Jarentasar, the Holy Land

Jarentasar is noted as a rather cold, geographically northern continent system that bears cooler, shorter summers with harsh, bitter winters that last longer than Edrias, or Turas. Geographically it is dotted with heavy, thick forests, massive glaciers, heavy snowfalls, and biting brutal winds that shear the sense of warmth from a travelers skin.    It bears notably on its eastern half, a massive set of mountains that run from north to south almost in its entirety, effectively splitting that eastern half in half, named The Blight Side and The Sea Side. In its central northern section between the western and eastern continental sides, there is the dreaded "Isle of the Damned", or the "Blight Isle" as it is also commonly known.   The eastern hemisphere of the continent is primarily mountainous with tall, rolling hills that transfer into the sharp, massive peaks of mountains topped with snow and freezing cold, whipping winds. The winds sweep down across the hills and sparse amounts of far southern or northern plains that dot the extreme geographic north and south of this hemisphere and bring frequent snow aside from the small summer seasons. The more extreme and frightening and harsh of the three continental subsections, the east notably bears the religious center of The Empire.   The western hemisphere of the continent is somewhat the opposite regarding the hilliness and mountainous nature of the eastern hemisphere. Widely flat and dotted with intensely dense forests that form a tundra, glacial, frozen field of suffering for most of the year that it endures. This makes traveling harsh, unfair, and brutal for the most part and nigh impossible for the 'Deep Winter' that it endures typically between the months of Gar to Nur. The only months of spring, summer, and fall are that of Ces, Rou, Mar, Tih.    In the north-central contiental section/hemisphere lies the forbidden, condemned, and hated Isle of the Damned, or the Blighted Isle. The central point of diffusion for the dreaded 'Black Blight', the isle is home to the condemnd sick, ill, impure, unclean, criminal and deviant. Given the opportunity to seek a new life outside The Empire's laws, they are sent there through The Path of the False. The geography here has been reported to be oddly rather more consistent and even in its seasons for a reason that has yet to be exactly entirely understood.   Despite this, the geography of Jarentasar in general is one of cold, northern atmosphere with mountainous sights that are regarded as the best in the world from those immensely cold zeniths that can see the curvature of the world and the entire continent beneath them.

The ecosystem of Jarentasar is a more standard ecosystem of highly cold nigh wasteland-esque environments. Few life forms have come to truly evolve to survive upon the freezing cold tundra, the brutal glaciers and the utterly ferocious open plains stripped by brutal winds. Those that have are highly specialized. The Blightworm for example is a relatively recent introduction to the main eastern and western hemisphere of the contient yet are native to the Blighted Isle. A savage predator, the Blight Worm surges through the upper layers of hardened topsoil with ruthless efficiency as it detects and destroys anything it perceives through its tremorsense.   The Glacier-Stags are a form of deer/stag that have evolved to adapt heavy fur coats that are highly valued by nobility and higher ranking military and Assembly agents as signs of office and luxury alike, very warm and comforting in their thickness that wraps the wearer and protects them both the cutting wind and the general cold. Glacier-Stags travel in large packs across the hills, plains, and glaciers of Jarentasar both west and east.    Glacier-Stags feed various native carnivores above them in the food chain. Sabretooth cats, wolf packs, and the dreaded Vhrys of the western hemisphere. Vhyrs are a somewhat common yet specially adapted type of cat-like hunters that have unique aspects of being rather wolf-like in their communial style of grouping together and their society in general. Vhyrs are unique in their communal style culture and pack type tendencies that result in rather hierharchical formations of a superior Vhrys that depends upon the hunting outcome and mating outcome of an individual male Vhyrs. That is to say, the Vhyrs more or less follow the most prolific leader amongst their kind based upon the mating and hunting expectations that lace their culture as a wild animal.   Vhrys are often the apex predators of their environments aside from notable exceptions in the legends of Behirs, Dragons, and other such legendary creatures that might otherwise dominate the foodchain and keep such otherwise dominant predators in control. As such, the hunting seasons of Vhyrs are nearly always open season in order to keep the population control of such dominant predators in check. In fact, such has the problem of the lack of dominant predators become in The Empire's modern day become that they have declared a sort of hunters lodge on all dominant predator creature that may forever destroy or even destabilize the fragile ecosystem of Jarentasar without intervention.

The prey species of Jarentasar often enter a stage of prosperity during the summer months as they rapidly breed and reproduce in time for the heavy winter months to take over and ensure that the more heavy witner focused species of this great land have enough sustenance to survive through the harsh winters through their own hunting skill alone. This rather ruthless process of elimination over many cycles has resulted in families of Vhyrs that are feared not only for their hunting prowess but their raw brutality and ferocity in battle.   This has resulted many timesin a sort of counterbalance to a Vhyrs clan needing to be established that is capable of ensuring that there is no over-hunting both via humanioid hunting and overboard feasting via the Vhyrs themselves.   As such this has resulted in a cycle of hunting and relaxation in regard to the Vhrys, allowing them to grow and hunt, and then a period of them being hunted nigh to extermination in order to retain the balance of prey and predator amongst this brutally cold and harsh continent.   Otherwise, the ecoysystem functions similarly to other continents in their shared relationships and are well adapted to enduring the harsh conditions that they find themselves in.

The most notable localized phenomena is of course The Blight. A strange sickness that comes from the Blighted Isle it is believed. It is a corrupting, spreading sicknes that infects both sentient creatures, animals, plantlife, water, and even the very air. Spread via airborne communication from living beings or ingestion via water, meat, or more, it is highly contagious. Luckily the disease seems to not be alble to thrive outside of a certain proximity from a 'corrupted' area, which The Empire has been documenting in progress for hundreds of years.   Despite this boon, The Blight is highly deadly. Infection sets in roughly 24 hours after exposure and the effects are immediately felt. Veins darken, thirst skyrockets, food provides little sustenance. Fat goes first as the body responds to essentially a sickness of starvation as it grips the body. Muscle is next as the person withers away in mere days right before anothers eyes. This is known as 'The Withering', yet it is only the first of three horrific stages.   'Sporification' occurs next, the liquified and disease consumed fat and muscle is re-constituted as sickly cysts and pockets beneat the skin that somehow animate the body. The brain is driven to insanity by this as the skin grows taught with pressure beneath bloating the form of the horrifically unlucky individual to lose their sense of self and become shambling, groaning zombie like creatures.   Sporification is followed by Expulsion. The cysts and pockets explode with a black-green fluid that is highly infectious, spraying everywhere and actually doubling as a caustic acid that burns through flesh to directly infect its next host.   Finally a pseudo fourth stage, Disintegration. The host is dead by this point, but the remaining biological matter on their forms utterly disintegrates to black dust, their skeletons black as night and crystalized by the horid fluid that lay upon their body.   Despite this highly infectious disease, individuals afflicted by this can be spotted very easily in all stages and again, the disease is only capable of really spreading in the areas that have been 'God-blighted', or the ground itself grows black with corruption that has spread from the Blighted Isle, rendering it entirely unlivable and utterly foul. Growing blighted, fleshy growths from the ground that spurt their foul substance across the ground to spread their pollen across. Water turns to a black sludge, the air itself is rendered foul and sickening to breathe.   The wildlife is infected and contains itself to these god-blighted areas, yet still these areas are cordoned off and banned from any Imperial citizen from accessing. Further interesting is the revelation that priests and clerics of the church who conduct their holy sermons near these blighted sites not only are immune to the disease, but can reduce the corruption. Slowly but surely over centuries the priests and clerics hace been dedicated, and it has slowed the spread immensely, but ever still it grows....

As stated above, the climate of Jarentasar is normally one of frigid cold, biting winds, heavy snow and brutal freezes. It is no wonder why the people of Jarentasar who have been bred there for 1,000 years now are considered the 'Frost Born' and indeed do seem to bear some natural affinity for cold and some regard the most lucky, even resistance to cold itself, at home with the freezing temperatures they often find themselves inhabiting.   Otherwise it is a tundra like, cold snowy climate that results in heavily thick forests, flat plains of icy grass and rolling hills of damp and cold nature. Rain in these non frozen southern rolling hills and bluffs, cold and pelting and often times rather vicious.   There are four non winter months that Jarentasar has, in which the thaw and a spring of sorts occur for one, for two a summer takes over with longer and warm days that are typically not anything severe in terms of temperature with mild nights fitted with cooling and refreshing breezes across those plains and hills.

In the northern prospects of the eastern hemisphere of the continent in the Hallowed Range lie immense, truly immense stores of iron, gold, copper, valuable gems and jewels and more. Otherwise, Jarentasar is not normally known for its natural resources. There are some small mines that do mine these similar resources but the primary resource provided from Jarentasar is the power of the faith itself, allowing miracles and things unknown to the world to occur that would not have occurred if it was not present.   There is but one unique natural resource aside from the typical lamb, cow, goat and other livestock.   That is Blight. Named this way for its origin, Blight is simply the denominated, known result of the process of having the Blight or otherwise enduring processes similar to it. A liquid that is highly contagious, it is rumored that it has been weaponized by Imperial scientists to be used against any future enemies that would dare potentially stand against the glorious Empire.

The history of Jarentasar is steeped in the mythology of The Empire as a whole. Known and acknowledged as the first continent that Harbinger and his holy army set foot on, it instantly holds a greatly reverent place in the hearts of the fanatical faithful. Hordes of pilgrims make the long and deadly journey of The Sacred Walk to the alleged direct site of Harbinger's emergence. Many more make the once a life journey and pilgramage to The Hallowed City itself after departing from Setrak, so that they may deposit a small vial of their blood drawn from the holy blade of Harbinger himself onto the floor of the Blood Floor. This sacred journey must be undertaken before one is the age of 18 to be considered a true adult in The Empire.    Yet Jarentasar initially was a cold and frostbitten continent split up and shared between many different small and large kingdoms, holdings, duchies and more different unique political entities. The largest of them all was the Royal Kingdom of Heletara, that encompassed much of the eastern subconinent where The Hallowed City now is. Their capital was once known as the far southern point city of Southern Point. By the time Harbinger and his forces had conquered this subcontinent in its near entirety Southern Point was one of the final cities that remained. Riders were dispatched ahead of the army to deliver terms, and in a rare choice during the War of Consolidation, the terms were accepted.    The king and his family were spared the wrath of Harbinger that he would reserve for those pathetic nobles who would dare to attempt to stand before the might of The Outsider's ever growing army in size and strength. From here, what would become the Blight Isle was rolled over in mere weeks and the attack upon the western subcontinent began in earnest. Attacked from the isle and from an army crossing the now Hallowed Sea in ships, naval combat was fierce as it was a somewhat specialty of the people of this continent formerly known as Neis.    But despite this, their navies fell, their armies fell, their cities fell. Before the first year was out, the entirety of now Jarentasar had been conquered in fast, ruthless, brutal efficiency that quickly spread across the world one message: kneel or die.

Tourists to Jarentasar are somewhat rare given the general climate and overall more dour culture of the residents of this continent, even those who reside across The Hallowed Sea west of The Hallowed City. It is an atmosphere of dark reverence and commitment that has given the locals a reputation of being stone faced, overly serious and sometimes rather detached.   Nevertheless, tourists who can afford and wish to see all the world has to offer can journey here. The highlight of a visit to Jarentasar would of course be The Hallowed City, the prime destination of any would be tourist. To see the soaring cathedrals, the massive military squares, the Basilica of Hate, and so much more is a rare occurrence that it should be valued with the utmost respect.