Editing SOTDL: Setting (section)

=Lands of the Salt Coast=
The Salt Coast is divided into six (6) distinct regions: the western forestlands, the central mountain range, the eastern plains, the coast, the archipelago, and the southern waste.

More than 85% of the population live on the coast itself with the remaining 15% scattered throughout the plains, mountains, forest, and isles.

==Clanclave==
The plains between the mountains and the coast as well as the coast itself is known as the Clanclave and is home to the Corsair and their great cities as well as three of the ancient standing stone formations known as the menhir and two of the ruined towers called kir in the forgotten tongue.

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===Menhir=== 
Ancient beyond belief, these great stone megaliths are thought to have been placed for religious or arcane reasons by a forgotten race of giants in the distant past. Each menhir is composed of anywhere from two to five upright stones jutting from the earth and topped with a single lintel stone across the tops of the others.

The individual menhir are named for the predominant carving of a stylistic animal on the lintel stone. All the stones are carved about with illegible runes of unknown origins.

Three of the five menhir stand on lands controlled by the Corsair.


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:'''Hart:''' Hart Menhir is farthest north of all the Menhir and is located on the plains just east of the Hartshorn foothills south of the headwaters of the Ice River.

:'''Bear:''' Bear Menhir lies in the flat valley in the center of the Pass of Shale cutting through the Hartshorn mountains, but despite being located in the Hartshorn, the pass itself is held by the Corsair, and so Bear Menhhir is considered to be theirs.

:'''Fox:''' Fox Menhir Stands in the middle of the Ferrous Wastes in the south. Excepting the coastal cities, no one really lives in the wastes, but the land is claimed by the Corsair.

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===Kir===
Relics of the age of heroes, these ancient towers have no doors or windows visible from the outside (though ancient maps always represent them with open gates), and no one is known to have entered them in the current age. Despite having stood for millennia, the great towers seem untouched by time or war or weather as if they had sprung from the earth with the dawn - newly built.

:'''Kir Tor:''' North of the northernmost Corsair city, Nothreach, Kir Tor clings to the eastmost cliff face of the mountains that overlook the sea of storms.

:'''Kir Ijon:''' Situated in the foothills between Kaaja and Trader Down, Kir Ijon is a traveler's landmark that can be seen for leagues from nearly any direction across the plain.

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===Cities===
Each influential in its own way, the cities of the Salt Coast represent the beating heart of the Corsair.

:'''Adamalash:''' Adamalash is the capital of the Clanlands and the gateway to the rich ores of the ferrous wastes and the shipping of those ores throughout the Salt Coast.

:'''Taura'an:''' Taura'an is a mining town grown into a city. It is surrounded by fishing villages.

:'''Faer:''' Sister city to Taura'an, Faer is also a jumped up metropolis that began life as (and remains) primarily a mining town and subsidizes its existence with a fan of nearby fisherfolk. 

:'''Bar Kesh:''' Easily the largest and most cosmopolitan city on the Salt Coast, Bar Kesh used to house the seat of Corsair government but has grown into the nation's central trade hub.

:'''Kaaja:''' A very old, very small city, Kaaja specifically supports relations between the corsair and the islanders, and fully half the population is made up of expatriates of the archipelago.

:'''Trader Down:''' Where Bar Kesh is the central hub of trade between the corsair and the wider world, the twin cities of Trader Down, straddling the mouth of the Salt river where it spills into Salt harbour, facilitates (and taxes) trade between the Hartshorn and the Archipelago. The Down houses the primary shipyards of the Corsair.

:'''The Citadel:''' As large as Adamalash, the Citadel is home to the Red Adept, the warrior priests of the Corsair. Though not connected with the secular government, edicts from the Adepts are treated as law.

:'''Northreach:''' This fortress city exists for the sole purpose of standing between the Clanlands and a strategic incursion by the Druidan through the Pass of Jade.

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==Hartshorn==
The mountains and the great swath of forest to the west are collectively known as the Hartshorn. There are no cities in the Hartshorn, just small communities huddled far from one another and the two great mead halls of the thanes of the Druidan as well as key fortified villages in the north and the south. 

One of the five menhir and one of the three kir lies within the bounds of the Hatshorn. 

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===Menhir=== 
Only one menhir stands uncontested on land controlled by the Druidan.

:'''Wolf:''' Wolf Menhir stands to the west of the southernmost arm of the Hatrshorn mountain range, surrounded on three sides by foothills in a deep protected valley that opens into the great forest south of Kir Lan and Grimdane vale.

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===Kir===
One Kir stands within the borders of the Hartshorn.

:'''Kir Lan:''' High on the slopes of the western foothills, Kir Lan is forever shrouded in mist and invisible from afar most days, but in the night it glows an evil hazy green in the distance (though up close it only appears to be bathed in clean moonlight - whether the moon shines in the sky or not).

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===Halls===
Two Thanes, brother and sister, rule the Druidan of the Hartshorn from their mead halls deep in the central Hartshorn forest

:'''Deepwood:''' Deepwood Hall stands on a high promontory between two rushing rivers in the heart of the great forest.

:'''Harthome:''' Harthome Hall is built into the living trunks of the great trees unique to this part of the forest. Bridges span between structures high above the forest floor, and strategic lifts link the treetop hall to the ground below.

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===Fortified Villages===
While the halls of the thanes stand in strategic defense against the most obvious point of ingress for invading armies, far to the north and the south, in the western foothills of the Hartshorn, stand a pair of fortified Druidan villages against possible Corsair aggression from the east.

:'''Grimdane Vale:''' In the shadow of Kir Lan, Grimdane Vale is essentially a penal colony of criminals and ne'er-do-wells who have taken up the task of first line defenders rather than face harsher consequences for their wrongs.

:'''Pass of Jade:''' The Pass of Jade is defended by the Bastard Thane and her loyal followers. Half sister to the true thanes, she has earned her title with both pride and honor and is widely considered the most dangerous individual in all the Hartshorn.

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==Inner Isles==
The Inner Isles is a small archipelago very near to the salt coast. Many barely habitable rocks jut from the sea within the confines of the main body of islands, but five major isles are large enough with fertile land, fresh water, and resources to sustain life year 'round.

:'''Rift:''' The northernmost and second smallest of the five, Rift is a craggy place with little more than hardy scrub grasses to recommend it. The primary occupants are goat herders and their herds.

:'''Rune:''' Like Rift, Rune is extremely craggy and rocky, but it has better vegetation and great plateaus where larger cattle can be raised and farming done. There is some evidence that Giants once inhabited Rune.

:'''Horne:''' The bulk of Horne is taken up by a dormant volcano that itself is draped in dense jungle. The Osprey Menhir stands in the heart of the empty crater.

:'''Ka:''' Ka has the honor of being the smallest of the five. As on all the isles, fisher villages surround the island's beaches and coves, but inland is the largest tanning and dying operation anywhere in the salt coast.

:'''Ja'an:''' idyllic and tropical, Ja'an is lush with fruit trees and fibrous vegitation that can be harvested for rope and nets.

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===Menhir===
:'''Osprey:''' This menhir stands directly in the center of the crater of a dormant volcano at the heart of Horne isle.

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===Settlements===
:'''Whitecove:''' A major fishing village and seaport on the east coast of Rune.

:'''Channel:''' A major fishing village and seaport on the west coast of Rune.

:'''Climbtown:''' A base camp turned town halfway up Horne's Volcano for the purpose of climbing to the summit and descending to study the Osprey menhir.

:'''Lack:''' A string of fishing villages on the southern coast of Ja'an that is now a leper colony.

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