The Poison Peninsula

A stretch of land coated in a deadly alchemical mixture

The Poison Peninsula is a piece of land that extends out from the southern portion of Elone, particularly the land known as Draconian territory. It is most notable for housing the alchemical village of Tamd, and being inaccessible to all non-alchemists due to the fact that the peninsula between Tamd and the outside world is coated entirely in a deadly mix of poisons.

The Isolated Land

The Poison Peninsula's proper name in Draconian is Terra Matris or Land of the Mother, as it houses the Temple of Helle, the Creator Goddess of the Draconian people, who is at times represented with the domain of Envy. This domain, as well as faith in Helle, has colored much of the history of Terra Matris.

Colmiceth Nurdesh by andreaspsillos4

Terra Matris was once a fertile land with bright green grass, said to be one of the most lush regions in Draconian Territory, as it was blessed by Helle herself.
This is what led the group that became the Tamdians to it, alchemists in need of a home. They fled from Evity in search of a place to practice alchemy without any interruptions, and a peninsula far away from other settlements was perfect.

Poisoned Land

Tamd sits at the tip of the peninsula, surrounded on three sides by sea. The Temple of Helle is at the entrance of the peninsula, meaning it is still part of the outside world. Between the two, a region of grass and dirt covered in poison lies.
Since the first war between Tamd and Ealla, not long after they settled down, the vibrant grass has not existed. Poison was poured onto the very ground itself, at first soaking into the soil and appearing invisible to the naked eye.

Tamd and the
Bloodbinding Ritual

Tamd is the alchemical village of the Draconian people. They are defined by their isolation from the world, making the Poison Peninsula a perfect place for them.
Nearly every resident of Tamd is an alchemist, which is the very center of their culture. They take immense pride in their alchemy, and when they come of age, they pour poison onto the peninsula, mixing their own special poison into the history of Tamd, soaked eternally into the grass of Terra Matris as a mark of their alchemical existence.
This process is known as the Tamdian Bloodbinding Ritual.
It was created by Colmiceth Nurdesh to keep out Tamd's natural enemy, the Bards of the village Ealla, who Tamd has been constantly at war with for thousands of years.
It had the unintended consequence of keeping out everyone else, but Tamd has grown to appreciate not dealing with the rest of the world, and a culture centered around isolation and hatred of outsiders has taken over Tamd.

Poison was dumped onto the isthmus of Terra Matris in a display of might when Tamd and Ealla had found themselves at war with each other. Many bards, unaware of the poison that the soil absorbed or at least dismissive of its true properties, marched onwards, dying on the battlefield where no enemy stood.
After the poison took out many of his bardic soldiers, the first Eallan Village Chief, Shirthecmonis Eravarax, said of it:

Shirthecmonis Eravarax by Jarhed

"It was a devilish scheme pulled by Nurdesh, making a subtle weapon like that. Subtlty is the death of bards and he used that to his advantage. He's a clever bastard, that's for certain."

— Shirthecmonis Eravarax

The war was ended not long after, as Eravarax had no way to get around it, but the two villages nevertheless became locked in eternal conflict despite the end of immediate hostilities.
After thousands of years of pouring poison onto the land, it is no longer subtle that the land has been tainted. Initially, just the area between Tamd and the Temple of Helle had dead grass, a sign of poison in the dirt itself, while the poison itself was below the surface.
Once a few hundred years had passed, and especially after thousands of years of poisoning, even the soil could not contain it. The poison became a vibrant mess that pooled over the ground itself, a multicolored liquid that those immune to it would have to wade through. It serves as a bright warning to any non-alchemists to stay away.
The grass around the poison has felt the effects of large toxic build-up. Stretching onto the mainland itself, right at the foot of the Temple of Helle, the grass is entirely dead and drained of color, and the same can be said throughout the entirety of Tamd itself.
Most soil in Tamd is infertile, irradiated and poisoned beyond the point of holding any nutrients. However, crops can be grown due to alchemical miracles that many Tamdians have dedicated their lives to discovering. Rather than being grown in the soil, most plants are grown in vials filled with chemicals that serve the purpose of giving nutrients.

Colm Bay and the Great Sea

Named after the founder Colmiceth Nurdesh, Colm Bay is one of two bodies of water around the Poison Peninsula. It is the area of water between the peninsula and the continent of Elone itself, and it too is filled with acids and poisons.
The Colm Bay is not filled so much with poisons that are deadly to people, though that is also mixed in there to prevent outsiders from swimming to Tamd. Instead, it is largely acid that corrodes anything that enters it, designed to break down ships headed for them before the ship can even reach Tamd.
The Great Sea is what surrounds the eastern and southern edges of the Poison Peninsula. The largest body of water in the world, the Great Sea itself cannot be poisoned in its entirety as it would be diluted in the massive ocean, but the immediate edge of it on Tamd's coast can be. All it requires is a constant reapplication of poison.
Beyond that, it holds many dangers that keep ships away. Not too far to the east, an enormous, everpresent whirlpool called the Great Dip sits, which swallows all ships and rips apart any who enter it.
In the Great Sea itself, the Southern Nereid Kingdom lives. They are hostile to most ships that enter their waters, and that keeps dangerous navies away from the Poison Peninsula. All this serves to make the Poison Peninsula one of the most dangerous and defensible geographic locations in Totania.

Aldecnuash Beldorin by andreaspsillos4

Immunity

There are two forms of immunity that one can get from the Poison Peninsula, but both of which are only available to Tamdians and, potentially, outside alchemists as well.
The first of these is the antidote potion that all alchemists that pour poison into the peninsula are tasked with making and, then, ingesting. It is not necessarily an antidote, but instead a secondary poison that infuses their very blood with the same poison they created.
Thus, Tamdian alchemists become one with the poison, able to walk the Poison Peninsula. Before they come of age, most Tamdians are not allowed to leave, as it is difficult to even get them out of Tamd, but also because they are meant to learn Tamdian culture before going into the outside world.
The second method is somewhat strange. Aldecnuash Beldorin, a prominent Tamdian figure known for his fashion, designed a particular material in -1601: denim.
With that, he created Tamdian jeans, which mixed with another material that had been created called Tamdcloth. Tamdcloth was immune to the poison, absorbing it, but it was not comfortable to wear. Denim helped change that, and Tamdian jeans became a common sight in Tamd.
Denim around the world is not immune to the poison, as Tamdcloth is very difficult to get outside of Tamd, as it is made from a particular resource that many believe is found only in Tamd.
There is one other way around the Poison Peninsula, though it is equally difficult. The few mages in the world who have achieved some form of flight can simply soar over the poison land and make it in or out of Tamd. The greatest problem with this comes from the fact that only some of the most powerful mages can fly, but it means Tamd is not as well protected as they often wish to be.