Meloe, Old South Farming Lands

The southern end of North Tasif is known as Meloe. It is the oldest region to be populated by humans, after Litaia. It is also known as Middle Tasif. Traditionally and primarily, Meloe is farmland and fields. Many of the towns and cities are surrounded by paddocks and crops. Serten, its largest city, is girt by paddocks as far as the eye can see over the gentle rolling hills.

Meloe's southern point, Koora Peninsula, joins South Tasif via an old bridge in the town of Ikadea. The bridge leads over Tasif Pass -- the canyon which separates North and South Tasif. Along the northwest border, Meloe joins Litaia, and following the roads there would bring one to Lyte. In the northeast, one may follow roads into Batyrun, and eventually would come across Temanea. The northern portion of Meloe is mostly mountains and mining towns, but everything to the south is vastly flatter. Its many bays and shores make Meloe a favourite province for seaside settlers.

Meloe boats no significant forested areas, and so many of the towns lack efficient wooden structures, but what they lack in wood, they make up for with stone, clay, and thatch. Additionally, people in Meloe have exploited its empty fields since the beginning of mankind -- the masses of farms can feed most of North Tasif.

Meloe has two large abandoned fortresses: Fort Eres and Fort Mill. Fort Mill was one of the longest-serving fortresses in Tasif. Founded in 11,233BD, it wasn't abandoned until 602AL, after The Guard claimed that the fortress was too full of "the stench of the White Order" to be of any use. The fortress once held a position halfway down the east coast, potentially protecting most of the province from any naval attacks, but even its advantageous position was not enough to render it useful to The Guards. It has since fallen into ruin and has become overrun with bandit hideouts and lairs. It suffered damage in 5628BD, when part of a wall and a tower collapsed due to bad tunnelling while constructing an extra cellar, but this was repaired by 5593. Fort Eres also has a fantasic location. It is found up the mountain from Xunder, near the town of Carasan, but it fell out of use around the same time as Fort Mill did, and mostly for the same reasons. Though Fort Eres was not as successful and powerful as Fort Mill, its high location and high visibility prompted The Guards to tear down parts of the walls and towers as a reminder to all who saw it that the White Order was ended. Several other smaller fortresses dot the province, but almost all of them have been converted into outposts for The Guards.

Serten

Next to Lyte, Serten is the oldest surviving city in Riiga. Often shadowed by the might and wonder of Lyte, Serten is underestimated and perceived as a mere town by those overseas. In truth, Serten is a massive prosperous cluster of taverns, blacksmiths, traders, marketplaces, and many other stores. Along its eastern walls is the Tasif River. It is a city filled with historical buildings from long ago. It also contains two intertwining sewer systems -- one old, sealed, and filled with disease, and the other clean, sturdy, and more reliable. There are two systems because the disease which caused the city to become abandoned spread through the old system:
Seiratyn
In 12,979BD, a city called Seiratyn was founded at this location. As the years passed, this city acted as a primary crossroad for Lyte to the east, Temanea to the west, the mines to the north, and South Tasif to the south. In 3602BD, a horrible plague broke out in the city, believed to be caused by The Enemy. Naturalist scientists soon verified that the disease was actually spread through the city's underground sewer system, and was cauesd by some sort of contamination in the northern sewers, where the water entered the networks. The sewer was sealed off but the city's population had already been cut in half. So the remaining people left once they were believed to be clean, and they distributed themselves around Meloe and Tasif. Seiratyn was left to rot and crumble on its own. Several hundred years later, in 3120BD, scientists returned to inspect the city's status after the White Order ordered an update. They believed that the city itself was clean, but the sewers were still contaminated. So they sealed off the old tunnels and built new ones around them, careful to avoid any joins in the two intertwining networks. The city was renamed Serten and it was eventually repopulated at least tenfold.

