Ecosystems
This terminal reveals information regarding the wildlife and wilderness above Parallel 45. When undisturbed, the northern regions of the planet are primarily ice and frozen tundra, but over the many centuries since the Fire Tide, a transformation has occurred to support the diverse ecological biomes of all creatures.
Desert Regions
It remained as a symbol of thirst and death, infested with horror, repelling all who viewed it from afar on the surrounding mountains. At a casual glance, nothing seemed to live here except the few plants which had clawed deep into the earth, defying wind and heat alike . . . to store up some vestige of sustenance for their long vigils in the midst of almost total aridity. But this was deceptive. The desert nurtured a whole world of living things of its own.
From the Pillars of Heracles to the Yellow Sea , a broad desert covers the landscape of the planet. The Inheritors named this devouring feature of Gaia the Sprawling Sandsea. Though some life does persist in this desolate wasteland, it is typically underground or nocturnal. The Sandsea is not the only desert known to Humankind, however, as several exist in the shadows of mountains, areas far from any ocean or river, and areas subject to overgrazing.
Notable Animals
Angler-Light Elephants are large terrestrial predators who use their luminescent trunks to lure small mammals and insects closer to their mouths during the night. They are known to eat Humans if such specimens linger nearby.
Death-Reapers are large, black-winged bats, notable for their enormous claws and extraordinary sense of sound. They live in caves throughout the Sandsea, emerging only to hunt at night for recently-deceased carcasses. The can fly, silently, for many hours at a time.
Notable Flowers
Dreamspell is a hazardous plant, known to cause illusions when ingested. However, due to its aesthetic beauty, it appears a tasty morsel for those desperate enough to consume it.
Old Man's Beard is a poisonous plant found growing in both warm and cold deserts, commonly gathered by Humans to destroy their enemies.
Weeping Willows are large deciduous trees, known for their pendulous, hanging flowers. These trees are often used by Humans to protect dry-but-workable lands from desert winds.
Forest Regions
How many hearts with warm red blood in them are beating under cover of the woods, and how many teeth and eyes are shining! A multitude of animal people, intimately related to us, but of whose lives we know almost nothing, are as busy about their own affairs as we are about ours.
From simple woodland areas to jungles and groves, forests provide vibrant ecosystems for more living creatures than any other biome. One rainforest, known for being particularly dense and warm, is called the Evergreen Forest. It is widely-known for featuring exotic wildlife, including colorful birds, huge insects, and violent primates. The ruins and forgotten fortresses within the Black Forest , near the Rhine , are also famous, and are also home to as many diverse creatures as they are local legends and folktales. Other notable forest regions are the Kangri Highlands , the Four Mothers Mountains , and Markland .
Notable Animals
Mirror Spiders are hand-sized arachnids with a complex social structure, living among swarms of hundreds. They bear a semi-reflective skin and work cooperatively to spin large webs to entrap creatures of much larger size. They then force-feed their captive, fattening it over time, before collectively overwhelming and devouring bits of their flesh.
Whitemane Gorillas are large and powerful primates, largely found in boreal forests. At their full adult heights, they can tower over Humans when standing back on two legs, but remain agile enough to swing from tree limb to tree limb.
Notable Flowers
Angel's Trumpets , named for their long trumpet-like shape, are most often cultivated for ornamental use, but when fully matured can be used to develop a dangerous narcotic called Devil's Breath, which renders its user unable to move or act on their own.
God's Flesh are hallucinogenic mushrooms sometimes found in forests. Many Humans consume them due to knowledge of their psychotropic nature.
Rainflowers are lilies which blossom only in rain or snow.
Grassland Regions
The grassland stretches its broad back under the sky's endless gaze, a patchwork of green and gold, underlaid with the stories of the earth. Here, life dances in the breeze, and the land sings of freedom and survival, a testament to the enduring rhythm of nature.
Grasslands, which include meadows, savannahs, and prairies, are open, flat-lying areas, typically experiencing moderate rainfall, insufficient to support large forests but enough to sustain grasses and other herbaceous plants. They are the most abundant of the terrestrial biomes and are the primary biome to support Human civilization. Famous grassland regions include the Great Plains and the Great Steppe .
Notable Animals
Bears are typically the apex predators of their environments, most commonly living in grassland regions but found in every terrestrial biome. There are several known kinds, though Emperor Bears , Snow Bears , River Bears , Blue Bears , and Sloth Bears are the most common. In some cultures, these beasts are honored as sacred creatures, not to be disturbed.
