Eastern Synk’maa: Other Locations

Luoteiset Kukkulat - Northwest Steep

The high hills of the area make rising ashore a difficult task to accomplish and the only properly passable route goes around the northern side of the steep. The path in question is thoroughly guarded every day of every month and every year, and not a single figure goes there unnoticed.

Ryöväreiden Ranta - Mugger’s Beach

There is a story from the Age of Woes, telling about a horde of pirates who escaped to the coastal caverns at the Mugger’s Beach after being driven off from Northern Lodge, when the royal forces of Gallowmoor took the city back from the rule of criminals. The pirates could not rest for long, since they were tailed by a group of officials who participated in the battle at Northern Lodge. The warriors of Northern Eye joined the hunt, bringing great packs of bloodhounds among them. The entrances of the caves were surrounded, and the hounds were let loose to track and attack the pirates. Those few who could escape the hungry and violent beasts from the caves were encountered and brutally finished by the soldiers waiting outside.

Ruttometsä - Pestilent Woods

For a reason unknown, the forest now known as the Pestilent Woods, began to wither and rot during the first years of the Age of Woes, starting from within while steadily reaching its borders. Nowadays, all the trees and plants grow sickly and strange to look at, and all the animals have mutations and ghastly traits.

Some believe that a group of black mages cast some obscure spell gone horribly wrong, or a necromantic cult has somehow cursed the whole forest. There are also some, who suggest that a machinist sect has a hidden base in the depths of the woods, performing their weird tests, polluting the surrounding nature. Whatever is the reason, it seems the Pestilent Woods are now beyond saving.

Rauhan Kentät - Fields of Peace

After the First War officially ended, a treaty for peace was accepted and signed by the King of Gallowmoor, as well as the leading figures of both Loyalists and the Shadow Kin. Even then, the members of the Black Sun, an extremist black mage sect, tried to assassinate the royal family. The attempt was smothered in no time, and the mutineers met a swift and bloody ending.

Sarvikallon Sija - Hornskull’s Dwelling

It is told that at the beginning of time and creation, long before humans even began to form larger groups, Noita would find a newborn child under the corpse of a dead woman, hanging from a branch of a weirdly shaped tree. The child would have characteristics alien to humans, suggesting they would be of divine origin.

So, Noita would take the child, a boy, with her, considering him as her sibling, the eighth of the offspring of the All-Mother. She would take the boy away from their mother, raise him as her own, calling him Sarvikallo, the Hornskull. This would be the first time, and only time, the All-Mother would give birth to a child indirectly, bringing the question of if Sarvikallo would truly be an heir of the All-Mother and if he was not, then who is the eighth child? And where is the eighth one now?

Whatever the truth might be, the supposed tree mentioned in the legend is still standing in the middle of the hills known as the Hornskull’s Dwelling. The pitch black tree grows still, and bears repulsively stinking fruit, even when it seems to be completely dead and hollow. The tree attracts beasts, half man, half animal, and all the birds that err to land on its branches die instantly.

Kaksoisjärvet & Kaksoisvirrat - Twin Lakes, including Western Twin River and Eastern Twin River

The roaring rivers descending from the hills of the Hornskull’s Dwelling form the Twin Lakes, between which the great city of Gallowmoor is located. From those two lakes flow two rivers, known as the Western Twin and the Eastern Twin. While the western river is rocky and hard to sail, the other is much more suitable for travel by water as well as to serve as a place to live. That being said, the raging rapids of the Western Twin provide excellent locations for water-powered mills.

Aava Tuulen Maa - Wind Plateau

A wide plateau reaching as far as the eye can see, battered by ever-blowing winds that conjure asphyxiating storms of dust and sand. Herds of great wild horses live and tread the area, and it is known that if someone is to tame a horse from those broods, they will have one of the best animal companions in the whole Synk’maa.

Käärmeenselän Vuorijono - Serpent’s Spine Mountains

It is said the Well of Knowledge, one of the Three Wells of Power, resides on these mountains and its waters descend to the southern seas via the Serpent’s Tongue Rivers. As no one has ever managed to actually find the well, its existence is somewhat challenged. Yet, curiously enough, it seems the mountain range lures many creatures adept at magic around it. Additionally, there are a considerably greater number of withdrawn mage communities in the forests surrounding the mountains, compared to the rest of the Eastern Synk’maa. A fact that speaks on behalf of the Well of Knowledge.

