Unnamed Continent (Name TBA)

Drawing of this unnamed continent by tumblr user @thewatchau

The Unnamed Continent is located in the southern hemisphere of the Mortal Realm, to the east of Senfara and Iontassia and west of Vaqone.

## Name Origin

“The Unnamed Continent” is currently a placeholder name and will likely not be the official, canonical name of this land mass. However, the final name may end up bearing some relation to this long-standing placeholder.

## History

Very little has been established about the Unnamed Continent beyond its history in relation to other continents in the Mortal Realm.

At some point prior to the year 1000 on the Duil Calendar, Senfaran nations began to launch trade expeditions to other surrounding continents. When the nations of Iontassia, Senfara, and the Unnamed Continent were officially introduced through these trade ships from Senfara, the results were not always friendly. Senfara was deep in its mercantile age as its nations raced for new resources and territories, prompting several attempts to take over parts of both continents. However, the nations of Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent stood their ground, and after several years, Senfaran nations switched to inviting the nations of Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent into profitable trade relationships instead. This would pull both Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent into Senfara’s power race, prompting a similar push for power among their own nations to keep up.

While both the Waldren Trade Enterprise of Senfaran origin and then later the Iontassian Union from the eponymous continent are both well-known and prominent players in this shared history, no lore has ever spoken about what groups rose to power in the Unnamed Continent during this time, or how else this power struggle affected the continent. It’s likely that it’s ships were somewhat affected by the surge in piracy at the time, although not to the extent that Waldren and the Iontassian Union were.

It should also be noted that, unlike Senfara and Iontassia, only parts of the Unnamed Continent were involved in this power struggle at all. Only the southwestern half of the continent took part in this mercantile era. The northeastern half, divided from the southwest by a large, impassible mountain range, had an entirely different history. All that is currently established about this part of the Unnamed Continent is that it was very isolated and primarily traded with the people groups on the southwestern coast of Vaquone, if anyone.

## Geography

The Unnamed Continent has a mountain range dividing it roughly into a northeastern and southwestern half. These two halves of the continent have very different histories. The southwestern half was engaged with the trade and power struggles taking place in Senfara and Iontassia prior to and during the Waldren Occupation. Meanwhile, the northeastern half was more isolated from that conflict and instead primarily traded with the nations of Vaqone, if anyone.

It’s northern half has a tropical climate due to its location on the equator. It’s southern half is likely to have a similar climate, but slightly milder due to its distance from the equator.

## Culture

Little has been established regarding the culture of the Unnamed Continent. It is likely that the southern half is more influenced by the mercantilist cultures of Senfara and Iontassia, while the north is more isolated.

### Magic

It has been canonically established that the Unnamed Continent has a slightly more magical environment than that of Senfara. While not nearly as magically infused as Tirónar, the peoples of the Unnamed Continent could recognize magic for what it was. Obviously, different people groups in the continent would perceive magic differently.

However, at least one prominent people group (or several people groups) in the southern half of the Unnamed Continent used or spoke of magic enough that it would be used to further nationalist sentiments in Senfaran nations who believed the magic of both Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent was mere superstition.

It’s very likely that there are at least a few Fae Gardens scattered throughout the Unnamed Continent.

One undeveloped idea that I have for the Unnamed Continent is to explore a perspective of magic that is distinct from that seen in Tirónar’s history.

The narrative of magic in Tirónar and, by extension, Senfara, primarily plays into the ideas of “skeptic versus believer,” “good versus evil,” and “nature versus corruption.” Effrens and Fasithe play more heavily into the chaotic neutral way that magic can take over every aspect of a culture.

For the Unnamed Continent, however, I want to explore a more undefined relationship with magic, in which magic is neither fought against nor particularly acknowledged. Magic isn’t seen as “magic” at all, but simply something so subtly incorporated into one’s way of life that most of the time, people don’t even realize it’s there. Most mages would probably have magic that is subconsciously unlocked, and explained as talents or blessings rather than a supernatural force. Some people may even believe that “magic” as they define it isn’t real, not realizing that there are elements within their own society that people in other lands would define as magic in its own right. Whether or not one believes in magic would be less of a charged issue, but more of a philosophical point of discussion.

Of course, this is all very vague and very generalized. As mentioned above, every culture within this large continent would have different perceptions of magic. However, they’d all be located in the same region with it’s low-level magic levels in its environments, so it makes sense that many of these different perceptions of magic would evolve around this more subtle version of magic they experience.