Cheska Ovar. The Heart Endures.
Office of the High Warden
Luxemburry / Geography / The Silvershine and Lake Aurelia
The Silvershine is the river of the Realm, rising in the Cinder Highlands and running the length of the country west to France. Lake Aurelia lies south of Valdoria, the largest lake of the Realm and, in the legend, the hollow where the Stone Heart's last beat fell.
The river rises below the Cinder pass and is fast, cold, and silver over its whole course, which is how it got its name. It runs south past Purgnar, turns west at Valdoria, where the old town fills a bend of it, and leaves the Realm through a gorge on the French border. Every town of the Realm but Bonic stands on it or on the lake it feeds. The Silvershine bridge at Valdoria is on the 10 Shard coin.
The lake fills the south of the Valdoria Valley and gives its name to the Aurelia Lakelands. It is long, deep, and still, and at evening it turns gold, which the legend explains and the Luxians do not question. Verdian stands on its western shore. The lake shore is the warmest part of the Realm and the only place vines grow; the wine of the Solstice feast comes from here. In summer the lake is swum, sailed, and fished; in a hard winter it freezes and is skated.
The ridge above the eastern shore holds the third resort of the Realm, with runs that end above the water.
Aurel is Luxian for light or gold. Vael is valley. The Aurelia Lakelands are, in the old speech, the gold valley.
Lake Aurelia turns gold at sunset because, the legend says, it remembers the light inside the stone.
