Corthan Spring

Once a reservoir, the Corthan Spring is a lake in the Great Corthan Wood. It is ancient; originally a spring-fed pond, it was diverted into the moat of the city of Cortha, which is also fed by a large river. Eventually, the regulation of these bodies of water became natural, resulting in an ecologically diverse waterway network in the Corthan forest. It is the third-largest (or second-smallest) of the four major lakes of the Fifth.

Features

It spans about 38 square miles (~70 sq. si.).

History

Early History

The lake was a seasonal pond. Maintained by natural springs, like the nearby marshland of the present-day New Forest, the water level was variable. It could reach a considerable size, nearly to its current extent, and naturally receded into sub-surface waterways that formed the basis of the Underground River. Directing water away from the springs in the marshland helped to permanently flood the area. This process had already begun naturally by the time Cortha was founded.

Corthan Projects

The small pond was used as a source of water to fill a new moat for Cortha. Due to the reliability of the spring, the moat would stay full. Expansions to the moat eventually demanded a new water source. The region to the south, now the New Forest, was at that time a vast brackish swamp, stretching from the canyon all the way to the eastern ocean. Many rudimentary canals were built to transfer the drainage of the swamp from the canyon to the pond, and later to other points in the Corthan water system.

The canals were built to be permanent, to become part of the natural environment requiring no long-term maintenance. This has resulted in the transformation of the ancient swamp to the New Forest, the shrinking of the Talkyra Canyon river, and a major additional source for the Underground River, which carries water from these above-ground sources to the vast network of underground waterways.