Oloonde lakeland
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Contents
Danger: Normal
Sub zones: Lake of Arrows, Lake of Souls, Sullon Lake, Stillmoon Pond, Mirror Sea
Inhabitants: Elves, rilmanidons, mermaids, ghostlights
Oloonde Lakeland is a forested region situated north east of the continent and west of the Namambra jungle. It's mostly famous for the five major bodies of water connected through a web of streams and rivers flowing into each lake or pond. The most renowned of them are the Lake of Arrows, the Lake of Souls, Sullon Lake, Mirror Sea, and Still moon Pond. The area is hilly and uneven, with the more elevated lakes and ponds pouring their waters in waterfalls and quick rapids. The region is also known for its many tales and myths, and for being far more populated by elves than the central part of the continent.
Lake of Arrows
Danger: Normal
Inhabitants: Elves, rilmanidons, birds of Harmony, mermaids
One of the biggest lake of the region. It stands in the middle of a shallow depression, surrounded by lush forested hills and a high cliff to its northern side. The name of the lake comes from the multiple spike-shaped rocks majestically emerging from its waters. They form massive stone formations, a bit like organ pipes. The lake is inhabited by a wide variety of colorful birds, perching on top of the arrows and fishing the waters. The lake is fed by the massive waterfalls coming from the north. Its waters then go out into the Jewel river and further down to Stillmoon pond. The place is definitely beautiful and offer a wonderful, calming sight. One should be cautious if standing on the bank of the lake, however. Some mermaids sometimes come from the Jewel river and love to snatch unaware onlookers with a swift flick of their tongue.
Lake of Souls
Danger: Normal
Inhabitants: Elves, rilmanidons, ghostlights, kachydons
The lake of souls is one of the wonders of Felarya. It's also named Kalichidhen which means roughly " Cathedral of water " in an ancient language. It's by far the highest lake of the region, actually resting in the canopy of several very ancient, now petrifed trees. Over millennia, leaves, branches and various debris accumulated and congregated, creating natural walls, thick as stone, that retained water and allowed the existence of the lake. The encircling trees form a crown, and in the midst of it, stands a smaller, but higher crown of tree. For unknown reasons, the waters appears to flow from its middle, like a natural fountain. Over the course of time, the water managed to carve some opening through the petrifed walls, creating majestic waterfalls coming down along the trunks, into another lake situated, this time, at the base of the trees. The waters then flow down to the Sullon Lake and the Lake of Arrows. It's easy to imagine such an awe-inspiring sight to be a place of worship and mysticism and as such, the lake became a sanctuary of the Kadyns elves.
Sullon Lake
Danger: Normal
Sullon lake is a very deep and losange-shaped lake. It's situated much lower than the lake of souls, and the waters from there go down in a powerful and majestic waterfalls. It then goes out from an underwater exit leading to the Jewel river. The waters of the lake are dark, cold, and treacherous, with very strong churning currents and deadly whirlpools forming all over it. The depth of the lake is what it is the most famous for, however. Nobody has really measured just how deep it goes but Sullon comes from a word from an ancient language ( "Suh-lhon" ) that means "Abyssal".
Stillmoon Pond
Danger: Normal
Inhabitants: fairies
A gentle lake nested in the middle of a dense and high forest, south of the Lake of Arrows. A strange and silent atmosphere surrounds it, and travelers reaching the Lake will often have the sensation of having entered a special place, separated from the rest of Felarya. Indeed the air feels different and the climate of the rest of the Oloonde region simply doesn't match that of Stillmoon pond. The same phenomenon can be observed at night, with a large, majestic red moon suspended in the sky, that never seems to change and simply vanish when you get away from the lake. The magic seems especially strong in the area, amplyfying spells and enabling local fauna to use it naturally. Moreover, Stillmoon Pond seems to be situated at the exact junction of several Ley magic lines.
Mirror Sea
Danger: Normal
The Mirror Sea is named after its unique property of reflexion. It's a strange, peaceful lake that will create, once in a while, a reflexion of whoever gazed into its water. The reflexion acquire a life of its own, although it's not entirely sapient and rarely last more than a few hours before dissipating. It also appears slightly transparent. Some speculate that the reflexions are the residual effects caused by a powerful illusionist who casted multiple reflexions of the zone to confuse and escape a predator. Other speculate that the reflexions are caused by a dormant creature resting at the bottom of the lake. Whatever causes them is unknown, but every person who ventured near the Mirror sea speak of a strange place, oddly relaxing, where strange things happens.
Toluwo cloud
Danger: Normal Inhabitants: Sphinxes, arboreal frogs
The Toluwo cloud is the name given to of a large formation of Eidoron rocks of various size floating over the Oloonde region. They present a strange sight, looming silently over the area at high attitude, drifting ever so slowly and shrouded in a slight blue atmospheric fog. They project gentle shadows on the land below, sometimes accompanied with streams of water or fine waterfall of mist falling from them.
Most of the rocks composing the cloud are rather small and bare, but some of them are massive, the largest ones forming floating islands, covered in vegetation and possessing ecosystems of their own. The traces of an ancient civilization can be found across the cloud, with some remarkable structures carved out of the rocks themselves. They look primitive for the most part, with rough, uneven gates leading to simple rooms choked out by vegetation. However the deeper a visitor explore these structures, the stranger they become. Inner halls remain small but appear to have been dug with an uncanny precision in straight lines and lead to various rooms with similarly straight walls. Some of those chambers have their walls, floor and ceiling covered by a strange golden metal that look like gold but is much lighter and possesses different properties. It appears very hard to remove and extract though, as it seems to have been merged with the rock itself through an unknown process.
Most surfaces inside the structures are pierced by a multitude of carefully carved holes of various size and depth, the usage of which remains unknown. Furniture such as chairs and tables can be found in some rooms but they are unmovable, very much part of the rock itself. Again, the precision of their cut and the exquisite decorations they bear leave the visitor bewildered. Many of those structures look relatively intact, although the surfaces are worn off, bearing the weight of centuries. Ivies, creepers and mold have managed to grab hold of some sections as well.
The Toluwo cloud is home to many species that are unique to it. Most of the fauna is either capable of flight or can leap from rocks to rocks. in the denser parts of the cloud where rocks are packed, it allows for an easy navigation from islands to islands. Large arboreal frogs are one of the danger of the zone, lurking and looking an harmless bush, until a prey come in range of their long, slimy tongue. A pack of giant sphinxes have claimed the cloud to be their territory as well. It's interesting to note that the cloud in general seems to follow a gyrating trajectory over the center and southern part of the region, moving on average at the speed of a walking human.
- Credit to Archmage Bael for helping writing the Oloonde lakeland description and for the petrified trees idea for the lake of souls, and to Shady-Knight for the Mirror sea description.
