Western Tangles Territories
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Western Tangles

The Western Tangles are the westernmost ends of the Nova Scotian peninsula, consisting of coastline and some of inland forest. Much of the coast here is particularly cool and wet; as the Atlantic Ocean meets the Bay of Fundy, the area is subjected to some of the harsher tides and weather the cold waters can muster. Fog covers the coastline frequently, snaking far inland to serenely cling to the drier inland wilderness. Evidence of humanity can be found far to the south in the towns of Yarmouth and Barrington and on some of the islands dotting the coastline.


Statistics
  • Climate: The southerly parts of Nova Scotia jut out into the ocean, surrounded by the bay and Atlantic. While the southern climate may not match the north for its cold winter, the south can boast the thickest and most persistent fog.
  • Geography: The Western Tangles region is dominated by low, large hills and the basin containing Serena Reserve's inland forests. There are numerous rivers and small streams throughout this territory. Perhaps most interesting is the southernmost shoreline, with its numerous harbors, bays, and islands.
  • Demographics: Many areas of this region show some evidence of human occupation, primarily small villages and sprawling farms.
  • Prey: Abundant -- the vast swaths of inland forests, untouched even before humanity's destruction, provide extensive land for all manner of prey animals.
  • Fauna: Elk are the dominant species, though they do not frequent the coasts. Peregrine Falcon and the Osprey as well as various species of cranes, plovers, and sandpipers are among the shorebirds found in this region. Horses can be found on Cheval Island and, rarely, along the mainland coast close to the island.
  • Flora: The Northern Bayberry finds even the rocky and unforgiving soil of the coast suitable; Sweetfern and invasive Fennel prefer inland forest. Eastern Hemlock, Black Spruce, White Pine, and American Elm are the dominant tree species.



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#2
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The Trenches


The Trenches are a rather bland area of rolling, rocky hills. The land is covered in sharp ridges and indentations both, evidence of glacial activity in the area long ago. Rivers and small lakes, none of which are large enough to warrant naming, dot the land here, draining from the forests of Ethereal Eclipse to flow out into the sea. The coastline itself is dotted with the sandur plains of long-melted glaciers as well as the flattened deltas of some of these tiny streams. Rural fishing villages, falling to varied states of decay, dot the coastline here, but much of the inland area seems rather untouched, as if man had never settled there to begin with. To the south of the territory, the rolling hills plains drop abruptly where land meets rock, and eventually, the rock gives way to the Gulf of Maine and the Atlantic Ocean. The rocky face of Southern Nova Scotia is appropriately nicknamed 'The Trenches.'



Blackmoor Castle


Nestled into the cliffs bordering the Atlantic Ocean sits a wonder beyond belief: Blackmoor Castle. Hundreds of years ago in medieval times, a Scottish Lord arrived onto these barren shores and had the castle built with actual black stones from his native country. This was to be a wedding gift to his intended bride. High walls surround the castle along with a draw bridge and moat. It is said that his bride-to-be never made it there, but the grief stricken Lord still wanders the halls and keeps the castle intact, sill waiting. Much of the castle was converted for tourism purposes, and many of the "artifacts" within are fakes -- nevertheless, the castle itself is a wonder to behold.



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Serena Reserve


During the time of humans, a small pack of wolves and numerous elk were relocated to this preserve. The wolves didn't exactly flourish and died out fairly early. They say you can hear the ghosts of these wolves still mourning over each of their pack mates' deaths. Wapiti roam freely here in overwhelming numbers, held in by barbed wire fences that have prohibited many usual predators from reaching the wapiti herds. Now, however, parts of the fence have started to fall, holes sliced into its formerly impassable metal links. The spacious reserve has many spots where forest take over the open fields, containing a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, all fairly sparse and easy to navigate.



