Rethium

The continent of Rethium.
 
  One of the most legendary lands on Tarris Six.
 
  And one of the most magical.
 
  It is a massive continental landmass that is comprised of millions of square miles of land, and is home to seven countries and an impressive twenty-two humanoid races who have found their homes on this great landmass. Countless mountain ranges tower like walls across the continent, providing barriers to these ancient lands. Rivers mark the land with sources of water that never run dry, and vast plains, hills, valleys and woods reflect the beauty from the heavens from which the gods drew their inspiration to create this great land.
 
  There were, during an age long past, three supercontinents that covered the planet, these being Unios, Pratios and Wrenis. Unios was the largest of these three continents at the time of the dinosaurs and the ancient creatures who would soon evolve to the animals that modern history knows of today, although plenty of species from the ancient times have also been brought to extinction through various historic events throughout the course of history. Ancient history and the theories of evolution state that the continent of Rethium broke from the supercontinent of Pratios millions of years ago when a natural disaster began splitting the land mass into multiple parts. The two main continents known to have been created by Pratios were Rethium and Vibricanth, which lies a great distance to the south. The second supercontinent, Wrenis, broke apart earlier than Pratios did, and Wrenis formed the continents of Usmor, Histath - which is a continent comprised of two landmasses and a large sea sitting open between them - and the largest continent on Tarris Six, known as Olgath. These continents lie on the same hemisphere as one another but were recorded to have the greatest distance between them concerning the bodies of water that were opened up after the landmasses continued to spread during the ending years of the great supercontinents. The third and final supercontinent, Unios, created the continents of Ethlemthos, Moth and Absenia, the latter of which is the continent lying on the planet's southern pole, while Usmor lies to the north on the planet's northern pole. Each one of these continents saw the spread of the Humans and the other races as history progressed and the races evolved, but it is thought that Humans were the first race to be born onto the mortal world of Tarris Six before being followed shortly after by the Orcs, Dwarves, Fielne and Kitsune, who were some of the founding races of the continent of Rethium when they first appeared. Others soon followed, until twenty-two races had finally laid claim to the planet and it's vast resources and landmasses that had taken so many millions of years to form for them by the means of evolution and expansion.
 
  There are seven countries on the continent of Rethium.
 
  Athad was the first of these to be created in the sense that it's section of land became higher than the others over the many millennia that it took to expand and form throughout time. In the religious texts, Athad was the home of a vengeful god who was cast from the heavens after causing a great deal of turmoil, anger and disagreement amongst the other beings with whom he shared the heavenly expanse above the universe that they had all shared their hands in creating before the beginning of time. It is said that a great tower was built by this god and his dark forces over hundreds of years, and that it is from this immense monolith that this same god and his followers are waiting for the right time to reappear and take the mortal world for their own in a cataclysm that will see the end of the world after billions of years of life and peace. Athad is bordered by two ranges of mountains, the Grey Wall - the western mountain range - and the Black Wall - the eastern mountain range. Also contained by the country are vast swamps, dying forests, barren hills and ragged mountains that stand almost alone and dying in the endless heat and darkness of this evil place.
 
  Stale, the country to the east of Athad, is a vast and mountainous country swarming with vast, deep and lush forests, rich grasslands and towering monolithic mountains that have been called the envy of the continent as well as the crowing jewel of northern Rethium itself. Stale was founded at first by the Dwarven race, who were seeking land in which to place themselves with their very first homes and plots of land on which to grow. Stale is bordered by the Black Mountains and Unione's Peak, which is the main defense between the country of Uthesh and Stale itself. Unione's Peak is so named because of the woman who's body and belongings were found inside a cave only a few hundred feet below the towering summit where she died from exposure, lack of oxygen and extremely severe temperatures that had not been experienced before at the time. It is the second place country in terms of it's height above sea level within it's central regions, right behind the first listed country, Athad. Stale is also home to a large and freestanding mountain called the Mountain Of Power, named after the Pantheon's God of War, Syther. The Dwarves, Humans and other races live primarily in this continent, but others also call this place home and have done so for thousands of years. Stale also takes second place for it's environmental aspects, and was - in ancient times - one of the most volcanically active regions in Rethium which may have contributed to the rough and unstable rocky and mountainous terrain of the country. It is responsible for the vast majority of the powerful storms of rain and snow that often strike the rest of the continent, but it does not mean that the country has always been responsible, as plenty of storms have come from far out to sea or from across the oceans after being formed somewhere else in the world. It is renowned for the white-capped mountains and the eternal blankets of snow that cover them all year round which is kept this way by the towering heights to which the mountains reach and continue to do so as they grow higher and higher every single year, even if the growth is barely visible even to powerful measuring instruments used to study and measure the mountains' growth every single year. 
 
