Amgine: The Lost Continent (Amjeen)

"The Lost Continent"

Thank you to World Anvil for allowing me the opportunity to compete in this prompt!
You sail through the twin peaks and gaze out in front of you. A gleaming expanse of Azure sea stretches out far beyond the horizon. Just as you grow complacent, the side of your ship is rammed and a mass of fire leaps out from below you. You're knocked unconscious and fall into the now red sea. You've been claimed by the dunes.


Amgine is mentioned in early accounts of the Sun Dragon civilization, as well as the water nomad's stories. The Sun Dragons(a race of jungle lizard people not to be confused with actual dragons) were the most advanced civilization in the world for thousands of years after the downfall of the ancient empire of Zeal. In this time, it is thought that they explored all of the southern lands of Zealor, and made accounts of Amgine in the process. The Sun Dragon scribe Enigma dubbed Amgine as "The Lost Continent" and it has grown to become infamous as such. This title has contributed to the enigmatic nature of the region that persists well into modern-day Zealor. While Enigma gave praise to the resources and shelter the continent provided, he mentioned something else. Enigma was an incredibly powerful Zealomancer (someone who practices Zealomancy) who was known especially for his vast library of powerful memories used to evoke emotions. In Enigma's accounts of the continent he states that he felt the presence of a being who had unearthly amounts of knowledge and memories residing within them, far surpassing even the capacity of his mind. He named this being "the tormented" and stated it was forced to wander Amgine for all eternity due to its unwanted immortality, all while collecting infinite amounts of knowledge and memories. Enigma and his crew of explorers accounted that the being remotely shared its plethora of memories with them, forcing them to suffer with it. They barely made it off the continent and away from the tormented's evil influence before sailing back to the land of the Sun Dragons. Yet even after this, Enigma and his crew suffered from the horrors they saw within it's memory. Of the 16 who sailed to Amgine, 15 committed suicide after the voyage. Enigma was the only survivor. In his elder years, Enigma composed a poem about Amgine:

Beings Enlightened, Enigma of the sun:
The dawn rose from behind the Mountain spires, Journeying from beyond the abyss. We left as soon As its influence vanished.
No longer slaves to its dark Conscience, We came for riches, The glory of old, But we found neither that, God, nor gold.
We discovered a curse. A curse that haunted us to the end Of eternity. We suffer with it Until our end. We humbly accept this fate.
We arrived as beings enlightened, And left being frightened. Do not journey to "The lost continent".
Or you too will become lost.

History

Amgine has a long and storied history within the world of Zealor. Having been created by the three gods, Amgine was first inhabited by the empire of Zeal, a highly advanced society which created the foundation for modern-day Zealomancy and was a collection of all the sentient species within Zealor. When the Passionate Soul fought the three gods, the battle was waged on Amgine. After their victory, the Passionate Soul imprisoned one of the three gods, Thalian the god of knowledge, on Amgine. After this battle, the Heartless (a soulless creature of immense power who gained sentience despite not having emotion, will, or knowledge) battled the Passionate Soul on Amgine as well. This battle destroyed the kingdom of Zeal, and (presumably) killed the heartless and the passionate soul. The different sentient races then parted ways, and the empire of Zeal was reduced to a myth.

Due to the death of the Passionate Soul, the confinement of the three gods weakened, giving them the ability to exert their influence on sentient beings near them. Thalian exerted his will over Enigma and his crew when they arrived at Amgine. The famous piece of classical literature dubbed Beings Enlightened was inspired by the true experience of Thalian's control over Enigma's mind. Being the god of knowledge, he used his infinite amount of memories to ravage the minds of Enigma and his crew.
Shortly after the death of Enigma and his crew, the thousand year storm began. This monstrous cyclone was so powerful that it permanently altered the geography of Zealor. The center basin of Amgine was flooded due to rising sea levels from the intensity of the storm. After 1000 years of intense rainfall, the once great continent of Amgine became an archipelago of mountainous islands with a sea at the center. It was at this time that the great age of exploration started to occur as different civilizations regaled themselves after the end of the storm. After the founding of the New Zealian Empire, an explorer sponsored by the fairly new future world power set off with the hopes of reestablishing connections with the Sun Dragons after 1000 years, only to run into Amgine. However, due to its unassuming front as an archipelago the explorer just marked in on the map and moved on. Amgine's true history was not discovered until much later.
In modern day Zealor, the balance of power in the world has greatly shifted. The New Zealian Empire is now at the forefront of a worldwide industrial revolution oppressing the other sentient species and Zealomancers. New Zeal has now discovered the story of what the archipelago truly is, and has created research stations on and near the archipelago to study it. After being lost for so many years this half-submerged continent was finally given the title of Amgine, after its original discoverer. To this day, many denizens of Zealor still believe Amgine to be a "Lost Continent" either forsaken by time or imagined up by an old man on his death-bed. Even so, New Zeal does know about Amgine, and their intentions for the secrets it holds may not be entirely pure and just.

