Thanks to Theo Jansen for the inspiration

This is part of my Atlas Elyden project, where I'm (perhaps rather foolishly) trying to map an entire world,starting with the region of the Inner Sea. Surprisingly, I;m actually getting work done!

Edit: for anyone asking about it:
FATUGHMA WEGH: a gigantic glassy-blue monolith in the plains of Laular in Trakia, N Sammaea. The tower is around 1100-ft. high and stands on an elevation of 130-ft. and can be seen as far away as 53-miles. Within this radius travellers are known to spontaneously develop headaches, nosebleeds and other phenomena that worsen the closer one gets to the monolith. This supranatural phenomenon has prevented exploration of the immediate area around the edifice, preventing more examination of its properties.

Little is known about its origins, though it is believed to date back at least the Second Age, though there are little indications as to its origins, though many scholars have put forth an unknown Demiurge as the architect.

Andiluth and Trakia - low-res.jpg

ANDILUTH
Not so much a nation, but a loose collection of people between other nations, Andiluth is a relatively recent land, having been submerged beneath the Sea of Byssos until around 1,000 years ago and exposed only through the waning of Elyden’s waters.

The region is dominated by the once-coastal shelf of the Sea of Byssos and the marine fossils and calcified coral forests that pepper the otherwise featureless flat expanse.

The people of Andiluth are descended from the coastal nomads that once roamed the foothills of the Cammorean mountains. As the diminishing sea exposed more of the Andiluthan shelf, they slowly moved north and eventually came to settle natural harbours that dominated the exposed coastline, becoming fishermen. Over the decades this way of life was destroyed by increasingly unpredictable weather that brought terrible winter storms miles inland, across the flat Andiluthan shelf. All but the most cosseted settlements were devastated by these storms. Even those cities that were well-protected would become uninhabitable in the storm season, forcing the people south for half the year. This lead to the appearance of the city of Cardamathia - the only major settlement in the entirety of Andiluth. It swells in winter as people travel there for shelter, bringing cured fish and other food with them.

Elsewhere many Andiluthans cling to the nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors, constructing light shorewalkers - wind-powered machines that travel west and east along the shore - through which they can comb the coastline for debris washed ashore. This life is difficult and these itinerants need to contend with the giant crabs that haunt the region as well as each other.

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TRAKIA
Small nation in northern Sammaea south of the Tarahid Annexes. It is largely empty, dominated by badlands and scattered atramental wastes. Its people are remnants of a divided race that has, over time, died out or become absorbed by the Parthisan empire to the north (the people of the Tarahid Annexes to the north are their closest relatives).

They are a hardy people, used to harsh weather and little help from the outside world. They work diligently against Atramental corruption, especially cyclocephaly, which is an unfortunately common ailment in the region, afflicting humans as well as the scattered oghur population alike. This atramental disorder afflicts life in the womb, causing newborns to have one eye and distended heads. Manby are newborn, and most of the rest remain weak and debilitated throughout their short lives. Interestingly those born with cyclocephaly are more likely to have an affinity for the atramenta. Those who are capable are taken (usually more than willingly) from their struggling parents and sent to the university in Deacania, where they study the way of the Atramenta to strengthen them and fight against its spread.

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KHALHAT
One of few non-human nations in Elyden, Khalhat is a lhaus enclave, a remnant of a far larger nation dating back to the Fourth Age that dwindled as the great empires of that age crumbled. They are largely insular, knowing how dangerous and unpredictable humans can be, and are relatively content with their small scrap of land in Sammaea.

The Khalhati lhaus are experts in the field of cloning and, like their demiurge father, are obsessed with eternal life. Due to this they have perfected a method of cloning known as clada, where the soul of a dead lhaus is transferred to an artificially-crafted body, allowing continued life. This can be done indefinitely, though each such transference strips away part of the soul’s individuality, eventually leaving it as an automaton.

Only the richest and most powerful lhaus can afford this treatment, though they can live for thousands of years as a result, leaving the rest of the populace to dream or work for their betters in the flesh-crafting ateliers.

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MOAH
Moah is a small independant nation centred around the powerful city-state of Roa, locataed in northern Sammaea. It is ruled by a council of five Numenin – otherworldly beings that have shaped the course of the city’s fate since its founding in 1624 RM, following its emergence from Khalhat to the north years earlier. The city has its own governing body, which only seeks the counsel of the numenin in times of uncertainty, though their wisdom is often conflicting.