Aeni Lonely Mountains

Geography

The Aeni Lonely Mountains form a vast and isolated alpine range that bursts sharply from the flat continental plains of the Twilight Age world. Completely isolated from the sweeping openness of the Adisay Outback or the wind-hewn labyrinthine tunnels of Adinea, they are defined by the extreme and unyielding nature of the mountains-overwhelming altitudes, profound isolation and severe climatic disconnection. They consist of towering and impossibly high peaks, lightless glacial valleys, and knife-edge ridges and passes packed deep with snow, creating an alpine wilderness like no other-as remote and hostile as the known world allows.

Topography and Geology

These mountains are arranged in a dense but vertically steep chain of peaks separated by plunging gorges and glacial basins, narrow, tight alpine corridors. This topography is intensely fragmented. Sharp and fragile artes connect sheer, vertical faces of rock to isolated summits, a sheer drop of hundreds of meters into shadowed clefts. The slopes below are completely choked by steep scree fields, collapsing rock formations and frozen lakes formed as the result of incessant frost-shattering and regular, seasonal rock falls.

The underlying geology of the Aeni range reflects a very distant orogeny; the mountains consist largely of massive granite cores with incrediblycompressed volcanic and metamorphic strata forced skyward during violent tectonic events long ago. The sheer cliff faces showcase sweeping, broad bands of light gray granite interlaid with dark veins of basalt, iron-rust colored rock, and gray-blue bands of metamorphic rock that cover entire mountain faces.

Climate and Hydrography

The climate of the Aeni Mountains is extremely hostile and wholly dependent on elevation. The peaks endure unending winter winds and blizzards that consistently plunge temperatures far below zero, while even the valleys below cannot completely avoid the intense daily temperature fluctuations and the extremely sudden and furious mountain blizzards that drop visibility to absolute zero in minutes.

The scars of the ice age can be seen everywhere across the land-long glacial valleys that were scraped out by historic ice flows, smoothed cliff walls, deep cirques and bowls carved by massive ice sheets, and even the modern, high-altitude glaciers and eternal ice fields which lie at the peaks function simply as colossal, frozen storehouses of water. The region itself is the source of all of the highlands' rivers and highlands lakes; during the short, warm summer thaw, they swell to torrents as they plunge through canyons and over rocky cliffs until the cold autumn grips the highlands once again, and the entire region is frozen solid for the remaining months of the year.

Traversability

The Aeni Lonely Mountains represent an incredibly high-stakes traverse; for all intents and purposes it is utterly suicidal for the unprepared. The constant possibility of blizzards and avalanches at these extreme altitudes means the mountains are nearly impassable in any way but for deep glacial valleys, high alpine passes (most of which are impassable for most of the year), or precarious routes that have been hacked into the sheer faces of the mountains over many generations of survival.

Plants

High-altitude Extremophiles in Alpine Tundra (Alpine Tundra Flora)

The flora found on the Aeni Lonely Mountains is nothing less than extreme and agonising perseverance. Far above the treeline, the plant life exists in a constant siege of sub-zero temperatures, lack of nutrients, and overwhelming air pressure and winds. Only fragmented, struggling patches of alpine tundra cling on the exposed ridges and glacial shelves on the high peaks. The wind here bites harshly and if it did not prevent deadly heat loss they would never survive it. Therefore the extremophiles that live here adopt aerodynamic cushion-like forms pressed against the rockface.

Although their roots are relatively shallow they spread outwards dramatically in all directions, smashing into the bedrock to absorb trace minerals and any captured meltwater. Because the growing season is terribly short their metabolic rate is so slow that a patch of alpine lichen the size of a fist may have been there for centuries. To resist the brutal ultraviolet radiation of high altitudes, their leaves are thick, waxy and richly coloured in deep blues and greens, crimsons (which occur due to anthocyanin blocking the UV light) and very pale silver-greys.

Montane Taiga (Subalpine Coniferous Forests)

Further down the mountains and across the valleys in the glacier basins, vast subalpine forests emerge. These cold-tolerant montane woods contain thousands of towering conifers, which need to survive the brutal, crushing weight of the winter blizzard. To survive, their branches droop downwards like sharply-pitched roofs and the trees adopt a strictly conical shape, which prevents snow accumulating and weighing down their branches to the breaking point. These plants are so protected by resin that their bark is almost completely insulating and cannot even get frost cracked.

The forest floor is always wet beneath these thick stands of trees, as this provides excellent growing conditions for enormous fungi that eat decaying plant matter, as well as creepers of mosses and a very slow decomposition into rich, deep alpine humus. However, these stands of trees do not remain undisturbed for very long. The huge avalanche chutes, which are sheer vertical drops where avalanches periodically clear vast areas, prevent continuous growth of woodland and pioneer plants are able to quickly colonize the bedrock that the slow-growing conifers can eventually overcome.

