World Dream Bank home - add a dream - newest - art gallery - sampler - dreams by title, subject, author, date, places, names

GAZETTEER OF LYR
A

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

by Chris Wayan, 2006

Lyr (home) - map - creatures - cultures - evolution - climate - geology - gazetteer - nomenclature - definitions - building Lyr - more worlds? Planetocopia!

Achan Sea, Achan Strait., 6-10 N, 202-206 E
A deep semicircular gulf 1000 km wide, between Lannach and Dawrnach (NW Diomedes region), though Achan Strait in the southwest is only 40 km/25 mi wide; it opens into Sanga Bay. (Source: The Man Who Counts)
Mt Adzel, 17 S, 108 E
A peak 3 km (2 mi) high, in the Sundhadarta Range of Ikrananka. Adzel's west slopes are desert canyons, though the east face is green. (Source: The Trouble Twisters)
Aesca Bay, 18 S, 89 E
A bay 280 km wide (180 mi) at the east end of Larsum, where the Trammina River reaches the sea. The low, swampy delta's sheltered from hurricanes by Aesca Island. Subtropical hardwoods cover the higher promontories. (Source: Three-Cornered Wheel)
Aesir Is., 40-52 N, 27-46 E
Part of the Shielding Islands northeast of Corona in the Ythri Region. The Aesir chain stretches 4000 km (2500 mi) across the Avalon Sea. Half a dozen islands are over 200 km wide--low grassy islands with trees mostly in the river valleys, but still warmer, wetter and greener than the larger Shieldings to the north. (Source: The Broken Sword)
Aillil, 11-12 S, 196-198 E
An island 550 km (350 mi) long, west of T'kela (Diomedes Cluster). Aillil is mostly low hills covered with patchy, open monsoon forest and savanna. To the north is smaller but greener Avolo. (Source: The House of Sorrows)
AK'HAI'I GROUP, 32-59 S, 210-240 E
A huge but lonely archipelago, 6000 km southeast of Diomedes. The six major lands are Ak'hai'i, Trillia, Hroai, Ya-Kela, Prasiyo, and Valland, totaling 4.3 million sq km (1.7 M sq mi, nearly two-thirds of Australia); Ak'hai'i is nearly half the total. The region's cool-temperate and less rugged than much of Lyr. (Source: Strangers)
AK'HAI'I, 41-48 S, 210-225 E
A lens-shaped land over 2000 km long, 4-5 times as big as Japan. It's the center of the Ak'hai'i Cluster, south of the Diomedes region. Ak'hai'i has a rainy warm-temperate north and a cooler, drier south, approaching desert on Cape Kiluo. The Gneiss Range runs down the east coast; the west is low and gentle. (Source: Strangers)
Cape Akulo, 13 S, 198 E
A broad wedge of savanna, with trees only on hills and along streams, separating Mirzabad and Shanga Bays on T'kela's west coast (Diomedes Cluster). The tip of the cape is a spectacular 100-km (60-mile) cliff-walled, like a petrified aircraft carrier. The ridge extends offshore--cliff-walled islands and sea-stacks stretch another 100 km out to sea. (Source: Trader to the Stars)
Alasvu, 34 S, 184 E
The northernmost of the Rorvan Islands, Alasvu is 120 km (80 mi) wide. The island is wooded, rainy and warm. (Source: Question and Answer)
Mt Alayne, 5 S, 292 E
Highest point on Gaiila, Mt Alayne's three fused volcanic cones rise to 4300 m (14,100'). Alayne stands alone in the east, separated from the central Valeria Range by the wide swampy Dee Basin. (Source: A Midsummer Tempest)
Alde Peninsula, 64-66 N, 210-215 E
In the Roland Group, the northeast end of Polaris, separated from it by the deep slash of Polaris Rift. Alde is a wedge 800 km (500 mi) wide--snowy ridges, tundra uplands, but low woods in the valleys, even this far north. (Source: The Queen of Air and Darkness)
Cape Alfric, 48 N, 88 E
The northernmost tip of Troisleons, Cape Alfric's a forked snake-tongue sticking defiantly into the sea from the Faerie Hills. Alfric's harsh but beautiful: cliffs line its fjordlike bays for 700 km (450 mi). (Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions)
Algar, 20 S, 285 E
A desert island 220 km (140 mi) wide south of Gaiila, Algar's caught in a drybelt (high pressure zone) and is too low to harvest moisture from clouds, like neighboring Amrtet or Cape Sim. Algar's just dry grassy hills with few running streams. (Source: A Midsummer Tempest)