Death's-Head Hawkmoths are known for the markings on their thorax, resembling the shape of a Human skull. They fly in swarms of dozens, reflexively spreading poisonous spores into the air with every flap of their wings. They are known to feed on tombstone lichen and rotting flesh, adding to their frightening appearance.
Notable Flowers
The Diamond-Leaf Willow is a slender-limbed beech tree , whose diamond-shaped leaves can be pruned for freshwater.
Lightning Roses (sometimes called White Lightning) are extremely rare flowers that are said to bloom, die, and bloom again, appearing in their final form only to those whose love for another is true and eternal. They bloom out, featuring strong white petals with golden centers.
Queensblood are extremely poisonous plants found growing in meadows across the Ecumene. Despite this, they are commonly brought to urban gardens for their pleasing appearance.
Tundra Regions
The tundra, with its frozen canvas, stretches out into eternity under a dome of pale blue sky. It's a place where the earth shows its bones, its rocky spine emerging from the ice, and where life clings tenaciously to the permafrost. Despite the cold, there is a stark beauty here, a sense of enduring grace in the face of extreme hardship, where every flower and blade of grass is a testament to survival.
Tundra are cold and windy areas with ground that is permanently frozen. Such regions once dominated the landscape of the Arctic, but now appear only at certain locations, such as Ice Wind Island and the high peaks of the Yinshan Mountains , the Whitemantle Mountains , and the Carpathians Mountains . Though free of trees, tundra still feature enough vegetation to support life, mostly through lichen and grass.
Notable Animals
God Shadows are swift, white-winged owls, most-known for their nomadic lifestyles. They are revered in many inward regions, where they are seen as spirits of wisdom and pathfinding, frequently assisting lost voyagers in finding land.
Mammoths persist in the wild tundra of Siberia and Anthelia.
Yaoguai , sometimes called Bull Demons, are devilish, nocturnal beasts who roam cold mountainsides in search of living creatures to devour. Their skin is sable and ash, their eyes deep and blue, sometimes hypnotic, and their thirst for the blood of their prey is unquenchable. These beasts are so vicious that some consider them demons from another realm.
Notable Flowers
Azolla Petals are used in a wide variety of herbal medicines and teas.
Cladonia Leaves found throughout the northern reaches of the world year-round. These tasteless leaves are tough, but they are an easy and reliable food source for Humans, bison, caribou, and owls.
Golden Poppies are uncommon plants frequently gathered to help produce healing remedies for a wide range of ailments.
Moonflowers will bloom only in darkness and wilt in sunlight.
Starflowers are near-universal symbols of secret love.
Water Regions
The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.
Seas, oceans, rivers, lakes, salt-marshes, mires, bogs, wetlands, mangroves, and swamps all prove vital to the continued existence of life on the planet. Notable bodies of water include the White-Shadow Sea , the Morning Sea , the Evening Sea , the Devil's Sea , the Burning Sea, the Kraken's Sea , the Old Merchant's Sea , the Black Sea , the Sea of Ash , Morning Light Lake , Great Bear Lake , the Caspian Sea , the Forbidden Sea , and the rivers Rhine , Varangian , the Yaru River , the Volga , the Hazar River , the Yenisei River , the Lengdong River , the Black Dragon River ,the Trader's Route , the Strangers' River , Mooneye River , the Great Serpent River , the Athapasca Waterways , the Iron River , the White Water River , and the Loira River .
Notable Animals
Cerulean Windrunners are crane-like birds with a wingspan of more than 3 meters. They have unusually-keen eyesight and long, sharp beaks. Their feathers are a monochromatic azure color, allowing them to blend in with the sky on a clear, cloudless day.
Polar Krakens are considered to be among the largest and most intelligent creatures to ever exist. These massive cephalopods have twenty tentacles and reside deep beneath Arctic waters. They are known by Humans to emit a vibrating melody-like sound.
Sea Hawks are large flying raptors who hunt along coasts all over the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. As wolves serve as hunting companions to Humans since the days of old, so-too have Sea Hawks become common companions to Humans in their shared endeavor of fishing.
Sirens, sometimes referred to as mermaids or sea-witches, live in caverns beneath the sea. They are known to sing "songs" to lure whales and other large sea creatures near their dens to hunt and devour them. There are three known species: blue-faced sirens, who hunt only during the sunless seasons and avoid Humans, green-faced sirens who are less-aggressive and venture out further from their dens, and red-faced sirens, who are larger and more aggressive in their pursuits.
