r/createthisworld • u/BoobooMaster Audoi in DriftMount • Jun 22 '26
[NPC] NPC Claim: Tathini River Valley
Flag/Symbol: With so many petty kingdoms here, there is no unified flag for the region.
Location: North of the Great Isle, encompassing the Tathini River from its source in the mountains to where it empties into the Shivering Sea.
Geography: Hilly, irregular countryside that rises toward the mountains away from the river, flattening into relatively level ground as it nears the water. Forests cover the western regions, particularly the highlands, while the eastern regions are mostly featureless hill-land. The climate is relatively cool, with four distinct seasons and both pleasant summers and winters. Beyond this mild surface climate lies a vast subterranean region that runs beneath the entire valley, and perhaps reaches further still, though this underworld remains largely unexplored.
Biology/Ethnicity: A mix of many different peoples. Representatives of neighbouring nations live here alongside natives, so you can find Audoi, humans, lizard-kin, and flying-people throughout the valley. The valley also harbors its native race, known collectively as the Locust Horde.
The Locust Horde is an insectoid race that lives largely underground. Locusts come in several bioforms, including crawlers, drones, boomers, brooders, and lobbers. A typical locust stands about knee-height to a human, while specialized soldiers and birthers can grow as large as a human or bigger. They are carnivorous, feeding on any living creature, though they seem to favour the flesh of other sentient beings above all else. Individual locusts are mostly mindless, driven by instinct, yet as a race they act with an unmistakable higher intelligence, as if they are following some grand directive. Leader-locusts display more individuality, but this is rudimentary next to other races. Observers suspect there exists an unseen locust form, a hidden brain that somehow directs the rest of the Horde.
History: The Tathini River Valley has never been effectively held by any empire. For as long as its history has been recorded, the region has been mired in unending chaos. Many empires have tried to subdue it, and every one has failed within a few decades, largely thanks to the chaos sown by the Locust Horde.
Every eight years, without fail, when Driftmount passes overhead, the insectoid race grows extraordinarily active. The locusts pour out of every surface access point to attack anything nearby and drag their victims down into the subterranean world. Strangely, much of this onslaught is directed at Driftmount itself. A vast army of locusts takes to the air and ascends toward the island to devastate it, their numbers clouding the sky as they climb. Despite the island's natural barriers, some always manage to land and cause unrest.
Aside from this cyclical culling, the valley suffers the usual squabbles between the petty kingdoms scattered across it, locked in a perpetual cycle of devastation and slow recovery.
Society: Because the valley is home to many petty kingdoms, each has its own form of government. Some are kingdoms, others are city-states ruled by councils, and still others are independent tribes that reject all outside control. But all of them endure the same terrifying culling every eight years, and each has developed its own survival strategy in response. Some abandon their settlements entirely and scatter into the remote wilderness hoping the locusts pass them by, meanwhile others put their resources into fortifying their cities to withstand the siege.
Culture: Every nation's culture is shaped by its environment, but the one unifying thread is an extreme resilience born of surviving the swarm. No matter where you go, that survival-focus is visible in how people live, and it tends to breed self-interested individuals across the many of the valley's nations.
Occurrence of Magic: The instability of the locust swarms has kept formal magical study from taking deep root in the region. Most magic-users migrate elsewhere in search of better conditions, the exception being those in the large fortified cities that can actually survive a locust siege. As a result, what magical study remains is overwhelmingly combat-oriented.
Faded Wonders: The Hollow: a vast subterranean region of unknown extent with its own biome and fauna. Current it covers many parts of Tathini basin. You can go inside and explore it, extract resources. But be careful as its home it Locust Horde.
Imports, Exports & Major Industries: The region produces plenty of agricultural goods, with some limited mining and logging. Its imports are mostly luxuries.
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u/BoobooMaster Audoi in DriftMount Jun 22 '26
u/Sgtwolf01 u/OceansCarraway u/Cereborn