Duwallen
Duwallen is the most populated and - by its inhabitants’ reckoning - the most civilized continent on the face of Teicna. Its surface is largely blanketed in wet, marshy land, which makes it difficult to build on, but so nutrient-rich for crops and livestock that it's more than worth the effort. Humanity has laid claim to the majority of its surface area over the ages in the form of the Menschen Empire. But of course, it was far too small to contain the grand ambitions of humanity for long, and they've since spread to other nations like a plague. Still, their ancestral home serves them well as a seat of comfort and power in the wide world stage they’ve taken an active role in.
In the north, hidden within the depths of Valenhort Wood, lie the roots of the Verbund Mountains, the string of peaks that join Duwallen to its sister continent of Stirge. Circling around to the west, one quickly encounters the cluster of large islands that seals off Ranschwan Bay, followed by little else of particular interest. To the east, however, where the woods end, the thickest swamp lands begin. Home to the Bufogren and what remains of the once-great Ceph people, these wooded wetlands were long believed to be uninhabitable by would-be human colonists, though the success of the two aforementioned races have since proven them quite wrong.
Farther east from these, Zersch Isle and the Einzig mountains can be found. The former is a rather plain - though quite large - island that is believed to have been broken off from the Duwallen mainland by a jealous god, much like Malephesh did with the world as a whole. The latter is home to the only significant peak in the entire continent, making it a dominant landmark for hundreds of miles around.
Finally, at Duwallen’s center is the grand Lebensee, otherwise called the Lake of Life. In addition to being the source of more than half of the rivers in the land, it serves as the basin for the Eastern hemisphere’s sole inland Godspout, which has made it a significant point of interest for scientists and theologians alike. It is on the shores of this lake that the capital of Sturmstadt was built, using the oilstone and marble from nearby quarries to create its illustrious green and white towers as well as to pave the streets and nearby roads. Many human poets, ever fond of self-aggrandizing in a world filled with many other impressive peoples, have filled entire books of poetry on the subject of their beloved City of Light.
Fauna & Flora
On the marshy Duwallish mainland, the soil is far too shallow and waterlogged to provide a solid foothold for roots. This makes it excellent for growing rices and bogberry variants, but it’s not particularly good ground on which to grow the trees most other regions are familiar with. The dwarves and gnomes - usually thinking of their homeland’s peat bogs when Duwallen is described as ‘marshy’ - often take this to mean that they are incapable of growing trees at all! This couldn’t be farther from the truth, however.
Much of Duwallen is quite flat and open, particularly along its southern border, but it is also home to some of the largest hardwood forests in the world. Where the water covering the land is deepest, cypress and ash forests provide valuable construction materials, while willows and dogwoods provide softer fare for artisanal or specialized uses. As one travels either north or east, nearing more solid footing around the two major mountain ranges, the far more valuable ebony trees can be found.
Ebony is a black, dense hardwood that polishes to an almost mirror sheen with the right treatment. Since its discovery, the rare, slow-growing trees have been highly prized for their wood’s decorative properties, and while the wood isn’t quite strong enough for large-scale use, it is frequently used to construct furniture, musical instruments, and even firearm grips. Currently, the two largest cultivated ebony groves are carefully kept and protected, one by the bufogren and ceph in the north, the other by the humans in the southeast. Trade of the wood is highly regulated by both parties, as early logging efforts proved to be unsustainable for the rate at which ebony grows, and thus had to be throttled back considerably.
Duwallen is inundated with aquatic mammal life. Beavers, nutria, otters, minks, and even a few species of inland-dwelling seals can be found across the continent, swimming through its various marshlands, rivers, and lakes. Nearly all of these creatures have been hunted at some time or another for their pelts, whether it be for their water-resistant natures or simply the sheen of their fur. This hunting increased dramatically as other nations began clamoring for Duwallish furs of their own, increasing demand for them a hundredfold. Altrannis and Öko, goddesses of life and nature respectively, were actually forced to intervene and explain the concepts of conservation to the people of Duwallen before several species were hunted to extinction! This limited the supply of furs that could be sold, but drove up prices immensely; a potential net gain for the nation in the long run, so long as poaching can be kept in check.
Furred mammals are not alone in being hunted for their skins, however. The land’s reptiles and even a few of its fish are frequently utilized for leathers as well as their meat and bones. While these seem to be significantly less popular on the global market, they are frequently far easier to farm and thus more sustainable sources of tanned skins that still retain some element of water-proofing that the local furs can sometimes provide.
Natural Resources
Ask just about any foreign visitor what the first thing they notice about a Duwallish town is, and you’re likely to hear the same thing: “I’m surprised this whole place hasn’t fallen into the swamp, yet!” After that, however, many folk are quick to point out an odd quirk in the local architecture. Nearly every important building in Duwallen’s larger towns, particularly those of human make, are a marbled, mossy green color. This is a side effect of one of Duwallen’s highly successful oilstone industry.
Oilstone is a metamorphic rock found in the slightly-less-flooded foothills of eastern Duwallen. Due to some element of its chemical composition, the stone is naturally hydrophobic, shedding even the smallest amounts of water on-contact. This has made it a natural building material throughout the continent for centuries, and in some cultures it was even used to create weapon that naturally cleaned themselves of blood. Even in modern times, the stone is used for everything from roofing tiles to aqueducts to sewer tunnels!
In regions where oilstone can be found, massive quarries dot the landscape. Inhabitants of the region questioned the impact such land-moving efforts might have on the local environment, but despite a few issues with certain species’ breeding grounds, these fears have so far proven unfounded. In fact, in a few regions the holes left behind by past digging have flooded to form new lakes and ponds, creating all new ecosystems where only rocky hillside once was. Some humans have even begun to follow suit, such as in the case of up-and-coming communities like the village of Unserloch, a city built over and within an old quarry, even going so far as to burrow into its very walls.
The ancient cephan capital of Demeris is one of the largest known uses of oilstone in the world, with nearly every permanent structure being made from it or embellished with it in some capacity. After the cataclysm that rendered the city uninhabitable and nearly wiped the Ceph out, it has withstood the test of time quite well. Buffeting winds carrying sand and salty sea air have worn down many of the abandoned metropolis’ exposed faces. From the outside, the place has been reduced to rough, rounded shapes, but the cores of the buildings have been almost perfectly preserved from leaking rain or other water damage for centuries.
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