#ghel

so, to start out with, Ghel (the nation TID is set in) is cold. for the most part i'd compare it to Scotland, both in climate and appearance. not exactly a 'it's constantly snowing, all year' type of cold but more a persistent, always-chilly type of cold. y'know, a place where it gets to like 70 degrees (Fahrenheit because i'm a filthy American) and that's considered high.

in the north of Ghel, it's rocky and mountainous, and numerous rivers line the landscape. farming is next to impossible there, and so people turn to the fur trade, fishing, and logging to make ends meet. aesthetically, it's most similar to the highlands of Scotland. pictures below of how it imagine it + credit links:

left, right

the south of Ghel is more temperate, though still not warm by any means. it's hilly but much more open. trees aren't very common and the majority of the south is dominated by an open, dry tundra. farming is performed here more often than it is in the north, but it's still quite limited because the climate still doesn't tend to play nice with many crops. animal husbandry is often the most profitable business, especially so with sheep and goats. most of the horses found across Ghel are bred here, save for the rarer northern steed. pictures below:

left, right

though most of Ghel is landlocked (or, rather, its edges are mostly covered in hard-to-traverse mountains that make coastal access difficult), in the east it opens up into a cliffy region known simply as the Eastern Shore. there are areas where the Shore slopes down to meet the waterline, but it is mostly dominated by cliffs and harsh terrain. pictures:

left, right (i think the photos you can find on the neathwaters/left page are really good reps of what most of Ghel looks like. as far as i know, they're all from the Isle of Skye in Scotland :D)