♞ location: el
♞ EL
Unlike the rest of the continents, El is made up of many small towns and villages, each with their own quirks and advantages. The land is filled with rivers and marshes; even though it is counted as a landmass of its own, there is almost the same amount of land as there is the water running through it. People living in El generally have a better quality of life than those living on any other continent; it is considered to be very peaceful, and there is generally very little pressure on children growing up in the schools. And whilst there are villages and towns, there are also many normadic tribes, living on their family's traditions as much as they can where the rest of the world is so much more advanced. El's weather is more tropical, though the leaves never fall from the trees.
♟ Major Cities and Towns
Balamb is a town of travellers; it's unusual to find the same people there one month as you would the next. There are no houses, just temporary camps, caravans and huts; there's no shortage of stores and bars, but the people that run them often live out-of-town; during the winter months the town is left almost entirely abandoned. Mercenaries and their employers meet here at the guild located towards the east of the town, finding and advertising quests that take place worldwide.
Herlie has its very own breed of cow; the Irskel cow. This means that the streets of Herlie are filled with dairy stores, each of them a number of world-famous cheeses, each of them only ever produced in the town. A number of townspeople also own one or two of their own cows not for meat or dairy products, but for riding; it is not unusual to find riding one of their own down the dusty high street, using it to carry both them and their belongings. As a place, Herlie is, as the rest of the towns in El, rather small, leaving not much to do.
Linga is as close to a tourist destination as El gets. Being on the coast, the majority of the 'houses' are what most other people would consider to be beach huts. The beaches are covered with pale sands, and the sea is clear with the possible exception of the seaweed that's often pulled onto the shore. And whilst some of the seaweed is medicinal, some of it is poisonous, and is especially of concern to those with powers as it appears that many of the varieties can twist and change abilities without warning; sometimes it has happened with people just being in the vicinity of the plant.
Fienal is best known for its fishing; even though El has a lot of freshwater available, and the majority of the towns and villages back onto the sea, the rivers and creaks around Fienal are particularly rich with many different types of fish, jellyfish and eels. But whilst the fish is produced here, the fish market is not large; a lot of the fish is shipped off to larger cities in Cross, Lacour and Deningrad to be sold, keeping the laidback spirit of the community.
Seles has the largest gathering of people on the continent; it has a population of approximately 500,000, and is the place that most people around the world think of when they're told to think about El. A popular retirement spot, approximately 60% of the population are over the age of seventy, and children are rarely born (and even when they are, as soon as they hit their teenage years they often try to find a way to escape). Nevertheless, it is still the busiest place, encompassing busy markets, small farms with many workers and a number of sports teams.