Shiryan River
Geography
The Shiryan is the largest river in Hellonde, eventually collecting all of the water that falls on the north side of the Spine Mountains. While this does not account for much water in the desert stretches, the western stretches of the mountains see rain year round, with extreme amounts of precipitation during the twice annual rainy seasons.
For most of the year, the river runs quite low. In the west, the river channels are less than half full. As the river flows to the east, many of the tributaries are dry, and the river dwindles. In some places, the river is a tenth the height of the banks, and with river bars emerging several hundred miles from the sea. It breaks into just a few channels, meandering through the farmland by Carrida before flowing into the ocean.
For the two months around both solstices the monsoons come, bringing moist air from the oceans over the north side of the spine, and driving torrential rains throughout the mountains and almost all of the yearly rain to fall in the desert. The high mountain lakes fill quickly, and the rivers begin to flow.
Throughout the range, water pours down the cliffs and steep slopes, cascading hundreds or thousands of feet. Wandering streams spring up throughout the valleys, flowing into the rivers that feed the Shiryan. More than fifty major tributaries come out of the mountains, each carrying at least a thousand tons of water every second. A wave of water comes crashing down the river, filling it to the banks almost instantly. 80 wiles west of the ocean, the river overwhelms its banks, hugging the hills to the south and spreading out farther and farther to the north. By the time it reaches the shore, the delta is more than 150 miles wide.
Comments