Thursday, September 17, 2015

Geographic Highlights of Yanth


Computer issues stymied me in getting a new Land of Azurth monster post ready for you guys today, so instead let's revisit Gus's map of the Country of Yanth above and I'll elucidate a few locales:

Aldwode. A dense and ancient forest inhabited by wild Wood Elf tribes and dotted with the fey, hidden demesnes of the High Elf folk.

Apiaria. The Hive City of the Bee Folk and the center of the domain of their Queen, who is always named Melitta. Relations between the Bee Folk and the humans of Yanth have been pleasant but rather formal for some time. Wealthy Yanthians benefit from trade in the Bee Folk royal jelly from which an anti-aging tonic is made.

Enchanted Wood. A virgin forest  renowned for its plant and animal life, all of which are capable of speech. (Though admittedly, most remain silent as they have little to say.) This eldritch peculiarity owes to the waters of the Babbling Brook that runs through the forest and enhances the linguistic capabilities of all who drink from it. For adult animals, this effect is temporary, but creatures raised on it retain these characteristics perhaps indefinitely. The brook itself (as the name suggests) is vocal, and even at its susurrating volume, it can at times impair the concentration of spellcasters and unnerve those around it for long periods. The Spouting Spring that is its source is even worse. Its ceaseless chorus of nonsensical orations are taken as oracular glossolalia by some and tormenting, demonic cacophony by others.

Horologopolis. A subkingdom where many aspects of the lives of its citizenry are predetermined at birth by extensive application of the astrological and numerologic sciences. Horoscopes are prepared and zealously amended and consulted throughout a citizen’s lifetime by the great tabulating engines controlled by the Master Time Keeper, a giant, many-armed construct with a head like a clock face. Those who stray from their appointed role or seek to alter their fate in significant ways are corrected by his agents, the more humanoid, but likewise clockfaced, Watchmen.

Mount Geegaw. A mountain near or in the Dragon Spines. It is also known as the Prismatic Peak, as the upper perhaps two thirds of the mountain are an oblique triangular prism made of transparent crystal. The origins of Mount Geegaw are lost, but few serious scholars believe it to be an entirely natural formation. 




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