Hi everyone. I have been thinking about the Sundering for quite some time, and have been trying to piece together a pre-Sundering map of Nave. What I present below is my current model, which not only hopes to piece the continents together according to their relative movements away from Myrland, but also provides tentative answers to a number of open questions. Some of these are: Why is Sarducaa a desert? Why are the Blainn in Nordveld? How come there are no humans in Lykia?
Special thanks to @Tuhtram for providing feedback and the base shape of the continents I used.
Below are some explanations for some of my choices.
Nordveld.
Nordveld's proximity as well as intersection with Myrland were chosen based on two factors. First, the connection between Myrland and Nordveld is described as a "land bridge", and second, we might be able to explain presence of Oghmir in both Nordveld and Northern Myrland, and their absence between those two regions.
First, from the following text found on the old MO website, we know there was a land bridge connecting Myrland and Nordveld. The question is where, and how big:
`The former land bridge between Myrland and Nordveld became an island and enormous bridges were constructed to link the two continents again.`
(https://web.archive.org/web/20111110181312/http://www.mortalonline.com/nordveld)
We can see that there was a land bridge between Nordveld and Myrland which left only the islands around Tecton's fault standing after the Sundering. To me, this suggests that the land bridge was likely north of Tecton's fault, not south, as the Sarducaa bridge connects Myrland to Sarducaa, not Nordveld. It would seem weird to say Nordveld was connected to Myrland if the author merely meant that they were connected indirectly through Sarducaa. Obviously this is just my interpretation though, and the land bridge could have just connected Sarducaa and Myrland more directly, with Nordveld still only connected to Sarducaa.
If the land bridge is north of Tecton's fault, this also means that the area south of Tecton's fault is likely to have been a body of water. If the bridge extended both north and south from the fault, say, into where the Sunken Isles now are, then it's a little more of a stretch to call such a large corridor a landbridge. Again, not impossible, just an odd choice of words, so I place a narrow strip of sea going down between Sarducaa and Sidoia-Myrland.
Another hint is the distribution of Oghmir in the two continents. Note that the Blainn are Oghmir which have been separated from their Huergar cousins long enough to have developed different traits. This could be explained by a reduced intake of Ichor through non-participation in Huergar secret rituals. However, even if these changes are due to separation from the rituals of underground Huergar, we should see similar changes in surface Huergar over the 200+ years since their underground counterparts shut themselves in Gal Barag. And yet we don't. So I am more inclined to attribute the physical differences between Blainn and Huergar partly to reduced ichor consumption and partly to long separation, parallel evolutionary pressures, and very limited interbreeding/contact.
How is this helpful to answer whether the land bridge was north or south of Tecton's fault? Oghmir migration options. Suppose the the Talus and Jotun mountains were not originally connected, and so migration between the continents had to happen either by sea, or by travel on the surface. The notion of Oghmir sailors is a bit strange, especially since we have heard nothing on the matter. But even if we assume they got from Talus Mountains to Nordveld by boat, why did they suddenly stop sailing and interacting with their Nordveld cousins, long enough for both races to evolve separately?
The surface migration seems more plausible, but given the long stretch of land between the Talus Mountains and the location of the Blainn/Kallard cities in Nordveld, we should expect Oghmir settlements along the way. And yet we don't. There is no mention of Oghmir structures southwest of Talus at all. Similarly, no mention of Oghmir presence in Sarducaa either, even northern Sarducaa. Yes, they could still have travelled above ground, and never stopped until they reached Nordveld. Or they could have travelled, stopped, and those who stopped along the way simply died off without leaving marks or ruins.
Alternatively, the mountain belts were connected. Oghmir simply had the undeground connection from Talus to Jotun ridge, and travelled between the two continents that way. After the Sundering, the giant mountain belt was broken off, leaving the Blainn-to-be Huergar stranded, without access to the capital, and needing to make new friends to survive.
I find the last option more plausible, so the choice of a connection between Nordveld and Myrland north of Tecton's fault seems more appealing, as it can explain both the wording of the land bridge passage, and the distribution of Oghmir across both continents.
Finally, on the shape of the Nordveld tectonic plate, in order to break Nordveld and Myrland apart we need a fault between them, so that new oceanic crust can be created in the middle. On the southern end of Nordveld is Sur Qerah, a large cliff wall separating Northrend and Sarducaa. I chose this for the southern end of the Nordveld plate in order to explain that one feature. The shape that this fault line takes in the inner sea is entirely speculative and I have no reason to have drawn it in any particular shape, but if we put it in the middle of the sea, we can also explain Isla Piska as a volcanic island created through the flow of magma as the seafloors expanded.
