Arophania

Arophania [æɹə'feɪniə] (Arithide Araphein /'arəfi:n/, Dethric Arophan /'arəfa:n/) is one of five continents of Ilethes, in the south of the planet. It is the location of one of the three traditional cradles of civilisation, and home to one of the greatest civilisations, the Areth. Arophania constitutes approximately 13% of the total land area of Ilethes, and accounts for almost 24% of its population.

Note on transliteration in this article: This article makes use of more than one transliteration scheme for toponyms due to historical factors. While modern political names employ the respective transliteration schemes of the local languages concerned scheme, geographical features known to the Classical world are transliterated by the Vesian system. This is not nonstandard text, substandard work or ignorance on the part of the article's author.

Cartography

Physical map of Arophania with relief and drainage shown.

Arophania is usually depicted, in the Gathenic depiction, at the bottom of maps towards the middle, south of Marcasia but with Eresphria and Canthres on the west, and Istheusia on the east; i.e. the map is centred on Marcasia. For this reason the southern areas of the continent are exaggerated and overrepresented due to distortion in the equatorially-oriented projection.

Definition and boundaries

Besides the mainland, offshore islands belonging to the Arophanian continental shelf are also considered to be part of Arophania. While this definition presents little problem concerning the Tumides and Sissemen islands, the Ingas archipelago rightly belongs on the Marcasian continental shelf save a few islands, but are culturally closer tied to Arophania. In the same way, the Hibondassian archipelago sits on the Arophanian plate, but are considered geopolitically and culturally part of Istheusia.

Geology

The rock and soil of Arophania is rich in ferromagnesian compounds, which besides constituting excellent ground for cultivation, also gave rise to a well-developed mining industry in Arithia. Due to the rock composition, volcanoes in Arophania erupt the more fluid basaltic lava, which spreads rapidly across larger areas before cooling and solidifying to form fertile lava plateaus, such as the Nimaean plain.

Land and climate

West Arophanian Plain

Main article: West Arophanian plain

Alerryagi and the Eastern Seaboard

Main article: Alerryagi

Main article: Hallaryagi

Main article: Eastern Seaboard

Main article: Nimaean plain

Sissemen and Tumides archipelagos

Main article: Sissemen archipelago

Main article: Tumides archipelago

Territories and regions

The single most prominent political entity on Arophania is the republic of Arithia, whose Arophanian portion (known as Cadaeria) occupies the eastern half of the continent as well as parts of the West Arophanian Plain, lying across the Alerryagi.

Historical regions

Owing to the long human presence on Arophania, the continent has been divided and redivided a great many times over by various peoples, rulers and states. As such, the borders of most historical regions have been obfuscated by time and confusion. The following is a list of the more prominent of them:

• Calagia, a coastal region on the northeastern coast and the traditional heartland and core of Areth civilisation; the region encompasses in totality
  • Lazeia, the rough historical extent of the early Areth kingdom centred around the historical city of Lazea, excluding its Marcasian possessions.
  • Gambria, the area of an eponymous early Areth kingdom rival to Lazea.
• Nimaea, in the southeast of the continent, the location of the Nimaean plains and the source of the Theph and Nes rivers.
• Ajatia, an especially fertile crescent in the West Arophanian Plain, of great strategic importance in olden times due to its location at the crossroads of many major transport routes, and consequently the site of many terrible and bloody battles.

Water

Oceans, seas & straits

The continent of Arophania is bounded on the north by the Chisthian Sea, which separates it from Marcasia, channeling into the Issol A'i eastwards (meeting the Ingas archipelago midway) and opening up into the Denurean Sea westwards. East of Arophania lies the Auzirean Sea, and also the Issol Ardem that separates the Sissemen archipelago from the mainland. On the south Arophania meets the Thorfu, and beyond the Issol Nau lies the Tumides archipelago. The As am Iraph, or, misleadingly, the Eastern Ocean (see article on the origin of the English name), lies to the west of Arophania.

Rivers & lakes

Whereas the west of Arophania is an immensely fertile plain and the east is considerably more mountainous, the east is richer in rivers and lakes than the west, boasting of the prominent Theph and Nes rivers that both source from the meltwater of the snow-capped Alerryagi and empty into the Chisthian, and the Varant river flowing west to east and emptying into the Auzirean. Crisscrossing the rest of the Eastern Seaboard are various tributaries of the three such as the Eithan, the Dobrae and the Loda, the latter of which begins life in Lake Charia, the highest and consequently most remote, pristine and scenic of the Barrier Lakes, of which other major members include the lakes Rist, Everodes, Augars and Dumache. The West Arophanian Plain, on the other hand, counts just the Caine, Sami and the Tamos rivers (all of which originate in the Hallaryagi) among its notables, and contains just one lake (albeit of considerable size), Lake Tago.

Ethnography

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