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smarticle17 — [WBP]: Maps, Northeastern Horn Topography

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Published: 2023-10-13 21:28:38 +0000 UTC; Views: 2135; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 1
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Description The map pictured above depicts a close-up view of the Northeastern Horn around 1200 years before the present day.  The names of locations shown in black indicate important topographical features, while those in red are used to mark the location of major population centers settled by the various cultures who live in the region.

The following sections provide a brief description of each of the areas indicated on the map above.  The first name for each location is written in the language of either the predominant people group living near that place or of the people who first explored that region.  The second name provides an approximate translation of the native language name into English, though they aren't exact calques of the original.  Liberties have been taken with respects to diction in order to make them sound a bit better.

I'll be adding in the descriptions over the next couple of days.

Bodies of Water:

Chimbun Anka (The Sea of Dawn) - The eastern sea from whence the sun is purported to rise each morning on its path across the River in the Sky.  It is also sometimes known as the Black Sea or the Sea of Hubbashi, as he is the Third Wind who Rules over the Eastern Corner of the World.  It is little more than the shallows of a much larger ocean which separates the Land of the Five Winds from an entirely separate continent in the east.  The Gnomes, drifted over from this continent during a rafting event some 60,000 years ago. 

Bai Irlawai (The Bay of the Foreigners) - Also known as Bigmouth Bay, this body of water adjacent to the Sea of Dawn was the place where the Mai first came into contact with a culture of gene-engineered giant, red-skinned humans who called themselves the Banjahi Irabba.  The Mai called them the Mahyannun on account of their biggest population centers being centered around the River Mariyan.  Bigmouth Bay is named so for two reasons - (1) The broad gap it cuts between the eastern ridge of the Northeastern Horn and the Little Ness, and (2) The presence of large cetacean like filter feeders the locals call the Labhjitan.   

Bai Irlo (The Green Bay) - This long bay northwest of the Northeastern Horn is named for the fact it is surrounded on both sides by the lush, verdant jungles of the Shamanwi Iradlahi.  It is home to a wide variety of different organisms unique to the region, including the likes of the Benjohenni (i.e., Vukonvan) who ply its water for all manner of swimming beasts great and small.  The natives of the region often call it the 'Trunk Water' on account of the fact all manner of rivers branch off from it like the limbs of a mighty tree.    

Lake Semyirashmi / Athwuku-uzui-adi-umki (Lake Long-name / The Lake of the Eighty Islands) - This shallow, marshy inland sea is inhabited by a culture of dwarves who call themselves the Ahhi: a group of consummate fishermen and fowlers who hunt their quarries from their boxy rafts and make garden plots on artificial islands made from mounds of gathered mud.  They are a peaceful people who know little of the humans who live further east of them, though they have heard of them by trading with a group of nomadic dwarf herders who live in the grasslands and desert just south of their sacred lake.  This latter group is called the Riwa'ai.  The land is named for the fact that it is home to hundreds of tiny islands interspersed by large aquatic vermiphytes which shoot up from the water like great red pillars. The giant humans who know of this inland sea and its imposing name have jokingly dubbed it Lake Semyirashmi, or Lake Long-name.

Cjethuzutir Gji:sedhhu:li (The Lake of Loathsome Lizards) - The Lizardfolk of this region believe this lake to be the promised land they were awarded for helping to nurse the Sun back to health after it was wounded and fell down from the sky to the earth below in times immemorial.  The Sun blessed them with favor in battle against their enemies who are now remembered only as the "Loathsome Ones."  After crushing their enemies and winning the land for themselves, the Sun took pity on their enemies, so that rather than them all dying out as they were chased into the sea, they were turned into fish and allowed to continue living in a new kingdom hidden deep below the waves.  Some of these fish are said to retain the ability to turn back into people, and legends speak of them luring foolish youths to their deaths with the promise of a romantic encounter.  The lake is also sometimes referred to as Lake Victory.       

Cjethuzutu Cjed (Little Brother Lake) - The Little Brother Lake is called as such because it is the smaller of the two main lakes inhabited by tribes subservient to the Dzluhirdzexi Confederation of Lizardfolk.  According to legend, the lake sprang up from the lifeless body of the younger of two Lizardfolk twins who had become lost in the desert after being wrongfully driven out by their tribe.  The younger brother had been injured in their flight from their village and was slowly dying, but his elder twin did not leave him for dead and gave him water from their canteen regardless.  When his younger brother finally died, he was overtaken by grief and feared for his life as he did not have enough water to survive the long journey, but miraculously water began to pour from his wounds and rapidly filled up the basin into a great freshwater lake; a reward given over to his surviving twin for his acts of filial piety.  The people of the region (i.e., Gji:recjthultuqti) are named for this elder twin, Thultuq.     

Mountain Ranges: 

Yanvollovarun (The Red Mountains) - A range of newer mountains which have arisen and continue to rise as the tectonic plates upon which the Southlands and Midlands reside collide with one another.  These mountains are home to a species of eight-legged sapient aliens who call themselves the Akka'o and are able to survive in this otherwise inhospitable land because of their uniquely suited biochemistry.  The Northern Mai call them the Zwovoljan.  These mountains are rich in copper, zinc, and silver and has lesser quantities of other metals like gold, lead, and manganese.  The art of braziery was first invented here as a byproduct of the Akka'o forays into more advanced metallurgy. 

Bargwahi Irnashi (The Mountains Crowned in White) -

Bargwahi Ilmirbi (The Western Mountains) -

Bargwahi Irebbi (The Serpent-spine Mountains) -  

Deserts:

Shamo Iragro (The Vast Sea of Sands) -

Shamo Irahun (The Crimson Wastes) - 

Shamo Irjanji (The Middle Desert) -

Xixthuzutir Dru:dlijut (The Sunfall Desert) - 

Rivers:

R. Anni (The Little River) -

R. Dabub (The Southern River) -

R. Iyazbi (The Rising River) -

R. Mariyan (The River of Grace) - 

R. Jakirai (The River of Remembrance) -

R. Alizbad (The River of Oaths) -

R. Wirhigranza (The Fence Water) -

R. Benjohenni (The River of the Little Friends) - 

R. Cipco-Ciqizco (The Hook-toed River) -

R. Cicazcozco (The Twin-headed River) -

R. Tcaci (The Little River) -

R. Zcaqici-Zcapco (The Sugarbark River) -

R. Pcoxaxatci (The Yellowstone River) -

R. Tcaqazcoqi (The Western River) -

R. Tcaxiqazcoqi (The Further West River) -

R. Zcatcixaxi (The River of the Loquat Trees) -

R. Tcatcaxa (The Red River) -

R. Ciqaqa (The Two-mouthed River) -

R. Tcacoco (The Middle River) -

R. Zcapcacoxi (The River of the Bitter Vines) -

R. Xopcoxapcapci (The Blueback Bullhead River) -

R. Tcazcipco (The Long River) - 

R. Uru Umwi (The Longtail River) -

R. Khiwa (The Finger River) -

R. Um-Akhyi (The Western River) - 

R. Apfa (The White River) -

R. Quhizquhi (The Drag-on! Drag-on! River) -

R. Dzlex (The Black River) -

R. Gji:dhisgjurliqti'i (The River of the Returners) -

R. Gji:udhxitiruhl (The River of the Many Reeds) -

R. Irjudho:dh (The Sunrise River) -

R. Gji'ozcjuraqti (The River of the Winged Ones) -

Cities:
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