Käärmeenkielen Joet - Serpent’s Tongue Rivers

Rivers, literally resembling the tongue of a snake, descending from the mountain range of the Serpent’s Spine. The rivers are probably the easiest and gentlest streams in Synk’maa to pass and travel, making the transportation of logs and lumber almost completely effortless.

Syrjäkorpi - Secluded Forest

A forest named after its impractical location, being somewhat isolated on the eastern side of the Serpent’s Spine Mountains. The name still lingers, even when there are cities and other minor settlements around the area today.

Nowadays, the woodlands are best known for its abundant supply of various intoxicating mushrooms and plants, which seem to interest large groups of woodland hermits and recluse witches, as well as bored and spoiled brats of noble bloodlines. Some of the psychedelics are known to be hazardous to mental health, but that seems to worry only a handful of travelers of the mind and soul.

Kyysaari - Viper’s Isle

Without a proper explanation, there is an abnormally hefty number of snakes, especially vipers and their subspecies, living on this island. Some zoologists claim that the migration of a certain species could be reasoned, but since there are almost all imaginable species of snakes on the island from all around Synk’maa, it would seem they have been brought there by humans.

Among the hordes of serpents, there are a few small communities of people inhabiting the isle as well, who supposedly are descendants of families who left Wavehaven during the First War. On rare occasions, they travel to the main continent to trade and gather supplies, and whenever they do so, the folk of Wavehaven and Serpent’s Root are not that thrilled about these rare visitors. The people of Viper’s Isle are described as strange looking, uncommonly behaving, speaking a dialect poor in vocabulary. Lastly, their eyes are almost totally black, probably due to some rare genetic anomaly.

Kolmikuohu - Three Rapids

Quite literally three raging rapids, descending steeply from the Serpent’s Spine Mountains. Sometimes the winds carry their mighty roar even to Aurora.

Kirkaspinta - Serene

A great lake of which waters descend the Three Rapids. Its bright, sweet and fresh water reflects the sun, the moon and the stars more beautifully than any other lake in Synk’maa. The fish living in the Serene grow distinctly bigger than other inland water species and their meat is stunningly delicious, no matter the prey’s size or age. The officials of Aurora keep watch on Serene throughout the year to prevent acts of illegal overfishing.

Kirkasjoki - Clearwater

A river descending towards the north, and all the way to the Bottomless Gulf, from the lake Serene. The Clearwater river is said to have curative qualities as the travelers bathing in its streams won’t suffer fatigue in a couple of weeks.

Muuttuva Metsä - Shifting Woods

The people living near the forest, treading its winding paths, claim that sometimes the roads change directions by themselves, as if the place tried to mislead the travelers on purpose. All the adventurers who journey deep enough to its dark and musty depths won’t return or be seen again.

There are some old legends claiming that in the most inner areas of the Shifting Woods wanders an old castle, having legs of its own and acting as the home for a powerful lineage of Pale Walkers. The vampiric powers of the castle’s master provide the weird qualities of the forest to lead the possible victims to the vicinity of the castle, so that its inhabitants may feast on human blood.

Marttyyrien Ranta - Martyr’s Coast

After a year or so, when the First War ended and peace was made, the extremist black mages of the Black Sun kidnapped the Oracle of the time, as well as her fellowship, while they were traveling to the city of Aurora by land. However, the incident had an accidental eyewitness, who made haste to Aurora to alarm its officials, who then began chasing the black mages.

The outlaws were escaping to the far north of the continent, where they were supposed to meet a brother of theirs, providing an escape by boat. However, the partner in crime was not there, for an unknown reason. Maybe the man met his end in the cold waters, becoming food for the fishes. Nevertheless, as the black mages understood their task to be resolved as a failure, they killed the Oracle, her servants and, just before getting caught, themselves as well.

Salmivartion Rauniot - Strait Warden’s Ruins

There are many ruins of old watchtowers and ramparts around the area, some of them preceding even the times before the First War. During the times of the mentioned war, the Royal Navy had one of their greatest bases on the northernmost peninsula which, among all the other fallen fortifications, today remains as a sad memory of  the past times of combat and bloodshed. What secrets does the wreckage withhold?

Pohjaton Lahti - Bottomless Gulf

Seemingly a great, bottomless body of water, reaching ever deeper and deeper into the vast blackness. There are many rumors and stories stating who or what lives in the darkness of the Bottomless Gulf, but none of them seems to get the truth quite right. Some of the Sea Witches believe that their goddess, Aallotar, lives there with her sisters. A theory that the rest of the people of Synk’maa wish to be just that, a legend.