Portal:Geography

Geography is the study of the world of Vosel, but it is not limited to the world itself: It also includes the vast network of planes, subplanes, and demiplanes spinning in a complex orrery around the prime material itself. This page treats the geography of both the world and of the universe.
== The World and its Continents ==
The surface of the world is primarily composed of water, from which several major and a few minor continents arise. In the northern hemisphere, the continents of Nivelor (known as the Old Continent or the Old World) and Erideon (known as the Steadfast Continent) arise. The mightiest continent, Vantion, is located above and below the equator. In the southern hemisphere, the continent of Uxalon and...
=== Erideon ===
The continent of Erideon is one of the more mountainous continents. In the valleys and hills between the mountains, humans, halflings, and half-elves form a large series of small countries and states. The largest areas of the Deepfell in the world are located underneath Erideon; the war between surface and subsurface has been a dominating element of the history of the Steadfast Continent. Erideon houses the largest population of Dwarves in the world, to the point that more Dwarves live in that continent than all the other continents combined. For that reason, Erideon is underpinned with Dwarven railways that ease transport throughout. The largest and most powerful surface nation of this continent is Aldia, governed by King Lucian d'Istiniac; in the subsurface, Mzundelft, the Elder Hold, sits at the center of the Dwarven world.
=== Nivelor ===
Nivelor, known along with Uxalon as the Old World, houses many of the oldest cities and civilizations of the world. Its primarily-Elven population was largely wiped out and repatriated by the Draconic Imperium in the Fifth Age. Its countries were dismantled, its cities laid to waste, and its treasures plundered. In the present Sixth Age, many Elf refugees have begun to return to their ravaged continent. The city of Avaras is presently the principal beacon of civilization in Nivelor, populated primarily by a mixture of Star Elves and Wild Elves. In the center of the continent, the Dwarven Hold of Khvund has managed to survive the Draconic onslaught. Despite being small and weak compared to the Dwarven realms of Erideon, it is nonetheless an important presence in the Old World.
=== Uxalon ===
Uxalon, together with Nivelor, forms the Old World. A sprawling continent in the southern hemisphere, Uxalon is dominated by thick, impenetrable jungles and swamps. With its highly tropical climate, Uxalon houses many resouces considered precious by the other inhabitants of the world: spices, sugar, tobacco, and, perhaps most importantly, unimaginable mineral riches. For this reason, many of Erideon and Vantion's powers have begun establishing a presence in Uxalon. The high concentration of newfound wealth has attracted many pirates and scallywags, who battle with the navies of the great powers in order to seize some of the treasure for themselves. Meanwhile, from deep in the jungles of Uxalon, the highly-refined and mysterious native Coldblood civilizations resist these incursions.
=== Vantion ===
Vantion is, by far, the largest and mightiest of the continents. From dense jungles to endless deserts to towering mountains and fertile river valleys, Vantion has it all. Its history of war and conflict continues unabated in the present. Deep in the east, the heroic warriors and champions of the Shinghal Dynasty battles the vampiric, honor-bound daimyo states of the Okashino Shogunate of Ido.
== The Lost Continents ==
=== Aevon ===
In the distant days of yore, Aevon was a southern continent with an incredibly seasonal climate, making consistent long-term habitation of this continent difficult for most. That said, the inhabitants of the Deepfell thrived in this place. Aevon became dominated by Shadow Elves who enslaved many Dwarves. After the continent was invaded by a strange and mysterious aberrant foe, the entire continent was quarantined in an extradimensional plane by the great wizard Astarus the Martyr and his followers.
=== Selion ===
During the third age, Selion became infected by an extradimensional parasitic foe. In order to sequester this threat before it consumed all of Vosel, the continent was quarantined in a separate extradimensional plane by none other than Dalos himself.
== The Planescape ==
The universe is a series of planes, compartmentalized subsections of the universe. In these regions, the laws of space, time, and matter do not necessarily operate as they do in the Material Plane. Each of these discrete regions is known as a plane. There are fifteen major planes, and a host of related subplanes and demiplanes.
These are generally classified three categories: Inner Planes, Outer Planes, and Immaterial Planes. The Inner Planes house the ordinary state of existence; the Outer Planes are repositories of souls (the afterlife, if you will), while the Immaterial Planes are the bridges that link these together.
=== The Inner Planes ===
The Inner Planes are the primary vehicles of existence in the universe: at the center of these is the Material Plane. In these planes, that which moves around, even if it is ethereal, is body and not soul. 
=== The Outer Planes ===
The Outer Planes are repositories of souls, where the spirits of the deceased can find a home until they choose to return to the Material Plane or transcend to the Beyond. Those who live in these realms seldom travel to the Material Plane: if they are slain or destroyed in the material plane, they are consigned forever to an uncertain future, from which there is no return. For those reasons, these individuals most often travel to conduct their business within the Elemental Planes rather than the Material Plane and its subplanes.
=== The Immaterial Planes ===
The Immaterial Planes are planes of transcendence. The Ethereal Plane allows bodily travel through the universe through the weave of magic rather than the realm of spacetime. The Astral Plane allows the travel of souls from the inner planes to the outer planes. The Firmament and the Abyss are not two planes per se, but theoretical constructs as to what may befall certain souls that are either destroyed (The Abyss) or who willingly choose to escape the cycle of rebirth and go instead to that which lies after life (the Firmament).