Acken Broadleaf Forest

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History

Geography

Acken Broadleaf Forest is a massive temperate woodland spread across the humid central lowlands, situated between the northern fresh-water basin regions and the arid west interior. In comparison to the violent, ever-shifting jungles of Acheo or the violent, active Geology of Mosaryn, the Acken is an enduring monument to long-term, deep stability. It is an enormous, ancient expanse of towering hard-wood canopies, undulating, wooded hills, and still rivers valleys, supported by the uninterrupted seasonal rains of millennia.

Topography and Geology

The geology is dominated by layers of rich sedimentary soil, compacted clay deposits, and ancient river alluvium piled deep above a rare stone bedrock. The rare bits of exposed bedrock are rounded by weathering and lie flat. The forest spans an area of shallow depressions, low ridges, and water-carved valleys with an overall gentle slope downward to the east.

The dominant topographic features of the Acken are its towering, ancient hardwood canopies. These form a nearly solid roof, effectively blotting out direct sunlight and ensuring the forest floor is kept in a perpetual, shaded twilight. Because of this relative absence of light, the deeper parts of the interior forest are almost unnervingly clear of undergrowth; instead, the floor is covered with thick layers of decaying humus (leaf litter), the gnarly, overgrowing roots of the great trees and ubiquitous mosses.

It is only within 'light gaps', caused by the rare collapse of one of the great trees or the banks of a meandering river, that one finds patches of relatively dense undergrowth.

Climate and Hydrography

The climate of Acken is temperate, humid, and remarkably constant, with sufficient average annual rainfall and a high water-table to sustain constant, rampant growth of vegetation. Fogbanks accumulate thickly and linger in the morning in the basins and river valleys, trapped beneath the forest canopy. Hydrologically, the Acken is extremely porous; it is threaded by numerous meandering fresh-water streams and shallow, slow-moving rivers, which slowly carve deep ravines into the soft soil.

During periods of heavy, seasonal rainfall, the rivers can easily flood their banks in the basins and valleys, temporary turning the depressions into shaded floodplains before the absorbent soil sops up the water.

Traversability

Travel through the Acken Broadleaf Forest is a matter of endurance and navigation rather than survival. Getting hopelessly lost is the most common danger; the deeply shadowed, monotonous terrain with very little visible horizon offers little navigational aid, and the dense trees and their colossal trunks severely restrict one's vision. Travel is only feasible and relatively safe along the river corridors, a few high, well-worn ridges, and ancient, broad game trails. Even these trails can disappear in an instant after a heavy seasonal storm, as the fallen branches of one or more colossal trees are then swamped by rapidly growing weeds and bushes in the suddenly opened light-gaps.

Plants

The Canopy Dominants (Old Growth Broadleaf Flora)

The plant life within the Acken Broadleaf Forest thrives on geological time. Because it does not suffer from the aggressive coastal predation of Acheo, nor the constant flooding of Neylkal, Acken represents the pinnacle of the slow climb toward ecological stability, profoundly fertile soil, and an extremely enduring old-growth forest that remains untrampled by many centuries.

The unquestioned lords of Acken are the immense broadleaf hardwoods that grow closely to one another in order to form one vast canopy. These ancient beings have massive, tree-trunk-like foundations which sink into the incredibly fertile and boggy ground. The vast and interlocking crowns of these giants block the sunlight, leaving the rest of the forest in a perpetually humid twilight. Slow-growing though the canopy dominants are, they can be ageless; the trees within the oldest groves are biologically alive for centuries, acting as living, standing landscape, supporting colonies of creeping moss, dangling vines and moisture-drinking epiphytes by their wide roots, wide "root flares" and numerous high branches.

Understory Vegetation (Shade Flora and Fungal Networks)

The undergrowth beneath these ancient trees thrives in the dim undergrowth. Its growth comprises the shaded floor under thick and numerous shrub species, broad ground cover and creeping root plants; however the undergrowth's growth has explosive periods when, for a few days a year, some large old tree falls. This creates a sudden hole, a "light gap", in the canopy; the race of short growth to establish on the ground before the canopy closes becomes intense. On the floor below the growth is a layer of decomposing plant matter or humus.

This incredibly organic soil feeds huge underground fungi, and the roots of the oldest trees can grow together in networks with fungi (mycorrhizae) which then provide each tree with a distribution network; hence a single colossal fungal network can spread through the entirety of Acken's interior.