Xunder

Directly north of Serten is the old mining city of Xunder. For thousands of years, its many mines have been used to obtain stone and minerals for use all around Tasif. It sits at the feet of Nor Vastin's southern end. Though historically humble in itself, Xunder is actually famous for two nearby locations. One of these locations is the cave in which Lord Renin defeated Karomaroc. After defeating the monster, Renin pushed him into an abyss of untold depth. It is told that this abyss was a large underground sinkhold which was only discovered when the giakdon were chased into the depths of the caves. None of the men were able to tell how deep it was, as anything thrown into it eventually vanished from sight completely. Consequentially, they named the hole Bertele's Mouth. The entire branch of the cave was then sealed off, and none have been able to relocate it ever since. As they left the caves, they observed some rare minerals in the cave walls. Henceforth, Xunder was born.
Temple of Karomaroc
Just as peculiar as Bertele's Mouth is the aptly named Temple of Karomaroc, situated on a peak just north of Xunder. Though it is not actually known if the temple belonged to the giakdon or even Karomaroc himself, it is mostly associated with them. The stones there are cut so largely that immense beasts would be needed just to move them. It was there before the humans were in that area. Though it has been thought of as a kind of world temple, the building style is so drastically different that its considered to be built by a different race than the ones who built the temples. Instead of being grand and massive, it is intimidating, crude, and roughly cut. It is shaped like a circle of jagged pillars, with a flat stone floor in the middle and an oddly-shaped stone lying in the middle which is as big as a small house. Some adventurers believed that beneath the stone was Bertele's Mouth, but the first attempts at breaking through the stone resulted in immediate earthquakes. People making subsequent attempts were warned of the dangers, and eventually the temple became a place that people simply did not go to.

Ahagim

Ahagim is a small city with a disproportionately large port. It is actually the largest port in Tasif to have direct access to the Epignoria Ocean, and so, as a port city, it is very busy. The shelter provided by Ahagim Bay also makes it a very safe port in terms of weather; it's thought to be one of the safest ports for ships and boats to be docked at. The only reason that the attached city has not grown in size is because the cliffs on which Ahagim are built cannot take much more structural additions. Several attempts in the past resulted in buildings toppling into the sea. So, instead, the people have accepted the city's size, and instead concentrate on the popular trade markets at the crowded docks.

Ikadea

Guarding the bridge to South Tasif is the city of Ikadea. This old city inspires stories of mystery and wonder due to the peculiar events which preceded the city's founding. When explorers first came to Tasif Pass and peered across the wide canyon at South Tasif, a stone bridge connecting the landmasses seemed ridiculous. So they descended the cliffs carefully and when they reached the shore at the bottom they found a body which seemed to have died mere hours ago from a fall. Though it seemed to be one of them, nobody was missing. While half of them crossed the canyon's waters to South Tasif, the other half climbed back up the cliffs to bury the body on the clifftop. Once they dug a hole, they were about to lower the body down, when suddenly he sprang to life for a moment, screamed for them to build a bridge so that he wouldn't "die again", and then fell dead again. Shocked yet curious, they sent their idea back to Lyte, and over the next few years, people, timber, and stone came to the site in large amounts. The Ikadean Bridge was soon complete, and a commemorative tower was built over the man's grave. The curiosity of the story brought many travellers to the bridge. Traders followed the travellers, and then the traders needed places to live. Then the travellers needed places to sleep. Ikadea was titled as an actual town in 10,286BD.

Rivare

Rivare is a small city on the Tasif River, a short way south of Serten. Surrounded by lush fields, Rivare is said to be the home of the best horse breeders in Tasif. Rivarean horses used to be used as the noblest mounts for high ranking membes of the White Order. Since The Guards took over, Rivareans were more commonly found pulling heavy carts or plows; generations of warrior horses proved to be just as powerful and useful on farms and in markets. Like the horses there, Rivare citizens are full of pride in their heritage and history dating back as far as 10,669BD -- when the city was founded -- and one would find that the city is very close and they do not easily accept outsiders as a part of them.

Terrenia

A small city on the northern shore of Alastyba Lake. Terrenia is a young city compared with the rest of Tasif. It is primarily occupied with fishing in the lake. Additionally, Terrenia is on the crossroad between Serten, Xunder, Ahagim, and the road to Batyrun, so it is often full of travellers and traders.