Grandfather's Tears


In the south-west portion of the Serena Reserve, hidden in the trees of one of the most dense forests in the area, is a collection of four springs: Grandfather's Tears. They are sporadically placed and do not form any shape, and are all connected. They feed a strong river that courses through the reserve and rushes out to the ocean. These springs were said to have been put here by the elder of the wolf pack's tears to give the wolves one last chance at survival, and they were said to be cursed when the winter claimed the whole pack. In the winter, the ice on these springs is a mysterious deep indigo and prey animals that wander near them seem to be found dead in the surrounding area not long afterward, with absolutely no explanation.



Mersey Lagoon


Named after a river which runs nearby, the Mersey Lagoon is a former meadow-turned-floodplain that barely retains water during the wetter spring and summer seasons. During the spring and summer and into early autumn months, the area is a muddy, murky pondlike swamp chock full of sinkholes, occasionally completely flooded by overflow from the adjacent Mersey River. However, in the late fall and the entirety of winter, it is a frozen wasteland complete with icy pools where the sinkholes were once before. But despite its unappealing appearance, game in the form of deer and grouse frequently navigate its soft grounds, and one can procure a meal easily within the Mersey Lagoon area.



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Beast's Grin Peninsula


Just to the west of Ethereal Eclipse stretches a pair of thin peninsulas dotted with shallow pools from the ocean. The peninsulas are greatly reduced in size during high tide, but during the low tide it's a place prosperous in crustacean and other forms of ocean life. Rocks dot each of the tide pools, sometimes trapping ample meals from escaping back out to sea with the low tide. In the night, the tidepools turn into dangerous obstacles over which one could easily twist their ankle which, along with the shape of the peninsulas, helped to earn its eerie name. Near the Ethereal Eclipse territory, grassy knolls break the coastal area from the inland forest.



Clements Park


Clements Park was a planned construction in a rather desolate area of Nova Scotia. Far from the population centers of Halifax and other larger towns, the park was intended to be an amusement area and zoo. It began construction in early 1988 amid heavy controversy, and it remained unfinished upon the demise of humanity. Now, the skeletal structures of half-finished amusement rides stand between containment areas for the animals. All of Clements Park stands in haphazard disarray, though the introduction of wild plants for the planned preserve now allows for an interesting variety of flora within Clements Park.



Wolf's Peak


The low and rolling hills of the southern mountains begin in the Trenches and wrap around the Serena Reserve lowlands. Along the coast of the Beast's Grin Peninsula, the mountains again rise from the earth, though here they are rounded, low-leaning peaks. The sharpest of these hills is Wolf's Peak, a menacing, long ridge of land. Wolf's Peak is an extremely large drumlin, elongated hills shaped by glaciers. The highest elevations of the peak are thickly forested, with a clear treeline providing the perimeter of Ethereal Eclipse. The downward slopes and beaches below the ridge are rocky and dotted with tidal pools, shaped by the strong tides in the Bay of Fundy.



Des Rêveurs


Des Rêveurs was a large luxury cruise liner at one time during humanity's reign over the earth. After one particularly bruising and battering hurricane, the ship's owners beached it and reopened the former liner as a tour stop. The cruiseliner was stationed near a small cove, the interior kept in pristine condition for the tourists. From the outside it looks like any other old fading piece of history -- rust dots the exterior, chewing through the once-magnificent coat of white paint. Within the ship's hull, however, there still exists something magical and breathtaking, despite the wear apparent on the wonderful world of Des Rêveurs: The Dreamer.



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#5
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Yarmouth and Barrington


On the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia lies Yarmouth, once a major fishing port and the largest lobster fishing area in the world. Now, the port is a rustic ghost town and the peaceful coast is home to a graveyard of sunken ships, their rotting skeletons still jutting up from the depths of the sea. The town itself retains much of its historic charm though many tourist shops and seafood restaurants are starting to fall apart and rot from lack of upkeep and the forests of Serena Reserve to the north have begun to creep among the houses, reclaiming some of the land lost to humanity.

