Shaar

The Shaar is a stretch of grassy plains and gently rolling hills that measure more than 1,500 miles from east to west, and about 250 miles from north to south.

Location
Its western end touches the very eastern tip of the Shining Sea, and its eastern end butts up against Veldorn, the Land of the Monsters. It's bisected by two significant geographical features, a cliff face called the Landrise and the Great Rift, a gouge in the earth 200 miles long and half that wide.

The area west of the Landrise is generally called the Shaar, and area east to it the Eastern Shaar.

Borders
The northern side of the Shaar is bordered by the Firesteap Mountains, a portion of the Chondalwood, the Uthangol Moutains and the southern border of Mulhorand.

The southern border of the Shaar is made up from the adjoining Channath Vale (a series of woods and mountains along the river Channath), the Forest of Amtar and the Toadsquat Mountains.

Geography
The otherwise featureless plains of the Shaar are dotted with isolated forests and a small collection of hills. Several shallow rivers and streams cross the Shaar, but these waterways tend to become sandy-bottomed gullies during the dry season.

The Shaar receives little rain, so little other than coarse grass, cacti, and thorny bushes grow on the plains. During daytime it's blistering hot, while at nights it grows uncomfortably cold. But geographically and meteorologically, the Shaar is a land of extremes.

Inhabitants
Nomadic human tribes have roamed the Shaar since recorded history began, but little in the way of civilization exists here. From time to time, other powers have assumed authority over certain regions of this grassland, and even built settlements to manage trade, but only the crumbling remnants of their efforts remain.

Aside from humans, also wemics, centaurs, thri-kreen and loxo roam the Shaar, hunting the great herd animals and constantly squabbling over water rights. From time to time, gnolls, perytons, manticores, wyverns and dragons challenge the nomads for supremacy of the area.

Sites of interest
Strewn accross the Shaar lie several geographical sites, worth mentioning here:


 * Azulduth: In the southeastern reaches of Mulhorand lies the Lake of Salt, a shallow, highly sallinated body of water drained by the River of Swords.
 * The Channath Vale: A narrow stretch of land along the southern side of the Shaar, where the River Cannath flows west into the River Talar.
 * Council Hills: A cluster of hills, sitting like an island in a sea of grass, found in the middle of Eastern Shaar.
 * The Great Rift: A wide canyon near the western end of the Eastern Shar, not far from the Landrise, home for the gold dwarves.
 * The Landrise: A steep cliffside marking the border between the Shaar en the Eastern Shaar.
 * Lake Lesphen: A lake not as salty as Azulduth, but still a mineral-laden body of water with salt-crusted shores that is unsuitable for other uses.
 * The Rathgaunt Hills: Wedged between the Lake Lesphen on the west and the Landrise on the east, this rocky crag domminates the southern half of the plain of the Shaar.
 * The Riftwood: This small isolated forest lies just east of the Great Rift and generally north-northwest of Delzimmer.
 * The River Shaar: Originates from the icy-cold Riftlake in the Great Rift, flowing underground in the Deep Realm.
 * The Shaarwood: A dry and dusty forest just north of the River Shaar.
 * The Sharawood: Also called the Darkwood, this forest sits in between Azulduth and the Toadsquat mountains.
 * Uthangol Mountains: A chain of peaks stretching eastwards from the tip of the Chondalwood, forming a barrier between the Shaar in the south and the Black Ash Plains and the Green Lands of Unther in the north.

Cities
Most communities in the Shaar are nothing more than trading centers. Small in size, they are usually dry and dusty, but close to a water source for their survival. Gold Dwarves from the Great Rift have their own cities, some on the surface, most underground, which differ greatly from the trading centers of other races, since the races don't share their ideas readily.

The following cities can be found in the Shaar:
 * Blaskatlar: Actually a rumoured city that once stood in this hot sun-baked area with no written records on it.
 * Delzimmer: A small free-trade city, ruled by four powerful merchant families.
 * Eartheart: A dwarven metropolis, divided into two sections, one inside the walls, the other on the outside.
 * Hammer and anvil: A small tent-city outside the western walls of Eartheart, filled with workshops.
 * Hardcastle: A small town, nothing more than a fortified trading camp.
 * Khôltar: A small city, known as the Iron City because of its unusual iron-covered walls.
 * Lhesper: A ruined town, near the northern tip of Lake Lesphen in the heart of the Shaar.
 * Peleveran: Today nothing more than ruins built into the side of the Landrise.
 * Shaarmid: A large free-trade city, which forms a safe haven for merchants because of its stout walls and formidable defense forces.