Anai River

The Anai River was a river in the Plain of Horses region of northwestern Kara-Tur. It was the longest river in the region.
==Geography==
With headwaters in the Chigiogi Mountains and Chigidi Mountains, the Anai River meandered southward through the northern Chigidi Mountains. Next, it turned west and flowed through the northern taiga, where it divided into many branches and lakes that watered the woodlands and farms there. The two largest were Lake Gusang in the east and Lake Yetuq in the west, near the Torgny Branch.The text of Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms: Volume I p. 82 makes it clear that the Anai flows south from the mountains and empties into the lakes. However, it describes the branches as tributaries, but these are specifically rivers that flow into a larger river, not out of one. Most likely, these are distributaries, but they also do not ultimately go anywhere either, never reaching a sea but rather simply stopping on the map. Presumably, they join the tundra marshes of the Plain of Horses. Nevertheless, this article adopts the more general "branches", owing to the other issues with the river's geography.
Back in the mountains, however, another branch of the Anai flowed northward, entered the Ama Basin, and was one of the many tributaries of the great Ama River.Many maps depict the Anai as joining the Ama Basin rivers in the north, suggesting it is a tributary of them and implying it should flow in the opposite direction to that described in text, potentially even flowing uphill. The depiction of two small tributaries in the mountains in the Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms map of the Plain of Horses suggest these are the true headwaters and that the river divides and flows north and south at one of them.
While the Anai River was easily navigable by boats in the warm season, it froze over in winter. This forced the use of carriages and sleighs pulled by horses along the ice itself, in order to transport goods and people.
==Trade==
Many of the lakes fed by the Anai produced salt, the color of which varied with the soil in the lakebed. Green salt was most commonly used, while white salt was favored by the wealthy and red salt was thought to be only good for animals. Lake Gusang produced white salt.
==Notable Locations==
In the taiga, the Anai flowed past the Guychiang city of Peqqir.
==Rumors & Legends==
It was thought by some that the Anai River's gajar-un ejin (a local god that watched over the river) controlled the freezing and melting of the winter ice according to his whim. If those traveling the river offended him, he would melt the ice in moments to drop them in the cold water. However, if they were friendly, he might cause the river to freeze over just as quickly to let them go over.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Rivers
Category:Locations in the Ama Basin
Category:Locations in the Chigiogi Mountains
Category:Locations in the Chigidi Mountains
Category:Locations in the Northern Wastes
Category:Locations in the Plain of Horses
Category:Locations in the Hordelands
Category:Locations in Kara-Tur
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Locations