Post by Bardigan on Nov 26, 2012 20:57:42 GMT -5
Author's Note: You may or may not actually enjoy visiting any of these places, as many of them are hostile and will probably kill you. Be warned, be wise, be ready!
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Neighara
A land full of sun-baked grassland and deserts, marked by ancient, abandoned places the inhabitants consider both sacred and malevolent, and inhabited by numerous types of oryx, gazelle, camels, and zebra, along with the odd pony community. The few mountains here are home to the calbis, which are close relatives of Equestria’s Diamond Dogs. They believe they are the first of the Dogs to have come into the world. Indeed, they once ruled a large and civilized kingdom stretching across most of Neighara, but repeated disasters, wars, and plague have reduced them severely. They now live in small communities in the mountain caves and their maze-like tunnels beneath the earth where they squabble constantly with Bore Spiders and other horrible, forgotten creatures in the depths for space and food. It is said there is one last calbis city hidden deep underground, but it is often passed off as myth. Calbis guides are highly sought after in Neighara’s desert regions, as they are the most familiar with the ever shifting, hostile landscape.
Neighara's most famous feature is the Marengetti: a vast tract of grassland that is only barely touched by civilization. Great armies once fought across it, creatures of every shape and size inhabit it, and it is a place where there are only two seasons: one of Rain, where the land is green and plentiful, and one of Dust, where life is hard and the land hot and dry. Its inhabitants have formed their entire ways of life around these two extremes
Neighara is an expansive, lonesome place, full of old magic and superstitions. The mountains here shelter some of the world’s greatest mysteries, and the ruins of dead civilizations are occasionally washed out of the sands. Some of the locals believe that these ruins literally show themselves to certain travelers they have chosen to share their secrets with. The open country outside of the cities is hostile and very nearly lethal to those who come unprepared, or who have not hired the help of local tribes. Not even skyships are safe, as the sandstorms here are monstrously huge, and can tear the greatest galleons out of the sky if they are caught unawares. Rumors also abound of strange, frighteningly intelligent insect-like beasts living under the sands of the deserts, attacking unguarded caravans and lone travelers. Monsters usually roam unchecked and unchallenged; the locals prefer to stay out of their way rather than hunt them down.
All in all, a place that seems rife with adventure, for those with the bravery and skill to go looking for it. Thankfully, I am not one of those ponies.
The Broken Horn Badlands
A very flat territory bordering Neighara that gradually rises up towards the more bountiful grassland and forest of Ungolia. This region is, by all accounts, as nasty as it sounds. Travelers almost never make the journey on hoof, preferring to go all the way around bordering the coasts and using mountain passes, or southeast through the Marengetti. The most common method to cross this region is by airship. Those who go on hoof risk a great many dangers, from lawless bandits to long, shelterless nights at the mercy of the elements. The most confounding obstacle, however, is a vast network of canyons in which live the queer lizard-folk who call themselves the Earth-Kin. Though draconic in appearance, they are far, far smaller, and indeed bear a great deal of hatred for Dragons. After a personal conversation with one of their people, this writer notes the animosity stems not from the brutal slavery Dragons imposed on the Earth-Kin in the Age of Twilight, but because the Earth-Kin are jealous that Dragons have wings and they do not.
Tuskaiga
A great and fabled country, Tuskaiga is a huge, boundless land which has never been fully mapped. This stark landscape has bred harsh societies among the native earth ponies and boars. Grit, loyalty, and honor are the watchwords for both races, who war constantly with each other over the endless tracts of coniferous woods and plains, broken up by rocky highlands in which live smaller, wingless, and much more bestial cousins of the Dragons we are so familiar with. They are known as wyrms, and pity the fool who tells a noble Dragon that the two races are related. Slaying these mighty brutes is a legendary feat zealously sought after by the hoofed warriors of this rugged land. Those who have left their home to wander often gain fearsome reputations as mercenaries, bodyguards, and strangely, library clerks. Though they are situated on the edge of the Sea of Terror, they do not explore it nor have much contact with other seagoing cultures because they have no interest in boats. True to form for earth ponies and boars they love the land; specifically the dirt, and solid packed earth. This historian is of the opinion that they are in fact afraid of large bodies of water, the boars in particular, as their legends and folklore feature a great many demonic and frightful beings inhabiting the large lakes dotting the landscape. When I asked a Tuskaigan boar visiting Equestria if this was true, I woke up an hour later with a headache, a black eye, and a stern warning to never imply the boars are afraid of anything ever again.