Algastna, 21 S, 286 E
An oval desert island 380 km (240 mi) long and half as wide, Algastna's caught in a drybelt (high pressure zone) south of Gaiila; its modest central hills can't squeeze much precipitation from clouds, like neighboring Amrtet or Cape Sim. It's dry golden veldt, with no permanent streams. (Source: A Midsummer Tempest)
Alianora Peninsula, 30-35 N, 94-99 E
A broad peninsula in eastern Troisleons, some 800 km (500 mi) long and wide. Alianora's mountains divide it from Swan Plain to the west, and hide Lake Arroy in their center. The peninsula ends in two rugged, narrow fingers clawing at the Cromdhu Gulf: Cape Arroy to the south, and Cape Alianora to the north, each another 500 km (300 mi) long. The region is lush, mild and rainy. (Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions)
ALIANORA SEA, 25-45 N, 100-180 E
A northern sea between Troisleons, Roland, northern Diomedes and the Hisagazi Islands. The Alianora Sea's as big as the Atlantic and has a similar mid-ocean rift; its east end is deep, merging with the Rijn and Rodonis Seas, but the west end near Troisleons is shallower, broken up by the Swan and Cromdhu Islands, as well as the Hisagazis. (Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions)
Alonso Atolls, 23 S, 259 E
An arc of low islands, coral reefs and lagoons stretching 700 km (450 mi), 13-1600 km off Carnoi. Westernmost of the Tempest Islands, the Alonsos are caught in a drybelt (high pressure zone) and their hills are too low to squeeze any rain from clouds. The land's mostly dry savanna, with trees mostly along streams. Still, it's wetter than Ariel to the east. (Source: A Midsummer Tempest)
Als Island, Cape, Bay, 71-73 S, 235-240 E
Als Bay is 400 km wide (250 mi), on the south shore of Eyjan in the antarctic Averorn Islands. Cape Als shelters the bay on the west, Cape Hlesey on the east; each is a rough triangle 450 km on a side (280 mi). Als Island, an L shape 240 km across (150 mi), lies northwest of the cape. The low mountains are ice-capped but glaciers don't reach down to the sea; steppes cover the slopes (not true tundra, rare on Lyr, since it's not emerging from an ice age like Earth) and low forests fill the valleys. These are moss-bearded, dense, a lurid green, looking profoundly alien and oddly lush. Such "sleetforests"--polar rainforests--exist on Earth only on islands off Patagonian Chile and the Queen Charlotte Islands off BC. They're common in the Averorns due to a near-polar wet zone, a belt nonexistent on Earth (see CLIMATE BELTS). (Source: The Merman's Children)
ALTAI, 52-57 S, 9-23 E
A cold land two-thirds the size of Greenland, in the southern Flandry Ocean. Altai can't be reached by island-hopping--it's 3200 km (2000 mi) to Merseia, the nearest land. Its creatures developed in relative isolation--relative meaning that on Lyr, migratory fliers end up everywhere eventually. New Zealand, one-fifth Altai's size, had more endemic species. But it has some ; on a world of winged, migratory species, that's isolated! (Source: A Message in Secret)
ALTLA, 45 S, 313-319 E
2nd largest of the Nyanza Islands (western Flandry Cluster), 1100 km (700 mi). A low, concave, hilly-edged, leaf-shaped island, veined with rivers pouring inward to narrow Lake Altla (200 km long). Fertile and temperate, rather like New Zealand: open forests and meadows. (Source: The Game of Glory)
Amrtet, 20-23 S, 289-291E
A hilly land 1300 km long and 300 wide (800 by 200 miles) south of Gaiila. Amrtet is in a drybelt, a high-pressure zone; its east coast and highlands have some trees and look quite Mediterranean, but the west coast (downwind of the rain-stealing highlands) is a long strip of desert. (Source: A Midsummer Tempest)
Anday, 9 N, 120 E
One of the Hisagazi Islands (NE end of the Polesotechnic Strip). Anday is a rectangular chunk of open tropical forest, 220 km (140 mi) across, with a deep harbor gouged into the SE corner and a halo of islets on the north toward Sathayn. (Source: The Longest Voyage)
Andromeda Range, 25-36 N, 5-18 E