Sarducaa.
What we know about Sarducaa's experience with the Sundering is that it didn't tilt or crumble as much as Myrland, and that it may have had drastically different climate.
(https://mortalonline.squarespace.com/sarducca)
`While the history of Sarducaa’s civilization is vague, its geographical and biological past is virtually unknown. It is possible that the continent was once a lot greener and more temperate before the Sundering, as traces of such a biota has been found in at least a few places where the sand isn’t that deep, or on rocky terrain. At the same time, probing for sand depth in the sand oceans have turned out to be impossible in several regions as they are simply too deep, so deserts seem to have been a natural component of Sarducaa for millennia.
The Sundering must have had a great geological impact on Sarducaa, but unlike Myrland the continent didn’t crumble or tilt as much when Sidoia descended into the Coral Sea. Instead Tekton’s Fault broke off quite far away from what is the modern coastline, meaning the western part of the Inner Sea is free to continue south and become Yam Hizli, an ocean strip with extreme currents between the coastline and the fault.
It is possible that the Yar Harika escarpment was created during the Sundering due to the extreme forces acting upon the southern region. Other popular theories are that it is much older, or that it came about as an effect of the creation of the Kamin Mara crater, the past of which is a great mystery in itself. The three dominating theories are a meteor strike, some kind of volcanic eruption, or a great explosion, but when this great event is supposed to have occurred is so widely debated it would be impossible to give an estimate.`
As with Nordveld, I assume Sarducaa moved west, maybe slightly less so than Nordveld, and no more major changes occurred (with one exception). The choice of plate boundaries is perhaps a little more clear. In the north we have the border with Nordveld, on the East we have the Sidoian plate which sunk leaving a narrow strip of sea on the Sarducaan side. On the Northwest, however, I drew the plate boundary to fall alongside the Yar Harika escarpment. The fact that it's called an escarpment indicates that it occured along a fault line. As Sarducaa moved west, the Sarducaa plate pushed against the Vesterhaw plate creating the Yar Harika escarpment.
Moving on to the advantages of modeling the Sarducaa plate, position, and movement in this way, we can relatively easily explain the changes in its climate. With a new mountain chain along its western border preventing wet air moving Eastwards, and a large elevation drop to its East essentially doing the same for dense wet air moving West, Sarducaa lost most of its moisture. The presence of Kamin Mara constantly radiating heat surely did not help either.
Special thanks to @Tuhtram for providing feedback and the base shape of the continents I used.
Below are some explanations for some of my choices.
Nordveld.
Nordveld's proximity as well as intersection with Myrland were chosen based on two factors. First, the connection between Myrland and Nordveld is described as a "land bridge", and second, we might be able to explain presence of Oghmir in both Nordveld and Northern Myrland, and their absence between those two regions.
First, from the following text found on the old MO website, we know there was a land bridge connecting Myrland and Nordveld. The question is where, and how big:
`The former land bridge between Myrland and Nordveld became an island and enormous bridges were constructed to link the two continents again.`
(https://web.archive.org/web/20111110181312/http://www.mortalonline.com/nordveld)
We can see that there was a land bridge between Nordveld and Myrland which left only the islands around Tecton's fault standing after the Sundering. To me, this suggests that the land bridge was likely north of Tecton's fault, not south, as the Sarducaa bridge connects Myrland to Sarducaa, not Nordveld. It would seem weird to say Nordveld was connected to Myrland if the author merely meant that they were connected indirectly through Sarducaa. Obviously this is just my interpretation though, and the land bridge could have just connected Sarducaa and Myrland more directly, with Nordveld still only connected to Sarducaa.
If the land bridge is north of Tecton's fault, this also means that the area south of Tecton's fault is likely to have been a body of water. If the bridge extended both north and south from the fault, say, into where the Sunken Isles now are, then it's a little more of a stretch to call such a large corridor a landbridge. Again, not impossible, just an odd choice of words, so I place a narrow strip of sea going down between Sarducaa and Sidoia-Myrland.
Another hint is the distribution of Oghmir in the two continents. Note that the Blainn are Oghmir which have been separated from their Huergar cousins long enough to have developed different traits. This could be explained by a reduced intake of Ichor through non-participation in Huergar secret rituals. However, even if these changes are due to separation from the rituals of underground Huergar, we should see similar changes in surface Huergar over the 200+ years since their underground counterparts shut themselves in Gal Barag. And yet we don't. So I am more inclined to attribute the physical differences between Blainn and Huergar partly to reduced ichor consumption and partly to long separation, parallel evolutionary pressures, and very limited interbreeding/contact.
