Aranthaes Island

Aranthaes Island / Great Aranthaes

 
Great Aranthaes (formerly Aranthaes Island) was shaped from ancient cataclysm: a massive celestial event in the mythic age created Aranthaes Cauldron, a deep sea-filled caldera rimmed by the jagged formations of Mother’s Arms Ridge.

According to legend, a vast celestial mountain was hurled into this realm by divine forces in an event known as the “skyfire”, creating the cauldron, giving birth to a city, and changing the fate of the land.

The Cauldron’s central waters remain unnaturally deep and eerily calm. Some believe a slumbering entity lies dormant beneath its waters, and over the years there have been numerous sightings of a ghostly glow deep below it’s surface.

The caldera’s near-perfect circular shape and concentric shock ridges form the island’s unique topography, it’s series of bays and jagged mountain ridges being echoed in sacred geometry throughout Aranthaen architecture and ritual.

 

Major Settlements

Aranthaes (Capital): One of the realm’s most famous cities, Aranthaes is heavily fortified and built over a series of walled terraces, upon the holy mountain of Mon Arant. It is both a bureaucratic powerhouse and the spiritual heart of the island.

New Haven: A cosmopolitan deep-water port at the south-eastern end of the Aranthaes Highway, New Haven is a hub of trade. Often called the place of second chances, New Haven was built as a rival to the far older Geldpont a few miles farther along the coast.

Geldpont: Sitting at the edge of Geldpont Bay, Geldpont is the main deep-water port on Great Aranthaes and gateway to the wider world. Originally a modest coastal village, Geldpont rose to importance as the main maritime portal for pilgrims seeking spiritual counsel in Aranthaes.

Geldcrass: The largest of the inland towns, Geldcrass is a powerful merchant city located at the island’s heart, a principal crossroads on the Aranthaes Highway, with direct links to New Haven, Geldsan, Bim, Fairpont, Sandmar and Lantear. Geldcrass is the agricultural breadbasket of Aranthaes – a marketplace for the famed wheat of the Geldcrass Plains.

Lantear: The island’s second major crossroads center, Lantear is a hub for all traffic headed to and from Aranthaes, hosts a major military base, and is a market town for both the freshwater fish from Aranthaes Tear and grain and livestock from the surrounding farms and villages.

Draktun: A small harbor town situated due south of Aranthaes, Draktun is infamous for it’s smuggling trade, and is unique on the island as being wholly independent of Aranthaes city and it’s strict Aranthaen law. Draktun is policed by a militarized bandit group, the Red Cloaks.

 

Geography & Terrain Highlights

Aranthaes Cauldron: The flooded caldera, which together with the holy mountain of Mon Arant forms the spiritual center of the island. Due to it’s religious significance, the Cauldron can only be entered by ships belonging to Aranthaen citizens.

Mother’s Arms Ridge: The jagged caldera rim that arcs round the Cauldron like a protective shell, can only be traversed on foot along narrow rocky paths. It holds deep mineral veins and several entrances to forbidden caves.

Derkwuds: A treacherous, dense and boggy woodland crawling with mist, sinkholes, and a number of pre-history ruins. Avoided by sane travelers.

Aranthaes Tear: A deep (some say bottomless) ice-cold lake running from Aranthaes Fields to Lantear – it’s dark waters are home to several unique fish species, famed for their intense flavor.

Geldrass Plains and Lantear Plains: Wide fertile grasslands bounded by high mountain ridges, these plains both enjoy productive rivers teaming with fish, miles of rich farmland and grain-producing marshes.

Black Mountains: Snow-dusted for most of the year despite the warm climate, the Black Mountains are riddled with ancient tunnels, prehistory temple ruins and small settlements built into the rock.

Dragon’s Ridge: A wind-swept peninsula said to be bony remains of a great dragon that fell during the skyfire. Locals won’t build here.

Geldsan Pass: The Geldsan pass is a high alpine road, running from Geldsan to Geldcrass. Subject to rockfalls in the summer and avalanches in the winter, it’s a dangerous but essential trading route.

Draktun Pass: An alpine pass linking Draktun with Lantear, this infamous valley runs through a mixture of scattered and dense forest cover, and can be treacherous for travelers thanks to both the terrain and regular bandit attacks.

 

Infrastructure

 

Ports and Harbors:

• Aranthaes Cauldron and Aranthaes Docks form the island’s principal port, serving the city of Aranthaes, restricted as a protectionist measure, to vessels belonging to citizens only.
• New Haven and Geldpoint are the only two deep-water ports suitable for large merchant vessels belonging to non-Arantheans, both sitting in Geldpont Bay at the south east of the island.
• Draktun and Geldsan are both shallow water ports on the south of the island and are suitable for smaller merchant vessels. The narrow mountain passes connecting these port towns to the Aranthaes Highway can be very hazardous especially at night.
• Fairpont harbor is the largest of the northern ports and is deep enough to accept small and medium merchant vessels as well as many local fishing craft.
• Cove, Sandmar and Rochpont are northern shallow water harbors used principally by fishing vessels.

 
Highways, Roads and Passes:

• The Aranthaes Highway is the backbone of the Island running East-West from the city of Aranthaes, through Lantear and Geldcrass before terminating in the south east at Geldpont. All other main roads and passes connect to it, much as ribs to a spine.
• The Draktun Pass connects the port of Draktun with the merchant hub of Lantear.
• The rocky Geldsan Pass links the harbor of Geldsan with the market center and the island’s second city of Geldcrass.
• The New Haven to Geldcrass Highway runs north south, passing through attractive low alpine valleys
• Fairpont town is split by the Fairwater River with each side being accessed via a different road; the Geldcrass Path to West Fairpont and the Bim Road to East Fairpont, and then on to remote Rochpont.
• The Geldcrass to Sandmar Road follows the winding Sandmar River along the eastern edge of the fertile Sandmar Plains.
• Cove is connected to Lantear and Bersh through the small farming town of Oatcrass, on a circular route known locally as the Oaty Pie.
• Finally, travelers from Lantear can reach Aranthaes by two routes – direct to the city on the westmost part of the Arathaes Highway, or East to Aranthaes Harbor on the Derkwuds Pass, a road favored only by the bravest looking to shave a half day from their journey and a year from their lives.