Cheton Forest Thicket

History

Geography

The Cheton Forest Thicket is ahyper-dense and immense stretch of temperate forest, characterized by its suffocatingsaturation of vegetation. Instead of the cathedral-like canopies of bel'enoor the shrouded, phantasmal columns of the Chaund Graywood,Chetonis a violently contained environment. This is not a forest that climbs skyward but one that Exploded Outwardin all directions in a nearly impenetrable thicket of thorns, interwoven roots, and violently jostling saplings that collectively represents one of the most effective land barricades in the Twilight Age world.

Topography and Geology:

Sprawled across a wide and undulating low-lying plain, the Cheton Forest Thicket is, for all intents and purposes, composed entirely of its own plant mass. Below this suffocating tangle of vegetation, the land forms a series of gentle hills and shallow dales underlain by eroded sedimentary strata of sandstone and limestone, although most of the original geology has been smothered beneath meters of intensely fertile alluvial soil resulting from the accumulated product of rapid growth and rapid decay over millennia.

So great is the natural fertility of the region that virtually all open ground is rapidly taken over and buried once more by tenacious pioneer species. Most of the forest floor is piled with fallen logs but these cannot rot away. They remain imbedded in and even integral to the forest structure, forming highly productive nurse-logs that become entwined with climbing vines, spiny brambles and ambitious young saplings in a reinforcing tangle.

Climate and Hydrography:

The Cheton Forest Thicket enjoys a hyper-humid, warm-temperate climate and an highly dispersed water distribution network. Rather than collecting into fast-moving streams and rivers, the abundant seasonal rainfalls and natural springs percolate across the shallowly sloping plain, giving rise to thousands of shallow, slow moving palustrine (marsh-like) pools and muddy depressions. The effect is that of a vast and naturally-occurring oven: the immensity of the vegetative mass effectively blocks wind from flowing within the forest canopy at ground-level.

The constant moisture generated by widespread transpiration at high density is trapped, creating a highly stratified micro-climate between a sun-baked upper canopy and a humid and lightless forest floor. The difference in incident light intensity fuels an intense competition for solar energy among plant species, driving an escalating conflict in which plants are forced to grow over, around and through one another in their climb for light.

Traversability:

Traversing the Cheton Forest Thicket is not merely difficult; it is in many respects impossible, presenting one of the most physically grueling challenges to the traveler in the world. Beyond the suffocating density of vegetation and the flesh-rending hazards of the numerousthorn thickets, the area is riddled with sinkholes and pitfalls concealed by overgrowing plants, as well as a pervasive mesh of chest-high, rooty snares. Since the immensity of the vegetation will make it virtually impossible for the traveler to mark out any recognizable landmark or maintain a compass heading over long distances.

Linear travel is rendered impossible and anyone traversing the Thicket must be satisfied to travel through this dense thicket either by following tortuous game paths and tracks, or else wading through countless slow moving stream beds, for which a reliable, knowledge of this forest is virtually a necessity if travel is to have any hope of success. The Cheton is not a forest in the ordinary sense but rather a great living blockade that vigorously resists all efforts to pass.

Plants

Flora Canopy Flora (Extreme Phototropism and Epiphytic Load)

Vegetation in Cheton’s Thicket exists in a ferocious state of biological competition and outright warfare. Rather than the slowly aging, ancient specters of Bel’eno or the stark, austere stalks of Graywood, vegetation here is characterized by a violent upward surge for physical dominance. The climax canopy layer here is of relentlessly fast-growing broadleaf species who respond to light exposure with an extreme phototropism- forsaking branching habits to shoot vertically to the canopy where the light finally becomes accessible and worthwhile.

This layer, Once they punch through to the open light at the apex, they become tightly packed in a canopy to create a light killing light blanket. With Space becoming the ultimate resource, canopy flora and trees bear tremendous burdens from epiphytic loads; it is commonplace for literally tens of thousands of parasite vines, mosses, and ferns to have anchored into a single massive tree, forming a dense hanging vertical layer which periodically crashes to the floor.

Understory Flora (Lianas, Brambles, and Biological Barricades)

Arguably the most impassable vegetal layer found anywhere, the Cheton Thicket’s understory is characterized by an absolutely killer mix of biological defenses and positional parasitism. Having been deprived of the sun’s reach, plants lower in the strata gain an advantage by utilizing other life forms, be they the dozens of thick, heavy woody vines that will forgo growing their own stems and instead, root into already established canopy plants and wrap around them as their own growing ladders and supports.

Chaining many trees together into a seemingly impossible vegetated wall that nobody can break. Shrubbery down here utilizes brutal and sharp forms and thicket barriers, growing with aggressive brambles, and recurved thorns in a desperate effort to defend space for itself from other competing life.

Gap-Phase Flora (Seed Banks and Explosive Secondary Succession)

Perhaps the most dramatic biological event in the Cheton Thickett happens every time something that breaks in from above-such as a rotten tree that tears through the ceiling of vegetative material that covers 99.9 percent of the canopy area from above– an events known to open up brief “Light Gaps.” This rush of intense solar radiation sets off a’e violent explosive localized phase of secondary successional growth; for the first time the floor of the forest will feel more like a dense pool of light than like something one’s foot will impact in any significant way.

