Terrain Before Settlements

Week 2 of the challenge goes through several steps. They are not presented in any particular order, just a series of bullet points and so I decided that the next step I would do, after placing the central settlement, was this...

Settlements form around features and so the map needed features. I didn't want to get too full on the map just yet but I also decided to go beyond the single feature the challenge asks you to make. This would establish the world a little bit more and allow greater interest in where the settlements would later be placed. Below, I will put some notes on the four terrain features I placed and named.

1. 
   The Silver Spires. Said to be great towers that crashed to the ground during The Fall, the Silver Spires is a strange place that glitters in the sun. The sand here is full of metallic particles and bits of strange metal that the people of Have and others in the wastes find useful and valuable. The spires themselves are in varying states of ruin and the entire area is dangerous to to traverse. Strange, horrific creatures crawl among the spires and it is said that the ghosts of the past can be seen wandering the silver sands.
2. The Quickend Swamp. Here the land sinks, not into gashes in the earth like those that surround Haven but in a more shallow bowl shaped manner. Teaming with strange and deadly creature and plants, the swamp is an unforgiving place that, as its name suggests, will bring a quick end to your life. While a great deal of water gathers here, it is also poisonous and unfit to drink by most folk.
3. The Rift. Haven is not the only place where the world has cracked and opened from The Fall. Deep below, within the canyons of the rift grow otherworldly plants and animals. The air here is poisonous but seldom kills directly. Instead, those that visit this place speak of visions and a feeling lost and disoriented.
4. Woewood. To the northwest lies Woewood. A seemingly endless forest of tress that spew poison and air that can can kill, this strange forest grow in place of a once verdant wood after The Fall. The plants and trees of the original forest are thought to have adapted to the poisonous world by collecting, isolating and expelling the toxics. Woewood and other forests like it are thought to be to blame for the poison winds that sweep across the world. 

These four terrain features form a good start and provide a number of places where adventures can take place in the world. They also set up some of the primary threats and tensions of the world from the ever-present environmental threat of environmental hazards like poisoned air and water to strange creatures, there is plenty enough in these four and to expand based on them.

In future installments we'll cover settlements and mysteries.

Hope to hear your comments and feedback,

-Eli