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In the beginnings, the land was formed. One continent, two archipelagos: the
known world. The locals of the continent called it "Andar", meaning "the land".
The continent of Andar has a number of notable features:
the great river Andábh, meaning "the big river",
the shorter, but still just as great river Anthábh, meaning "the fast river",
the lake of Ekhákh (which roughly translates to "the lake" with undertones of
"what lake did you think I was talking about, you dummy?")
the forests of Dábhont ("big river forest"), and Shjëkhont ("the forest over
the mountains").
The vast mountain range of Ekjëk ("the [obvious] mountains"), and finally the
two canyons Shunkar and Ankar ("far canyon" and "near canyon" resp.), which hold
the Cracks of the continent.
To travel from one end of Andar to the other, on foot, without using any
shortcuts through Cracks or vehicles, would take about eight weeks of travel.
From the mouth of the Anthábh, the distance to the nearest island is about half
the length of the continent, but there are some helpful ocean currents. Thus,
you can generally cross the ocean in two to four days, depending on the weather.
The distances between islands are still quite large, taking several hours to
cross in general.
The southern archipelago has five larger islands. One is mostly desert.
One is mostly lakes. The eastern-most island is surprisingly dry, having both
a savannah and a desert, as well as a volcano, over a hundred miles high.
The desert stays dry because a Crack in the sky gets in the way of any clouds.
The southern archipelago also has a Crack in the volcano.
The Northern archipelago is about one or two day's sailing from the
northern-most island of the southern archipelago.
It contains five small islands, each about a hundred miles across, four medium
ones, about two to three hundred miles in diameter, and one large one, that is
over a thousand miles from end to end. This largest island has an enormous Crack
located on it, about the same size as those on the continent. It is suspected
that the mountains on the southern island also have a Crack hidden somewhere
within their caves, but it is not immediately apparent where.
The people of Andar are originally of human stock, but they vary in appearance
a lot. Those surviving today mostly originate from what started out as the town
of Ankuth, located on the shore of the eastern ocean.
The predominant culture of the southern archipelago are satyrs, originally
nomadic, but coming together and forming a settlement around a site they call
Lingburd ((crashed airship)).
The northern archipelago is inhabited by a colony of arachnids, who have
legends of an egg sac hatching and the siblings finding themselves without any
creatures anything like them. They dwell in a city of silk they call Kata'a
(the ' sound is closest approximated by clicking one's tongue), on the
southernmost isle.
The first two settlements of the Andarians are Dábhkuth, on the mouth of the
Andábh, functioning as a trading hub, and Dhol, a monastery on the plains south
of Ankuth.
Over at Lingburd, the growing growing community started a mining village called
Bah near the volcano, and the farming village Felt to feed it, about halfway
there.
Kata'a built an outpost to better gather food in thee mountains, and called it
`a`ə (` is a glottal stop. ə is a schwa.). They also dedicated a burrow in the
hills to the Ever-Patient Nomad, called Keta.
While records from these times are few, what do remain mention three great perils.
In the northern sea of the continent of Andar, the Broken Tower. The record
seems to imply that this was a weapon that reshaped the world.
An entrance into an evil place was discovered in the volcano, among the
branches of the Crack.
The green hunters, a group of orks who settled two of the islands in the
northern archipelago.
It is a universal truth that people are curious. Thus began the age of
exploraion. The cronicles of Ankuth record the following:
In the 102nd year of peace(YP), A great light was seen in the sky beyond the
Broken Tower. A new Crack had openned, over the Northern Ocean.
In 109 YP, the mining village of Jákkuth was founded, near the mountains of
Ekjëk.
In 122 YP, a sailing expedition around the continent discovered some flying
islands floating above the Northern ocean, with some low enough to be reached
by the tide.
While scouting for trade routes, a jungle was discovered beyong Shunkar, and
named Shunshunkarhont in 130 YP.
In 147, Shunkuth was built, to mine and export the floating rock of the
flying islands. Many worried about how clode the Tower is, but others claimed
that the Cracks were stabilised by now, so it would be safe.
In the 19th year of arrival, a river was discovered on the central island.
The council recommended starting a settlement there, in order to better
prepare ourselves for whatever this new world has the throw at us.
In preparation for the upcoming colonisation efforts, the outpost of Ilforth
on the island of Fortil was built, and completed in 23 Arr.
Using Ilforth as a staging area, Lantfell was built, and begame
self-sufficient around 31 Arr.
The creatures of the volcano were seen leaving, and constructing some form of
lair on the southern sude of the volcano, around 44 Arr.
In 50 Arr, Elephants on the island of Lantfell were discovered and tamed.
In the 79th year of the colony, news arrived of gigantic blood-sucking
insects being discovered in the swamps of the big island.
In 88 Col, it was discovered that numerous wonders were ending up on the
noth-west island (r/itemshop). Plans to colonise started.
However, in 93 Col, the Hunters struck `a`ə, and burned it to the ground.
Despite this setback, `əke'e was founded in 109 Col, acting as a trading post
for travelers a all kinds, and a politically neutral zone.
In 117 Col, an anchient ruin was found, leading deep underground. A number of
people of various descents were later spotted, having formed a community
around the old building.