Name: Shakatrog River
Location: Flowing south from the Yraso Mountains, its headwaters near the Yras Clave and its mouth near Margrim. In the northwest and western regions of Ash-Akul, among the Northern Wastes.
Climate: Cold, from the sluggishly melting ice of the headwaters high in the Yraso Mountains to the sullen swampy delta near the city of Margrim where the river drains its deadly water into the A’el Sea, nowhere is the Shakatrog River far above freezing. But even in the depths of winter, it is never fully frozen. The water level lowers, but it never dries up.
Physical Features: Cloudy with glacial melt and loess, which normally would give water a pale grayish dun hue, instead the river is a dull red, resembling a stream of stale blood. Stained by mineral deposits in the stone if flows over high in the mountains, the water is deadly poison to anything that drinks of it. Near its head, the river churns and snarls violently as it plunges over waterfalls and through narrow chasms, but toward the mouth it subsides and widens into a slow, silent flow of murk.
Flora and Fauna: Nothing lives along the poisoned wastes that hold the bitter flood but the bleaching bones of what few creatures were foolish enough, or desperate enough, to drink. Orc clans find the river and its environs both pleasant and attractive, frequently using it as a path between the Yraso Mountains and Margrim.
Known Dangers: The waters of the river itself are the most prominent danger, although a traveler would be well advised to watch out for orc clans as well.
Ethnicity/Race: Only the orc clans, and accompanying orog and ogres, venture along the course of the river.
Language: Orc, ogre and rough versions of common.
Resources: Poison.
Special Facts: Although the waters of the river are a potent and viable poison, if taken elsewhere they must be kept at extremely low temperatures. Otherwise the poison breaks up and becomes nothing more than dirty water.
Location: Flowing south from the Yraso Mountains, its headwaters near the Yras Clave and its mouth near Margrim. In the northwest and western regions of Ash-Akul, among the Northern Wastes.
Climate: Cold, from the sluggishly melting ice of the headwaters high in the Yraso Mountains to the sullen swampy delta near the city of Margrim where the river drains its deadly water into the A’el Sea, nowhere is the Shakatrog River far above freezing. But even in the depths of winter, it is never fully frozen. The water level lowers, but it never dries up.
Physical Features: Cloudy with glacial melt and loess, which normally would give water a pale grayish dun hue, instead the river is a dull red, resembling a stream of stale blood. Stained by mineral deposits in the stone if flows over high in the mountains, the water is deadly poison to anything that drinks of it. Near its head, the river churns and snarls violently as it plunges over waterfalls and through narrow chasms, but toward the mouth it subsides and widens into a slow, silent flow of murk.
Flora and Fauna: Nothing lives along the poisoned wastes that hold the bitter flood but the bleaching bones of what few creatures were foolish enough, or desperate enough, to drink. Orc clans find the river and its environs both pleasant and attractive, frequently using it as a path between the Yraso Mountains and Margrim.
Known Dangers: The waters of the river itself are the most prominent danger, although a traveler would be well advised to watch out for orc clans as well.
Ethnicity/Race: Only the orc clans, and accompanying orog and ogres, venture along the course of the river.
Language: Orc, ogre and rough versions of common.
Resources: Poison.
Special Facts: Although the waters of the river are a potent and viable poison, if taken elsewhere they must be kept at extremely low temperatures. Otherwise the poison breaks up and becomes nothing more than dirty water.
