A peek at the Chasm's natural arches

Most of the upper reaches of Yahalma and Glada rivers have naturally and mysteriously formed ledges and arches. This is a series of arches that have been finished as convenient bridges in the lower Chasm, over the Glada River.

Giant vine trees serve as village cores

Attland's jungle is the northernmost of world's jungles, being on the same latitude with South Carolina. Due to the Northern Mountains drawing down cool rainstorm weather, which mixes with the warm, moist Gulf Stream air, creates unusual cases of wet rain shadows both north and south of the mountains.

The misty forests are home to Attland's indigenous trees, such as the vine tree (no connection to grapes). The tree is capable of reaching 100-200 meter in height in over 1000 years of growth, and be about 20 meter in diameter at its base, such as the famous Great Tree of the Tree Village, in the bottom picture. This tree is over 1800 years old. The nearby trees are about 1000 years old.

The trees in the first picture are about 100-200 years old, growing along Yahalma River.

Paradise Falls of Emerald Valley

This is Paradise Falls of the northern Emerald Valley, on the Yahalma river, where the Braided Rivers region starts (see the Valley Gates, and here and here ).

The mystifying view from the Moon Rock Mountain

The Moon Rock Mound tops the Moon Rock Mountain that has one of the most picturesque views of the Emerlad Valley. The Moon rock Mound is a mysterious formation comprised of the island's typical minerals. Almost perfectly spherical, it is 23 meters in diameter, and appears as if it was cut out of the rock, but it is monolithic with the rest of the monolithic mountain, and shows no marks of hand tools, or other meaningful images, except the man-made lines that have been overgrown with mossy vegetation. Nearby Lookout Castle and a sky temple of sorts (see one of the Valley's real sky temples) has been cut out of a convenient pillar. On the bottom of the Valley you can see the Yahalma river and the 130-ft. Moon Rock waterfalls.

A pile of freeways

This is Glada River, looking at Brithwold from Broksness just past the Mielborg Island. Looks like Tokyo, doesn't it?

This is Emerald Valley's Tolkien paradise

Emerald Valley is magic, sunny, and emerald-green with lush vegetation. I think this is where Tolkien illustrators foresaw the setting for the books. See for yourself:


This veranda is on a branch of the Yahalma River. The Valley is a flat plateau nestled between the forbidding Northern Mountains, the cliffs guarding the city of Waldihnok in the north, and the natural squeeze where Morau-Slaatblau cities are located.

New island for the megaport

The view of one of Kayokee's new landfilled islands for its ever-expanding megaport, looking east at Teyerstan (also Teyrastan, Toyrostan) across the 2 or 3 miles of Yahalma-Glada Bay. The industrial traffic pattern called for left-hand traffic for easier access to the port.

How docile and peaceful a mountain river can get: a park on Glada River

Glada River may be a forbidding, wild and exotic in the mountains, but by the time it reaches Miklasgard City, it behaves as if it knows it is about to end up in the ocean. In the city it enjoys a few miles of wide open spaces along its banks, as here. This is a park on the river's northern side, on the outskirts close to Maunby, one of Miklasgard's multimillion-population suburb.

The Silent and the Great Falls

This is another one of the weeping walls along River Glada. This is the Silent Falls, since the angle and the path of the water flow makes it a very quiet waterfall.



One of the most famous waterfalls, is the Great Waterfall of the North. River Glada plunges more than 600 meters into a dark, abysmal opening. The viewing platforms are almost all glass, as are the floors, overhanging the sheer drop of the waters.

The canyons of Yahalma river

River Yahalma also has canyons, no less deep than Glada river's the Canyon, but Yahalma's canyon's are plainer, since they are wider and a lot sunnier. This one is Yahalma Grand Canyon.


This canyon is Heaven's Walls canyon.

The river of Weeping Walls

River Glada is unique and pretty because most of its northern flow is lined with rocky walls continuously producing waterfalls, seeps, and springs. That is why the section of the river is called the Weeping Falls, or the Weeping Walls.


I have more pictures of these falls.

Yahalma River mountains

The north of the island is studded with these tall peaks, many of them over 2000ft high, which are different from pillars. These are the mountains dotting a Yahalma River valley.

The largest natural tunnel

This huge natural tunnel is located on river Glada (golden, in north germanic languages), between the capital and the end of the Chasm-Canyon gorge.

As I have described in the post about the Emerald Valley, when the Glada Lake emptied catastrophically, its waters bored their way down the new path for a long time, long enough to form holes in the landscape, natural arched gateways to the Valley, and this natural tunnel. As you can see the opening is an irregular oval, in the foreground the tunnel is more round, and then becoming a flattened oval. The tunnel is about 200 feet long and 50 to 140 feet high in places.

Natural hot water waterfalls issue from many locations on the tunnel walls, and the largest spring has been harnessed into the pipes and ducted into the nearby geothermal power station.

The hole in the ceiling has been drilled in the early 1930's.