Ercus' Geography



The Labyrinthine Mountain

Location: Northwest region of Ercus.

Description: Sitting in the center of a clear and flat desert is a single large mountain. It's sides are peppered with holes of all sizes, from a measly one foot holes to holes bigger than any living man. These are entrances to gain access inside the mountain. Inside is a maze larger than any found anywhere else on Fou Lu. It fills the entire mountain, as well as stretches underground for miles around. The pathways and stairwells are roughly hewn stone, and while some passages could allow for small armies to traverse the maze, others spare barely enough room for a small child. It has never been completely explored, so it is unknown just how far the maze goes.

No one is entirely sure what it is or where it came from, although there is evidence it was long ago a volcano that has now gone extinct. As always there are many rumors floating about. Some say it is hiding an ancient treasure, some say it is an ancient Tersid fortress from beyond memory of the oldest on Fou Lu, and still others say it is the final resting place of Salamander, the king of the fire dragons.

History: Thousands of years ago, during the time Etulid reigned over Deisach, one of his many sons was traveling across Ercus. This man, Ralph Thatch, was ambitious and horribly greedy. When he heard tales of Mercu's vast treasure that was rumored to lie underneath the desert sand, it was a story he could not overlook. The location treasure was said to be marked by the lone mountain. Almost everyone living near the desert had heard this story, and while a few had taken the risks of searching the mountain, none had the resources for a major mining expedition. Thatch did. He left Ercus for Deisach, but quickly returned with a fleet of ships, some filled with soldiers, the others filled with slaves.

He wasted no time searching the mountain. Hundreds of slaves spent over a decade digging through the mountain, and when nothing was found there, they expanded their search under the mountain and the surrounding desert. The ages of the slaves ranged from 10 to 60, and when injured, they were left to die where they lay. They still had found nothing when the Dragina came and destroyed his fathers empire, and although he received messengers from his father calling for aid, by this time his fascination with the treasure had long ago turned into an obsession. He murdered the messengers and drew the soldiers and slaves further underground, and to protect themselves from the looming threat of Rein, they turned the former mines into a labyrinth that no creature could hope to discover the path through.

Years later, Rein sent soldiers to search through the mountain, but there was no sign of Thatch and his people.

Neiafam

Location: Far out on the Northern coast of Ercus; just close enough to make it's inhabitants Fire Elementals.

Description: Recently discovered, this new Fire Island is the product of an impossibly fast working volcano; it only took a few thousand years to rise (not including it's birth, a simple lava crack in the bottom of the ocean). No plant life other than algea has been found on it, and it has a small crater in the top. Only the most stupid and daring have gone out to it. It erupts so often that anyone who goes there twice and comes back is lucky. At it's rate of growth, in only a few millenia it might be another full-fledged Fire Continent.

History: Just a freak of nature, if you will. It's just like any other underwater volcano, just with a bit more vigor. Maybe Mercu's Plan B, should he suffer his younger brother's fate. No one's entirely sure. It's just appeared above the surface recently. It's been chugging away for ten thousand years or so, and has basically absorbed all the other volcanoes in its way. This sucker's not showing any signs of stopping, and has already claimed a life or two. Right now it's only a tiny island, but in a couple hundred years it should be large enough to hold a small city.

The Noxious Swamp

Location: Northwest of Tyranoth on the Fire Continent.


Description: A large swamp skirted by a barren wasteland of scorched terrain and burned trees. An ever-present, acrid stench of something resembling sulfur is evident in the area surrounding the swamp. Tall, dead trees shield the inner reaches of the area, reaching heavenward with their clawed limbs. Wrecked airships of various empires and continents can be seen littering the outskirts of the swamp, what lies inside though is a mystery. The only thing about the swamp that is evident is the inhabitants. Besides the standard annoying insect, there exists a clan of mix matched ogrin and trolls; this clan waylays any and all travelers that dare step foot into the swamp, as they never leave its borders. Some say, that the ogrin are survivors of the airship wrecks, living with the trolls and falling under the same influence as them.

History: This swamp was created by an unprecedented and unrecorded clashing of Mercu and Aidon. The voracity of their rage forged this stretch of land into a murky, insect-ridden, treacherous area, a large distance southwest of Tyranoth. The gasses that emanate upward from the grotesque 'waters' of the swamp cause any sentient creature to become reclusive (to the swamp alone) and hording. Over the many years, trolls had found their way to the swamp, living and reproducing while bringing down airships that were foolishly flown over the swamp. They did this by climbing the many tall, dead trees eking from the swamp, managing to ruin the construction of the airships causing them to veer off course and crash into the swamp itself, or even the wasteland surrounding. The ogrin that had manned the ships were then taken into the swamp (if they weren't already trapped) and fell under the influence of the noxious, mind-addling gasses. Hence the name "The Noxious Swamp".

Scorching Sea

Location: Southern central region of the Fire Continent.

