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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave G" data-source="post: 4055078" data-attributes="member: 17">The Land of AnexxiaPrior to the catastrophe, the land of Anexxia had been a large continent with a mountainous and rocky north ranging across temperate zones to an equatorial desert and tropical rainforest to the south. The geography of the lands were shattered and twisted in the explosion caused by Kor’s Folly. The most obvious of these changes is the enormous crater left by the explosion, which destroyed most of the southern part of the continent. The whole land shifted to the north and the resulting earthquakes leveled most man-made structures for a hundred miles, and even damaged cities further north.The tectonic plates of the continent fractured far to the north, grinding and shoving the mountains upon themselves, creating a natural barrier from the rest of the lands. The Broken Mountains now rose higher than the clouds, and some say have pierced the sky itself. Many have tried to cross them, only to disappear or return in failure. There also seems to be an increase in volcanic activity in the newly expanded mountain range, the largest is known as Dhurak’s Forge. Expeditions have been mounted to travel east to see if there is a way around the range. So far all they have found is trouble, in rediscovering a barbaric civilization that threatens Anexxia to the east.The crater from Kor’s Folly was filled with water as the ocean rushed in to fill the void. But the raw magic still streams out from the center of the crater, and Chaos Bay is so-called because of the storms which lash the land fueled by the power that continues to radiate from the epicenter. The ocean levels began dropping, changing the ecology of the land. It also changed the society which survived, finding themselves living on cliffs and rocks instead of beaches. In the south, where the edge of the desert and broken land had been before, the land was stripped of most of its vegetation and animal life for miles.  Many of those that managed to survive the devastation were mutated into fantastical and sometimes horrible new forms. The more twisted ones did not survive for long, but some have evolved into their own species.  And there is much still unknown about the ecology of this area, and rugged individuals eke out a living in the barren wilderness. They fight off the creatures and the elements to nurse a small holding or community to self sufficiency. The large forests and plains that made up the center of Anexxia have been transformed as well. Much of the topsoil in the so-called breadbasket of the land was blown away in the first chaos storms to wash ashore. The farmlands that survived were isolated from one another by the formation of new ridges and valleys in the landscape. If not for the loss of life from the initial tragedy, there would have surely been famine in the years that followed. The change in the oceans and the land caused much of the forest to die, and those that survived were further north. One such forest is known as the forest of miracles, as it grew up so thick and lush that it gave refuge for many creatures, there are some parts of the forest that are magical themselves, often with guardians to keep evil from despoiling these places. It is wilder and more dangerous than normal forests as well, no one goes far into the forest lightly or unprepared. Another strange forest has grown up further north still abutted against the foothills and the edge of the mountains, it has different types of magic there, and is the home of a large grove of Ironwood trees, having wood as strong as iron.The fracture of the continent caused a new river and lake system to form in Anexxia. Known in the common tongue as Split Lake and the Split river, it is a major avenue of travel and shipping in the land. Since it connects to the ocean near the northern mountains, it is a very saline system until it passes the eastern edge of the Forest of Miracles where the plants and trees there have thrived on the brackish water.  The water that flows south from the Forest is clean and pure for most of the year unless the Lake is flooded via a Destiny Storm or a strong spring melting of the mountain snows.The center of Chaos Bay is in perpetual storm, there is a hurricane that spins around the crater like some child’s top spinning in a bowl. The water level has dropped considerably, but there are strange fogs that blow in and wrap the coast of the bay with their tendrils. The civilized peoples there must remain ever-vigilant, for magical beasts, aberrations, demons, devils and the undead try to climb their way from the crater to assault the land. When the hurricane’s chaotic trajectory brings it close to land, the people have learned to expect the worst.  Even though their buildings are heavily buttressed and fortified, the storm surges and tremendous winds cause damage that make lesser mortals flee to the north. In addition to the strange weather the storm in the Bay seems also to be the source of the Destiny Storms that sweep across the land.Weather and ClimateThe southern lands are warmer, the closer to Chaos Bay, you get, and for around half the year are semi-arid. There are pockets of more temperate land between these and the forests and foothills to the north, where the temperature starts cooling off dramatically. There have been reports in recent years from the outposts on the edge of civilization, as far into the Broken Mountains as they can survive, of tremendous glaciers crumbling everything in their path on their inexorable march southward. While the first century after the cataclysm saw a tremendous cooling of the planet as the dust and debris from the explosion filtered their way out, the lands have warmed up to much closer to pre-Folly days. Still in all this time, the march of the glaciers is something new to civilized experience, and some speculate that the climate still is changing for the world as a whole. Destiny StormsThese might appear at first examination to be nothing more than spectacularly strong storm systems that flow north from Chaos Bay to sweep across the landscape of Anexxia. But there’s something more to them than that. For four to six months of the year, these storms come bearing magic and raining chaos. They typically have lightning storms which lash man-made and natural structures, sometimes changing the landscape as a result. Tornadoes, torrential downpours—sometimes including apocalyptic icons such as magical frogs and locusts, and in the colder part of the season, strange blizzards have been known to blanket even the southern lands with snow and ice.Those who are caught up in a Destiny Storm, large or small, and who survive have a good chance of coming out of them changed in some fashion. In addition to the mutations which have emerged in the civilized peoples, many survivors are surprised to find themselves reborn with a new outlook on life. Some of these are the most noteworthy adventurers Anexxia has ever seen, while others go home and dedicate their lives to the people, becoming civil servants or enlisting in military service. There are also some who slink away from the storms and into the shadows, their hearts are darker ones, and their resulting destinies often lay in opposition to the civilized folks of the land.</blockquote>

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