Punt

Punt lies between Gondwana and Lemuria and guards both passages from the Erythraean Sea to the Forgotten Sea, but its climate and terrain match Gondwana's Southlands. To Atlanteans and Tamoanchanians it is shorthand for the strange and mysterious. Its myrrh trees give off a scent found nowhere else, said to let a sailor steer to the island by smell alone, and an exaggerated saying claims one spadeful of its gem-laden earth will fund a whole year of fine living.

It is a dwarven land, its folk close kin to the Elysium Sea dwarves, though how the two were separated is unknown. Puntians average four feet, sturdy, usually dark brown, nearly beardless, with long, intricate dreadlocks whose styles show rank and trade. Unusually for dwarves they build above ground, in small, sturdy, individually crafted houses of a poured stone only their artisans know. Their king is absolute but mostly leaves his people free, living in contemplation in the Royal Citadel and intervening only when needed. He names his heir from the royal families; failing that, the nearest male relative succeeds, which has happened only three times, with a council vote just once.

Alchemists, followed by magicians and then warriors, form the upper classes, with a small but notable body of sorcerers. Puntian gemsmiths are superb, and with mages and alchemists they make magical jewelry unmatched abroad, which the dwarves rarely part with. Warriors ride giant ostriches that fight with brass-shod talons, and trained baboons serve as watchdogs, attackers and laborers; both are also pets of the wealthy. The best ore ran out long ago, so metals are now imported, and the vast abandoned mines may reach a hidden underground world where strange creatures are said to lair.