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Azar
Master of Realmslore
1342 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Jun 2025 : 22:10:04
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Hello.
A while back, I glanced at the Parkinson cover of the original campaign setting box and thought "Wow. What is that warrior doing on land surrounded by coral?" Those stony growths may not have originated from any body of water, but the imagery - the imagining - stuck with me long after that first exposure. Now, I am curious as to whether there are any ancient territories that were previously vast waterscapes? Consider the potential for an unfamiliar environment.
Keen visitors descending below will notice still-present water lines and telltale signs of erosion against (formerly) coastal rocks marking the boundaries. Deposits of salt in addition to fields of sun-bleached coral are the first major distinguishing features. Depending on how the sea vanished, there might be magic at play; undead aquatic life forms endlessly drag themselves across the earth or were (inadvertently?) enchanted so as to glide smoothly through the air as they once did in their natural element. Finally, a shipwreck or two have become forlorn structures ripe for the picking...yet are potentially safeguarded by skeletal crews forever bound to the vicinity.
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Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
Earth names in the Realms are more common than you may think. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12077 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jun 2025 : 22:33:35
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| huh, that does look like coral on the "dude on a horse" cover. Given the map discussions we've been having about the endless waste, plain of horses, and quoya desert that become interesting to me. After all, I don't know that I actually know when the endless wastes might have gotten uncovered by water (assuming I'm correct, and I'm sure someone will come along to tell me I'm looking at that old GHotR map from -31500 wrong). But IF the endless wastes HAD been covered by water for a long ass time and only got uncovered in the last few millenia, it might explain a bit more of the segregation of people on the continent. Probably something though that if I dig contradicts that idea. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 10 Jun 2025 22:49:02 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36906 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jun 2025 : 02:25:05
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He's actually a time traveller, and is standing on what used to be the seashore after the Spellplague.
He's so good at the time travel gig that he sent the image back in time.
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6399 Posts |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12077 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jun 2025 : 13:22:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Anywhere arid works for me.
Zakhara is a brilliant candidate for dried up Seas. Although that region is now mostly desert, so unless the picture is also desert then it seems unlikely.
Calimshan, particularly in the east, was once lots of forests and jungles. That all desert now as well.
The shaar, that was also forests and jungles, now replaced with arid plains I think.
And then there is the endless wastes, particularly the western half. We have no history for that region extending back more than a few thousand years.
The dwarves arrived in the yehimals and spread out in all directions but there is no dwarven presence there except a few isolated holds founded after the great rift was formed and became prosperous.
No elves in the region at all. The few elvish related pockets (maraloi and the half elves of guge) are post imaskar.
No big creator race presence either.
It's almost as though the land suddenly sprung into existence a few thousand years ago (which is kind of how the designers created it, by shoehorning a real world analogue in there and neglecting to properly integrate it), and the near perfect explanation is that most of it was underwater (maybe not more than a few feet in places) when the world was warmer.
Yeah, as discussed in the other thread a bit.... it might be worthwhile to see WHEN is the first dates we can actually place within the endless wastes, plain of horses, AND Qoya desert. I notate it that way because it may have been a slow uncovering, or an uncovering for different reasons in different areas.
It is kind of interesting that the yehimals was the one area not under water, from the standpoint that it would have very effectively divided the continent into 3 regions.... especially since we don't know when the region known as the Segara sea got covered.
On that note however, at some point in the past, a huge swathe of Kara-Tur (i.e. the plateau of Malatra) rather suddenly raised up thousands of feet into the air (so multiples of thousands.... so possibly nearing a mile or more). Its not a small area either if I can trust Handsome Rob's toril map. I do wonder if that didn't have something to do with the flooding of the Segara Sea. Said region is also covered by a massive Hallucinatory terrain effect as well, such that noone nearby REALIZES there's this massive plateau rising up in the air. To note, thousands of feet would be nearing "mountain heights" (i.e. the smoky mountains run around 5 to 6 thousand feet tall, the rockies can exceed twice that). However, unlike mountains, there aren't a bunch of peaks... this is a plateau... so a massive wall of stone.
Hmmm, so in looking, I really need to get the Interactive atlas installed on this new laptop... because the fr wiki entry shows the malatran plateau as mUCH smaller than Handsome Rob's map, and it LOOKS like that's from the FRIA. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Azar
Master of Realmslore
1342 Posts |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6399 Posts |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2481 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jun 2025 : 22:19:53
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Well, the seas connected to the greater ocean are going to dry up only if the continent rises.
The inner seas seem more likely, but they happen in the low areas, and the place will stay low as long as a good chunk of the relevant continent is not horribly messed up. Thus will dry all the way only if the entire basin is almost deprived of water. Otherwise it just shrinks, maybe down to a smaller salt lake, and expands later.
A real example of how this works: Caspian sea.
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Zakhara is a brilliant candidate for dried up Seas.
Why? At a glance, the only likely place is the Western half of High Desert. The rest is full of mountain ranges, but not placed in a way that would let the winds in and then keep the water frm flowing out. Lots of bays at the shores, too. |
People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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Dried-up seas in The Realms?