  Opron is the third country in Rethium, and is blocked off from Stale and Uthesh by it's own large mountain range, known as the Minorian Mountains after the Kitsune explorer who first found them and charted the way through a long, wide pass and into the lands that would become the country of Opron. Michi Minori was the leader of a band of Kitsune and Humans who travelled across the continent to find a home for themselves, and he led them through the Minorian Mountains and into a part of the continent that would soon after be deemed as "The most beautiful, plentiful and most vast natural gardens and greenhouses found anywhere on Tarris Six" by many who would come to know it and study it throughout the coming centuries. Opron is the garden of Rethium, plentiful in vast and untouched plains as green as emeralds, with soft, rolling hills and picturesque mountain ranges towering hundreds of thousands of feet upwards into the sky, which shines even more blue than the precious sapphires found so deep beneath the earth. Valleys with steep slopes and flat floors are also a sight, and the capital city founded by the Kitsune in the southeastern reaches of the new country was declared and subsequently constructed in one such valley which was protected by steep walls and a canopy of immense, towering trees the likes of which had never been seen before or since across the world. They named their city Home, and it has stood for thousands of years ever since it's founding. A second mountain range - although known to be much smaller than the Minorian Mountains of the border of Opron and Uthesh - splits Opron in two and runs southwesterly from the edge of the sea and down to another border between Opron and another country known as Yesmos. This smaller mountain range is called The Great Stave, and was the second obstacle crossed by Michi Minori and his band on their way to the valley in which they would begin their great city. Although not entirely listed as an official mountain range in history books, The Great Stave is considered one by the Opronians due to their height, towering several thousands of feet upwards to form what they believe was a great barrier between their future home and the rest of the world beyond it. A stave, technically, is a wall made of vertically-placed wooden posts created to form barriers such as fences around a plot of land, but in this term of naming, it was considered to be the formal wall between the country's two counties, which were named Garden - the first and largest county - and Kitsune, after the race which travelled through it and into the area of land where Home would soon lie as their capital. The Mountain Of Light resides within Opron, and is said to be home to Le'hth, the daughter of Gyrasil, the Goddess of The Sun. It is the tallest mountain in Opron, and is located only a few miles from the capital city of Garden County, called Opron Center by the Humans and Kitsune who declared it only a few weeks before Home was declared by the Kitsune in their own county. Opron is the second-most populated country in Rethium, holding vast millions of beings of Humans, Kitsune, Fielne and almost every other race known to exist on the continent. Opron Center is the most populated city in Opron, with Home taking an easy second place.
 
