Aterica is the mightiest and largest of the continents upon Calera, existing for hundreds of millions of years, with some areas so old they stretch back to very beginning of life itself. The variety of environments and biomes found in Aterica are countless, with huge stretches of open grasslands, foreboding mountains, lifeless deserts and rich forests. To the east lies the Mesarian Ocean, a vast expanse of open water that continues on into the north and south for thousands of miles, while to the west another great ocean, named the Reos carries on around to the other side of the planet.
Perhaps the largest feature of the continent is the expanse known as the endless steppe, a dry grassland that stretches across the northern part of Atercia and makes up at least half of the total landmass. But the endless steppe is not an empty land and great migrating herds of animals roam across it each year in search of food and water in a continuous seasonal cycle.
Bordering the eastern edges of the endless steppe is the world's tallest mountain range, the Karmounts. So high are these mountains that they affect weather patterns across the world and are in part responsible for the dry nature of the endless steppes to the west and the fertile forests and valleys to the east. The tallest mountain on the planet, Mount Tetram can be found among the Karmounts and reaches 11,567 meters above sea level. Its summit is so high that it can only be seen on a few cloudless days each year and no human has ever stepped foot on the roof of the world.
To the south the Kessian Desert claims most of the southern part of the continent, a hot and barren land of shifting sands and dry rock. Only a few large life giving rivers break the deserts hold and allow a few hardy plants and animals to exist in an area of the world that would normally be impossible for life to take hold.
The eastern part of the continent, more commonly referred to as Kaidos is a home to a large number of dense forests, fast flowing rivers and intermittent grasslands. The large Sunlit Sea splits this area into two northern and southern regions with a distinct difference in temperatures, causing the two regions to be known as the cold northlands and the warm southlands.
Along the eastern edges of Aterica in the region of Kaidos and the northern edges of the Kessian Desert lies the realms of man. Many of the chiefdoms, city states and petty kingdoms have arisen relatively recently with ancient Kessia and the city of Contera among the few exceptions. The realms have come into being remarkably quickly, within the last 900 years and many formed after they began to cultivate crops and farm the land along the rivers and coastlines. Many previously tribal peoples began settling into larger and larger settlements and civilization began to take root with new technologies and advancements being discovered at a startling rate. Modern humans, or using the more scholarly term, Homo Sapiens are are much more progressive variant of Humanity and are perfectly adapted to be opportunistic and versatile.
Countless different ethnicities of modern humans make up the different realms, from the pale skinned Kessains of the south to the darker skin tones of the men and women of Jaros Island and the northlands. The last enclaves of the Tharios and the Atins linger on in the more remote regions, struggling to compete with the recent aggressive expansion by modern humans. Although they are separated by millions of years of evolution in both cases, the Tharios and the Atins are considered ancestor branches of humanity and have been pushed to the edges of what is now considered civilization.
One other ancestor branch of humanity is present on Aterica, in the deep caves, swamps and dark places of the world, the treacherous and foul Mura. A hateful and cruel subspecies that devolved to acclimate themselves to the shadows rather than evolving into more adaptable forms for different environments out in the open. Though broken up into a variety of different types they are commonly, diminutive and weak compared to other humans and in a straight fight a human can easily fight many Mura at once. Since the very dawn of history from back when the two subspecies first diverged, conflict between the Mura and other humans has been vicious and constant. Humans will kill any Mura they come into contact with and the same can be said of Mura, who hate humanity just as vehemently.
