Mnar

The most northern land of the western continent, known since the first age as Aparacana, Mnar has long been regarded as the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Imbar, its name is taken from *mnara* which is a word in Faespeak meaning *morning*. Though it is relatively small in size, what it lacks in area it makes up for by being rich in basic resources such as wood, stone, and metal, it also produces the finest crystal available for foci and magical devices. At the outset of the first age the Mnari Alliance, ruled by then High King, Taran Vrail, reorganized into the Empire of Mnar with the Kings of the Alliance bending the knee and swearing fealty to their new emperor who renamed himself Artha Vrail after his thrice great Grandfather Arda who first united the kingdoms.

Mnar's Imperial city is Sarnath, which was renamed in 2a143 in honor of its first king Siarn mab Mannan, is arguably the largest in Imbar, boasting a population of nearly 3 million citizens. The water that flows through the city's center is younger than the city itself, and the river and the resulting lake are named for the elven wife of Siarn, Hali, who after her husband's death wept at his tomb until her tears reached the gates of the city and she died of heartbreak, the Anwar blessed her tomb so that pure water would never cease flowing from it. The Lake formed from the river is one of the greatest sources of wealth for the nation as the blessed water purifies even the sand at the lake's bottom and this is dredged up and melted down into the purest crystal in the world.

## Geography and Physical Features

### Opal Isles

Located northwest of the mainland deep into the veiled sea these islands get their name for the speckled grey rock which is their chief geological feature. The climate here is mostly rainy, though they are far enough from the Veil for the thick freezing mist to not be constantly present, on cold nights it rolls over the isles, encasing them in ice which can be up two two spans thick.

### Northern Coast

The stormy northern coast is mostly cliffs where the foothills of the Anak Mountains plummet to the sea. It is windy and temperate, with mountains of pale grey granite separating it from The Deepwood's thick forests. Water laden air blown in by the strong winds from the sea is forced up by the jagged foothills creating storms that fall back down to the towns and villages of the Northern Coast, as a result there are a lack of very tall structures here with many people building their homes either into the cliffs themselves such as The Perch, where they are sheltered from the high winds, or higher in the mountains above many of the storms.

### The Reach

The Anak mountain range contains some of the tallest peaks in Imbar, with Mt. Rakha, in whose foothills lies Roc's Reach, being the tallest measured from base to peak, though not in height above sea level. The air here is thin and so there's not much weather to speak of and there is only the one fortress as a center of population with the rest of the denizens of the Reach. The lee side drops precipitously into the The Deepwood below and it's foothills form the backbone of the rolling forested hills that comprise the majority of the northern half of Mnar