  Yesmos is the desert country of Rethium, and is swathed in endless seas and dunes of sand as golden as the sun. It is the driest and most arid country, who's cities were built either near mountains or along the coast of the country and the Eamae Ocean which lies to the south of the Rethium continent. It is bordered inland by one mountain range only, which is called the Shememae Mountains, which translates to the "Canine Mountains" in the second language of Rethium, called Common. This range is bordered on it's interior by a deep trench - known as an Arroyo - which sustains an extremely long river that runs from the coast of Yesmos and into the desert in order to provide a city with water for their crops. The largest area of land in Yesmos that has been given a name is the Great Valley, which is also called Death Valley by the country's inhabitants. This desert is the largest in Rethium and can be within the hundreds in terms of temperature no matter the time of year. Opposing weather fronts are known to occur in Yesmos, but very rarely so. Deluges of rain that can sometimes last for days may sweep across the desert but are known to remain mostly near the coastline or the mountains where the cities themselves have been built in order to be best provided with rain and melting snow from the mountain ranges that border the country. To the east, a range called the Green Mile Mountains sits between the countries of Yesmos and Opron, despite the Green Mile actually being far more than a single mile in length from one end of the range to the other. The Valley of Pharaoh's is one of the most prominent displays in Yesmos and depicts the many Pharaoh's who have reigned over the country's capital city of Luxor, which is built along the Daeed-Lethaehr River - meaning "Dead Water" - which itself runs from the Eamae Ocean to the south of the continent and into the desert lands. This means that, with such a plentiful access to running and filtered water from the ocean the city was able to expand and grow quite rapidly after it was first founded. It stands as the largest city in Yesmos with just over two million residents - a rough estimate with around a five percent margin for error concerning the yearly census - and is the jewel of the desert land of Rethium. The Jackalfolk are the main race that live in Yesmos, as their slender, tall figures and their short fur coats are adapted to the heat to combat it while still giving their bodies the strength they need to survive. They are not the only race in Yesmos, as Humans, Kitsune and others live there as well, but the Jackalfolk have laid their claim to Yesmos as it's permanent masters and rulers. Other than the Shememae Mountains that border the country of Yesmos from it's neighbor Uthesh to the north, there is a single towering mountain that stands in the geological center of the country. Called the Mountain Of Life, it is titled after three deities instead of one. These are Dybrus, Goddess of Mercy, Luthtarr, the River God and Vavrus, the Harvest God, all of whom are said in legend to reside at the top of this towering peak, watching over the desert lands that the Jackals have so bravely called their home. 
 
  Pagrad is the next-door western neighbor to Yesmos, but is a stark contrast to the desert wasteland next door. Pagrad is swathed in jungles, forests and woodlands.
 
  Expansive grasslands wait in between, and towering mountains form barriers amongst the landscape to provide a picturesque scene for those living in the untapped wilderness of this great, great landscape. Rather than the average sloped, angular mountains provided to the rest of the continent, Pagrad's mountains are unique both in their shape and their origin. Millions of years ago before Pagrad had been formed, it was underwater and subjected to massive underwater forces and extreme currents that dug away at the rock. As time went on, the mountains appeared more scattered and more pillar-esque as the water continued to dig through them, and by the time Pagrad had appeared above the sea, the mountains had become solidified in their current state by the work of the underwater currents as well as the severely irregular rising and falling patterns of the crust that rested beneath the surface of the continent in this specific region. Known for their tall and skinny appearance, the jungles that swath the land seem to twist and turn and spiral between them, rushing through valleys and steep inclines and declines between the staggering peaks and troughs of these strange rock formations. Beyond the ranges of mountains lie lush and fertile grasslands and meadow plains, as well as towering and vast forests that are still notably smaller than the jungles of the country. The largest forest in Pagrad is called Phofohrea Forest, which means "Fukuro Forest" when translated from Reethese to Common. It is home to the first original colonies of Fukuro in Rethium, as well as their familiars the Karasu; Both of these races are anthropomorphic in appearance but bear extreme resemblance to their respects, the owl and crow respectively. They are both Amazonian races and live without much contact to the outside world - at least when living in their home environment in Pagrad - while those who have been integrated to the rest of the world seem to live comfortably amongst the rest of the continent's populous, although this integration is not common even in modern times, as their reproductive systems were not evolved to accomodate the anatomy of the opposite sex. They live happily within the depths of the forests and jungles, but can sometimes be seen venturing to the woodland edges, in sight of the grasslands that span the remaining distance between the great woodlands. One of the most enrapturing sights to be seen if one looks in the right direction from the woodlands is a massive, towering and celestial plant called The Mother Tree. It is the focal point of a coming of age ceremony for the Karasu as their legend says that the firstborn Karasu were born at the top of this great tree when they were blessed with life for the first time. It stands at over fifteen-thousand feet tall and is extremely hard to reach and to climb, should one accomplish the former and attempt the latter. It is not the tallest structure in Pagrad though, as that title belongs to a mountain who's location is not well known. Called the Mountain of Time, it is titled after the Goddess of Night and Day, Ether. It lies somewhere within the Ye"e Mountains - "Yagi Mountains" - which borders Pagrad with Yesmos to the east, but it's exact location is unknown due to the vast and confusing collection of karst mountains, some of which stand nearly as tall as the mountain itself and mask it's appearance to those attempting to find it. The Great Pasture is another landscape in Pagrad, and is the widest expanse of protected and pure grasslands in the country, after those which are contained within the borders of the country of Uthesh. In modern times, a vast project was undertaken to construct dozens of lookout towers across the country to allow for preservation societies to employ watchers to occupy the towers year-round to help protect the ancient landscape from fires and other ruinous disasters. Over one-hundred of these were built and maintained, and thankfully the Karasu and the Fukuro welcomed them to their lands. They understood the need to preserve the lands, and came to trust the men and women who lived and worked in these strange, towering boxes that looked down upon their homes, grasslands, mountains, jungles and forests. The forested mountains that borders Pagrad and Uthesh is called The Pagradian Wall, and runs from the border of Aswary to it's end point roughly halfway along the country's border. The remaining mountains to the east are the Ye"e Mountains that border Pagrad and Yesmos.
 
