Terra Nostra

Theban for "Our World", the continent in Carrion containing Thebes, the Orkish Tribal Union, Atalantis, Tawry, and other countries. To the Thebans anything in the Web not part of Terra Nostra is considered "Terra Alia"; "The Other World."

In form, Terra Nostra is roughly squarish, with the "right angles" (which, of course, aren't really) aligned with the points of the compass. In size, it is roughly four million square miles (about the size of Canada, for those of you reading from early 21-st century Earth). Terra Nostra is made up of three subcontinents, divided fairly noticably along major geographical features.

The Bay of Minos extends more than halfway across the interior of Terra Nostra, and is called by natives the Great Sea. Extending almost from the coast of the bay out toward about the middle of the North-East 'face' is the Corat Mountain range (actually several closely-connected ranges). And flowing south from the Corat Mountains is the Tarikar ("Broad Water") River. North from the Bay of Minos and West of the Corat range is the subcontinent known as Clementia (named for that region's most famous resident). Clementia is well-known (by locals, anyway) as the territory of the Theban Empire. Major geographical features include the Sophene Peninsula (where the city of Thebes is located), the Great Barrier Range in the western regions of the subcontinent and a sizable chain of islands to the north, which--although they are not technically part of the Terra Nostra continent itself--are considered part of the Clementia. Also considered part of Clementia is Insula Castellum, a military outpost of Thebes which sits at the mouth of the Bay of Minos (though this is as much for political reasons as for anything else).

To the South of the Bay is the subcontinent Alexandria. Roughly, Alexandria is split into two halves of North and South. The North half is taken up almost entirely by the Arrakis Desert, though the ancestral lands of the Kingdom of Tawy are also in this region. In the South, the desert gradually gives way to a dense forrested jungle. This is the primary territory of the Orkish Tribal Union.

East of the Tarikar River and South of the Corat Mountains is the subcontinent Gallica, which is made up mostly of barren heath and open prairie, though there is a small mountain range in the southeast. Two regions of particular interest are the Barren Grounds and the Badlands. Just over the river from Alexandria, at the extreme southern end of Gallica, the Badlands are a semi-desert region with beautiful geological formations, but almost totally devoid of life. (The nearby Orkish Tribal Union seems fond of dumping heinous criminals and political dissidents into the Badlands.) The Barren Grounds lie just south of the Corat Mountains and cover several thousand square miles of Gallica. As the name implies, little grows there, probably because of the exceptionally rocky topsoil--the natives of Gallica avoid the place, but some wildlife still dwells there. Within the Barren Grounds, it is rumored that there is a place where the underworld has broken through and all manner of strange sights and sounds can be experienced--some even say that the very ground swallows up unwary travellers. Few firsthand witnesses of such a place exist, however and those in a position to have an opinion on such things deem these reports rumors of a suspicious tribal people only.