak, oleander, beech, cork, varieties of pine, and ash; less common are wild figs, wild olives, chestnut, cypress, laurel, and fir trees. Varieties of wild lavender, heather, rock roses, and bushes known as maquis are common shrubs. Herbs include wild blackberries, wild raspberries, yarrow, and the other common plants to the lowlands.
With such a high population density large wild animals are not a common occurrence unless one goes looking for them. Occasionally brown bears, lynx, wolves, and ibex wander in from the highlands in search of food or to avoid some event in the higher elevations but the populations of those animals living in the midlands full time are quite small. Roe deer live in surprising numbers in some of the woodlands away from human settlements, and jackals prowl farms on the outskirts of towns and villages to pick off livestock. The lakes and streams in the valleys are home to many fish, including the Corithan barble, varieties of panfish, pike, trout, and more.

The Highlands

Being relatively untouched makes the highlands home to a rich variety of wild plants including cork, cypress, laurel, and a variety of pines; higher elevations feature beech and spruce right up to the permafrost. Shrubs such as dwarf juniper, rhododendron, and green alder grow in the rocky brush and grasslands. Herbs and flowers include rock jasmine, primrose, campion, saxifrage, and gentian; saxifrage even grows in some of the snow covered areas near the mountain peaks.
The goatlike ibex lives in great quantities below the snowline in even the roughest mountain crags and peaks and have resisted all human attempts to tame them for time immemorial, axis deer with their red coats and white spots live in the forests and scrublands along the slopes but are rarely seen anywhere else. Brown bears, wolves, and lynx are the top predators. The occasional cougar is known to make their way into the region from Jharekhan but they are illusive and tend to avoid civilization. In mountain lakes sturgeon can be caught by expert anglers if they are good and lucky enough.

Natural Resources

The Lowlands

There are not many resources to gather in the lowlands. Salt is produced by the seashore by workers who dig pools that fill with brine during high tide, let them sit for several weeks, and then boil the remaining water off in clay pots too collect the crystallized mineral. Clay is harvested from pits dug near lake beds and ponds. No other mineral wealth worth mentioning is really present. While there is also no major timber resources herbalists can find dozens of herbs for reagents in potions and other concoctions growing wild and in the fields of farmers.

The Hills

Lead, copper and tin are extracted from some areas of the hills with the two latter being the most important metals for most of the Age of Myth. The most valuable mineral in the hills is undisputedly its marble deposits and both finished and unfinished marble is exported around the world from the region; there are also valuable deposits of granite. Forests are cut for timber that is mostly used in producing lumber for use locally and in the lowlands.

The Highlands

The highlands are unsurprisingly exploited the most for minerals. Mines in the highlands provide copper, tin, lead, iron, silver, and other metals though in modern times they barely meet the peninsula's own demands. Sulfur, pumice, and other chemicals used in alchemy and spellcraft are abundant in the volcanic regions, and the mineral known as pozzolana is gathered up as a primary ingredient in cements and mortars. Timber cut from forests is used for construction projects and the creation of charcoal for use in forges.

Type

Peninsula

Included Locations

• Praven
• The Imperial City

Owning Organization

The Empire of Coritha