Barrington itself was a smaller community compared to Yarmouth and appears more easygoing and rural. Absent are the hundreds of drifting and sunken fishing boats and trendy tourist locations. Instead, the sloping hills and seaside cliffs are dotted with dozens of charming cottages and lighthouses. The waters around both towns are still heavily populated with lobsters year-round, with a peak season between July and October -- predators willing to put forth the effort for the delicacy can be rewarded with hundreds of pounds worth of shellfish.



Highway 103


A stretch of untamed paradise runs parallel to the coast, where scattered forest and lush green fields border sandy beaches hide a deep scar. Though the flora has grown over the dirtroads, Highway 103 was asphalt. Its cracked ghost still slices through the otherwise pristine wilderness, providing an easy, straight path between Yarmouth and Barrington. Four lanes are sparsely populated with the skeletons of decaying cars; weeds and hardy grasses forth from the cracks and crevices in the road. Overgrowth hangs thickly over both sides of the highway and dapples the highway with shadow.



Vapor Sound


Where a wide, marshy peninsula juts into the Atlantic Ocean, some of the foggiest Nova Scotian days are beheld. Vapor Sound, aptly named, is almost always draped in a thick layer of fog; this area has more days of hazy weather than anywhere else in the province. The peninsula itself is flat, consisting primarily of marshland and bogs. The trees are low and gnarled, arranged in sparse thickets; tangled and particularly thorny bushes comprise the underbrush of this territory. Vapor Sound is surrounded by water on three sides, and though Cape Sable Island lurks just off the coast, one can rarely see its shores for the haze.



Spear Headlands


The Spear Headlands are just north of Yarmouth. Here, the rocky shore juts proudly above the ocean. Rocky promontories, covered with hardy sea mosses, make up the majority of the shoreline in this coast. A tiny fishing village of ten or eleven homes nestles beside the sharpest cliff, its lighthouse dark for many decades. Perhaps the area's most unique feature is its abundance of marine life. Dolphins and whales frequent the waters, while the rocky beaches are frequently covered with thousands of barking seals. The abundance of such creatures is likely due to the high populations of lobster -- even a determined Luperci might be able to snag some of the crustaceans.



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#6
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Fellmoor Swamp


Fellmoor Swamp wasn't always a swamp -- formerly a fertile marshland with many streams and small lakes, human levies protected the area from becoming completely sodden. However, after the humans' demise, the neglected levies on the coast near Yarmouth eroded and fell apart, unleashing brutal floods that would stay in the area for months at a time, eventually giving rise to the swamps of today. For miles in the south and southwestern portions of the territory, the mud is thick and deep, and normal vegetation is sparse and unhealthy. A variety of birds still populate the area, but there generally isn't food for animals like rabbits and squirrels. Nevertheless, large prey animals such as moose and caribou may wander in seasonally.



The Ashlands


Further north, and further away from the flood area, the vegetation begins to thicken only to suddenly hit an area of blackened ashes. The forests in The Ashlands are burned out piles of charcoal, the ash which should be nourishing future plant-life poisoning the very soil. It doesn't take much investigation to find the source of the problem: crashed and ripped asunder along the coast are no fewer than three oil-tankers, all with Arabic script painted in fading red along their hulls. One of them also has a large hazardous-materials warning. Clearly, years and years ago, something went very wrong here. Still, in recent years, the toxicity of the soil has begun to recede, the first hardy plants are emerging, and the air no longer poises danger to those who stray too far in.



The Oasis


Even further north, but still within the boundaries of the Ashlands, there is a perfectly shaped hill-and-basin area that has managed to escape much of the tragedy of its surroundings. The Oasis has several clean-water ponds, flourishing fauna, and is naturally sheltered from harsh weather. There is still some evidence of the fire's work -- some of the flora is stunted and small, and there are few prey animals compared with the pristine forests found far north of the Oasis. Nevertheless, the area provides a lush green respite from the gray dull of the surrounding demesne.



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