Azure Expanse

Larger than Lake Aurora, but smaller than the remote Elderglow Basin, the Azure Expanse stretches over 350 kilometers from north to south and spans up to 200 kilometers wide. Its waters are deep, calm, and true to their name—a brilliant blue under open skies, often appearing almost glassy in the morning light.   Unlike Lake Aurora, the Azure Expanse is not a cultural or political heartland. Its shores host only one major city, Lion’s Rest, perched on a rise along the southern shore where the Eorlwaters pour into the basin. The rest of its coastline is dotted with roughly two dozen towns and lakefront settlements, most small and practical, serving the fisheries and lumber trades.   What defines the Azure Expanse is not who lives around it—but who passes across it.   Three major shipping lanes intersect its surface like threads on a loom:

• From Lion’s Rest, trade vessels cross northeast to Ironport, where the Fridrun River leads eastward to the sea.

• Others follow the western arc to Westbrook, gateway to the Ambergleam and trade routes running deep into the continent’s interior.

• Still others make the full diagonal crossing, linking Ironport and Westbrook in one long, wind-reliant stretch.

  These routes connect the Heartland to the Eastern Coast, and to the Western Frontier. The Azure Expanse is not the destination—it is the bridge, the link, a vast, glittering hub that holds the trade web together.   The lake is also rich with fish, particularly coldwater species sought in markets from Riverhold to Gildenquay. Timber floated downriver from Timberland Thicket feeds the sawmills of the southern towns, then boards ships for distribution southward or out to the coast.   Though less populated and less storied than its sister lakes, the Azure Expanse is no less essential. Its surface is tracked not by legends or mysteries, but by the steady wakes of cargo-laden ships, their sails taut with purpose, crossing blue waters between coasts and kingdoms.