Lake Odarez

"'I won't take any more blathering about lake monsters and cursed waters - the Myridea river region is a key point of contact with the barbarous west, as well as easily within reach of those Northshore coldbloods; it was the death of old Catria, so I'll be damned before I entrust our borders to those spineless Odarezi!""'Orders are to scour the local hills and create a secure land perimeter, to clear the southern riverside, and yes, to install hullbreaker fortifications around the designated docking area - if you even think about speaking another word of this baseless superstition, just know that you're choosing between the Letus under the Lake, and a very real court marshal should I find any one of these tasks unfinished upon my next inspection.'""Myridea Regional Commander Knox Langley, personal missive to District Captain Luella Stoddard"

The largest freshwater lake on the Marazaki, Lake Odarez is positioned about midway along the main river's course, just before the connection with the tributary river Kremisi. It is home to the Odarezi clan of Zamiel.

Due to its proximity to the city of Agdis, Lake Odarez is viewed as of key strategic importance in defending the Valiant Empire's western border. The initial Zamexite incursion into Nivena took place just north of the lake, with the Odarezi, one of the last clans to be subjugated by Zaliti Kôgan, key in enabling the crossing, damming the river until it could be forded by the vast horseback armies of the Zamexites.

To prevent similar incursions, two naval bases, representing almost the entirety of Valiant naval capacity, were established - the southern base at the southern tip of the Lake - additionally, the a detachment from the base assumed joint control of the dam, with all decisions relating to the river required to be run past the Regional Commander.

About half of the Empire's river craft are docked along the mountainous southern banks of the Odarez, primed to respond to a renewed Zami'ite or a potential Marazan lenk threat; for this reason, the southern lake area is heavily militarised and closed to the public, with military activity in the region shrouded in secrecy.

Since ancient times, rumours of a primeval monster, called Undea's Titan by most and Zuxan by the locals, said to be slumbering at the bottom of the lake's much deeper northern half, have kept all but the Odarezi people, who venerate the creature as a local deity, at bay. Riverbank flooding, especially downstream of the lake, as well as the occasional depletion of local fish stock, are often blamed on the stirrings of this beast.