  Aswary is the most modernized country in the world of Tarris Six.
 
  Cars, Trains, Phones and countless other advents have reached their prime in this futuristic landscape, and paved roads and highways lead through this landscape to the cities that occupy this western country of the great Rethium continent. Notable for it's sweeping landscape of lengthy, rugged mountains and low, sweeping valleys and lowlands, Aswary is also rumored to be the birthplace of the Pirate, the being who spent their days sailing the seas and plundering ships for gold and other riches, as well as partaking in other nefarious and dark deeds all in the hopes to satiate their never-ending lust for fame, fortune and adventure. The most notable trait aside from the mountains and low terrain is the grass of the country, which takes on a strange hue, a mixed blue color which is believed to come from the various nutrients that occupy the soil as the waters from the sea penetrate and enrich it with a never-ending fervor. The mountains appear much sharper and more staggering than the others found around the continent, and there are a total of five mountain ranges that cross through the country. The first of these is The Blue Mountains, which runs the border of Aswary and Pagrad and runs north until stopping almost abruptly at the edge of a sloping valley pass that leads into the country. About halfway down this first range, the mountains head west and form the Skyline Peaks, which themselves branch to the south and southwest to form a sort of bowl around a small section of protected land in which a large and unexplored forest resides. After crossing the pass and continuing north, the Blue Mountains become instead The White Mountains, which run the remainder of the distance to the coast to the north and meet up with the border of Athad. This mountain range splits twice along the journey, moving west, northwest and even southwest in some places but not all. The first range is called The Static Mountains, and is the third-longest range in Aswary after the Blue Mountains and The White Mountains. At the end of it's western stretch it turns both north and south almost perfectly, creating valleys and sweeping landscapes on three sides along the way. The second split along The White Mountains is called The Conduit Mountains, and is the shortest mountain range in the country. While these are all impressive sights to behold, what proves even more amazing is that the country of Aswary runs all the way from the southern end of the Rethium continent and continues uninterrupted to the north coast, meaning that amongst all seven countries in Rethium, Aswary is disputed as the largest of them all. Also present in Aswary are a small number of forests, and named from south to north in order they are: Elwood, Woodpot Roadway Wood, Redwood, Greenwood, Brecwood and finally Bluebell Grove. None of these are inhabited by any towns or cities, but some roads are known to run through them to provide scenic routes between various cities that can be located on either sides of them depending on which one your destination has been designated. The largest city in Aswary is known as Highwire, and it is the most advanced city on Tarris Six by every mean. Millions of people live both in Highwire and the surrounding cities in the country, but by far thanks to the industries within and the resources so plentiful, Highwire was the quickest to grow and expand over the years. A megacity and beyond, it holds the largest concentration of people on the continent and has been continuing to grow ever since it was thought to have capped out in the early twenty-first century. Highwire borders the Thhhraeae Ocean to the west and is one of the most popular destinations for cruises coming in and out of the continent on the western side. It provides lines to almost every major destination across the world except for Absenia and Usmor, while serving all other continents across the globe via it's most powerful cruise line, the Neon Lights Line, founded in the beginning of the twentieth century.  All in all, twenty-two races call this continent home, and millions visit for tourism or other ventures every single year without fail to experience the tranquility and excitement that this legendary continent and it's inhabitants have more than enough of to offer to the curious folk who walk through it's streets and cities and towns on a daily basis. Rethium has sometimes been considered to be the birthplace of the known world and has contributed to a vast majority of the planet's history both prehistoric, biblical and otherwise. It will forever be known as the crowning jewel of Tarris Six, and even with so many discoveries made every day through every year, there will always be something new to discover and to learn if those who are curious look far, wide and hard enough to find them.
 
