Solum

Summary

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"Ah yes, our home planet, 3 positions away from Celeste, where it gets the perfect amount of heat and light in order to host intelligent lifeforms... and dwarves.."

— Madam Claire Drognil, Observer diplomat for the Institute of Planetary Observations

Solum is the third planet from Celeste making it the ideal planet for hosting an abundant amount of lifeforms above, on top of, and below the surface of the planet.
This is also the planet on which most intelligent life lives, with the only other planet containing intelligent forms of life are Ma'adim and Amictus, even though the latter tends to scare people somewhat due to the unnerving stories that have been doing the rounds for centuries.

Geography

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The planet of Solum is a little bit bigger than Earth, hosting 5 large continents, all surrounded by water in the form of both shallow and deep oceans.
But it was not always like that. As far as scholars educated in the science of plate tectonics can agree upon, Solum once, long ago, consisted of one large mega continent which contained a few large inland seas. Back then, Solum consisted of less water than land, with the ratio lying around 40% water, 60% land, however as time passed, plate tectonics started affecting the mega continent, slowly increasing the number of tears and cracks in the landmass.
Over thousands of years, this phenomena took place. Some of it was even documented by the Ancient civilization Medžiotojai a nomadic civilization, specifically detailing their efforts to find the best possible location to settle permanently just before the mega continent split into 5 pieces.
It wasn't just plate tectonics that caused the split though, instead, it was primarily the work of a Super Nova volcano on the planet of Zuhal. Scholars know this due to several archaeological expeditions returning with samples of a relatively rare metal named Zuhellion, or in the common tongue, "Zuhal Steel". Inside the chunks of metal, active flowing magma was found similar in consistency and fluidity as the magma observed on the surface of Zuhal.
Observers and scholars alike suspect that after the explosion of a Super Nova Volcano (way before the existence of the Institute of Planetary Observations) lots of extremely large chunks of volcano got shot out of the atmosphere of Zuhal at supersonic speed. The sheer explosive speed of these large meteors caused them to shoot past the gravitational pull of the planet of Dzuwa landing on the planet of Solum instead.
This event caused tsunamis as high as mountains, creating enough force to permanently make continents drift away from their once rather dormant place. On top of that, everything within a 50 Km radius of the meteor impact instantly evaporated due to the extreme heat, everything beyond that radius within the next 100 Km caught fire and was largely destroyed giving some ancient civilizations and species no chance of survival. Upon impact, a large chunk of Solum got violently ripped away from the surface of Solum, until it came to a standstill in the outer edge of Solum's gravitational pull. This is how Solum's moon came into existence.
The last major effect of this event was the creation of shallow oceans, also sometimes referred to as Everlasting swamps. These large stretches of water are most likely where the Zuhal Super Nova volcano meteors impacted on Solum. Due to the explosive force at which the Zuhal meteors came crashing into Solum, the land they impacted on either got violently moved to the side or was pushed back into the crust of Solum. This caused water to start spilling in from the previous coastlines that were no longer high enough to withstand the salty ocean water. The mixture of saltwater with extreme heat caused a swamp-like biome to form, which now hosts a large amount of god forgotten creatures, diseases and parasites that are simply waiting to devour anything that comes onto their path. Due to this, many traveller and merchant ships avoid the area, happy to skirt around the edges instead of going straight through.

Continents

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"Each of the 5 continents hosts their own special oddities in terms of flora, fauna, and political leaders."

— A bard trying one of his new jokes

After the meteor impacts took place, 5 large continents were formed, which started to slowly drift apart over the course of thousands of years, up to the point where they are located today. Each of these continents has its own unique features, which are described below. More detail about specific Flora, Fauna, and Political Institutions mentioned in the details of each continent, can be found in their respective places listed here;

The Encyclopedia of wonderous Flora

The Encyclopedia of fascinating Fauna

The Index of Political Institutions

All 5 continents are listed below in alphabetical order, including a small summary that details the most interesting details regarding the geography, the geopolitical situation, and the lifeforms that have called the continent in question their home;

Ceasall

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"A cold and windy continent which brings about an equal measure of persistence and despair."

Ceasall is located towards the south pole of Solum. Together with Izwekazi it is located further away from the equator than the 3 other continents. Due to this, the dominant climate on Ceasall is windy and dry with the temperatures ranging being between -40 and 12 degrees Celcius. Over the past millennia, Ceasall has been subject to a lot of convergent plate tectonics between its own landmass and several of the surrounding sea plates. This has caused a large mountain range to be formed along the rocky shores towards the south pole. This treacherous terrain towards the south pole is so barren and difficult to traverse that most adventurers tend to avoid it altogether, regardless of the myths and legends that speak of ancient treasure to be found deep within the mountain ranges. Equally this harsh climate and terrain have caused most civilizations to settle more inland within the protective embrace of the rocky mountains. Some noteworthy examples are;

The Urlingscar Clan, one of the many Dragonborn clans settled near the southern mountains of Ceasall.

The Royal Seal of Dralia, a nation mixing political power with the divine favour of gods.

The Council of Watergrave, a mostly mysterious council of people ruling with a fair and just iron fist over their coastal territories.

Ceasall is also located directly to the left of the continent of Izwekazi making it a common location of travel and trade for anyone looking for international opportunities. Between the two continents, a large canal is located, roughly 20 kilometres in width at its narrowest point. The interesting thing about this canal is that it has a different name depending on which continent you are located on. If you are on Ceasall and ask for the name of the canal, most people native to Ceasall will tell you that the canal is called "The Straits of Ceasall". If you are located on Izwekazi and you ask for the name, most people will tell you it is called "The Izwekazi Straits". Recent political efforts have called for unification between the two continents to make trade and travel easier, suggesting the name "The Continental Strait".

Izwekazi

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"From the more accomodating terrain of the north to the unforgiving stretches of ice and rock, the continent of Izwekazi has something for everyone."

Type

Planet