The Regions of Kaharian

Deciduous Forests

Deciduous forests are the most abundant in Kaharian. They are found in regions of the world that have warm moist summers and cool winters.

The Autumn wood, The Dales, The Witchwood, The Fae Wood, and the woodland between Dwr Arian and Ochr Llyn are all deciduous because they are in low lying, sheltered or temperate regions of the world.

They are all dominated by trees that lose their leaves each year. These trees are generally Oak, Ash, Hazel, Birch, Beech, Sycamore, and Elm. They are often protected by the elves of Rauhallinen and magical beings that inhabit the forests e.g. Faeries, Faes, Dryads and Satyrs.

These forests are very old and teaming filled with magic. Leaving the road in such places is perilous, and wanderers never return.

These forests however, are under threat from the humans who have cleared large areas of land to make their war camps and who use the wood for bow making and charcoal burning. They occasionally use the trees for building if there are no coniferous forests in the locality.

Moorlands and Coast of Caldahorne

The moorlands and coast of Caldahorne have a harsh climate. They are covered in snow for most of the year with spring and summer only being very short.

These areas have been deforested by the humans so any vegetation is low to the ground providing very little shelter. These plants include Sea Thrift, Heather and Bilberries. The earth is poor and barely suitable for sheep and reindeer farming. Both animals can survive on the poor grass, but can also graze the lichens and moss in the region.

The coast is often battered by storms and there are often shipwrecks found against the cliffs below the region’s capital Dinas Symyddliw.

The way of life for the people that inhabit the region is hard and they rely on trade with the dwarves of Asuntovauni for luxuries.

Rivers and Lakes

The rivers and lakes of Kaharian provide the main source of life to the world.

Fishing communities have sprung up in Ochr Llyn and Lampi, but with the large trade port of Sweetwater trading in fish, the population in the great lake is dwindling and the fishermen of the much smaller Ochr Llyn are struggling to maintain the fish population and fish for a living.

The people of Ochr Llyn are forced to fish in the perilous waters of the wash and further out to sea in order to sustain their community.

The community of Lampi does not struggle in the same way. The elves have a better conservation effort and a greater abundance of aquatic life.

Coniferous Forests

Coniferous forests are composed of cone bearing, needle leaved, evergreen trees such as pine, spruce and fir. They are found in areas that have long winters and high annual precipitation (usually in the form of snow). They are most abundant in the mountains around Sweetwater and Asuntovauni, but can also be found in the West of Kaharian around Dun Kuro, Doedd Uchel and Llifogydd.

Historically the Northern coast of Caldahorne would have also been covered in coniferous forest but when the humans settled there, they cleared the land to make the region defensible.

Valleys and Grasslands

The valleys of Caldahorne consist of large expanses of grassland where the inhabitants graze their sheep and reindeer in the winter months. Caldahorne is mostly covered in snow throughout the long winters, but the snow fall is significantly less in these valleys.

Battlefields of Anobaith

The swamps and battlefields of Anobaith were once inhabited by the native people of Kaharian.

They are temperate lands that were perfect for agriculture due to the warm summers and moderate rainfall. However the land is hotly contested by the humans of Caldahorne and the elves of Rauhallinen, and due to the war between the two races, the farms and communities have been destroyed and the people displaced.

The region is constantly war torn and said to be haunted by the ghosts of those who dies in battle and were left to rot in the swamps.

The region around Llifogydd is difficult terrain for an army to cross since they become bogged down in the marshlands, this means that the swamp is largely uninhabited by people and has returned to a wild region where wildlife has returned to live in relative safety.

The region is also inhabited by great dragons that prey on humans and elves that might be brave enough to venture into the swamp.

At each end of the battlefield is a war camp. The humans of Caldahorne occupy the North and the elves of Rauhallinen occupy the South. The region is constantly ravaged by skirmishes and battles and has become somewhat of a no-mans-land as the two factions struggle for control.

Mountains

A Large portion of the land in Kaharianin mountainous. Caldahorne is a land filled with rolling heather covered hills and steep coastal cliffs, but as people travel further West the hills become mountains with high snow capped peaks and deep valleys.

The region around Asuntovauni and White Peak has a very high altitude and is covered in snow throughout the year. The climate is bitterly cold with thin air, making it almost impossible for people to inhabit the region. The dwarves of Asuntovauni live underground where is is actually warmer and where they is more oxygen.

The trek from Sweetwater to Asuntovauni is treacherous and most travellers never make the trip through the mountains to the gates of Asuntovauni.

Agricultural land

Due to the war between Caldahorne and Rauhallinen, agricultural land is hard to come by.

The Battlefields of Anobaith were once the main source of agricultural land until the farmers were displaced by the war. The people of Caldahorne had to learn new farming methods in order to grow crops on the rich land of the Wash, which is a coastal flood plain.

Crops grown here are wheat, oats, maize, rice, rapeseed, potatoes, swede, onions and other vegetables.

Tropical Jungle

Rauhallinen is made up of dense tropical land with large, wide rivers.

The elves of Rauhallinen try not to interfere with the region, apart from building the capital Viikaddo and living off the natural resources that they can collect without harming the land and the ecosystem.

The rain-forest is incredibly warm with high humidity and high annual rainfall.

There is a huge diversity of plant and animal life within this region and the elves do very little in the way of agriculture because they are capable of living off the land and anything they do need that cannot be provided by the rain-forest, they trade with the dwarves of Asuntovauni.

The region has been impacted by the war and due to the influx of elves that are fleeing the war, the population of Viikaddo is struggling to maintain their supply source and lack of food is becoming an issue. This means that the elves are being forced to consider clearing plots of land to grow crops and farm animals.

Floating Islands

The floating islands of Carchar are a group of rock formations that float high above the main world. They were created by a wizard who had a hissy fit and created a magical storm and broke away large sections of land from the untamed wilds and caused the polarity of the debris to change.

As a result of this reverse in polarity, the islands are repulsed by the world and hover in the cloud layer.

The islands are suspended by the magically changed ore in the lower levels of the structure, they were originally one large piece of land, but over time the land broke into pieces and began to sink. To prevent the smaller islands from sinking away from the main island they are tethered together with huge chains.

The people that inhabit these islands live under large domes that are protected by magic to keep in the warmth and the air. They grow crops for sustenance and trees that provide oxygen.

Contact with the world below is very limited, because they other races are unable to reach the islands and most are not aware of their existence. Outsiders can only reach the islands with beasts that can fly e.g. griffons.

The people who live on these islands are winged beings like faeries.