Heartlands RP Lore entry: Geography

On the subject of geography.
The known world consists of three continents and a host of islands. Meditullium, the continent which contains the heartlands, is located to the south-easternmost side of the discovered world. The other two continents are Ekvatorius, located to the north (which has maintained contact with Meditullium for centuries) and Oremundi, located to the far west (which was only recently discovered)

Other than the continents, a host of islands exist, most notably a massive archapelego to the due west of Meditullium.

Ekvatorius
Ekvatorius is characterized primarily by deserts and jungle, being a relatively smaller continent (around the size of australia). While it has had a stable population of Andovri and humans, as well as some more minor species, it has not boasted a massive population within living history. Buried in the deserts, however, are the remnants of some ancient species with unique architecture; many of the buildings are built in such a way a traditional humanoid race would not be able to utilize them at all.

Oremundi
Oremundi is mostly an unknown in terms of geography, but generally seems to consist of broadleafed rainforests and short mountains, as well as some dry arid plainland. It contains several plant species not seen elsewhere, although some have been imported to Meditullium.

Archipelagos
The archipelago's have extremely varied climate, as befitting a number of islands that range from south to north, but the most significant concentrations of them have rainforest climates, typically with short mountains, similar to Oremundi.

Meditullium
Meditullium is in the southern hemisphere, the southernmost portions being tundra and the northernmost nearing a tropical environment. The closer to the heartland one gets, the more chaotic and unexplainable the environment gets, as the influence of misunderstood magics change the landscape.

Northwestern Meditullium
The northwest of Meditullium is a mixture of desert, jungle, and mountains. Similar ruins to those found in Oremundi can be found scattered throughout this region, which has long been a stronghold of the Andovri. The region is considered sacred by the most significant Andovri religion, and any external threat will quickly unite the kingdoms into an unstoppable onslaught. When not distracted by external threats, the kingdoms in this region fight bloody wars over holy sites and artifacts.

West-central Meditullium
To the south on the western coast of Meditullium, the Andovri have largely overtaken the region, which still retains sizable human and elven populations. The geography consists of tall mountains- some say the tallest in the world- and light forest, along with arid plains and cold highlands further inland, sheltered by the towering mountains.

Southwestern Meditullium
Going further south leads to the edge of the Andovri's influence. While the northern sections have small amounts of andovri, the western coast is dominated by extensive, heavily fortified human port-cities that have repelled Andovrian aggression for centuries. The climate is cold and the geography rough, filled with dense forests, rough highlands, and tall mountains. The eastern section has relatively little habitation, with what exists there mostly being limited to some elven and dwarrow colonies.

Southwest-inland Meditullium
The only landlocked region, the vaguely triangular-shaped southwest-inland meditullium is home to mostly an assortment of "Free cities", independant city-states with a variety of governments and invariably mixed populations. Geography wise the area is mostly rough plains, low mountains, light forest, and rolling hills.

Southwest-Central Meditullium
A densely populated, greatly forested region that was once the home of the Ailian Kingdom, the largest elven empire ever to exist, and one of the most ancient countries around. Weakened by constant war with the Andovri, the empire slowly lost territory over several centuries before finally fracturing completely during a succession crisis. The terrain is mostly mixed forest, with small, numerous mountain ranges stretching around the region, and occasional wide, fertile rolling grasslands. The elves are now mostly sheltered from the Andovri by the human settlements in the west, but the long-suffering Dwarrow to their east largely see this period of war as an opportunity to strike back against the elves and regain long-lost territories.

South-Central Meditullium
East of the elven lands lies a great gulf, that spread all the way deep inside of the Heartlands. On either side of this gulf are the ancient homelands of the Dwarrow, a once far more widespread people that have been pushed to their current boundaries by ceaseless elven aggression. Characterized by exceptionally tall mountains, rivaling those of the far west, and cold plateau's, this region makes for a difficult environment for most species to live- but is also exceptionally defensible

Southeast Meditullium
To the east of the great gulf, a wide region of plateau's and dense forest encompasses a massive tract of land. This region is very sparsely populated, with the main population being scattered, tribalistic humans, anddragar.

Southeastern Meditullium Peninsula
To the south of the great forests that stretch to the eastern coast, the forest fades to a great, massive marshland, which then fades to a huge, mountainous tundra. This region, which contains some human tribes, is almost entirely dominated by Hallatonttu, for which it is presumed to be the homeland. A number of Dragar control isolated mountain ranges on the eastern and western sides of the great tundra, in service to Frost dragon overlords.

Eastern-central Meditullium
The lesser explored eastern side of the continent boasts several large cities of varied population. Other than containing the largest Dragar concentrations in the world, the region contains Andovri, elves, humans, and dwarrow. Many small city-states thrive in the region, several controlled by a mixture of races and allowing them all equal citizenship. The region is composed mostly of grassland, mountains, swamps, and arid badlands to the west. The closer to the eastern coast one gets, the more fertile the land is, including some small forests.

Northeastern Meditullium
The far northeastern region of meditullium is wholly the territory of the Khavid Empire, a massive, technologically advanced, isolationistic andovrian empire. The region is a mixture of hills, badlands, plains, and mountains.

North-central Meditullium
The northernmost region of the continent is very sparsely populated with only a small number of Andovri colonies on the coast. The reasons for this are obvious; The thick jungles and sandy deserts are home to all manner of nightmarishly massive and dangerous creatures. Some rare natural resources justify continued investment into the few existing colonies in the region.