Borderlands
From The World of Shannara
The Borderlands is the northern area of the Southland that border on all the rest of the Four Lands. It is at the center of the Four Lands and encompasses Callahorn and Paranor.
Contents |
Overview
The Borderlands are the lands that sit in the cross roads of the Four Lands. They are the lands that really belong to none of the other lands nor the other Races. Many of the other Races use the Borderlands, with some of the Race of Man using the southern end of the the Borderlands in the greatest numbers. These areas include:
- Callahorn
- Paranor and the Dragon's Teeth
- The Plains
Callahorn
Tyrsis
The capital of Callahorn, Tyrsis is a fortress-city. It has never been fallen to any invading army, although it's walls were breached once by the armies of the Warlock Lord due to treachery.
Tyrsis also became the home of the Sword of Shannara following the War of the Warlock Lord.
Varfleet
During the time of the Second War of the Races, Varfleet was just a small town. It was completely razed to the ground and everyone found was killed by the invading Northland army. Buildings were burned, people were killed, and animals slaughtered. After the war, the town was rebuilt.
Kern
The town of Kern is situated on an island in the Mermidon River. Kinson Ravenlock and his wife Mareth settled the wooded island first, after the Second War of the Races. They farmed, then built a trading center and opened a supply route along the river. Other people from the Borderlands moved to join them on the island, and soon there was a thriving community. This community became the town of Kern.
Mermiddon River
Paranor and the Dragon's Teeth
Paranor
Main article: Paranor
Dragon's Teeth Mountains
The Dragon's Teeth Mountains surround most of the region around Paranor, largely to the east, west, and south. It shoots up like a protective wall, rugged and uncrossable in most directions.[1]
Kennon Pass
Kennon Pass is the only passage through the Dragon's Teeth Mountains heading south to Callahorn.
Valley of Shale
The Valley of Shale lies two days travel from the walls of Paranor within the foothills fronting the Dragon's Teeth Mountains. Since most of the Dragon's Teeth region is uncrossable and impassable, the only way to the Valley of Shale is through Kennon Pass. The Pass leads to a trail that skirts the southern edge of the Dragon's Teeth. Beyond the foothills the trail narrows, becoming rugged with broken rock and clusters of boulders. Thousands of years ago these boulders and rocks were part of the core of a mountain that once may have stood where the Valley of Shale now is.[1]
The Valley of Shale itself is a broad shallow bowl littered with crushed obsidian on its sides and floor, black and glistening. These crushed shards of glistening, razor-edged shale is what give the valley its name.[2] At the center of the bowl is the Hadeshorn. Within the Valley it is always still and lifeless, void of any sound, an oppressive silence. The crushed rock in the valley tends to be slippery and loose, with the edges sharp enough to cut. [3]
Hadeshorn
The Hadeshorn sites at the center of the bowl of the Valley of Shale. It is a broad, opaque and strangely still. It's flat surface glimmers with some inner radiance as if something pulses within its depths. So still and flat, that it is like glass and reflects the image of the night sky.[3]
Hall of Kings
The Plains
There are a few series of plains in the Borderlands.
Streleheim Plains
The Streleheim Plains lie to the northern and western end of the Borderlands. It makes a great sweep north of the Mermidon River, sweeping around Paranor and the Dragons Teeth Mountains to head due east to the Charnal Mountains. The Streleheim borders the Northland on the north the River Lehe being the boundary. To the east the Streleheim abutts the Charnal Mountains and the Dragons Teeth, with Jannisson Pass moving between them. To the south lie Paranor and the great forests surrounding it. In the west, the Streleheim wraps south around the northern reaches of the Dragon's Teeth Mountains on its east side, the Valley of Rhenn on the west, and the Mermidon River on its south border.
The Streleheim is not very populated, with only small houses and tiny villages and hamlets spotting it only here and there. None of the Races populate it in any significant numbers. It is used by most of the races for travel and trade being relatively flat and easy travel.
During the time of the Races, the Streleheim has been the seen of a number of major battles both during the Second War of the Races and the War of the Warlock Lord. In the Second War, it was the scene of the final battle, where the Elven King was able to vanquish the Warlock Lord.
Rabb Plains
The Rabb Plains run north to south on the western border of the Eastland. The Rabb has its borders as follows, the Charnal Mountains and Jannisson Pass to the north, the whole of the Eastland to the east, with the Wolfsktaag Mountains taking up most of that, the Silver River to the south, and the Rabb River to the separating it from the Dragon's Teeth and Runne Mountains.
The Rabb Plains, like the Streleheim, are not the home to any significant number of people of any Race. It is used for travel and trade, largely with a small smattering of homes and hamlets spread throughout it, primarily by Men, Dwarves and Gnomes. The only village of any significant size being the village of Storlock.
Through travel on the whole Rabb Plains the Dragon's Teeth Mountains are clearly visible. The Plains are completely flat, devoid of any noticable natural obstructions. The only thing that grows on the plains are little scrub trees and scrub brush. The ground of the Plains is compromised of hard packed earth, so dry in parts that is split apart jagged crevices covering some distance.[4]
Storlock
Storlock is a small village on the northeastern end of the Rabb Plains on the way to the mouth the Pass of Jade. It is home to a small group of Gnomes who are renown the world over for their healing skills.
Rabb River
The Rabb River does not find it origin in the Borderlands or the Rabb River, but it flows a great length here coming out of the Upper Anar moving to the western end of the Rabb Plains to the base of the Dragon's Teeth and then flowing south along that mountain range till it connects with the Mermidon till together they flow into the Rainbow Lake.
References
- ^ 1.0 1.1 Brooks, Terry and Patterson, Teresa (2001). The World of Shannara pp. 37
- ^ Brooks, Terry and Patterson, Teresa (2001). The World of Shannara pp. 38
- ^ 3.0 3.1 Brooks, Terry (1996). First King of Shannara pp. 63
- ^ Brooks, Terry (1977). The Sword of Shannara pp. 239-240
