[Wind Reach] The Sanikas Pass

[Gossamer]

Description: The Sanikas Pass refers to the deep valley that the Sanikas River has cut through the rock. The start of the Sanikas pass is a open valley that contains the small summer community of Water Reach. Thunder Bay is a small fishing and farming community for Wind Reach. Lower caste Inarta and a few Avora travel down the Sanikas road after first thaw and reach summer community for planting season. Several hundred Inarta stay there to watch over the rice paddles and to scour the rocks nearby for sea salt to provide Wind Reach. Storm Bay, in which Thunder Bay is an inlet of, has a large stone dock that contains fishing vessels and berths for two large trade ships. However, trading vessels usually only come during the summer months due to fear of the storms. To protect the Inarta that stay in Water Reach, housing has been cut into the stone cliffs surrounding the bay. As merchants stow there goods on carts and horses for the long trek up to Mount Skyinarta, they see dirt roads leading from storerooms to a clear road in which a fast flowing river is at its side. The stone road that crosses over the river is called the Sanikas Road, and has been used by many travelers. The Sanikas River is an incredibly swift rapids that have many smaller water drops. During the fall, before the first frost, salmon began their long journey up the river to their spawning beds. Halfway up the pass two large circular pools are fed by the river and allow the salmon a place to spawn. During the spring, Salmon can be seen migrating down river back to the ocean. The Inarta time their travel down to Thunder Bay with these migrations, since those salmon not strong enough to make the journey, die of exhaustion and feed the people traveling. The Sanikas river is fed from numerous run offs of the pass. Since the pass is in between two ridge-lines, the river only gets wider and wider as it goes down the pass. The ridge-lines have numerous stone crafted perches for Wind Eagles to drop down and study the road. While, at the start of the pass the famous Lookout sentry station stands. Like a dagger cutting through the sky, only a Wind Eagle can reach the top of the Lookout. Sanikas Pass contains a great deal of vegetation during the spring and summer months. Sparse trees hang onto the rocky terrain close to Thunder Bay, while grassy knolls allow goat herders a few spots to feed their flock. As one climbs the road the pass changes from vegetation to moss covered rocks and then nothing as one reaches the gates of Wind Reach. During winter the pass is considered closed, for only the brave and foolish transverse it. Though the river never freezes solid, the road is constantly covered by its spray creating large black ice spots. The stairs and road bends far enough away from the river tend to be covered with several feet of snow. Only the stairs allow a semi safe passage, but if it has recently snowed the stairs look just like everything else in the landscape. NPCs: Mod Note: