|
Southern Shara is a land of ancient mysteries, where countless feet—not all of them human—have trod on the dust of ancient civilizations. Many empires have called southern Shara home: the nagas, the giants, the fey...and today the High Elves rule here. But are they just the latest in a series of civilizations to lose themselves amid this land's many perils?
Allemantheia, fabled city of the High Elves, is the brightest jewel in Shara's crown. A literal oasis in the desert, Allemantheia's many waterfalls and canals make it seem worlds apart from the parched landscape that surrounds it. The schemes of the High Elves take them many places, but their plans often begin with whispered conversations in these halls of power.
The High Elves have turned the central regions of southern Shara into a dessicated husk—for Allemantheia needs its water, and the surrounding lands must provide. But just because the countryside is a sandy wasteland doesn't mean it's unoccupied…or uncontested. The Sienna Canyon and the Labyrinth of Solitude in particular are home to bandits, ancient warriors from bygone campaigns, and spirits inimical to all life.
In Westonia is icy Mount Tyrannas, as cold as the tyrant's heart it was named after and home to spirits who seek to steal the warmth of the living. The Federation town of Acarum clings to life, but for how long?
The climate is more temperate—though the hazards just as severe—to the southeast, where the town of Frontera engages in bustling trade despite strange apparitions to the south and sinister rumblings from the forbidden Temple of Dagon to the north.
To the north is Essenia, a province once coveted by the elves…and it took a coalition of armies to stop their northward advance. Today the Valkyon Federation claims Essenia, though its actual power doesn't reach far beyond the town of Tralion, jumping-off point for many pilgrimages to the Fountain of Life, where the faithful can walk atop the water in the fountain basin and hope for a powerful blessing. Demons lurk in the nearby forests, however, and rumors abound of a mysterious “Siege Perilous†of demonic manufacture, somewhere deep in the woods.