River and Floodplain Flora (Riparian Zones)

The slow rivers and numerous shallow lowlands create narrow light-filled gaps that penetrate Acken's dim interior. The vegetation found at these riparian locations differ to that found within Acken's interior, withreed beds, soft-rooted shrubs and flood-hardy woodland flora replacing hardwood. These flood-tolerant trees have wide buttress roots to help keep them from toppling over in the soft, marshy soil during floods. The gaps in the canopy, which are carved by the meandered rivers, receive ample sunlight and are home to brightly colored plants, thick vining plants and aggressive ground cover which could not grow in the shaded interior.

Seasonal Adaptations (Deep Succession and Symbiosis)

Flora in Acken thrives with immense lifespan and with collective symbiotic relationships, as opposed to aggressive expansionism. The evolution of the flora has resulted in slow ecological succession and a deep reliance on root support and symbiosis over rapid regeneration; growth occurs via the natural decomposition and regrowth process. While there is a subtle dormant period at the climax of winter where much of the understory and riverbed plants' growth dwindles, a majority of the appearance of the forest changes but little.

Ecological changes to Acken's interior occur in spans of many years, due to few instances beyond river migration, storms or the simple fact of constant, overwhelming accumulation of organic matter upon organic matter.

Animals

Canopy Fauna (Old-Growth Arboreal Species)

The animal life of the Acken Broadleaf Forest is one of extreme vertical stratification and deep ecological time. Without the violent, cyclic disturbances of Mosaryn or Acheo, the fauna has undergone deep evolutionary specialization in cooperation with the primeval forest. The upper canopy is an incredibly dense, bright, and warm environment completely cut off from the forest floor; it is a teeming haven for purely arboreal (tree-dwelling) life-gliding mammals, climbing herbivores, and aggressive avian predators.

All of these smaller fauna posses elongated gripping limbs, retractable claws, and prehensile tails for swift passage through the enormous broadleaf crowns; they may go their entire lives never touching the forest floor. Because the ancient trees themselves are incredibly stable, nesting sites-often in hollow trunks, high-branch crevices, and vast root flares- are fiercely fought over and passed down for generations of forest fauna.

Understory Organisms (Shade-Dwelling Fauna)

Beneath the canopy and far from the harsh sunlight lies a muted and dramatically different ecology. Sight is largely unnecessary in the dense, humid, shadowed understory, so most of the wildlife relies on acute olfactory (scent) awareness, sensitive hearing, and seismic perception. The soil in the understory is covered with a thick, deep layer of slowly decaying humus, which forms the foundation for a vast array of detritivores, digging insects, and mycophagous (fungus-eating) grazers. Stalking this abundant life is the equally cunning understory predator.

Cloaked in dappled, disruptive camouflage coloration and soft, sound-dampening fur, it is a master of the ambush, utilizing a variety of methods of hunting prey. Rather than actively tracking through the cluttered undergrowth, many predators carve out permanent territories along the root paths or fallen logs on the forest floor, patiently waiting for prey to enter their territory; these apex predators often lie in absolute silence until it is too late for their quarry.

Riparian and Floodplain Fauna (River Corridor Species)

Great, sunlit river corridors and temporary seasonal floodplains cut across the darkness of the deep woods, providing habitat for a completely water-adapted set of creatures. Riparian fauna is comprised almost entirely of semi-aquatic and amphibious grazers and predators, along with migratory ungulates that follow the shrinking edge of the floodplain in warmer seasons. All creatures in the riparian areas possess either broad, weight-distributing hooves, or semi-webbed limbs, making crossing of the soft, mud-covered floodplain easy.

During summer, these sunlit vegetated strips pull many massive, browsing herds of ungulates from the dense, shaded woodland in to the areas surrounding river corridors, drawing along the great apex predators of the forest in order to prey on the concentrated ungulate populations.

Behavioral Cycles (Succession and Stability)

Unlike creatures in regions that are disrupted by weather patterns or large eruptions, the fauna of Acken are programmed to adhere to very slow, long-term ecological cycles. Because disruption never occurs at more than a hyper-local scale, established migratory pathways, breeding grounds, and territorial boundaries remain static and embedded in the landscape for hundreds or even thousands of years.

True ecological disruption only ever happens when an ancient canopy giant falls and crashes through the forest to the floor-light gaps of these sorts create temporary "explosion" zones where animals and plants rush to exploit the brief abundance before the sunlit patch is consumed by rapidly-growing understory, which returns the area to darkness for centuries.