Difference between revisions of "Geran"

Geran is located north of Belkondíl south of Aribel and west of the Reknayan Mountains. Its traditional borders are considered to be the Ilathw to the south, the Kalpa and the Kalparian Sea to the north, the Black Mountains and the Mountains of Dermon to the east, and the Runion to the west.

Continental Geran is divided along its centre by a chain of uplands composed of the Nukna Highlands to the north and the Ílgarian Forest to the south. East of this dividing line lies the Geranian Heath, an open, sparsely vegetated steppe, bordered by mountains on three sides, the Nukna to the west, the Black Mountains to the south, and the Mountains of Dermon to the east, and the River Kalpa to the north, its main boundary to the formerly Kalparian territory in the Oshale, still marked by the Five Forts of the Kalpa, Kalpattu, Tartassa, Nitespea, Varu, and Antanu.

The plain reaches its lowest point not far south from the Kalpa, in the basin containing Lake Tapakya and the city of Yamenna, an ancient holy site of Kalparian cult and later capital of the Kattasi Kingdom of Yamenna. It is the northernmost of the Five Ring Cities of Geran, beside Aeros, Minnis, Nís, and Daernis, located along the crescent-shaped Niom VI Bálin, which follows the bend of the mountains south from the Oshal-Falls past Lake Dermon to the Blue Ravine and the Gap of Daernis between the Black Mountains and the Ílgarian Forests. South of this passage, the land is more fertile and marshy as it falls down towards the Fields of the Ilathw, but only sparsely populated in Lécaronian times.

The Niom Bálin continues west from Daernis past Inverydd in the Gap of Hajalad into the western part of the region, of the same name. ''Hajalad'' is of Geranian Olgish original, understood to mean ‘wealthy coast’<ref>cf. Olgish ''Haj-Gëlad'' or ''Hagëlad'' ‘emminent shore’</ref>. The area is, aptly, characterized by the merchant cities along its coast, including Antarea, Bernab, and Cas Dárin, and renowned for its urban wealth and cultural diversity, although the countryside is mostly barren and impoverished. The regions draws south further on this side of the Ílgarian Forest, reaching the Ilathw in its lower valley at Dárinsford and bordering the county of Tarébras in Belkondíl. To the west, the Runian coastline forms the Bight of Hajalad, containing the Norides archipelago. Its northern boundary is the Kalparian Sea, hemmed by the two branches of the Nukna and the Gulf of Ianna with the city of the same name in between.

The climate across most of Geran is harsh, as will all regions along the coast of the Runion. Vegetation is sparse in most areas except for the fertile Ilathw Valley and the sheltered landscapes along the Black Mountains and the Ílgarian Woods, the latter the third largest coherent forest system, after the Forest of Rûldor in Seligon and the Rouningwood in Belkdoníl. Temperatures

  which were part of the separate Province VII Oshale until the First Kalparian Uprising of 614