The highest range on Corona, (Ythri Cluster), looming over the south coast for 4500 km (2800 mi). Mt Farview reaches 4800 m (15,800'), and Mt Anrovil, The Weathermothers, and The Tarns all top 4000. (Source: People of the Wind)
Angrek, 12 S, 187-189 E
An island south of Cape Trekkan on Kilnu, in the Diomedes Cluster. Angrek is rugged, 550 km (340 mi) long, and has several satellite islands. They're open woods and meadows, with a Mediterranean feel. (Source: The Man Who Counts)
Lake Annanna, Annanna R., 36 S, E
Largest lake in Trillia (in the Ak'hai'i Group south of Diomedes). Cupped between two ridges of the central Witweet Range, almond-shaped Annanna is 170 km (110 mi) long. (Source: A Little Knowledge)
Mt Anrovil, 28 N, 5 E
The highest peak in the southern Andromeda Range, on Corona, in Ythri. Volcanic Mt Anrovil reaches 4300 m (14,200'). (Source: Earth Book of Stormgate)
Antarctica, 82 S, 53-60 E
I didn't even notice this little orange speck at the bottom of my altimetry scans until I happened by with a magnifying glass. It's far closer to the pole than anything else on Lyr. Even so, it wouldn't have glaciated down to the sea, like our Antarctica, except for the height of its three-headed volcano, Mt Cerberus. The cap glaciated and the ice accumulated, til it mantled the whole island. Tiny though it is, a mere 220 km (140 mi) long, and half that wide, Antarctica's influential. It calves icebergs in summer that drift around the south seas, forming handy perches for travelers of all species. And each winter, Antarctica forms the seed for the south polar ice shelf.
Mt Antoran, 6 S, 56 E
Highest peak in the Kraoka Islands (in the Polesotechnic Strip). Mt Antoran's in northern Dzua; its caldera rim reaches 3500 meters (11,600'). Lyr's orbital eccentricity makes even the equator undergo a mild winter; snow dapples Antoran, though it melts in summer. This cycle mitigates the alpine deserts found on Terran tropical volcanoes; instead, fern-meadows cover Beljagor's heights. Lower down is cloud forest, and dense, warm jungle covers its feet. (Source: A Sun Invisible)
AQUANT, 45 S, 310 E
Largest island in the Nyanza Archipelago (Flandry Cluster), Aquant's 1300 km (800 mi) long, shaped like a sharp-beaked bird pecking at the nearby Zurian Islands. The link is real; all the western Nyanzas are just the high bits of a protocontinental shelf, the Aquant Rise. The island's one vast temperate rainforest; many of the huge trees are deciduous broadleaves--pre-Columbian Virginia is a good parallel, and the mountains are rather Appalachian: Mt. Aquant is under 2200 meters and the heavy rains have eroded the hills to steep, dissected ridges, heavily wooded with pseudopines. (Source: The Game of Glory)
Arbvu and Arbvu Bay, 37 S, 182 E
A steep island 110 km (70 mi) wide in the Rorvan Archipelago. Between Arbvu and Ortu to the north is a shallow sound 220 km (140 mi) wide: Arbvu Bay. (Source: Question and Answer)
Mt Ardaig, Ardaig R., 35 S, 28 E
Highest peak in the central stretch of the Dhangodhan Range on Merseia, in the Flandry Cluster. Mt Ardaig is 4400 m (14,400') high. The Ardaig River arises on the southwest face of its long ridge, flowing 700 km (450 mi) north to the Sea of Shwylt, the Dwyr R. rises on Ardaig's north face, and three branches of the Oiss River, largest on the continent, have their sources on the south face. Ardaig sounds roughly like "our dike." (Source: Ensign Flandry & seq.)
Ariel, 21 S, 266 E
A lonely desert island 380 km (240 mi) across, midway between Carnoi and Gaiila. Ariel's caught in a drybelt (high pressure zone) and its hills are too low to squeeze any rain from clouds. The land's mostly dry savanna, with trees mostly along streams. Still, it's wetter than Miranda to the east. (Source: A Midsummer Tempest)
Arinnian, 22 N, 310 E