Tuskaiga is also the region in which one may find several vast mountain ranges, peaks that hold their own mysteries and hold many ancient secrets. The inhabitants rarely go near them, as they are a favorite haunt of many kinds of mythical monsters, from legendary frost giants to the dreaded roc. Heorot’s Reach, one of the tallest mountains in the world and according to legend the location where the famous Old Dragon One-Eyed Varathrax was slain, is in the midst of them. Tuskaigan earth ponies revere his killer, the earth pony Evergleam, as a result of this.
Bayhama
A hot, wet, and in this writer’s opinion very uncomfortable place to be. The muggy climate on this immense peninsula is caused by the abnormal weather found near the Divide, and the tide of warm ocean water channeled north by the southern continents. Though some consider it a lush, jungle paradise, it is also known as a haven for the outcast and the eccentric, and the climate is perfect for numerous annoying insect species. The main part of Bayhama is covered in jungles and rainforest, dominated by the Republic of Sufir. This is inhabited mostly by okapis and bongos, both of which are quite strange in their own right. The okapi are a skittish people who like to stay mostly hidden away in remote villages, though they pride themselves on their unflinching generosity towards those lost in the endless jungles, and are masters of survival in this wet, weird environment. The bongos maintain larger towns acting as a network of closely knit city-states, and have a single port city: Kufu, a jewel of the maritime trading world. They are also mostly a nocturnal people who revel in the irony of living in sunny Bayhama, and revere the Moon. Princess Luna’s recent return to Equestria was seen as an omen of extremely good fortune, as they see her and the Moon as one and the same. They are so far unflinching in their admiration.
In spite of their openness to the outside, the bongos are strange for the fact that just about everything they do is ruled by a complex series of rituals and hierarchy. The well-traveled unicorn historian West Wind relates one incident:
“Upon the birth of a son to one of the noble houses we were invited to witness the modest celebrations. While at one of their dinner tables, I asked for the fruit first instead of the greens, which is apparently considered bad luck as I would be eating the plant ‘backwards,’ and apparently I was not meant to ask for food anyway until a confusing zig-zag pattern of other diners further up the social ladder had been satisfied. Also, attempting to levitate my food to myself was supremely bad manners, since it was supposed to be handled by the hosts and was seen as figuratively reaching ‘beyond my station.’ I was told to eat at the children’s table instead, where such raucous and wild behavior is expected.”
Fortunately, this is an extreme example peculiar to bongo nobility, and bongos on the lower rungs of society generally stick to somewhat more reasonable etiquette such as morning and evening ablutions and respecting the familial hierarchy. The okapi live on friendly terms with them and are considered equal inhabitants of the land, though the okapi enjoy confounding the bongos with their more free-wheeling lifestyles. Water dragons too inhabit many of the large rivers streaking through the thick jungles, and the majority are friendly; quite helpful since the number of monsters in the jungles is frighteningly high.
On the fringe of the Republic live the castaways of most other societies: from griffins to ponies to zebra and camels and even a few rhino! One can find at least one of every kind of creature that walks and talks, though one group of intrepid ponies claimed a large isle off the southern tip of Bayhama near Kufu several centuries back. They named it Butterfly Island in honor of the high density of lepidopterids living there, and it was dedicated it to Celestia and Luna. Surfing is a national pastime there.
Piracy has become almost rampant in the waters around the Arrowhead (the edge of Bayhama’s peninsula) and its accompanying Tattered Mane Archipelago, and more than a few criminals have tried to make the mazes of mangroves a shelter for their ilk; the Republic regularly patrols the region around the Arrowhead to keep these degenerates’ activities to a minimum.
