Epheron
Epheron is a continent in the Western Atlantic region. The continent is largely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The continent is home to both sovereign nations and colonies. Epheron straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas. It is the only continent in the Western Atlantic to include both northern temperate and southern temperate climates.
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Etymology
Epheron's etymology is uncertain. The Caldan historical scholar Margaret Mountbatten has suggested that the continent was originally named for Pheron, an Ancient Egyptian king mentioned by Herodotus. According to Mountbatten, Pheron's name was used simply because parts of northern Epheron resemble Egypt. However, Ada Maule maintains that the name derives from misunderstood reports regarding King Ayize of KwaNalu's treatment of his wives which seemed to bear a resemblance to the story of Pheron.
History
Paleohistory
At the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, Epheron was joined with the other continents which now make up the Western Atlantic. It shared with them relatively uniform flora and fauna. At the close of the Triassic period, it was dominated by theropods, prosauropods and ornithischians. While Late Triassic fossils are found throughout Epheron, they are substantially more common in the south.
Early Jurassic strata are distributed in a similar fashion to Late Triassic beds. Fossil beds in the north are less common and tend to be dominated by footprints. As the Jurassic period proceeded, groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods dominated the Epheronian landscape. Middle Jurassic strata are poorly represented in Epheron. Late Jurassic strata are not generally well-represented. However, the spectacular Tyre Formation in South Epheron contains some of the richest strata of Late Jurassic fauna in the world. The late Jurassic life found in the Tyre Formation is stunningly similar to that found in the Ridefort Formation in Laneria.
The continents of the Western Atlantic separated near the end of the Cretaceous period. During this time, Epheron was home to various species of allosauroids, spinosaurids and titanosaurs.
Pre-history
Epheron is rich in paleoanthropological research sites. Human habitation on the continent is known to go back as far as five million years. Although Epheron contains the fossilised remains of several protohuman species as well as surviving Great Ape populations, most paleoanthropologists agree that the first humans in the Western Atlantic did not originate in Epheron but were transported there from Africa via unknown and, perhaps, wholly accidental means.
Throughout Epheron's prehistory, it had no nations but, instead, contained various hunter-gatherer cultures. Paleoanthropologists have divided early Epheronian hunter-gatherers into two broad groups, the Redwall and Western cultures. Th Redwall culture is named for a particularly rich site near Redwall, South Epheron.
In Epheron, unlike in most human population, the domestication of cattle seems to have preceded the development of agriculture and to have existed alongside hunter-gatherer cultures. Other species domesticated in Epheron include the donkey and the goat.
Slavery
Slavery was practiced in Epheron from at least the seventh century. Slaves were captured in wars between Epheronian peoples and traded throughout the continent. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, Western slave traders took an estimated 12 million slaves to Marlund and Laneria.
The decline of the slave trade in the 1860s caused dramatic economic shifts in local polities. The gradual decline in slave-trading, caused by anti-slavery legislation and the increased presence of the Royal Caldan Navy, obliged Epheronian states to develop new economies. Between 1861 and 1881, the Royal Caldan Navy seized 1,129 slaves ships and liberated 112,900 Epheronians found aboard.
Fauna
Epheron boasts the largest and most diverse wild animal populations in the Western Atlantic, with wild populations of large carnivores (such as lions, hyenas and cheetahs) and herbivores (such as buffalo, elephants, camels and giraffes) ranging freely on primarily open non-private plains. It is also home to a variety of "jungle" animals including snakes and primates and aquatic life such as crocodiles and amphibians. In addition, Epheron has the largest number of megafauna species in the region, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna.
The Western Atlantic on NSwiki - Main article: Western Atlantic
- Atlantic International Organisation: Courtland: |
Excalbia | 
Knootoss | 
Sovereign States | 
Upper Virginia | Lyeithen: | 
Aerion | 
Xirnium | Both: | 
Pantocratoria | 
The Resurgent Dream
- Unaligned Nations:
Abt | 
Amestria | 
Balthorvia | 
Brasland |
Iesus Christi | 
Leagran | 
New Leicestershire | 
Sabaristan | 
Snefaldia
- Disputed territories and dependencies:
Alekthos | 
Ambalieva | 
Finara | 
Free Virginia | 
Hipolis | 
Colombia | 
Knootian Gulf Islands | 
Saxmere
- Geographic subdivisions: Ambara, Vasconia, Epheron, Excalbian Isles, Pantocratorian Archipelago, Danaan Islands, Europe-Atlantic
- Atlantic International Organisation: Courtland: |
