Part Two: The General Geography of the World
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As I said in the last chapter, there are two main continents and only one is thoroughly explored. The continent has no name (as no one has claimed the entirety of the continent as their own yet.) The continent looks as follows:
The northernmost spots on the continent are large purple ice glaciers. The people don't know this, but if they traveled long enough, they would go from the northern ice glaciers to ice glaciers in the southern hemisphere of the planet. No one is stupid enough to do this though, as it would almost certainly cause death.
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This is followed by icy (but liveable) tundra (think of Norway, Sweden, or southern Russia) for miles on end; the people are called Glaciens with the Glacien Dynasty ruling over it with an iron fist. Glacien Dynasty's northern border is to the glaciers, the western border is to the ocean, the eastern border is to the San Ordüaneteg Mountains, and the southern border is to the same San Ordüaneteg Mountains. The general temperature in the summer is around 75F/23C and in winter it can get to below -25F/-31C (and even worse in really bad cold snaps.) There is farmable land and most people raise chickens/pigs/goats/cows for meat along with the general root vegetables and grains found on Earth. Most peasants use oxen as horses are not naturally found in this tundra. There occasionally are dogs, but the wolves are still being domesticated.
Most people live in small towns or villages except those who live in bigger cities near castles. The males stupid enough to rape or coerce a female (slave or not) are gelded and sent to a small (and purposefully isolated village) in the very north to live out their days with any wife, concubine, sons, or daughters they may have; the sons are also gelded. There have been only two emperor's sons that have raped a female (and yes, they were sent up to the village with their family, including their slaves) to send the message that no one is safe from this.
There are runestones about previous emperors since 804, but the ones from 804 to 1268 aren't legible anymore. All the knowledge is passed down by either story or song. Emperor Sigurd Ulfsohn is the first Emperor to write down his legacy
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Other the other side of the northern face of the San Ordüaneteg Mountains and on the eastern border of the Glacien Dynasty is a small basin that is completely surrounded by mountains. They mostly eat fish that they catch in the rivers or lakes there and salt whatever meat they can with salt bought from the markets in the Glacien Dynasty along with whatever grain that can be purchased. They sell "domesticated" wolves as pets, but some are not quite as tame as claimed. The general temperature in spring is 60F/15C and in winter it can get to below -45F/-45C.
All people live in the one village that surrounds a massive lake. The village is called Iyashch Duchy.
The Iyashchians are not allowed to go into any cities or towns (except ones with markets on the outskirts) or the markets on the shore after a "domesticated" wolf killed a concubine-born daughter of the reigning Emperor. However, they are still allowed to pass through The Gap of Tomorrow.
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After the icy tundra, there is a very large mountain that basically cuts across the continent from the ocean on the eastmost coast and the mountain range it connects to on the westmost region; there is also a range that goes from the San Ordüaneteg Mountains to the glaciers, it is called Little San Ordüaneteg Mountains. It is called the San Ordüaneteg Mountains and think of it like the Alps. It is not very populated as it is a very rocky and snowy mountain. It is treacherous to traverse in winter (or honestly live there at all, but some people are literally crazy enough to do it.) The general temperature in summer is around 30F/-1C and the general winter temperature is around -35F/-37C (and even worse in really bad cold snaps.) There are many blizzards here that make winter dangerous. The three mountain passes (one from Glacien Dynasty to Iyashch Duchy named 'The Gap of Tomorrow' (because it's a possibility that tomorrow won't come if used from the fall snows to the spring melts), one from Glacien Dynasty to Pantano Ukaxa Swamp named 'The Notch of Smoke', and one from Iyashch Duchy to Terra Salgada Marshes named 'The Path of Jewels' (because while mining a stable path, Iyashch Duchy found some small gemstone veins)) are all dangerous from the fall snows to the spring melts as the snow and cold will basically freeze you in your path.
Most people live in very tiny tent houses and usually eat goat for meat and whatever stored grains were purchased from either Pantano Ubaxa Swamp or Glacient Dynasty.
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After the mountains being to level off to being more "normal height", they turn into a grassland plateau that is very much so just pure grassland. It's got knee-to-waist-high grasses that support many wild herds of horses, bison, and antelope. It also has many almond trees, white mulberry trees, and red mulberry trees (along with spruce and pine trees.) The general temperature in summer is 50F/10C and 30F/-1C in the winter. It has many butterfly species, but the rarest are the Island Marble Butterflies (found on Earth at San Juan Island National Historical Park), and the second rarest are Chimera Birdwings (found on Earth in mountain areas of New Guinea.)
It slowly turns into a mangrove swamp that of course, has a large mangrove forest. The general temperature in summer is 75F/23C and 55F/12C in winter.
People live in cities/towns in both the grasslands and the mangrove swamp; both the grasslands and the mangrove swamp are considered to be part of the Pantano Ukaxa Swamp. There is no written history about their previous rulers.
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As the mangrove swamp goes further south, it slowly turns into a salt marsh. The salt marsh doesn't have many trees, but it does have many types of birds, owls, rodents, and other small creatures that live in the short grasses. The general temperature in summer is 85F/30C and 60F/15C in the winter.
It quickly turns into a salt flat with not many living creatures other than rodents that live in scrub brush and falcons that live in the occasional tree skeleton. The general temperature during the day is 95F to 105F/35C to 40C and 0F/-17C during the night.
No sane person lives in the salt flats, but there are a few villages in the salt marshes, but they are quite rare. There is technically a ruling family, but they do not name themselves and no one knows exactly which village they live in; this is to protect the ruling family's children from being targeted by pirates to be sold or bartered with. Any child stolen from the ruling family is to lie about what their name is. The name of the salt marshes and salt flats is Terra Salgada Marshes.
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Past the salt flats is the start of the Sonsuz Ceza Desert; the desert is 530 leagues across from the northern border to the southern border. A camel can walk approximately 6 leagues per day; it will take a camel 75 days to travel from the salt flats in the north to the desert cliffs at the ocean in the south. The desert is 780 leagues across from the ocean on the western coast to the mountain range on the eastern border; it will take a camel 130 days to travel from east to west. There are many small tribal clans in the deep desert that are not under the rule of the Kalmark Sultanate.
There are several oases in the desert, but by far the largest is the one that is 140 leagues into the desert. It has a lake that is approximately 4,000 surface acres wide with a depth anywhere between 40 feet and 300 feet deep; it is filled from a spring up in the mountains that is on the eastern border. The water flows from the lake all the way to the ocean. No other oasis is that big in the desert, most are basically tiny ponds or dug wells for people and animals to drink from.
The largest palace and town is currently at the largest oasis that is 140 leagues into the desert (approximately a 20-day camel ride from the salt flats.) The palace is called Portam Palace and the town is called Abu Rufairi. But the next Sultan will be housed in a brand new palace that is near The Fractured Islands in a palace called Waernell Palace and the town is called Masaihan. There are four other palaces being currently built in the Kalmark Sultanate called Eagleview Palace (the northernmost palace), Headow Palace (the southernmost palace), Newbining Palace (the southeasternmost palace), and Avolire Palace (the palace in the middle of the desert 265 leagues south and 390 leagues east.) Each Sultan must choose a new palace to live in so that the palace is recently redecorated and refreshed.
Both current palaces are large palaces that host the Sultan, his concubines, his daughters/sons, his many (castrated) male harem helpers (Ağas), his many female harem helpers (Kalfas), his many guards (that are not allowed inside the harem walls), his advisors (the imperators), his mother, and his sisters. The harem is completely walled off to anyone but the Ağas, the Kalfas, the concubines, his mother, his sisters, his sons and the Sultan himself; the only other allowed into the harem is his bedroom attendant who is allowed to see into the main harem quarters if the Sultan asks for a girl to be sent to him.
The only two rulers written down have been the sultan's father and grandfather.
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The second large continent (that most assume is just another Island) is called Dödö. It was called that because the boat from Glacien Dynasty left with a normal crew of 20 men and came back 9 months later with just one man; he died very shortly after arriving from starvation and dehydration. The only thing he said was "Död, ö", (aka Death, island" the healers assumed it was the name that the boat gave the island instead of him saying it was death to get TO the island. For the past 700 years, no emperor has sent out boats there. Except for the new emperor, Emperor Sigurd Ulfsohn. The boat was sent off with much food and stored water along with ways to gather water from evaporation.
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There are many island chains around the planet. Some are inhabited and some aren't.
The first one is the Turboise Islands (based on the Galapagos Islands.) It has 12 little islands that are dotted with volcanos (some active and some not.) It has a lower temperature year-round but does not really get cold enough to snow. The rulers aren't recorded and the male that proves themselves the strongest becomes the next ruler.
The second is the trio of islands called Lawdu Jungle, Bredenrich Chain, and l'Atoll de Jardin. The three of them have a secret accord and are working to free l'Atoll de Jardin from under the thumb of Forêt d'acajou. All three islands are basically tropical, but they get cold enough in winter to snow and sometimes freeze the ground solid. None of the three islands record their rulers to make sure they do not haunt the islands.
The third is The Fractured Islands. It is three small islands near the river that flows from the oasis in the desert to the ocean. This is a tropical island with no winter. There are three tribes on The Fractured Islands; the Crafcaux, the Farro, and the Cuwot tribes. All three tribes speak a language that no one has been able to decipher and the tribes are not that welcoming to outsiders. None of the three tribes record their rulers.
The fourth is a quad of islands called Forêt d'acajou, Sharfbergen, and Arrecife Sovereignty; all three islands are tropical islands with no winter. Forêt d'acajou, Sharfbergen, and Arrecife Sovereignty have recently signed a treaty together to band against both the Glaicen Dynasty and the Kalmark Sultanate. Arrecife Sovereignty was just created to combine two islands and two cultures into two islands and one culture. It combined the Bahía Enterrada and the Morwelt Territory by marrying the daughter of the Bahía Enterrada rulers to the son of the Morwelt Territory rulers. All three islands have only about 3 generations of recorded rulers.
The fifth (and final known inhabited island) is a single island called Wicklinet Reef. No one has managed to set foot on the island (but there are people living on the island) as there are two separate sets of reefs near the island; one is a large barrier reef to the island's east coast (where the current naturally flows to and the reef is a known boat eater) and the other is an atoll reef to the island's north side.