  Uthesh is the last and seventh country in the continent of Rethium, and serves as the waypoint all must follow in order to travel anywhere and everywhere across the vast continent that they call their home. It is thought that Uthesh was amongst the first of the lands to be found and mapped by the races that arrived there shortly after they were given life by the gods, and the mountain that stands at the center of this vast landscape is not only the tallest on the continent, but is also the tallest freestanding mountain peak on the planet by every account. It stands at a staggering and unapproachable forty-thousand feet tall or more, and is said in legend to be the mountain atop which the Pantheon was built, where the gods and goddesses that watch over the lands and the universe reside, safely away from the touch of mortal man and the threat of their arms and weapons. The land of Uthesh is untouched by mortal hands for the most part, although several huts have been seen scattered around the landscape to provide a secluded home and lifestyle for the wandering nomads or the aged and tired who are simply looking to get away from the rest of the world before passing on to the other side. One such resident nomad is an Anseryan mage by the name of Hrylaem, who had moved out to the wild lands to live out her remaining days in peace, safe from any trouble and strife that the cities and towns in the surrounding countries would have provided more than ample supplies of.
 
  Uthesh is bordered on all sides by mountain ranges which also block their own territories off from one another. It is considered to be the most populated country in terms of fauna distribution across the continent, as many of the wild animal species inhabit these lands to graze on the plentiful grasses and other vegetation, as well as carnivores feasting on their prey for their daily intake of food to keep them alive. One such animal is the Primed Plateopus, a four-legged tall mammal that stands only a few feet high and lays eggs in large holes or burrows in the ground. They are not known to have many predators, but those that do attempt to feast on the Plateopus do not usually win their prize without experiencing the mammals' rather ... explosive ... capabilities of defense. They are amongst one of the most unique animal species' on the continent and are not to be trifled with either for their eggs or anything else they may possess.
 
  The continent of Uthesh is thought to be the land where the Gods of Death and Fire landed after being cast down from the heavens following a very disreputable incident in the Pantheon in which the brothers attempted to drive their counterparts into civil war against one another over matters of creation of the races that would come to inhabit the world that the gods had created. This same incident saw the brothers banished eternally from the Pantheon, only to attempt to return in the final years of the world when the God of Death gathered an army large enough to destroy the mountain and open the way freely into the heavens.
 
  The country of Uthesh does not have any considerable exports or imports save for the goods necessary for life such as food, clothing, water and methods of protection such as weapons or housing for those who live in the vast open lands of this land-locked country, but a majority of these goods are known to come from the country itself regardless.
 
  There is a legend revolving around a cave system found underneath this same central mountain. It tells of King Ragnvold and his Knights of The Stone Table who were an ancient clan of knights who had sworn to protect the lands from darkness and to bring peace to the surrounding kingdoms. When this same cave was found, instead of a great stone table or the remains of long-dead knights and kings being discovered, what was found was one of the deepest-known cave systems in the world, stretching hundreds of feet far below the surface, deeper even it is believed than the ancient caves and tunnels that delve below the surface of Absenia.