User:Paleomancer/Emerald Sun (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Geography and Environment

Geography and Environment

Geography

The surface of Tellur is divided into three major continents (Amasia, Gondwana, and Vaalbara) and two oceans (M'Dian and Pantelluric). The three continents were once part of a massive landmass that split apart eons ago due to a comet impact, forming the Crescent Sea (currently the major zone of the campaign and the remains of a large crater).

• Amasia: The vast northern continent of Amasia is covered in permafrost and ice, dominated by massive mountain ranges, glaciers, vast conifer forests, and huge lakes, with the occasional secluded thermal spring valley scattered here and there. To the south, Amasia is connected to Gondwana via a narrow land bridge, with the heavily populated Crescent Sea to the West, and the Outer Ocean to the East. Even though it is the largest continent on the planet, larger than every other landmass combined, the North is sparsely populated except around the Crescent Sea.
• Vaalbara: The smallest continent and Tellur's mandatory "lost continent". It is dominated by a barren red desert edged with deep rainforest. The desert is a physical anchor for the Dreamlands.
• Gondwana: Gondwana is the second-largest continent, with some of the greatest diversity of climate in the world, ranging from marshes and forests to deserts, steppes, and mountains of unsurpassed height. It is also the most heavily populated continent, with a wide range of cultures and peoples.
• M'dian Ocean: The M'dian is the smaller of the two oceans, almost completely enclosed by the three continents. It is the center point of the sundering that split the continents into their present form.
• Crescent Sea: A warm, subtropical/temperate region of the Nanothalassan Ocean, home to some of the more powerful civilizations on Tellur and a center for trade. It is also the default starting local for most players; the capitol of R'laeh is located near its center.
• Pantelluric Ocean: A vast area of ocean, largely unexplored, dotted with islands and surrounded by a ring of volcanoes adjacent to the three continents
• Selene: The moon of Tellur. It has an atmosphere and is inhabited by the Selenites, mysterious insectoid humanoids who trade with other voyagers in the stars.

Major Nations and States

These are the major political entities on Tellus, although it is by no means an exhaustive list. Most major factions consist of a single powerful city state and its vassals, a relationship that may be military (Roman Empire), economic (Renaissance Italy), or religious (medieval Catholic Church) in origin and function. Most people pay the necessary tribute to their liege city (if any), but are only truly loyal to their home city or territory.

R'lyeh, Citadel of Nightmares

R'lyeh has an entirely deserved reputation as the oldest city on Tellus; some of its structures are over a billion or more years in age. It also has an unsavory reputation as the near-continuous focus of Fremd worship for almost that entire history. When the machinations of the Fremd finally came to fruition, they lead their armies of brainwashed cultists and dreamscape entities R'yeh's imposing citadel, conquering much of Amasia and Gondwana. When the Ichorites, Puppeteers, and Doppelgangers developed free will and rebelled against their Fremd progenitors, they inherited a powerful empire.

• R'leah: Capitol of the Great Old Ones, beings of insanity who have repeatedly tried to conquer Tellur, and roughly a thousand years ago, finally did so. It is located at the center of the Crescent Sea. The Great Old Ones seek to establish a new world spanning realm of their own, and gain sufficient strength to defeat the Mir-Ga.
• Saswan: Capitol city of the Ophidians, newly reconstructed two hundred years ago.
• Fomor: TBA.
• Atlantis: Home to the Bathyian Empire.
• Avalon: TBA.
• Eleusa: Counterpart to R'leah, co-ruled by the cults of the Shadowstar Mysteries.