A southern Oronesian island 500 mi / 800 km across. Volcanic Mt Arinnian is the tallest peak on Lyr, measured both from sea level, 5100 m (16,800') high, and from its sea-floor base, 12 km/40,000'--only waist-high on Olympus Mons, but then, Lyr's gravity is triple Mars's. Arinnian's in the "drybelt" centered at 18 north, but the peak's so high it traps storms; the east coast is like the American South, warm, humid, quite lush. But the west coast, downwind and in the mountain's rainshadow, has red desert canyons, and savanna higher up, then dry, open "pine" forest, then alpine meadows and glaciers. Most intelligent species on Lyr can be found living in one of these diverse niches, giving the island a rich, progressive culture. (Source: People of the Wind)
Cape Arnanak, 15 S, 99 E
The eastern tip of Katandara in the central Polesotechnic Strip. Open tropical forest. (Source: Fire Time)
Arrach, 54 N, 338 E
One of the outer Brendan Isles northwest of Corona in the Ythri Cluster. Arrach's a strip of cool dry tall-grass hills with few trees, 95 km (60 mi) long and 30 wide. (Source: The Problem of Pain)
Arroy, 28 N, 98 E
The largest of the Swan Islands (off southeast Troisleons) Arroy is 360 km (220 mi) long. The climate's subtropical. The island is volcanic; the steep cone of Mt Arroy rears 3 km (2 mi) above the sea. (Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions)
Lake Arroy, 32 N, 96 E
The largest lake in eastern Troisleons, a rough oval 160 km (100 mi) long, in the heart of the Alianora Hills east of Swan Plain. The Arroy River is short but has a large flow. (Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions)
Arwy R., 58 S, 235-238 E
Longest river on Valland, in the Ak'hai'i Cluster (south of Diomedes), the Arwy runs 480 km (300 mi) west from Mt Wenli to the sea north of the Yo Rork Peninsula. It's about as rainy as Valland gets, with patchy coastal forest and scattered groves even inland. (Source: World Without Stars)
ASA, 56 N, 33-37 E
One of the biggest Shielding Islands, Asa is northeast of Corona in the Ythri Region. A rough Z shape 1000 km long (600 mi), Asa's a broad, cool, windy prairie the size of Wyoming, broken by isolated ranges up to 2200 m (7300') that catch most of the precipitation. The only trees line streams. On Earth, sea-girdled prairies don't exist--islands may be jungle, scrub, desert, boreal forest, tundra--but prairies are an inland phenomenon, for our temperate zone is rainy. But on Lyr, a temperate dry belt at 54 degrees north (and south) creates coastal prairies and even cool deserts--and Asa is near its heart. (Source: The Broken Sword)
Asgard, 40 N, 37 E
One of the Aesir Islands, part of the Shielding Archipelago northeast of Corona in the Ythri Region. Asgard's 560 km long (350 mi), mostly prairie hills, though trees fill in the river valleys. It's distinctly warmer, wetter and greener than the larger Shieldings to the north. (Source: The Broken Sword)
Ashenkoghli, 3 N, 143 E
A low, rainforested shield volcano 370 km across (230 mi), north of Stulurax and Wersgorix (eastern Polesotechnic Strip). (Source: The High Crusade)
Mt Atheia, 10 N, 29 E
A shield volcano in southwest Lokon, in the Fiery Islands. Atheia, 3400 m high (11,300'), is a cool cloud-forest island above the hot Chena Basin. (Source: The Sharing of Flesh)
Atitak, 77 S, 255 E
Southernmost and coldest of the antarctic Averorn Islands. At last, a polar island a Terran can understand! It's just like our Aleutians--steep, volcanic, ice-capped, windy, fairly barren... except in sheltered valleys, where low, mossy trees survive! Atitak is wetter than the Aleutians. Lyr has polar deserts like Earth, but they don't start until latitude 80 or so; the 70s are quite rainy, more like Earth's stormy belt around 60 (see CLIMATE BELTS). (Source: The Merman's Children)
A'u, 36 S, 305 E
A hilly island 400 km long (250 mi) and half as wide, in the Jairnovaunt chain of the Nyanza Archipelago (Flandry Cluster). The warm wet climate sustains lush temperate rainforests. (Source: The Game of Glory)
Auriga, 19 S, 177 E
A tropical island in the Kyrie Archipelago off southern Kilnu in the Diomedes Cluster. Auriga, in the in the Cibarra group (southern Kyries), is 120 km (75 mi) across, with a Mediterranean climate; mostly rolling plains and hills, lower and drier than most of the Kyries, since no peaks snag rainclouds.(Source: The Martyr)
Cape Avalon, 44 N, 80 E