Whales are legendary creatures of the sea. Their blood, bones, and oil are important to Human trades, while their fat proves necessary to Human survival along some coastal regions. In some cultures, dead whales are worshipped, and many believe their bones can grant magical abilities.
Notable Flowers
Poison Hemlock , also commonly called Gadfly's Bane, is a highly poisonous plant found growing in wet marshlands.
Singing Bells are large blue or violet flowers found along the edge of coastlines. The flower must be exposed to fresh air, yet it must also be bathed in seawater at least once per day by the rolling tides. They obtained their name from the soft bell-like sound they emit when the wind blows through them.
Water Lillies are sacred lotus flowers, prized above almost all other flowers in Humanity's reach. They are widely regarded for their beauty, enduring quality, and commonly used in medicine and tea.
Legendary Regions
Alexandria, the Drowned City
For Disciples, Alexandria and its surrounding area is known as one of the Five Sacred Cities. It is said to be buried by tideless waters, along with the ancient pyramids and great lighthouse of the region.
Athens, the Abandoned City
For Disciples, Athens and its surrounding area is known as one of the Five Sacred Cities. Those who enter it are said to be abandoned by all companions and unable to feel the warmth of love ever again.
Damascus, the Condemned City
For Disciples, Damascus and its surrounding area is known as one of the Five Sacred Cities. It is surrounded by impossibly high walls, from which irredeemable souls are said to hang, who are offered a reprieve from their endless fate only long enough to prevent outsiders from entering the city.
Kyoto, the Darkened City
For Disciples, Kyoto and its surrounding area is known as one of the Five Sacred Cities. It is surrounded by a dark forest of black-barked trees, called the Black Sea of Trees. The leaves that grow from the impossible-to-reach branches are a pure white color. Falling from the leaves are tiny spores that kill all other life in the area. From these spores, only new trees grow, black with white leaves, as the rest are. Those who have approached this forest and lived to speak of it claim their greatest fears came alive within.
Varanasi, the Lost City
For Disciples, Varanasi and its surrounding area is known as one of the Five Sacred Cities. However, the location of this city is thought lost and forgotten to time, as none have been able to find it since the Fire Tide.
Deimos and Phobos
Mythical cities believed to have been built by the Elijah and the Constructors after Illumination as a way to mock the Disciples. Believed to be places where the Constructors research Magic and Death, respectively.
Tomb of Zeus
The necropolis of a long-dead king, said to be located at the center of an island in the Old Merchant's Sea .
The Valley of Ancient Kings
A haunted region beyond the Whitemantle Mountains .
The Fire Trees
A small forest of burning trees located in the Sun's Reach Mountains . The area is said to have been burning since the Fire Tide.
The Divine Well
A mythical well that appears to those traveling through the Sprawling Sandsea, offering endless nourishment.
Stargazer's Peninsula
A mythical region of unknown location, where believers claim a remote terminal awaits one who can awaken Elijah the Everlasting's consciousness.
Moonfall Island
A land believed to exist by a delusional subset of Inheritors, who believe the moon has fallen from the sky and been replaced by an illusion cast by the Constructors.
Dragons
Sighting a dragon anywhere on Gaia is an extremely rare event, most Humans will never seen one their lifetimes, as these legendary beasts reside only in the most isolated parts of the world, as far away from Human activity as they can manage. A group of dragons is called a thunder, but most individuals live their long lives as solitary affairs.
Of the Higher Dragons, the pale-white Water Dragons are the most populous, submerged deep beneath the seas, the nocturnal Dark Dragons live in caves, the enormous Storm Dragons use thunderstorms to mask their movements through the skies, typically landing only near the highest of mountains, and Desert Dragons use their wide and powerful wings to create sandstorms to do much the same. These creatures like to burrow beneath desert sands for decades at a time. Almost all Higher Dragons are said to have an intelligence to be on par with, or exceed, that of an individual Human, and are believed to have a natural lifespan of up to three centuries.
Lesser Dragons are somewhat more common, though still rare sights, being more-typical in appearance and intelligence. But these creatures remain exceptional in their own right: the Western Swamp Dragon, for instance, is a wingless, terrestrial creature with a powerful bite. It exhales toxic fumes, and its bite is so infectious that it is guaranteed to eventually kill its victim regardless of the location of the bite. Sky Dragons live their entire lives in the uppermost reaches of the planet's atmosphere, being born in the sky, feeding off other flying creatures, yet unable to lift themselves off the ground if they are to fall.