A thread for locations in Yashain to flesh the place out a bit. If you have any to add, please do so...

The Geography of Yashain

There are many folktales, stories, and religious beliefs regarding the geography of Yashain. While many of these are culturally specific, others are held commonly across Lythia. Drawing on these beliefs, and on various accounts of visits to Yashain, various scholars have attempted to provide accounts of the geography of the place. In one sense, this is a fruitless task. In Yashain geographical relationships, and even time, are fluid and mutable. Navigating in Yashain is as much an exercise in metaphysics and philosophy as it is in navigation in the more traditional sense. The relationships between the various features described in the geographies of Yashain should, therefore, be taken with a grain of salt. However, enough mystics and inter-world travellers report visiting the same features that it is generally accepted that there is at least some kernel of truth to many of the tales.

The River

Perhaps the most consistently reported feature of Yashain is the River. The River is, to most travellers to Yashain, the first feature that they encounter. It divides Yashain from Kethira, and most of the easiest routes from Kethira to Yashain (or vice versa) involve crossing the River. No-one knows from where the River flows, or where it empties. Some believe that the headwaters of the River lie in the Elemental Spheres, and that it empties into the Bukrai, but none have ever followed the river from source to end.

The nature of the river varies from place to place. In his journals, Nithri the Green records crossing from Elfshavel to Faya with a party of Sindarin. The River here was scarcely noticeable, a bubbling brook ankle deep that the party waded across. Nonetheless, Nithri noted that “the brook was a border between the mundane world and one more deeply enriched with magick. Although the crossing was easy, change in aura that accompanied it was palpable.” At other places the river is a mighty flow on which great vessels sail, and in still others it meanders aimlessly through stinking marshes. On the borders between Balgashang and the Blasted Waste the River is said to flow with blood.

The Wild Marches

Lying mostly on the banks of the River, the Wild Marches are the name given to those places in Yashain “closest” to Kethira. Faya is located in the Wild Marches, as are a number of other sites that are relatively “easily” visited from Kethira. In apparent contradiction to the view that the River divides Yashain and Kethira, parts of the Wild Marches can be visited without crossing the River at all. These sites - sometimes referred to as “soft places” are believed to exist simultaneously in both Kethira and Yashain at once, and are both numinous and eerie. Nonetheless, to get from the Soft Places into Yashain proper will inevitably involve crossing the River. The unwary traveller who finds themselves straying unwittingly into one of the Soft Places would do well to watch where they go and cross no brook or stream - no matter how inconsequential - least they become hopelessly lost in Yashain. Until the River is crossed, one can find ones way back from the Wild Marches to Kethira by retracing one’s steps. Once the River is crossed this no longer necessarily applies.

Many marvellous, terrible, or magical animals are reputed to haunt the Wild Marches and from here they may stray into Kethira proper. Similarly, ethereals, sprites, and spirits of all kinds are drawn to such places.

The Free City

While there are many free cities, there is only one Free City. Built of white marble shot through with silver, the towers and arches of the Free City are regarded as one of the most beautiful sights in all Kelestia by those who have visited it. Orchards of almond, olive, and fig surround the city and gardens are carefully tended within the walls. The Free City is located on the banks of the River at the point where it flows into a mighty lake. A bewildering variety of ships come from all over Yashain and from many different Kethiras carrying goods for trade, and the Free City’s markets are said to be the most diverse in existence.

The Free City is governed by a council of six archons, each representing one of the six districts of the city. Each of the archons is themselves a powerful lord with interests extending far beyond the Free City itself. Within the Free City itself, the archons accept no other jurisdiction. The city is neutral, although a hotbed of intrigue and clandestine activity among the varying factions, philosophies, and kingdoms of Yashain.

The Keystone

Two weeks travel from the Free City lies the Keystone. Although the distance remains relatively constant, the direction is known to vary over time as different paths to the stone open and close. A single, unimaginably ancient standing stone, the dolmen is believed by many sages to mark the centre of Yashain. Although the landscape around the stone is known to change, and paths leading to and from it are notably unreliable, it is said that the stone itself never changes and never moves. It is covered with strange glyphs and runes, which are said to encode ancient secrets and is visited from time to time by scholars, mages, and other seekers after esoteric information.