Geography and Ecology

Amgine has has two separate geographic and ecological time periods both with vast differences.

1. Antiquity

Amgine's original state was quite geographically varied. The continent was the smallest of all the continents in Zealor in total landmass. The cerebral mountain range formed a natural wall around a desert valley in the center of the continent. On the outskirts of the mountains, black volcanic beaches with an abundance of unrefined volcanic dragonglass created what was known as the Foreboding Coast. Countless sea caves dotted this coastline, some systems even reaching far into the Cerebral highlands.

by Pixabay.com

Foreboding Coast, the

Due to an extreme rain shadow and volcanic activity, a large desert was created on the inside of the mountain range. Despite the inhospitable preconceptions about deserts, the inner valley of Amgine flourished with life. At the center of the valley stood a great mesa with towering buttes, sandstone formations, and a dry canyon. A particularly powerful Zealomancer of the past transformed the arid mesa landscape into part of their domain. Using an intense feeling of love they had for another person they created a permanent source of lakes, waterfalls, and streams of holy water which turned the once stark area into an oasis for the empire of Zeal. The buttes became islands along with the great canyon flowing through the new city of Senturica as a sort of central canal. Outside of the mesa, the desert became a playground for Zealomancers to test their skills and transform the landscape into what they saw fit. The empire of zeal created canals which flowed throughout the desert allowing large sailing vessels to travel to the central mesa. Whenever volcanic activity occurred, the white dunes of the Rose Desert would turn bright red due to the presence of volcanic material in the air. This red sand provided minerals in the soil which made the inhospitable dunes become an avid source of farmland. Through many volcanic seasons, the central desert of Amgine transformed into a great tropical oasis with a mix of water, plant life, and volcanic sand. This made it the perfect environment for a budding empire to thrive.

by Pixabay.com

Rose Desert during volcanic activity
The cerebral mountains surrounding the desert also had its fair share of geographical intrigue. In antiquity, this mountain range was volcanically active, causing ash and lava flows to descend to the surrounding lowlands. The cerebral highlands were an area where large rock formations of shimmering dragonglass jutted out of the stunning cliffs, gleaming in the sunlight. There were also an abundance of volcanic caves in the area which served as the home of the Dragons. The ecology of Amgine during this time was just as varied as its geography. After the founding of the Empire of Zeal, the central desert and all other parts of the continent became infinitely more habitable. It was at this time that @flame leviathans started to get attracted to the shores around the continent. These denizens of the deep became a pest to the Zealian empire due to the tendency for juveniles to wander into the desert canals attacking ships and even making it to some towns. About a mile off the coast of eastern Amgine was an island where a great battle was waged between the Zealian empire and another unknown party. The everlasting rage and contempt from this battle made it the perfect breeding site for flame leviathans as they had a natural affinity towards said emotions. Around this isle there was a large wetland which would eventually become a hotbed for breeding flame leviathans.

Some other common fauna found on Amgine at this time were tropical birds, sand crocodiles, obsidian spearheads (canal fish), Cave bats, thundeer, etc. The canals of the central desert teemed with life as they became a makeshift inland sea. As for flora, the main plant being grown around the canals was the sap sap tree. The sap from this tree served as both a vital ingredient in Zealian cuisine and as a source of reproduction for the tree. The sap sap evolved to let its sap out in great loads when the soil turned red with nutrients after a volcanic eruption. This allowed the mini-thickets of trees that grew along the canals to expand rapidly. Another notable species of flora was the mbebe bush, a crop which sprouted bunches of golden mbeberries. Said berries were a staple of the diets of many highland fauna and dragon cuisine.

by Pixabay.com

Mbeberries
In short, the antiquity of Amgine was its shining moment. The central valley bustled with life as the arid desert was transformed into a beautiful fusion of the natural world and the innovation of the sentient mind. From the dragonglass and berry-rich volcanic cerebral highlands, to the foreboding coast and battleground island. From the water-swollen desert valley, to the adaptive, beautiful city of Senturica. The antiquity of Angime was its greatest hour. If only it knew what would happen next...

2. Modern-day

"The storm brought rains of hatred, confusion, ambivalence, and pure grief to Zealor. If she couldn't be with him, then no culture could be with another. The storm drove the sentient species of Zealor apart and altered the balance of natural power in the process." - Pelios, benefactor of the Protectors of Zeal.

