Area - Becken
The area of Becken is a wide fertile valley that occupies much of eastern Sturmgard and is part of the greater Heartlands region.
The name
The name Becken literally translates to ''Basin'' in the common tongue, yet it is also speculated it was named as such because it was here where the first Humans to reach these lands, the Jermane people, settled during The Great Migrations. They claim that the area ''beckoned them to come'' after they were driven out of their homeland in the far north by the encroaching cold in the aftermath of the Cataclysm. This ''beckoning'' was later attributed to the will of the Light, who was the one to imbue Arash - the lightbearer with great power which allowed him to save the Jermane refugees from the north by leading them to the south across the Nord Sea by parting the waters themselves.The Lake & the King
The valley is very wide and more or less flat, with little changes in elevation. At it's heart lies lake Konigssee, meaning ''the King's lake'', because this is where the first Jermane King was crowned after he successfully passed the test of purity by righteously pulling the Elven blade Silmacil from a ceremonial rock at the lake's shore. A test put before the Humans by the Elves themselves, as for many generations the Jermane continued to live in tribes under the guidance of the native Elves who granted them shelter and ceded territory to their people in exchange for protection. The Elves told them, that when a truly worthy leader emerges from among them, he will be able to claim the blade from the rock, and lead their people to greatness, while the Elves would retire to their deep wood. Countless tried, only one succeeded.General area
The planes that make out the majority of the valley are covered in farmland, pastures, and plantations. Truly a part of the breadbasket that are the Heartlands. Villages and towns are evenly spread out and chained along well traveled paved roads, and along the rivers Main and Oder. The river Main is joined by Oder in lake Konigsee and proceeds northwards to spill in to the Nord Sea through ''the slit'' in the cliffs under the city of Shlitzfurt, who's cliffside fortress, directly under which the river joins with the sea, serves as the ultimate barrier to Heimer raiders, as the slit as well as the river are both high and wide enough to allow for naval travel all the way up to the lake, deep in to Sturmgard. The rivers flowing through the valley are cutting through fairly flat terrain, and are as such slow and winding, and are prone to flooding nearby fields every so often after particularly hard rainfall. Occasionally, patches of swampland are found on the banks of the rivers, where the ground is lowest and spillages are most often, where ponds have formed and are never let to dry out. On the south-eastern banks of the lake stands the ancient Elven city of Lay'Shadesh, with a restored Arcane Academy, which was rebuilt after the founding of Sturmgard after the Cataclysm has put it to ruin. It was there where the native Arborians Elves taught the first Humans the Arcane Arts, an act the Vallerian Elves consider treason to this day. The southern edges of the valley along the hills are covered in the so called Feywood forest, where huge magical trees spur on their own growth by tapping in to the Arcane rivers flowing through the region, allowing them to grow to immense size. This is mainly where native Elven settlements around found, with their dwellings built either afoot or up in the branches of the trees themselves, or on the insides of a hollow tree. The region is inhabited by a majority of Jermane Humans, with a major minority of Feynarin Elves, and the occasional Ezren Dwarf. Other races inhabit the region, though are rare and far in between, except for the Raskatta, who's caravans roam freely across the country side as they migrate from town to town, peddling their wares. The climate is temperate and fair year-round, with steady rainfall, and with snows covering the lands for approximately five months through winter. The region is pleasantly cheerful and lively all through out, apart from it's far north-eastern corner, where one begins to near the cursed Grimwood on the Drakmire peninsula.Boundaries
The grand valley that is Becken stretches from approximately South-watch fortress in the west, to East-watch fortress in the east, and from the Nord Sea in the north, down to the forested hills south of Lay'Shadesh.
Type
Valley
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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