Valanhaar

The small but mighty country of Valanhaar is located in the Northern Tripartite of The Shattered Oceans, to the East of the Tear of Pasiphae. Its Arctic climate creates all of its inhabitants into survivalists as they learn to weather its Polar Nights, large predators, and unforgiving conditions. It is populated in modern times by Astral Elves, Dwarves, Humans, and Gnomes, but Giants used to live in Valanhaar as well. There are also some small Kobold settlements throughout the country, but they are strategically placed near a mine to harvest Scarlet Amber for their technologies, or close to a port for them to bring in and distribute their shipments of goods.

There are 3 major cities in the country: Zavodske, Porosha, and Zvezda. The city of Zvezda is a city of Astral Elves, with unique architecture, culture, and practices. It is also a port city. The city of Porosha is a port city that sits along the Southeast corner of Chantara's Cove, at the end of the Strait of Tishina. Zavodske is the only landlocked city in the country. There is also 22 small villages/small towns throughout Valanhaar. The country stretches about 330 miles from East to West at its farthest point, and 275 miles from North to South. There is a very large Gulf on the Western coast of Valanhaar called the Strait of Tishina that is approximately 25miles wide at the mouth, and runs for 175 miles

Climate

The entire Northern Tripartite, which includes the country of Valanhaar, experiences a 120 Day Polar Night every year, sometimes referred to as the . This Polar Night causes the growth of many plants and flora to come to a halt or reduces it to one-tenth of its normal growth rate. The rivers often have frozen bridges that can be crossed, and lake fishing becomes very common especially during the

Fauna & Flora

There is a plant called Cottongrass that is used for insulation, to stuff bedding, pillows, and create protective layers of clothing. It grows most abundantly along the Cottongrass River, which runs South from Lake Nadezhda and through the Iron Alps, until it runs out to the Sea. The cottongrass plant can also be found in the wilds, growing with arctic wildflowers and berry bushes.

Natural Resources

Valanhaar is full a land rich in natural resources; especially mining resources. Silver, iron, copper, nickel, oil, coal, and stone are all mined in and traded in throughout the Northern Tripartite. Although in that region there are plenty of salt mines on neighboring islands the Tear of Pasiphae, but the country of Valanhaar produces its own, special salt called Soursalt. The source is Lake Nadezhda, and the Soursalt mine is located near the similarly named Soursalt Copse in the center of the country.

There are also smaller mines that are dedicated to harvesting gemstones and rarer stones for magic purposes. Although the land used to be dense in forests too, they are more sparse now due to the long term overharvesting of lumber for thousands of years.

History

The country was once inhabited by Giants, but after many conflicts between themselves and the Astral Elves, the Giants surrendered the country to the Elves; re-settling on the neighboring Megafjord.

Type

Subcontinent