Obersch

 

Obersch is the northermost inhabited contintent of Tear, with its northern tip located at 30E x 73N. Similar in size to both Inik and Sekhu, Obersch stretches roughtly 3800km from north to south and 3400km from east to west. To the west is the Sea of Obersch, to the east is the Northern Ocean, and to the south is the Queen's Sea. Vehira is not visibile from anywhere on Obersch, though few here question its existence, and those who do tend not to be particularly radical about it.

The largest city on Obersch is Juhoenholt where it overlooksthe southern half of the Great Glacier Lake. At 20E x 55N, Juhoenholt is the northernmost Principal city on Tear,

The climate of Obersch ranges from temperate in the south below the Cignerac and Salmon Rivers, to brutally inhospitable in the northern reaches of the Bald Mountains and the Nornges Taiga. In the south, summer temperatures rarely exceed 25 degrees, and fall to -20 in the winter. In the north, above the 65th parallel, summer temperatures average zero, with occasional balmy days reaching 10 degrees. Northern winters see temperatures below -15 for months, with lows falling to -50. Survival in the north is enormously challenging, and cities like Borea at 34E x 69N represent the most extreme inhabited environments that can be found on Tear.

Major industries on Obersch are forestry and mining. Whaling, fishing and trapping are also important. In many of the southern and eastern regions the production of maple syrup, honey, and different beers, ales, meads, wines, ciders and distilled spirits is also significant.

Southern Obersch

Below the Cignerac and Salmon rivers is Southern Obersch. This is a temperate region of deciduous and pine forests and sprawling meadows and farmlands. This is the breadbasket of Obersch, and the only region on the continent where grain can be reliably produced on a large scale. Grain produced here is transported virtually everywhere across Obersch in exchange for other resources, which are then exported from ports such as Weymedac and Port Cedar to places around the world.

Fjords of Werngesser

The Fjords of Werngesser stretch 2000km along the southeastern coast of Obersch. Here the meltwaters running off the Bald Mountains each spring and summer have carved enormous, majestic river valleys leading down the Queen's Sea. With prevailing winds moving west to east, the inland areas above the fjords are somewhat sheltered by the Bald Mountains, making for a secondary agricultural region. For the most part, this region is too cold and the weather too unpredictable for large crops of grain and most large scale agriculture here focuses on root vegetables, squash and a diverse range of exotic fruits and vegetables that either have a short growing season, or are resistant to cold weather.

Beyond the fjords themselves is an unnamed peninsula region that juts south into the Queen's Sea with the city of Winterwine in its center at 52E x 52N. This subregion is a low-lying temperate forest with a warm micro-climate (relatively speaking). Here there are many rolling plains and orchards where grains and fruit are grown, and some of Tear's finest wines, ales, ciders and spirits originate.

Bald Mountains

The Bald Mountains are a jagged range of perpetually snow-covered peaks running from the source of the Cignerac River in the southwest to the northeastern coast of the continent. This short but treacherous range separates eastern Obersch from westerm Obersch and is effectively impassable.

Nornges Taiga

The northwestern coastal region of Obersch is defined by an inhopsitable region or permafrost known as the Norges Taiga. Only a small number of fishing villages and whaling ports exist along the shores here. Locations as remote as Borea, on the eastern edge of this region, are almost totally isolated.

Great Glacier Lake

To the west of Obersch, overlooked by the capital at Juhoenholt, is Great Glacier Lake. This lake is only a lake in winter and spring, when the Strait of Winge is blocked with ice and frozen shut by an annual 'ice levee'. When melt waters flow down from the Bald Mountains and the Nornges Taiga in the spring, the lake floods with fresh water, and by late spring or early summer the ice levee in the Strait of Winge fails and that accumulated contents of the lake spill out into the Sea of Obersch in an incredible natural spectacle.

Shaded Coast

The Shaded Coast region of northeastern Golanicja is not part of continental Obersch, but in 709 the region was invaded by forces from the Queendom of Obersch and captured in 710. As of 1423, the entire region remains a province of the Queendom of Obersch.

Grscholt Island

Grscholt Island, located in the Sea of Obersch some 1500km east of Hagnerac, is not a part of Continental Obersch, but is a part of the Queendom of Obersch. It is considered Oberschi territory and became formally recognized as such by the Treaty of Gojod in 404. The island is dominated by White Fog Mountain, and its three cities are almost entirely focused on fishing and whaling.