Meltwater Meadows (Glacial Basin Flora)

The meltwater corridors and troughs provide the most short-lived, yet colourful, plants in the Aeni mountain range. Since they have a constant source of meltwater rich in nutrients and minerals, a large number of alpine plants (herbaceous flowering plants and mosses) and sedges flourish. During the weeks when the summer thaws and the meltwater has not completely retreated, they blossom into an astonishing alpine meadow. Because the flowers could be frozen by sudden and unexpected frosts or buried in an avalanche, the vast, deep rhizomes which hold enough energy to stay dormant under meters of snow for months, enable the plant to grow surface parts almost immediately the ice recedes.

Antifreeze and Cryo-Dormancy (Seasonal Adaptations)

Survival on the Aeni mountains involves a tremendous deal of patience and a very high level of biochemistry. Most species go into a deep hibernation called cryo-dormancy which lasts up to nine months each year, under a blanket of snow. The cells do not rupture under the intense pressure as they contain special anti-freeze proteins or sugar-filled molecules. There is also reproduction that is highly tuned to the weather, allowing plants to bloom simultaneously during the short summer period before the frost returns.

There are no extremely competitive plants here as there is nothing for them to compete for-instead they compete for endurance in cold conditions.

Animals

High-Altitude Fauna (Summit and Ridge Extremophiles)

The fauna of the Aeni Lonely Mountains is scarce, isolated to the furthest extremes of the range and utterly adapted to the brutally cold and hypoxic conditions of these lofty heights. It contrasts wildly with the sprawling migratory patterns of Adisay's plains; on the Aeni mountains, all of life is a struggle for survival, a trial of endurance against utter starvation. Life is to be found on snow-dusted summits and wind-swept ridges where extreme forms of extremophiles huddle together and try desperately to retain heat.

These mountain dwellers possess tiny, compact, insulation-focused anatomies with thick, multi-layered coats, or deep feather down to prevent heat loss, and broad, sprawling feet which double as natural snow-shoes on the shifting scree and the treacherous, crystalline ice. As prey is unimaginably rare on the highest slopes of the mountains, the large apex predators are fiercely territorial and fiercely defend massive territories that spread out over extremely narrow, often avalanche-strewn, ridges.

These hunters are ambush predators and are inordinately familiar with the vertically oriented nature of the terrain; they do not possess the necessary breath-hold and lung capacity for high-speed chase at these heights and rely instead on utilizing steep drops and sheer faces to corner and ambush their prey.

Subalpine Forest Fauna (Montane Taiga Species)

The deep, cold montane taiga which clings to the lower, most sheltered valleys of the mountains possesses the highest concentration of animal biomass of the entire range, with its high pine trees and sheltered slopes protecting much of the fauna of the region from the harsh winds of the highest slopes. The subalpine is teeming with animals; mostly large herbivores adapted to the cold (ungulates, which stand up well to snow, and are large enough to have their own thermal mass and low surface area-to-volume ratios).

There is the smaller agile tree-dwelling creatures of the subalpine forest, and predators, which follow large migratory prey from the higher altitudes down the mountains to the less cold, warmer forest floors. These animals must be exceptionally agile on the extremely slick and often very steep ground, often requiring hook-like climbing claws and prehensile limbs to maneuver on steep icy slopes, and across fallen, snow-laden trees that litter the floor of the subalpine forest.

Food on the subalpine forest floor can remain beneath layers of snow perfectly preserved for many months due to the very slow decay of animal bodies in the extreme cold, the act of opportunistic scavenging is a universal survival trait that pervades the subalpine ecosystem, with even herbivore species occasionally foraging on scavenged bone or marrow when winter kills occur, and when food is desperately hard to come by.

Glacial Basin Fauna (Meltwater and Valley Species)

The meltwater valleys and the basins at the foot of glacial flows are biological engines for the Aeni range, initiating the only truly intense periods of animal activity found on the mountain range at a single time. As the alpine summers thaw the permanent ice-flows, the deep valleys are flooded with mineral-rich, quickly flowing meltwater and uncover latent alpine flora to feed. Fauna found here is strictly dependent on the short summer growing period, with huge migrations of herbivores flooding the valley floors, followed closely by their predators as the temporary abundance of prey is brought to the notice of predators living higher in the mountains.

Amphibious animals and burrowing creatures alike emerge from the muck to breed in this short burst of life before the cold returns, and flash-floods and catastrophic avalanche events in these basins make every animal inhabiting these regions reactive and adaptable, requiring them to scale the steep valley walls at first warning of an avalanche or flood.

Behavioral Cycles (Altitudinal Migration and Torpor)

The rhythm of life on Aeni is controlled completely by the relentless advances and recessions of the snow line. The basic cycle of the Aeni mountains are animals' migrations from below to above and back to below from the mountain peaks throughout the year. These patterns of life migrate as the brief alpine summer allows more and more animals to travel higher in the mountains to feed off of blooming plants and fauna; the arrival of autumn snow causes all animals to descend quickly once more down to the relatively warmer and more food-rich lower mountain forests.

Smaller species too frail to make this trek must simply hibernate during the winter in a deep torpor, hiding in subterranean burrows and deep fissures in the rock beneath meters of insulating snow that keeps temperatures at just above freezing. Furthermore, the immense sheer faces and impossibly steep ridges have created virtually impenetrable "sky islands" with completely separate gene-pools and, by association, behaviors from neighbor peaks just miles away due to the physical barrier these mountains erect.

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