--------------------------
Neighara
A land full of sun-baked grassland and deserts, marked by ancient, abandoned places the inhabitants consider both sacred and malevolent, and inhabited by numerous types of oryx, gazelle, camels, and zebra, along with the odd pony community. The few mountains here are home to the calbis, which are close relatives of Equestria’s Diamond Dogs. They believe they are the first of the Dogs to have come into the world. Indeed, they once ruled a large and civilized kingdom stretching across most of Neighara, but repeated disasters, wars, and plague have reduced them severely. They now live in small communities in the mountain caves and their maze-like tunnels beneath the earth where they squabble constantly with Bore Spiders and other horrible, forgotten creatures in the depths for space and food. It is said there is one last calbis city hidden deep underground, but it is often passed off as myth. Calbis guides are highly sought after in Neighara’s desert regions, as they are the most familiar with the ever shifting, hostile landscape.
Neighara's most famous feature is the Marengetti: a vast tract of grassland that is only barely touched by civilization. Great armies once fought across it, creatures of every shape and size inhabit it, and it is a place where there are only two seasons: one of Rain, where the land is green and plentiful, and one of Dust, where life is hard and the land hot and dry. Its inhabitants have formed their entire ways of life around these two extremes
Neighara is an expansive, lonesome place, full of old magic and superstitions. The mountains here shelter some of the world’s greatest mysteries, and the ruins of dead civilizations are occasionally washed out of the sands. Some of the locals believe that these ruins literally show themselves to certain travelers they have chosen to share their secrets with. The open country outside of the cities is hostile and very nearly lethal to those who come unprepared, or who have not hired the help of local tribes. Not even skyships are safe, as the sandstorms here are monstrously huge, and can tear the greatest galleons out of the sky if they are caught unawares. Rumors also abound of strange, frighteningly intelligent insect-like beasts living under the sands of the deserts, attacking unguarded caravans and lone travelers. Monsters usually roam unchecked and unchallenged; the locals prefer to stay out of their way rather than hunt them down.
All in all, a place that seems rife with adventure, for those with the bravery and skill to go looking for it. Thankfully, I am not one of those ponies.
The Broken Horn Badlands
A very flat territory bordering Neighara that gradually rises up towards the more bountiful grassland and forest of Ungolia. This region is, by all accounts, as nasty as it sounds. Travelers almost never make the journey on hoof, preferring to go all the way around bordering the coasts and using mountain passes, or southeast through the Marengetti. The most common method to cross this region is by airship. Those who go on hoof risk a great many dangers, from lawless bandits to long, shelterless nights at the mercy of the elements. The most confounding obstacle, however, is a vast network of canyons in which live the queer lizard-folk who call themselves the Earth-Kin. Though draconic in appearance, they are far, far smaller, and indeed bear a great deal of hatred for Dragons. After a personal conversation with one of their people, this writer notes the animosity stems not from the brutal slavery Dragons imposed on the Earth-Kin in the Age of Twilight, but because the Earth-Kin are jealous that Dragons have wings and they do not.
Tuskaiga
A great and fabled country, Tuskaiga is a huge, boundless land which has never been fully mapped. This stark landscape has bred harsh societies among the native earth ponies and boars. Grit, loyalty, and honor are the watchwords for both races, who war constantly with each other over the endless tracts of coniferous woods and plains, broken up by rocky highlands in which live smaller, wingless, and much more bestial cousins of the Dragons we are so familiar with. They are known as wyrms, and pity the fool who tells a noble Dragon that the two races are related. Slaying these mighty brutes is a legendary feat zealously sought after by the hoofed warriors of this rugged land. Those who have left their home to wander often gain fearsome reputations as mercenaries, bodyguards, and strangely, library clerks. Though they are situated on the edge of the Sea of Terror, they do not explore it nor have much contact with other seagoing cultures because they have no interest in boats. True to form for earth ponies and boars they love the land; specifically the dirt, and solid packed earth. This historian is of the opinion that they are in fact afraid of large bodies of water, the boars in particular, as their legends and folklore feature a great many demonic and frightful beings inhabiting the large lakes dotting the landscape. When I asked a Tuskaigan boar visiting Equestria if this was true, I woke up an hour later with a headache, a black eye, and a stern warning to never imply the boars are afraid of anything ever again.