In between antiquity and modern-day Amgine, the 1000 year storm raged through Zealor. This storm was an ultra-powerful physical manifestation of an abundance of different emotions a powerful Zealomancer felt when her lover (the passionate soul) died in the battle against the heartless. This storm ravaged Zealor for a little over 1000 years, and greatly altered its geography and ecology. The main concept that needs to be understood when confronting the 1000 year storm's impact on Zealor is the abundance of water it created. Every single drop that rained down from the storm clouds wasn't created from recycled water vapor, but was new water being manifested from the mind of a Zealomancer. So in short, an extremely intense storm created inches of new water every day for a thousand years, which couldn't evaporate due to a presence of no sunlight or heat. After the storm, everything changed.
Out of every continent in Zealor, Amgine felt the effects the hardest. The central desert-valley, foreboding coast, and battleground island were all completely flooded. The only landmasses that remained above water were the cerebral highlands and mountaintops. The once connected mountains all became hilly islands in an archipelago with a large sea in between them. This is the cause for the tales of Amgine's enigmatic nature. Unless you dove to the floor of its central sea, you would never guess that it was once the great "Lost continent" Enigma wrote of. The central valley had been flooded completely to the point where it merged with the ocean. All remnants of the great Zeal empire were claimed by the sea. This allowed the pesky flame leviathans of yesteryear to take hold in and around the Amgine archipelago and wipe out many other species native to the area. The invasive leviathans eradicated nearly all other species of marine life living in the canals, along with any terrestrial fauna living anywhere lower than the highlands. Additionally, most lowland flora also went extinct due to environmental degradation from the storm. Some of the few ancient species still existing in modern day Amgine are cave bats, some tropical birds, and the mbebe bush. While the sentient dragons of the highlands are absent from their ancestral homes, this doesn't necessarily mean they are dead. Dragons are a reclusive species of extreme magical power, and have likely migrated to a new region of Zealor waiting to reveal themselves.

by Pixabay.com

Westernmost Island (wonder where I've seen this picture before)
In the place of the ancestral species of Amgine, many new species have made its flooded central basin their home. Tropical fish, turtles, whales and other marine mammals, coral, and marine flora have all created a vibrant new ocean ecosystem teeming with life. This is thanks to the hydrothermal vents now found within this basin. The shorter mountains that were swallowed by the sea became hydrothermal vents, whereas the taller peaks lost most of their volcanic activity and iced over. Speaking of these peaks, these are now the only place in all of Zealor where dragonglass can be found in antiquated crystals.
The modern-day ecological landscape of Zealor has drastically changed, in part due to the geographical alterations brought on by the storm. Many of the regions synonymous with old Amgine have become repurposed under the waves. First, the rose desert of the past has now become the blossom sea. Most of the underwater area in this sea is composed of the dunes of memory, an underwater expanse which is quite biologically diverse. In the center of the Blossom Sea, the ruins of Senturica have now become the crumbling reef, a sanctuary for many species of marine life. Northeast of the reef lies the black shoals (foreboding coast in antiquity), a mortuary for the dead remains of the unfortunate victims of Flame Leviathans. This is generally where adult leviathans live. Just east of the shoals, an area known as the breeding wetlands exists. This area is the sole place flame leviathans migrate to when mating. They are subconsciously attracted here due to the presence of conflict point, the future half-submerged incarnation of battleground island. Traveling to the other side of the continent, you will find the kelp shallows. Protected from the dangers of the dunes by the Twin Peaks, the kelp shallows are one of the only areas of Amgine where flame leviathans aren't found. This allows small sea-life such as tropical fish, turtles, invertebrates, small sharks, and even juvenile whales to shelter themselves from the Blossom Sea. Heading due east you will find yourself at Mistleaf Island. This island is the only place in all of modern-day Zealor where sap sap trees can still be found. In the center of the forest of Sap Saps lies an extremely large mother tree. There is a legend stating it kept growing to evade the rising seas until one day it found refuge for itself and its seeds. However, this is likely only a myth and the actual reason for its existence remains a mystery.

by Pixabay.com

Mistleaf Island

by Pixabay.com

Crumbling Reef
Another major change to Amgine since antiquity is the imprisonment of Thalian in the sunken city of Senturica (now the crumbling reef). Thalian's influence has attracted simple-minded organisms such as tropical fish and flame leviathans in droves. It is theorized that due to this influence, an extremely large flame leviathan has made Senturica part of its territory, supposedly to guard Thalian.
The 1000 year storm brought unprecedented change to Amgine and the rest of Zealor, truly reducing the once great continent to a shell of itself. While still teeming with life under the waves, the tyranny of Thalian's influence, the flame leviathans, and the presence of New Zeal are all sparking conflict. When will the lost continent be free from these chains of agony and return to its former glory?

Amgine Antiquity by Jatin G

Amgine: Antiquity

Amgine Modern-Day by Jatin G

Amgine: Modern-day

Regions of Amgine (Antiquity)

• Cerebral Mountains
• Cerebral Highlands
• Rose Desert
• Senturica Oasis
• Forested Outskirts
• Foreboding Coast
• Wetlands and Battleground Isle

Regions of Amgine (Modern-day)

• Cerebral Islands
• Timeless Highlands
• Mistleaf Island
• Twin Peaks
• Strait of Antiquity
• Blossom Sea
• Crumbling Reef
• Dunes of Memory
• Breeding Wetlands and Conflict Point
• Black Shoals
• Kelp Shallows

Type

Archipelago