...and a few more:

The Ur Tree

Although the Keystone does not move, the Ur Tree does from time to time, and can apparently manifest in several places at the same time. A vast and ancient tree of an apparently unique species, the Ur Tree is on some level reminiscent of all other trees. A scion or avatar of the Ur Tree can sometimes be encountered in Faya, and it is believed by many that another is to be found in the court of Save Knor. Two properties of the Ur Tree make it of particular interest. The First is that, by walking counter-clockwise around the tree one can move from one instance of the tree to another. Control over one’s destination requires knowledge of which instance of the Ur Tree one is dealing with and the exact distance to walk around it. Consequently, it is not easily used for casual transportation. More remarkably, some accounts suggest that climbing in the branches of the tree may enable a person to move from one “layer” of Kethira to another. This is seen by some sages as a possible route, albeit unusual, towards ascension in the Elemental Spheres.

All accounts of the Ur Tree mention the Guardian. The form of the Guardian is apparently not constant, as there are many conflicting stories regarding the Guardian’s nature. Sometimes it appears that the Guardian may be reasoned with or sought for information, whereas at other times the Guardian might need to be defeated or tricked if one is to approach the tree.

The Pit

Lying well beyond the Wild Marches, but cutting across many domains in Yashain, is the Pit. A great chasm dropping down into unguessed depths, the Pit is a formidable barrier to travel. The nature of the Pit varies depending on where one encounters it. In some places it is a single narrow chasm no more than a hundred feet or so across dropping away into blackness. In other areas the Pit is wider than one can see and possesses terraces and shelves that allow one to explore downwards into its depths. What lies at the bottom of the Pit none truly know, but the most common speculation is that the Pit provides direct access to the Bukrai. Morgoth’s domain is said to lie on a series of these shelves in the lower levels of the Pit. Perhaps because of its association with both Morgath and the Bukrai, the Pit is widely held to be an ill-omened and haunted place avoided by all sane individuals.

The length of the Pit is such that at times one may need to cross it. There are few known crossings, and none without their perils. Often the least hazardous crossings require descending some distance into the Pit to find.

The Rainbow Arch

Perhaps the most widely known way to cross the Pit is via the Rainbow Arch. Often believed to be the same phenomenon that is commonly viewed from Kethira after rain, the Rainbow Arch spans the entire Pit. Crossing the Arch is only possible for the well-prepared, however, as the colours of the Rainbow represent pure elemental principles. One must be well-warded against at least one of them in order to pass the Arch unscathed.

The Shifting Wastes

An endless domain of shadowy swamps and haunted woods, the Shifting Wastes lie on the other side of the Blasted Plain from the River. At their outer edges they are said to border on the Rim - the region where reality becomes abstract and the abstract real. A part of the Pit must be crossed to reach the Shifting Wastes from most routes through Yashain. Because of the difficulty in reaching them and their shadowy nature, the Shifting Wastes are said to be the home of a number of entities of great power that have fled from or earned the enmity of the great gods.

Here's my "functional map of one layer" of Yashain I made way back. It just occured to me today to scan it to computer befre it fades or falls apart.

Ooops too big to upload..

http://bellsouthpwp.net/g/a/garyashburn ... or1989.jpg

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Member of the CoE (Council of Elitists)

Most of Yashain is conjecture, but there are some canon maps.

In Staff of Fanon there is a map of Nervarna (a region of Yashain) probably close to the Blasted Plains as the sea is called Brooders Gulf.

In Curse of Hlen there is a poetic map of part the borderlands between the realms of Agrik and Larani (where The City of Nascent Vision is located).

Feanor, I actually like your map. It is simple, 'crude' as in old school, but extremely functional. Good job with it.

In my thinking there Ilvir's Blasted Plains lie between the armies of Larani and Agrik and are partly the result of their eternal waring. The black forest was once part of the forest realm inhabited by Seim's elves until Seim left after Morgath refused to give up bukrai. Since then Morgath's Realm has sunk into the black pits of Morgathian hell sucking everything else down. Parts of the green forests of Faya bordering Morgath's realm have turned black and dead. The souls of elves devoted to hate and war who are killed or die often come to the afterlife in the Black Forest where they face the horrid creatures that frequently range northward sometimes reaching the fields of valon or the borders of Larani's realm. (And it gives Larani's paladin's lots of reason's to be running around protecting Peonians in their peaceful afterlife.)

While I try to shift things around in alternate layers/campaigns/visits it is difficult to change the general layout of things when it makes a certain amount of sense to me the way it is laid out. Faya in particular needn't be black and lifeless on all layers or situated in any particular portion of the map etc.

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Member of the CoE (Council of Elitists)

Using Feanor's map as a guide, I'd like to see a CC2/CC3 map done. But that is just me.