unofficial lore Aquellian Geography: The Megiddo Basin

[Dio]

 

Megiddo

The Crucible of Aquilos

 

The Aquellian border with the Badlands of the north is not often traveled, being exceedingly remote due to a combination of distance and terrain.  As a result, very little foot traffic passes through the area, the remainder being travel between the isolated villages that make up the northern border’s scant population.

 

The Megiddo Basin is a geologically diverse region on the Aquellian side of the northern border.  In this unforgiving land of high wilderness and unbroken nature, a large basin has been carved out of the land as if by a massive hammer stroke.  The terrain is alien, with a mishmash of sandy high desert, massive swaths of taiga evergreen forest, and rocky, desolate ravines devoid of plant life.

 

Magic has gone haywire in the area of the Basin.  Islands of terrain float suspended on currents of turbulent ley energy.  Strange crystals sprout from parts of the land, twisting vegetation around them with the effusions of chaotic magic.  Periodic storms of unnatural intensity roll through the area, only to vanish into thin air, leaving a cloudless, clear sky in their wake.

 

The Megiddo Basin’s shape and extremes of terrain have given it the nickname “The Crucible of Aquilos.”  Megiddo once played an important role in ancient griffon society.  The ancient pre-Aquellian clans used Megiddo as the setting for rite of passage ceremonies for young warriors and hunters.  Only the strongest and most clever could survive in the harsh climes of the Crucible.

 

Modern griffons regard Megiddo as a scientific oddity, the possible site of a massive meteorite impact in the distant past that rended the very ley lines that run throughout the Equestrian continent.  Exploration and proper cartography have thus far been slow due to the inherent danger of the terrain, but those who are brave or foolhardy enough to venture into the Crucible may yet unlock its secrets.