Pasgaviati

The large island of Pasgaviati is to the northwest of Yne, right on the edge of Echmer territory in the middle of the Bitter Sea. It was officially discovered in 1E 738 by Echmer explorers, but they were driven away by the horrifying amount of Peine beasts that called the island home. During the Merethic Era the island seemed to be a major holding of the Ynesleaic Men, with their ancient temples and ruins being found here in abundance. It is believed that the island was much more temperate in those times as well, for the Ynesleaic Men built their buildings out of the carapaces of now extinct giant insects that were hardened to withstand the test of time.

Eventually the Ynesleaic Men went extinct and the Peine soon came to claim the island as a breeding ground. Some scholars believe that the men were wiped out by these migrations, which happened at a pace so slow that the men didn’t even realize their the island was being overrun with by monsters. For the next few centuries it would remain abandoned, allowing the monster population to grow well into the thousands.

When Echmer explorers discovered the island in 1E 738 they were driven off by the Peine, unable to truly study the ruins on the island safely. Magus-Premier Aarōn destroyed the entire Peine population on the island when he came to establish his magic academy of Mustikos’arcere in 1E 1045. Since then the island has remained mostly isolated, although Nekros the Lord of the Rotting Darkness waged war with the Elemental Sodality on it in 2E 261. In the Third Era the island was transformed into a Legionary outpost during Uriel V’s invasion of Akavir, but was abandoned after Yneslea seceded from the Empire in the Fourth Era.

Because of its location so far north the climate of Pasgaviati is similar to the clime of the Hae’macrin Mountain Range on Yne. The northern area of the island is a tundra called the Verglas Lowlands, which is dotted with sparse vegetation and home to caves that were once inhabited by Peine before Aarōn Peine-Killer came and eradicated the creatures permanently from the island. Since then the caves have become dens for other creatures that were once hunted by the Peine, like snow bears. Ynesleaic Men ruins are all over the place in this region, joining themselves in elaborate ways with the ice and rock before becoming fewer in number as one goes farther north.

Separating the north and south regions are the Black Mountains, named so due to their abundance of a rare black jewel the Echmer use sometimes while making jewelry. In ancient times the Black Mountains were once active volcanoes, now dormant for more than a few millennia. Long-since dried out foyadas have become filled with frozen water, resulting in long-stretches of “ice-rivers” that weave throughout the landscape.

The south of the island gives away to a slightly more temperate region known as the Fro’sai Highlands, which is also considered the most hospitable region. Trees and other vegetation are in abundance here, resulting in much more wildlife. Most Echmer villages, along with the magical academy of Mustikos’arcere, can be found here.