Structure of Tolero: West of the Storm Circle
Tolero is broken up into a total of 5 different main continents: Vitell, Emul, Icos, Hispid, and Mixt. Though there's also a number of different smaller continents as well. As one of the few places in the world that experiences all three different climate zones, Tolero is quite varied.
Northern Tolero. Vitell is well-known for its rocky desert, simply called the Vitell Desert. Here, the Vitell people have long since domesticated colonies of termites that help them with every-day work. Digging wells, tunneling through the dirt to escape the desert heat, and helping build structures for humans to live in. It’s very common for whole villages to be built out of the same huge mesa, with complex inner workings bringing water and air through to allow crops to be grown on top of the mesa or even hanging off of the huge overhangs. There are several styles of braids and other tight, complex ways to tie hair or beards often referred to as “Vitellman’s knots.” General inspiration from Norse culture. I could just straight up go how to train your dragon with this one and have termites be like their dragons lmao
Central Tolero. Emul is the continent closest to the storm circle and, ergo, is one of the wettest places in Tolero. Most trees can’t survive the wind of the storms, so instead mushroom forests are very common here. Here people have been living in harmony with a typically toxic environment for generations. Fortunately, people have long mastered the art of knowing when the mushrooms are dropping their spores. The spores are often used as alchemical reagents, making Emul the largest producer of exotic alchemic ingredients in the Southern Hemisphere.
Mixt is often considered the heart of Tolero. As the largest continent, people from all over travel here and enter into its trading hub. A melting pot of cultures, Mixt has many towns and villages that exemplify the cultures all over Tolero. Mixt also has the largest seaport in all of Tolero. Here, ships travel to Uxor or the Basium Archipelago to conduct trade. Due to the heat and the humidity, tropical trees will grow up along the northern shore. On top of this, Mixt also has the most available land for crop production. People will use dung beetles and other powerful draft insects here for manual labor.
Hispid is a land of windy plains. The blowback from the storm circle clashes with the winds coming in from the Gratina Sea. With open fields of rolling grain, Hispid and Mixt are the agricultural centers of Tolero. Hispid in particular is known for its rearing of stag and rhino beetles, though they do have a smaller export of training dragonflies and other strong flying insects for travel and militant purposes.
Southern Tolero. Icos is the smallest continent of Tolero and is also the coldest. Here, frosty forests grow up with ancient coniferous trees like redwoods and cover the entire continent. Here, people build treehouses to live symbiotically with the trees and keep themselves off the icy forest floor. General inspiration from Aztec/Nahautl culture.
