Ammareth

The warmest hospitality is shown to the stranger without burden, but a man labors long to give his relative a cold rebuke. -Marretic Proverb

More than most places, Ammareth presents the realities of the Tannah Sea in the 4th Age. It is a place where peoples are woven by history into a fabric of complicated overlapping communities, resulting in unique expressions of culture, and much conflict.

Geography

Acuscal Lithoweald

The slice of the arid northeast of Ammareth that reaches from the shore up to heights that serve as the boundary with Lahamel is known as the Acuscal Lithoweald, meaning “needle forest.” A magical scar produces strong magnetic fields that only periodically, but sometimes suddenly, shift. These pull iron particles from the rocky ground, coating the many wind-formed rock formations in a layer of thin metal spines. Despite its beauty, most reasonable people avoid the area, as even if they are infrequent, magnetic shifts can send clouds of these spines flying at incredible speeds.

Basal Desolation

A literal burning desert marking the northern extent of Ammareth, the wilderness of Basal is said to be the ancient site of a civilization destroyed completely millennia ago. For many this is hard to believe, as the flat rocky terrain has no buildings or monuments, only occasional mesas sparkling with salt deposits. The rocks and soil are often marred by the smoke of burning pits of sulfur and tar, with only the barest of life able to eke out an existence under its harsh sun. For this reason some use Basal as a byword for divine cataclysm. Still, magi and scholars are periodically sent as ancient Yazta sources describe its long lost people as a missing link to unravel the mystery of the Oran.

Soaring Sands

The vibrant sandy dunes of southwestern Ammareth provide a large buffer to the Great Dead Forest, but are dangerous in their own right. Though subtle, a wound of the Great War makes the air of the region unnaturally thick, and the desert oases are fed by thermal geysers. With the heat steaming from the ground, and held from the sun by the thick air, winds often twist into a complex maze of shifting and unpredictable currents. These winds flow as if time has slowed, yet are still able to exert great force, carrying aloft banks of sunset colored sand clouds that sometimes take years to settle.

The air is still breathable, but takes more energy, making travel across the sands a grueling affair. Plant and animal life is rare given the baking heat and heavy-weighted winds, but lush areas have grown around the eternal columns of rising mist, with rugged trees providing shelter from the oppressive gusts.

Underneath the sands lie the bulk of the ruins from the old Hamarettic Empire.

Thaljbayt Meltland

Dominating the south of Ammareth, the Thaljbayt Meltlands are caused by an underground magic scar that local say predates the [..:..:3rd_age:events:elesh_rebellion|Great War]]. The bedrock of these badlands greedily saps heat, leading to ice-cold caverns and a frozen water table. With the area arid to begin with and receiving harsh sun most of the year, however, the transition zones from the hot surface and the cold underground lead to daily melts of fresh water. This led to the formation of extensive cave systems, sinkholes, and other unsteady earthworks, but also carved thousands of canyons that grew lush jungle, and watered craggy hills of rugged grassland.

Wells are near impossible to maintain, and winters are harsher here than the rest of the Tannah region, but the many settlements and semi-nomadic tribes that inhabit the meltlands survive by building shallow cisterns on the surface.

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