30 Days of World-Building (Second Edition) - Day 4 - Cataclysms

Exercise 4 - For 15 minutes, jot down some of the Really Big Land Features you want in your story and think "what if that were made by..." Write down a couple of causes for those features and scars. Which scars are slow-force scars (plate tectonics), and which are fast-forces (anything that takes less than 10,000 years is medium-to-fast in geological scales).

The Northern Mountains - Existed as long as people have lived in the region, dark and imposing, myths and rumors speak of blood harvesters who prey upon unsuspecting travelers, cries of help to those in power often go unheard; most of them have stock in the blood trade anyway . . . 

Plains-Scar - Efforts were undertaken here to obtain precious metals and materials from deep underground. Previous attempts would have been rendered obsolete, but new technology allowed for faster excavation techniques. While the excavation proved successful (and gave rise to many of the technologies seen in the cities), it left a vicious scar across the plans, miles wide and thousands of feet across four extremely deep crevasses. Ways exist to climb down into the scars, but few venture down there, for rumors of dark creatures and blood harvesters who prey on the weak scare off most would-be intruders . . . 

River of Blood - It doesn't take long to learn of the fatalistic nature of this particular river. The entirety of the river is tinted with a coppery-red color. This is due to the mixture of sediments that form and coagulate farther up the river. In addition to it's off-putting appearance, the sediments combine to form a fatal poison - anybody who ingests the water or ingests a creature who had previously drunk from the river while slowly die. The poison works through their stomach, causing internal stomach pains, violent vomiting fits, and eventually, death, as the poison eats away their insides . . . 

The Blighted Forest - Nobody knows why these forests exist. By all accounts, the trees and plants should have decayed long ago. But yet, they persist. Blackened, lifeless trees jut out from every crevasse, accompanied by plants and thorn vines. Some trees even grow through solid stone, it seems, like weeds. The soil here is impenetrable by normal tools, and attempts to excavate here haven't even been thought of: there seems to be absolutely nothing to gain from these lifeless forests. However, something unseen seems to be keeping these forests standing. What could it be? Perhaps something underground? . . .