Tuskaiga is also the region in which one may find several vast mountain ranges, peaks that hold their own mysteries and hold many ancient secrets. The inhabitants rarely go near them, as they are a favorite haunt of many kinds of mythical monsters, from legendary frost giants to the dreaded roc. Heorot’s Reach, one of the tallest mountains in the world and according to legend the location where the famous Old Dragon One-Eyed Varathrax was slain, is in the midst of them. Tuskaigan earth ponies revere his killer, the earth pony Evergleam, as a result of this.
Bayhama
A hot, wet, and in this writer’s opinion very uncomfortable place to be. The muggy climate on this immense peninsula is caused by the abnormal weather found near the Divide, and the tide of warm ocean water channeled north by the southern continents. Though some consider it a lush, jungle paradise, it is also known as a haven for the outcast and the eccentric, and the climate is perfect for numerous annoying insect species. The main part of Bayhama is covered in jungles and rainforest, dominated by the Republic of Sufir. This is inhabited mostly by okapis and bongos, both of which are quite strange in their own right. The okapi are a skittish people who like to stay mostly hidden away in remote villages, though they pride themselves on their unflinching generosity towards those lost in the endless jungles, and are masters of survival in this wet, weird environment. The bongos maintain larger towns acting as a network of closely knit city-states, and have a single port city: Kufu, a jewel of the maritime trading world. They are also mostly a nocturnal people who revel in the irony of living in sunny Bayhama, and revere the Moon. Princess Luna’s recent return to Equestria was seen as an omen of extremely good fortune, as they see her and the Moon as one and the same. They are so far unflinching in their admiration.
In spite of their openness to the outside, the bongos are strange for the fact that just about everything they do is ruled by a complex series of rituals and hierarchy. The well-traveled unicorn historian West Wind relates one incident:
“Upon the birth of a son to one of the noble houses we were invited to witness the modest celebrations. While at one of their dinner tables, I asked for the fruit first instead of the greens, which is apparently considered bad luck as I would be eating the plant ‘backwards,’ and apparently I was not meant to ask for food anyway until a confusing zig-zag pattern of other diners further up the social ladder had been satisfied. Also, attempting to levitate my food to myself was supremely bad manners, since it was supposed to be handled by the hosts and was seen as figuratively reaching ‘beyond my station.’ I was told to eat at the children’s table instead, where such raucous and wild behavior is expected.”
Fortunately, this is an extreme example peculiar to bongo nobility, and bongos on the lower rungs of society generally stick to somewhat more reasonable etiquette such as morning and evening ablutions and respecting the familial hierarchy. The okapi live on friendly terms with them and are considered equal inhabitants of the land, though the okapi enjoy confounding the bongos with their more free-wheeling lifestyles. Water dragons too inhabit many of the large rivers streaking through the thick jungles, and the majority are friendly; quite helpful since the number of monsters in the jungles is frighteningly high.
On the fringe of the Republic live the castaways of most other societies: from griffins to ponies to zebra and camels and even a few rhino! One can find at least one of every kind of creature that walks and talks, though one group of intrepid ponies claimed a large isle off the southern tip of Bayhama near Kufu several centuries back. They named it Butterfly Island in honor of the high density of lepidopterids living there, and it was dedicated it to Celestia and Luna. Surfing is a national pastime there.
Piracy has become almost rampant in the waters around the Arrowhead (the edge of Bayhama’s peninsula) and its accompanying Tattered Mane Archipelago, and more than a few criminals have tried to make the mazes of mangroves a shelter for their ilk; the Republic regularly patrols the region around the Arrowhead to keep these degenerates’ activities to a minimum.