Gaia’s Navel is a large canyon starting at the edge of Jeutontic and heading west past the Whitewood Forest. The crevasse widens to an astonishing ten miles at the mid-point. The canyon is unique as no river or glacier was involved in its formation. Examinations and divinations have revealed nothing, leading to the name Gaia’s Navel as the only possible expansion for the large cleft in the middle of the Earth. At the eastern end of the Navel is a staircase composed of large stairs made from the glowing stone, lumite. The steps can be seen in the canyon from as far as ten miles away at Gaia’s First Wrinkle. After that Gaia’s Navel turns and the steps go out of sight.
The canyon walls are spotted by many connections to the Underdark. These tunnels allow access for monsters of the deep to hunt on the surface. The cave entrances also provide drainage for the rain water that falls and flows into the Gaia’s Navel. The same water that feeds life within the canyon quenches the thirst of a million mouths below the ground.
Proximity to the Underdark allows trade between Jeutontic and the under civilizations as well as conflict. Like many adversarial states that share a border, the most common contact is trade, but violence often has a higher emphasis in the history books. Jeutontic was first defended from the raids of Dark Elf King Croshan by Condrofalspeth and his aerial cavalry. The aerials were pegasi, hippogriffs, and griffons captured from the Terror Mountains and resettled in the upper caves of Gaia’s Navel. They protect the city when it comes under attack while also providing transport for Jeutontic’s trade network between Cimmeria and Persia.
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