Parkasia is a land mass located far away from the Four Lands, across the Blue Divide. It is where the Old World city of Castledown is located, as well as the artificial intelligence Antrax.
Role in the Series[]
During The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Parkasia is under the control of Antrax, a sentient computer created by the people of the Old World. The climate of Parkasia was controlled by Antrax, who kept the climate as that of summer. Without the presence of Antrax, Parkasia would have of a more frigid climate.
Parkasia is surrounded by cliffs where shrikes nest. The safest route is by a peninsula which is guarded by the Squirm. The Craken Rainforest farther inland is surrounded by the Aleuthra Ark Mountains.
Near the coast there are the ruins of a city from the Old World. The city is called Castledown. In the ruins there is a tower, underneath which is a safehold housing Antrax. Antrax guards his domain using robotic Creepers, lasers, and wronks, which are part-machine, part-human patchwork cyborg creatures.
Parkasia's native habitants are the Rindge. The Rindge offer sacrifices up to Antrax, believing him a god. They have reddish-brown skin and pale red hair, and they are thought to be related to Dwarves as they speak a dialect similar to ancient Dwarven.
Origins[]
One speculation about Parkasia is that the Oronyx Experimental Robotics Systems facility, located in Seattle, is where Antrax originated, before the Great Wars. The facility is described by Logan Tom as "low, squat, windowless structures with metal roofs and siding," similar to where Antrax is discovered by Walker Boh and his expedition millenia later. The tower may have been built later, by wronks or Creepers. The Creepers are also described as coming out of tunnels blocked by panels, as well as above ground storage.
If correct, this would mean that during the reforming of the world after the Great Wars, the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate must have pulled away from each other, causing the Oronyx facility to be pulled away from the mainland of the Pacific Northwest and forming the land mass of Parkasia.