Thousands upon thousands of dormant, “waiter” seeds that were waiting their decades long turn will burst from their resting places and explode into massive waves of growth in the bright conditions to fill in the space in less than a matter of weeks.

Wetland flora (riparian tunnels and saprophytic mats)

Cheton’s thin and meadering creeks and palustrine wetlands are wholly consumed by vegetation from within. Thick-growing river-edge shrubberies, marsh-floor ferns, and creepingrazor sedges will intertwine directly above the stream, to create and entomb dark and perpetually damp and warm tunnel-systems where streamwaters vanish from light-creating their own microclimates where decomposition rate becomes explosive, feeding tremendous patches of saprophytic fungus which keep soil perpetually high-nutrient from what becomes the constant death of other vegetation.

Seasonal adaptations (year-round phenology and vegetative propagation)

Evolution within the Cheton Thicket does not know the term “dormancy.”

Given Cheton’s benign climate, flora are in constant bloom with much of their effort focused upon the hyper-aggressive propagation of vegetative mass. If a storm, herd, or other biological force tears through the thicket, the torn plant matter does not die-rather it roots wherever it may settle into moist soil to regrow with alarming speed. Cheton isn’t so much an collection of individual plants as it is a living, interconnected vegetative mass warring to outcompete every last millimeter of soil for space and light.

Animals

Thicket Fauna (Dense-Cover Specialists and Ambush Guilds)

Naturally, Cheton Forest Thicket overflows with inhabitants perfectly attuned to crushing densities and restricted spatiality. While the creatures of the Cheton are nowhere near as wide-ranging and nomadic as the animal hordes that sweep the plains, the thicket’s life occurs within an oppressively dense, 3-dimensional warren that can limit visible range to only a few inches, or less. Such an environment, with the violently entangling nature of its organic barriers, dictates a strict evolutionary direction.

The fauna of Cheton are characteristically compact, streamlined bodies; hyper-flexible spines; and relatively shortened, agile limbs ideally suited for squeezing into tight places. Since pursuit high speed cannot occur, predation becomes entirely reliant on patience, followed by suddenly and explosively vicious, point-blank ambush.

Canopy Fauna (Arboreal Obligates and Stratified Food Webs)

Above the dense, interlocking green floor is an enormous, hanging ecosystem supported by the network of vines choked crowns of the thicket. The extraordinarily high population density of the upper canopy has also given rise to numerous Arboreal Obligates- animals who will never touch the ground in their lives. Specialized prehensile appendages, sucker-pads and uniquely articulated joints are the only means of arboreal travel across this vast canopy, creating a foodweb that is completely separated from the life below. Life is sustained, as one may imagine, by a huge variety of fruit, insects and nectar harvested in the many epiphytic plant gardens blanketing the higher branches.

Understory Fauna (Bramble Navigators and Detritivores)

The darkest, most cloying part of the Cheton is the biological powerhouse of that place. An agonising, painful maze of thorn, splintered timber, and looped vines called “lianas” permeates the Understory. Fortunately for those who dwell here, there are many smaller forms of life: mostly herbivores who protect themselves through the dense growth or the tough skins of their flesh. There are also some formidable armored forms (though rarely exceeding two feet in length).

Also, the hot and impossibly damp climate allows for enormous colonies of decomposers and burrowing scavengers who feast tirelessly on fallen timber and plant detritus. Ambush predators are common throughout the understory, preying on whatever unwary forms of life make their way through the dense tangle, using the environment of limited range to their advantage.

Wetland and Gap Fauna (Riparian and Ephemeral Specialists)

There is a sluggish, underground stream flowing throughout the forest. Where it breaches the surface, particularly if a large tree falls and clears a “gap” in the forest canopy, small Oases of temporary biology arise. The few open water sources are choked with heavily vegetation and their riparian (riverine) sections are the ONLY major avenue of movement within the thicket, funneling highly armored amphibious predators as well as heavy aquatic hunters. In the momentary light provided by a treefall, many pioneer herbivore species come to feast upon newly blooming flora, bringing with them all of their natural predators in a transient, frantic swarm of activity until the canopy is once again filled in by newer growths.

Behavioral Cycles (Acoustic Signaling and Micro-Territoriality)

The animal species of the Cheton forest seem to operate on primarily local cycles of activity due to the warm and hyper-humid atmosphere supporting abundant and consistent vegetation throughout the entire year. Most large predators remain largely sedentary, staking out fiercely guarded territories, or are even more localized, aggressively patrolling “micro-territories.” Given the impenetrability of the thicket, a great deal of the region’s behavioral adaptations also center on acoustic communication, as other forms of signaling are virtually impossible: loud vocal calls as well as complex pheromonal scent marking help in navigating hierarchies and securing mates in the ever-present, ever-shifted green gloom.

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