Amador: Eastern Countryside

Amador: Eastern Countryside

The Central-Eastern part of Amador is all lush meadows, open plains and rolling hills, but as you move further east the landscape turns dryer and hotter by the meter. The Anvil Mountains move down from the North-East and make much of the lands are rugged and hilly, with a lot of ridges and gorges. Worn roads crisscross the area, but only the few proper highways see continuous use. The other are considered dangerous because of the bandits and Nahmil Raiders frequenting them. This doesn’t mean these back roads aren’t popular with smugglers and those of lesser reputation.
As you approach the Eastern fringe of Amador the plains give way to sand and cracked clay and the thickets wither away into barbed bushes and short, gnarled trees. This is still not the true desert though; that has yet to come.

Areas of Notice:
-Eyeblight Gorge: The southern tail of the Anvil Mountain Range stretches into the hinterland in-between the Shimmering wastes and the rest of Amador, making for a cracked land with both cliffs and ravines aplenty. One of the most well known landmarks in the cragged landscape is Eyeblight Gorge, the sight for uncounted ambushes and the sole reason why the Short Silk-Road doesn’t follow the shortest route between Cintra and Silverhaven. It is named after the ragged landscape which makes both shadows and light mingle in the ravine, playing havoc on anyone’s eyes.

-Mackhaine’s Maw: Also known as the Dragon’s Breath Cavern, or as Aklam Kelesh (“Fire-hand’s Denial”) among the Nahmil. It is a huge gaping hole in the side of a Cliffside that rears up towards the sky, with flickering flames within it at all times. It was made during the Infada Wars at the Battle of Terbin Road, when the Nahmil invaders attacked the Amadorian Army under command of the Sixth Dragon-King. The nomad’s magicians gathered their might and sent a giant ball of fire straight towards the Dragon-King in the hopes of “cutting the head off the snake”. The Arch-Wizard Edward Mackhaine stepped in front of the King and managed to redirect the monstrous ball of fire at the expense of his own life. The fireball struck the cliff side and blew a vast hole in it and ignited the rocks that still burn today with the fire from the spell.

-The Short Silk-Road: The stretch of cobblestone-road that snakes its way through eastern Amador from Cintra to Silverhaven. It is called the Short Silk-Road because it is far shorter than the travel across the desert to reach the lands where one might find silk. A couple of dozen years ago, the Short Silk-Road had a nearly straight path between the two cities, through Eyeblight Gorge, but that was changed in the hopes to limiting the number of ambushed caravans. Now it snakes its way around mountains and takes wide detours to evade the narrow ravines that would be so much speedier.

-Fifth Smile Oasis: This is the last open water you will see until you reach Silverhaven and, according to an obscure Nahmil prophesy, the last water to be destroyed along with the world at the end of days. Its name comes from the clever belief that when traveling east, the oasis will be the fifth thing that will make you smile. The four previous ones are the beginning of your journey, the pleasant warmth before the weather turns too warm, when you see Mackhaine’s Maw and the first time you see a Lilith flower which only grows in the “half-desert”.