Angara

Angara (アンガラ大陸 Angara Continent) is the northern central landmass on Weyard, and where the majority of the first game takes place. It's boundaries are: in the north; permanently frozen pack ice which joins it to the Northern Reaches and Prox (though the pack ice is not technically land). In the south; by the land locked Karagol Sea. In the East; by the Great Eastern Sea. In the West; by the Great Western Sea.

Culture
Angara contains the most settlements of any continent in Weyard and is arguably the most highly populated continent as well. One of the Elemental Lighthouses, Mercury Lighthouse, is located on this continent. Seven of the eight main playable Adepts are encountered in Angara, while five of those actually hail from there (namely, Isaac, Garet, Jenna, and Felix come from Vale and Mia comes from Imil; in addition, Ivan, from Contigo in Atteka, is first seen in Vault, and Sheba, from Lalivero in Gondowan, when first seen in Babi's Palace in Tolbi.

Despite appearances that Tolbi is located on the top part of a "separate" continent - that of Gondowan - it and the land around it are considered to be part of Angara proper, and Gondowan does not actually begin until past the river over which the Gondowan Passage crosses.

The Silk Road is a major trade route taken by merchants and travelers that starts in Eastern Angara in the town of Xian, where silk is produced. It then goes through the Lamakan Desert, down through the South Western Region and Kalay, through Kalay Docks and around the western edge of the Karagol Sea, eventually to stop at the Town of Tolbi the southern most town in Angara visited in Golden Sun.

Geography and Climate
The main geographic features of Angara are Kolima Forest, Mogall Forest and the Lamakan Desert, while the Goma Range of mountains bisects the continent and surrounds the desert. The north of the continent is extremely cold, while the majority is of temperate climate. The Lamakan Desert in the continent's East is renowned for being extremely hot and dry.

Overworld Regions
In terms of the gameplay, Angara can be separated into several regions defined by the wild monsters that can be randomly fought while traversing the continent.

Upper western region
The northwestern region of Angara encompassing Mt. Aleph and Sol Sanctum, Vale, Vault, Lunpa, and the entrance to Goma Cave. It borders the lower western region and one can freely travel between the two regions once the bridge is repaired later in Golden Sun. Before that, one must travel to the upper center and eastern regions.

Upper center and eastern regions
This region encompasses the exit to Goma Cave, Bilibin, the entrance to Bilibin Cave, Bilibin Barricade, Kolima, Kolima Forest, and the entrance to Kolima Bridge. When one firsts enters this region, the far north region is accessible, and after curing Tret Kolima Bridge opens up to allow access to the Mid-eastern region.

After making it through Bilibin Barricade, walk west along the stretch of horizontal land and search the forest at the end for the Turtle Boots. This is the only item in either game that can be found by searching the ground on the overworld map.

An apparent programming oversight causes your random battles to select the far stronger enemies of the enemy list normally fought in the lower eastern-and-central areas of Angara, rather than the weaker bestiary below, when you hug the top of the mountains a very short ways southeast of Bilibin Barricade and engage in battles, particularly at the lone tree to the right of the tiny patch of forest.

Far north region
This region is winter-locked and snowy. It encompasses the exit to Bilibin Cave, Imil, and Mercury Lighthouse. One must come here to complete the plot progression at Mercury Lighthouse before being able to move onward.

If you use a cheat device to make your character go through the mountains, you can see Angara and Gondowan in the winter time, until you enter an area or fight a monster, after which the overworld map reverts back to its basic state.

Mid-eastern region
This region encompass the exit to Kolima Bridge, Fuchin Temple, Fuchin Falls Cave, and the entrance to Mogall Forest. Fuchin Temple and the waterfall grotto therein is an optional location, but acquiring the Force Psynergy within helps you find your way through Mogall Forest easier.

Lower eastern and center regions
This large region encompasses the exit to Mogall Forest, Xian, Silk Road, Altin, Altin Peak, and the entrance to Lamakan Desert.

If the player travels north of Xian along the vertical stretch of land and crosses a bridge to a small island, a random battle encounter with a Mars Djinni will ensue, the first possible overworld Djinn battle.

Lower central region
This region encompasses the exit to Lamakan Desert, Kalay, the entrance to Kalay Tunnel that connects to Kalay, Kalay Docks, and the northern entrance to Gondowan Cave.

North of the exit from the desert, a certain Venus Djinni can be found in a random encounter. Its location is either found on a circular island across a bridge or up a northern path along the Goma Range on a patch of brown and dark green ground.

Lower western region
This is where Tolbi is, and has shores on the Karagol Sea. South of Tolbi is the Gondowan Passage, a bridge leading into Gondowan, while northwest of Tolbi is Altmiller Cave. On the eastern side of the Karagol Sea is Gondowan Cave, which is a passage to the other side of the Karagol Sea.

West of Tolbi, south of the bridge to Altmiller Cave, is a forest along the west coast where a random battle with a Mercury Djinni may be encountered.

South coastal region
This is the southern shoreline inaccessible from land during Golden Sun but accessible by sea during The Lost Age. It encompasses Champa and Ankohl Ruins. Interestingly, this region changes dramatically between the two games: in the original, it is a grassy plain with a long beach coast; in the sequel, it is filled with forests, mountains and the locations mentioned above.

West coastal region
This is the western coast of Angara that is not accessible from land during Golden Sun but accessible by sea during The Lost Age. It encompasses Loho and Angara Cave where one can acquire the Haures summon sequence.

There is also a frozen coast of land similar to Kalt Island, Tundaria, the overworld around Prox, and the overworld around Imil, located north of the mountains where Angara Cave is found. This coast can also be accessed by sea, and is across the mountains from Imil and the Mercury Lighthouse.

Similarly to the south coastal region, this area changes dramatically between the two games; however, unlike the south coastal region, it had forests and a road leading partially into the snowy region north, though not all the way to the location mentioned above. However, in the second game, mountains, beaches, rivers, and the locations mentioned above are all added to the region. In addition, the road is slightly changed, and the two sections of the region are cut off by the mountains.

A popular glitch in Golden Sun: The Lost Age is located here. It involves disembarking from your ship at the bottommost area of a particular beach at a certain angle, and allows you to walk most of the overworld land of Angara (except Bilibin, Imil, Kolima, Xian Regions in Angara and the Lalivero Region in Gondowan) as it was featured in Golden Sun (with a lot of locations missing and only Mt. Aleph, Vale, Imil, Mercury Lighthouse, Venus Lighthouse, and Babi's Lighthouse seen).

Real World Inspiration
The style of the towns in Angara is mostly based on Western European styles, thatch rooves, etc. The settlements in the far east of Angara resemble East Asia, notably China. Kalay, on the other hand, resembles the Near East to a certain degree, with the soldiers wearing turbans and the Arabian style roofs on the houses.