Description: What's amazing about the Scorching Sea, is that it's constantly hot, year round. It never lessens in temperature, yielding sometimes unique inhabitants accustomed to the heated water. Several bleached skeletons line the banks surrounding the area, belonging to creatures having ambled to the site and drank of the water, not knowing about the high temperature of it, and were cooked from the inside out. Sitting in this sea for too long, though, can cook the flesh of creatures and people alike, as they're not used to the overbearing temperatures. A single river branches off from the sea and into the Flagrantia Canyon located to the west.

History: Customary to belief, the Scorching Sea was brought about at the same time as the White Sands, sort of giving a balance to the area, although not really much. Considering the waters are high in temperature constantly. It is fabled, that a high concentration of lava resides beneath the sea and branches off to surrounding areas, giving pockets of heat and flame at intervals in random places. Due to the amazing temperate zone, all foliage that once grew here; bushes, trees, ferns, whatever-have-you, have all died and decayed, leaving skeletal-seeming remains of brittle wood, scorched to a blackened hue. In the cities, there can sometimes be heard speak that the Scorching Sea was once a gorgeous area, with crystal-clear waters and amzing greenery. But in a struggle between Mercu and another God, the sea was forever ruined, never to be returned to it's former beauty again.

Flagrantia Canyon

Location: Far east of the Scorching Sea (actually connected to it by a river) on the Fire Continent.

Description: An enormous cleft in the region, stretching for as far as the eye can see, that is if you can pierce the clouds of steam masking the canyon. The river streaming into the bowels of the canyon, which reach deep into the earth, is ever boiling within the canyon itself. This anomoly creates the thick plumes of searing steam rising from the canyon to veil it's entirety, making it a dangerous travel for even the hardiest wanderer. There is no telling what beast lay in wait near and within the canyon, but it's fabled that many rich deposits of crystal and metal streamline the walls of the canyon. The heat becomes more and more unbearable the deeper in that is traveled, forcing an adventurer to find a means of blocking out that heat as well as braving the denizens.

History: Many many years ago, the Flagrantia Canyon was created by a fissure erupting in Mercu's rage one day. Lava was spewn forth from the bowels of Fou Lu, but contained within the canyon due to the sheer depth of it. With the earth opening in this way, it reached very close to the Scorching Sea, causing the terrain to dip somewhat and a river become formed, flowing into the canyon itself. This river cooled the lava and forced it to harden, but the heat from the core of the planet still reaches upward, making the water boil, but for some reason it never evaporates. Many think that Mercu, finding this to be a splendid creation, asked Aidon for assistance in keeping the river alive and flowing by using her experience and power with the element of Water. But then again.. this is only skepticism and legend..

The White Sands

Location: Northeastern area of the Fire Continent.

Description: The White Sands is the one of the largest deserts in all of Fou Lu, spanning as far as the eye can see, also being unbearably hot. The sands of the desert are a pure, stark white, nearly blinding to the eye by refracting the rays of the sun from each individual grain. The sands are hot to the touch, but of a different sensation... almost magical, a purely differentiated heat from the common sunlight. So, footwear IS a must here, unless you want to quickly lose the flesh of your feet, as the grains of sand are apparently an extensive deposit of crushed crystal, ground so fine to resemble sand.

History: The White Sands have been around for as long as anyone can remember, hinting at the destruction of a great crystalline tower where the desert now resides. This is the only explanation people can dream up, as the sands have been found out to be grains of crystal, almost seething with inner heat and energy. The facts and assumptions are sketchy, however, as no one has found any recording of such, nor is anyone nearly old enough to have the slightest clue on how the desert really came to be. All that's known is that in some regards, it's obscenely gorgeous... and in others, horrifically dangerous.

Sand's Window

Location: Within the White Sands.

Description: Sand's Window is a geyser about four thousand and fifty, to four thousand square feet in diameter. From a distance when a blaze of molten lava bursts upward from the bowels of the planet it looks as if a volcano is erupting on the spot, but this only lasts about an hour or so. Once the molten lava has had a chance to cool and harden, it's normally swarmed by traders and miners who are scouring for a rare mineral created by the compaction of oxygen caused by the eruption of the geyser (Oxygen, when solidified, forms into a crystal named Oxytrine) which is used for high level potions and poisons, greatly worth more than it's own weight in gold. The rarity of the crystal, as well as the supply and demand factor make this place common ground for merchants, traders, magi, and all sorts of people of different race and creed.

History:Sand's Window is only about ten years old and was stumbled upon by a group of traders they would have passed by; just thinking it was some sort of freak, spontaneous volcanic eruption. Except that one of the traders, looking down instead of forward discovered a strange crystal upon the sands. Once it was brought back to an archmagi, it was confirmed that it was a crystal of rare Oxytrine. Thus bringing Sand's Window a constant flow of people seeking riches, most commonly a slew of traders passing through and deciding to scoop up a good amount of the Oxytrine crystals for themselves... Though sometimes they misjudge the time and lose their lives to the geyser's eruption, making it a somewhat less traveled area, only braved through necessity or by stalwart explorers or adventurers.