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Hara

The Hara flows 750 miles through the Dunmari Basin, from its source in the foothills of the Sentinel Range to the ~Hara River Gorge~. Once, it flowed more than twice that length in total, joining the Istaros north of Drankor. Whether it still does after the cataclysms and upheavals following the Great War, no one knows.

At its source, the Hara is a swift flowing mountain river, descending to the flat plains of the Dunmari Basin. As the Hara enters the Dunmari Basin, it slows and widens as it meanders south towards Tokra, joined first by the Sone and then by the Thandar, along with several minor tributaries.

South of the confluence with the Thandar, the Hara turns broad and sluggish as it flows through the ~North Tokra Plains~. Here, the Hara frequently floods during the monsoon season.

The region in the immediate vicinity of Tokra is rocky and hard, especially just south of the city, where the rocky land of the Darba Highlands protrudes into the Dunmari Basin. Here, the river widens again as it passes beneath the ~Tokra Bridge~.

South of Tokra, the river passes through a series of small canyons on the rugged ~Southern Tokra Plains~. The Sukal joins between Tokra and Askandi, and a number of dry washes and seasonal rivers flow into the Hara in this stretch during the monsoon.

Just north of Askandi, the terrain levels, and the Hara pursues a slow, twisting path southeast. Askandi sits on the floodplains of the ~Lower Hara Valley~, a wide flat basin between the Yuvanti Mountains and the Garamjala Plateau. Here, virtually no rain falls, even during the monsoon, but the flood of the Hara, swollen from monsoon rains to the north, sustains a rich riparian ecosystem and the city of Askandi itself.

Beyond Askandi, the land begins to rise again as the Garamjala Plateau joins the Yuvanti Mountains. This is a land of dry desert canyons, as the Hara narrows again as it cuts through the highlands via the ~Hara River Gorge~.

Beyond the ~Hara River Gorge~, no one knows the fate of the river. Does it feed a seasonal lake in the depths of the Garamjala? Does it flow all the way through the plateau to join the Istaros, as it once did? Or does something stranger happen?

In Dunmari Culture

The Hara is a central river of Dunmari myth and culture. Before the Great War, when the Dunmari settled in this land, the two great rivers of the Hara and the Kharja, collectively known as Jeevali’s Tears, provided water and sustenance to much of the people of the Dunmari Basin. Before the Yuvanti Mountains and the Garamjala Plateau were raised, these rivers were separated only by the high land around Karawa, and the monsoons swept across the entire plains, supporting a rich grassland ecosystem.

Since the Great War, the Kharja has nearly or completely dried up. None have traced its route into the Garamjala, but even near Kharsan it flows only fitfully, in sudden floods after rare storms, and it is presumed it no longer meets the Hara.

The Hara has thus taken on greater significance for the Dunmari. Without it, life would not be possible in the Dunmari Basin.