Nanderith River
From the Soulmeliti word "Nander," meaning lazy, the Nanderith wends its way south for nearly 250 leagues from chilly headwaters in Nandra's Lake. It neatly bisects the Denton Plains and its wide, shallow bed provides the primary source of water for much of the Plains. In fact, it is the only major riverway to cut south enough to do so, the remaining waterways from the Dreuthekon Mountains bending westward to end in the Gulf of Kharl. As a result, especially in the later moons of the long dry summer, the great herds of bison and antelope in the northern grasslands, and the giraffes and zebra of the southern ones , tend to clump around its shores. Its waters too cool in the winter months for crocodiles in all by the most southern reaches of the river, these congregations can become raucous events amongst the herds with hundreds of mostly young animals crossing from one side of the river to the other, changing their allegiances in search of mates. Beneath the surface, the Naderith is shallow in water depth but filled with soft clays and other silts that seem to sink endlessly into the earth. Great eels and dragon-sized catfish are reputed to live in these depths, growing fat of the bounty of trout and bass that play in the more watery reaches of the river. The most dangerous creatures, other than the crocodiles that linger around Sarnyan, are likely the massive, bovine like hippos that wallow in the muck, fiercely defending their patch of water with canines the size of greatswords.
While animals have no problem swimming in the slow-moving current, the muck, however, makes fording the river nearly impossible and only two safe fording spots have been found. The first runs just north of Dalencroft and is maintained by the Imperial Legion as the official route of the Trans-Rheuthengage Highway. The second is much further south, just below Bunning. And while at one point many traders thought this might prove a lucrative alternative route for goods originating in the Soulmeliti Forests and Flietch-ta Empire, the instability in Sarnyan has limited the merchants willing to hazard the route. Still, there is always some riverboat willing to take travelers up and down the Naderith - at least as far as Dalencroft - the price fluctuating wildly at the whims of warlords to the south.