A rugged, cliff-edged peninsula (an eroded shield volcano) off northwest Troisleons, linked to the mainland by only a narrow ridge. Avalon is 500 km (300 mi) across; the last gasp of the long Jotun Range. (Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions)
AVALON SEA, 40-60 N, 15-40 E
A sea northeast of Corona (Ythri Region) the size of the Atlantic. The Avalon is shallow (for Lyr) and dotted with the Shielding Islands. (Source: People of the Wind)
Cape Avelair, 7-10 N, 242 E
The south end of Tyrlan (in the western Gaiila Cluster). Nearly a separate island 650 km (400 mi) long, Avelair is the wettest part of Tyrlan, with tall tropical forest in the lowlands and the cooler lake country above. (Source: The Horn of Time the Hunter)
Avelair Lakes, 8 N, 242 E
A cluster of tropical highland lakes on Cape Avelair in southern Tyrlan (western Gaiila Cluster), at altitudes from 1000-2000 m (3300-6600'). The largest four lakes are each the size of Lake Tahoe, about 600 sq km (200 sq mi). The upland's wooded and mild in climate. (Source: The Horn of Time the Hunter)
AVERORN ISLANDS, 61-77 S, 212-332 E
A vast chilly archipelago in the Antarctic Sea, Averorn's larger than the Canadian Arctic islands, but far more scattered--sprawling over nearly 8000 km (5000 mi). Tauno and Eyjan are each twice the size of Britain. Bengta, Vanimen, Kennin, and Yria are each larger than Newfoundland. However, only Yria and Tauno are really fertile, lying far enough north to have wide boreal forests, wide ice-free steppes and tundra. The others are polar, with glaciated uplands and tundra above bogs and barrens. (Source: The Merman's Children)
Avolo, 9 S, 298 E
An island 250 km (160 mi) long, west of T'kela (Diomedes Cluster). Avolo has steep shores rising to a central plateau. The whole island is monsoon forest, green but with a dry season. To the south is larger but drier Aillil. (Source: Trader to the Stars)
Mt Axollon, 10 N, 188 E
Volcanic Mt Axollon, 4200 m high (13,800'), is the tallest peak on Cape Rodonis (Holmenach, NW Diomedes region). Despite its height, Axollon only bears snow briefly, in orbital winter. (Source: The Man Who Counts)
Ayan Is., 15-27 N, 340-348 E
A Y-shaped chain of islets in the southern Hesperian Sea, between Oronesia and Corona, forming a crucial flyway between them. By island-hopping, fliers never need cross more than a mere 1600 km (1000 mi) of deep sea with no rest. None of the Ayans is over 100 km long, and most are mere specks. The southern Ayans are in a drybelt--patchy woods, savanna and scrub--so drinkable water's scarce in summer, and drought can threaten intercontinental travel. The Ayans are the northern tip of a vast reef complex, Dathyna. (Source: Earth Book of Stormgate)
Ayoch, 43 N, 172 E
An island 500 km (300 mi) long south of Sherrin in the Roland Group. Ayoch's a low, rolling land of temperate forest--if coastal Oregon were an island... (Source: The Queen of Air and Darkness)
Azkashi R, Cape Azkashi, 56-57 S, 215-217 E
Northern tip of Ya-Kela, in the Ak'hai'i Cluster (south of Diomedes). Cape Azkashi faces Eltokh Head on Prasiyo, across Eltokh Sound. The Azkashi River Rises on Mt Su-Iss and flows 340 km (210 mi) NW to Eltokh Sound, draining most of northern Ya-Kela. (Source: World Without Stars)
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Map of Lyr, a world-building experiment. Click a feature to go there.

Gazetteer: index of places, with descriptions. Or...

TOUR LYR! Climb volcanoes, swim seas, meet weird creatures. First: survival tips! Then, pick a region:
Ythri -- Polesotechnic Chain -- Troisleons -- Roland -- Oronesia -- Gaiila -- Flandry -- Diomedes -- Ak'hai'i -- Averorn

Lyr's homepage - map - creatures - evolution - climate zones - geology and geography - gazetteer - nomenclature - definitions



LISTS AND LINKS: more worlds? PLANETOCOPIA! - dreams of other worlds - ecology - climate change - evolution - populations and eco-crashes - anarchy - utopias - natural disasters - terraforming - orbital dreams - sculptures and 3D art -

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites