The Riverlands

The Riverlands extend from the northern coast of Qun'zoccol to the southern. They pass through many different biomes and are a source of life and civilization in each. Grand cities and tiny villages are built along the banks of the Great River—along cliffs, in trees, on stilts where the river supports marshes and swamps, and however else people have engineered ways to live along the Great River.

Because the Great River passes through so many biomes and the Riverlanders have made river travel an entire lifestyle, the Riverlands are completely self-sufficient. The swamps of Carjalla provide timber, clay, and fibers, while the floodplains surrounding Guadavera provide produce for the entire region. Stone from Camarelica and Coratillo and ore from Valendro can be found in buildings all along the banks. The ocean cities of Abapampa and La Rinza provide any outside goods (generally magic and technology) that the Riverlands do have a need for. Land-dwelling game comes from the plains near Zarurana and students of every discipline can study their craft in San Ratina. Tabachacra serves as the spiritual heart of the Riverlands.

Legend says that people living at the Aguavida watched the small streams grow. They followed as these streams carved tunnels through the sides of Mananmantiaña and returned to Aguavida once each year to tell of the new lands the river had reached. They followed each half of the river until it reached the oceans and grew into the force it is today. They built camps that became towns that became the metropolises that now line its banks.   While geologists have concluded that the River itself is thousands of years old, there is evidence of mortal habitation near regions believed to be old camps by explorers from Mananmantiaña.   The Riverlands are unique in that the land has seen no true warfare. Small battles and martial conflicts have punctuated the historically peaceable relations between the cities, but these were resolved quickly and with few casualties. The Riverlands are protected from outside forces by the cliffs along the Sea of Sinsu, making the western coast almost completely inaccessible. To the east, the Borderlands boast no powers large enough to field an army, the yuan-ti of the Sisava Jungle are isolationist by nature, and communities of the Wandering Wilds are varying degrees of pacifist. By keeping to themselves and avoiding the open ocean, Riverlanders have avoided massive military conflict.   To further set the Riverlands apart from the other regions of Oros, they have little history with the illithids. Indeed, most of Qen'zoccol escaped the worst of the invasion. Historians theorize that the lack of mountains and an underdeveloped Underdark gave the illithids no recourse into the continent, but there is evidence beneath Mananmantiaña of Far Realm occupation. The existing communities have no recorded knowledge of any illithid presence.