Ésreké (/eɪ̯ˈsɹɛkeɪ̯/)

Ésreké (Moldése: Metalland), better known as The Reek, is the easternmost region of Eden in the Clarkwoods Literary Universe. Since the First Age, it has been governed by The Democratic Republic of the Reek.

Of all the lands in Eden, The Reek is the most densely populated and technologically advanced. There are few parts of the landscape which are not covered in thick jungles of concrete, steel, and glass. And yet, most Edenians live their entire lives without seeing any of this spectacle. That is because of the enormous Reekian Wall and the vast range of the Melancholy Mountains, which together keep any unwanted visitors from ever crossing the borders of the secretive society who calls The Reek home.

Geography

The Reek is bounded in the west by the riverlands of Laké, in the northwest by the Melancholy Mountains, in the east by The Desert at the Edge of Existence, and in the south by the Sea of Tears.

Most of the land, prior to its development as a sprawling megapolis, consisted of grasslands. Only a few forests dotted the landscape, clustered mostly near the foothills of the mountains up north and on the shores of the big lake down south. The vast Forest of Fears was once a sight to behold, visible even from the far-off island of Neverland, but it was almost entirely lost to deforestation during the building of the Wall.

Rivers were once commonplace, as well—and though some survive mostly as they were before civilization came to town, many have been dammed up, rerouted, or otherwise destroyed by the sapient beings who now call the place home.

Settlements & Population

Though from above it might appear to be one vast city, The Reek is home to several distinct districts with cultures all their own. From Shranook Square to Veyloft Heights, from the bridges of Troll Town to the public gardens of The Gift, the neighborhoods of The Reek are as diverse as the peoples who call this place home.

Dwarves, kíndallans, and wolaríxkín are the most common, but you will also find sophisticated humans and cosmopolitan elves here as well. And that's not to mention halflings of all sorts, and the largest collection of “artificial” life in all creation. Golems, automatons, and androids thrive here, seen as equals or near-equals by nearly all of their neighbors.

History

Whether the result of mere chance or the whims of “the gods,” The Calamity which shaped Eden deposited all of the most “advanced” survivors in the same corner of this new world. Realizing they might want to let the “lesser” civilizations continue to develop naturally, without their interference, the collected leaders of The Reek soon decided to build a wall to separate their lands from everyone else’s.

Some of them had maybe watched one too many episodes of Star Trek.

After the building of the wall, the collected minds of these so-called “great” societies came together to better bind their landscape together. The haphazard hodgepodge of high rises The Calamity had cobbled together out of all the cities in creation—that simply would not do.

The great minds of The Reek wanted an urban sprawl the likes of which had never been seen.

This eventually led to a stretch of land which couldn’t properly be called “land” any longer. But the illumnati in charge of this endeavor did not care. They’d gotten what they were after: a place where everything was in its place, and where every place was planned with care and where no expense was spared.

So what if they were entirely dependent on imports for food and raw materials. That was a small price to pay for perfection.