How is this helpful to answer whether the land bridge was north or south of Tecton's fault? Oghmir migration options. Suppose the the Talus and Jotun mountains were not originally connected, and so migration between the continents had to happen either by sea, or by travel on the surface. The notion of Oghmir sailors is a bit strange, especially since we have heard nothing on the matter. But even if we assume they got from Talus Mountains to Nordveld by boat, why did they suddenly stop sailing and interacting with their Nordveld cousins, long enough for both races to evolve separately?
The surface migration seems more plausible, but given the long stretch of land between the Talus Mountains and the location of the Blainn/Kallard cities in Nordveld, we should expect Oghmir settlements along the way. And yet we don't. There is no mention of Oghmir structures southwest of Talus at all. Similarly, no mention of Oghmir presence in Sarducaa either, even northern Sarducaa. Yes, they could still have travelled above ground, and never stopped until they reached Nordveld. Or they could have travelled, stopped, and those who stopped along the way simply died off without leaving marks or ruins.
Alternatively, the mountain belts were connected. Oghmir simply had the undeground connection from Talus to Jotun ridge, and travelled between the two continents that way. After the Sundering, the giant mountain belt was broken off, leaving the Blainn-to-be Huergar stranded, without access to the capital, and needing to make new friends to survive.
I find the last option more plausible, so the choice of a connection between Nordveld and Myrland north of Tecton's fault seems more appealing, as it can explain both the wording of the land bridge passage, and the distribution of Oghmir across both continents.
Finally, on the shape of the Nordveld tectonic plate, in order to break Nordveld and Myrland apart we need a fault between them, so that new oceanic crust can be created in the middle. On the southern end of Nordveld is Sur Qerah, a large cliff wall separating Northrend and Sarducaa. I chose this for the southern end of the Nordveld plate in order to explain that one feature. The shape that this fault line takes in the inner sea is entirely speculative and I have no reason to have drawn it in any particular shape, but if we put it in the middle of the sea, we can also explain Isla Piska as a volcanic island created through the flow of magma as the seafloors expanded.
Sarducaa.
What we know about Sarducaa's experience with the Sundering is that it didn't tilt or crumble as much as Myrland, and that it may have had drastically different climate.
(https://mortalonline.squarespace.com/sarducca)
`While the history of Sarducaa’s civilization is vague, its geographical and biological past is virtually unknown. It is possible that the continent was once a lot greener and more temperate before the Sundering, as traces of such a biota has been found in at least a few places where the sand isn’t that deep, or on rocky terrain. At the same time, probing for sand depth in the sand oceans have turned out to be impossible in several regions as they are simply too deep, so deserts seem to have been a natural component of Sarducaa for millennia.
The Sundering must have had a great geological impact on Sarducaa, but unlike Myrland the continent didn’t crumble or tilt as much when Sidoia descended into the Coral Sea. Instead Tekton’s Fault broke off quite far away from what is the modern coastline, meaning the western part of the Inner Sea is free to continue south and become Yam Hizli, an ocean strip with extreme currents between the coastline and the fault.
It is possible that the Yar Harika escarpment was created during the Sundering due to the extreme forces acting upon the southern region. Other popular theories are that it is much older, or that it came about as an effect of the creation of the Kamin Mara crater, the past of which is a great mystery in itself. The three dominating theories are a meteor strike, some kind of volcanic eruption, or a great explosion, but when this great event is supposed to have occurred is so widely debated it would be impossible to give an estimate.`
As with Nordveld, I assume Sarducaa moved west, maybe slightly less so than Nordveld, and no more major changes occurred (with one exception). The choice of plate boundaries is perhaps a little more clear. In the north we have the border with Nordveld, on the East we have the Sidoian plate which sunk leaving a narrow strip of sea on the Sarducaan side. On the Northwest, however, I drew the plate boundary to fall alongside the Yar Harika escarpment. The fact that it's called an escarpment indicates that it occured along a fault line. As Sarducaa moved west, the Sarducaa plate pushed against the Vesterhaw plate creating the Yar Harika escarpment.
Moving on to the advantages of modeling the Sarducaa plate, position, and movement in this way, we can relatively easily explain the changes in its climate. With a new mountain chain along its western border preventing wet air moving Eastwards, and a large elevation drop to its East essentially doing the same for dense wet air moving West, Sarducaa lost most of its moisture. The presence of Kamin Mara constantly radiating heat surely did not help either.
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