[Scarred Lands] Asherak?

[Torillan]

What do we know about the continent of Asherak? I've seen it refered to the "Eastern Continent". Does that mean it lies to the east of Ghelspad, and/or it contains nations of an "Oriental" flavor?

As I get more of the books for the setting, the more I'm falling in love with the world. (My wife is beginning to suspect.......)

 

[Mouseferatu]

Not Asian. More Babylonian/Egyptian/Sumerian, though it doesn't really quite correspond with any actual historical cultures.

From the recent CCIII open call:

Asherak: Where Termana is a land of extremes, dread Asherak is a bleak, singular landscape of desert and desolation. This is the Cradle of the Gods and the wrath of the titans during the Divine War left it a smoking ash of a continent. Larger than Ghelspad, it is home to the mighty Desert of Onn, where gigantic tortoises slowly cross the desert, eventually perishing, their empty shells setting up unique localized ecosystems that the nomadic Ubantu tribesmen seek out and live in for several weeks before the accumulated resources are expended, forcing them to travel in search of another such oasis. It is home of mighty city-states and ancient theocracies, ruled over by god-kings and bureaucracies of clerics that keep their citizenry alive with food and water summoning magics. Some cities maintain enslaved demons to aid them in their defense and survival; others are gifted with the presence of oath-bound celestials.

I'm quite looking forward to this one--not merely because I hope to be working on it, but simply as a reader and gamer.

 

[Nightfall]

But it also does lie to the East of Ghelspad. (If you consider Mithril the farthest point at least in Ghelspad on the Eastern side...)

Otherwise no it's not Eastern in that sense. Course Termana is kind of Eastern with its spirit religions. (See the Termana Gaz for what I'm talking about.)

 

[Liquid Snake]

Asherak

But it should be pointed out that most monastic traditions came apparently from Asherak. So expect lots of monasteries...and well monks.

I think this is the continent that suffered the most after the Divine War.

 

[Torillan]

Thanks for the responses.

I've been thinking about where the various continents sit along the latitude of the world. I seems like most are in the northern hemisphere. Is there a rough scetch or anything like that floating around? I would imagine the authors have at least a general idea about what the globe looks like.

 

[Nightfall]

My understanding (and this by no means I know where stuff is. My counterpart, Bl'ayne Nightfall probably does but that's another story.), is that the two continents, Ghelspad and Asherak occupy the "Northern" Hemisphere. Termana is the lone one that occupies the Southern one. Now Fenrilik I believe covers the Northern Pole (It also might cover the Southern but I could be wrong.)

 

[Torillan]

My understanding (and this by no means I know where stuff is. My counterpart, Bl'ayne Nightfall probably does but that's another story.), is that the two continents, Ghelspad and Asherak occupy the "Northern" Hemisphere. Termana is the lone one that occupies the Southern one. Now Fenrilik I believe covers the Northern Pole (It also might cover the Southern but I could be wrong.)

It appears as if Termana lies only partially into the southern hemisphere, as the Ganjus Jungle and the Iron Desert are in the southern part of the contintent. I could see Termana straddling the equator, with most of it north of the equator, but not full in the southern hemisphere. I base that on my limited knowledge of physical geography (and I know this is a "fantasy world" after all).

 

[Trickstergod]

Suffice to say, some of Termana's geography is "whacky". On the one hand, we have the almost Nordic Crilosians and the California Redwoods/Germanic Black Forest terrain of Ganjulael, the Forest Realm, while between those two relatively similar climates, there's the New Orleans-esque, Caribbean flavored Blood Bayou. Assuming Scarn is as round as the Earth, it makes for a curious contrast. Then again, part of the point of the Scarred Lands is that nature is out of whack. However, judging by the less Titan-tainted land around the northern half of Termana, and assuming Scarn's round, most of the continent likely sits north of the equator, while it dips slightly south of it around the Iron Sands, just like Torillan said. If Termana lay in the Southern Hemisphere, there wouldn't be a hot and humid sweltering hell of a jungle on its southermost borders, while it's northern portion tended to be a bit more temperate.

As for Asherak, well, everyone's just about covered that. Monks, nomads, desert, theocracies; looks to be like it will be a touch of Oriental, and a lot of Middle Eastern, and probably about as close to Dark Sun as third edition is going to have in the foreseeable future, minus the psionics, I can hope.

 

[Aaron L]

The Murgo?