The Expanse
Archivist's Excerpt from: Curious Landscapes & Their Quite Commonplace Explanations, Vol. III, CVI 42.4
The Expanse is really quite a nasty place, isn't it? Barren, cold, dark for half the year, covered in layers of crystalline sand and misery, devoid of most forms of plantlife, fauna, or joy, seems a fitting place for one's unwashed missing socks to wash up as place of legend. Alas.
Dotted with curious ruins since before the dawn of Archiving (oh the bleakness), there is little evidence of any prior settlements outside of these, though this could largely be explained by the ravages of overcommon Storms of the Expanse.
Home of the curious and eventful "settlement" of Orphan Heights, as well as the wayward sojourning Galó, scattered (originally) across four little settlements, though only one is confirmed to have still existed by the time of the .
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Geography
Seemingly endless, stony ground of grey rocky plates, crystalline sand, low hills and sharp mountains, rises, ruins, and a large river, the Yedak River, now dry.
Ecosystem Cycles
If the Expanse has cycles of its ecology, it has either never been recorded by either the Galó (as if they'd do such a thing), or hasn't been recorded for long enough by the Grand Colonial Academy of Science to make much of the data.
Localized Phenomena
This area is plagued by ravenous and frequent Storms of the Expanse , heaving up the crystalline layers of sand from the stony places and wreaking havoc with nearly any kind of man-made surface, save for the ancient ruins strewn about the place. It is why the Galó all wear Dust Lenses out in Svaraheim, their word for the Expanse. Storms like these have killed many, and can quickly strip flesh from bone when left out in them long enough. Lightning accompanies them in surges, and is as dangerous as the winds, yet it never seems to rain.
Climate
The climate in the Expanse is cold, arid, dry, and never much changes. Temperature cycles throughout the year as the sun descends just below the horizon for months of the year, and the storms never seem to cease.
Fauna & Flora
A few scattered birds come and go in migratory patterns, like some species of gull, but even these are few and far between. Remnants of lone trees stand like matchsticks here and there, but there is little evidence of woodlands. Otherwise, only mosses and other things they've taken a lichen to are present along the rocks.
Natural Resources
There are few resources in the Expanse, especially since the mysterious near-drying of the Yedak River, but there is enough water to sustain a few meager settlements, if wells are dug deep enough, no easy feet in the Expanse. Industry would be required to utilize the constant winds enough to make good of them.
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