Charyn Krater Field

History

Geography

The Charyn Krater Field is a vast expanse of intersecting impact basins, cracked stone shelves and eroded mineral bowls in the arid internal regions of the world of the Twilight Age. This area is comprised of the scars left over from an extended period of ancient celestial impacts, leaving over a hundred poorly spaced impact basins. Thousands of years of erosion and sediment collapse and dust caused by wind has flattened the original impact points leaving the area to comprise a complex maze of crumbling ridges and gravel valleys, and exposed mineral bowls.

Topography & Geology

The landscape is typically arid and unstable. The landscape is predominately made of dark iron-rich gravel mixed with a very pale ash sediment which accumulates in the lower craters during the windy season. At high elevations the landscape is typically made of hardened rock and solid mineral shelves which can be drastically contrasted by low elevation which can consist of loosely packed soil and dust beds and is very prone to sudden collapses. Many of the exposed crater walls display bands of dark red and grey mineral layering, visible from great distances across the open basin plains.

Climate & Hydrography

Seasonal atmospheric currents play a major role in shaping the terrain of the Krater Field. This is a season of extremely dry, windswept, open terrain with dry air freely traversing the plains and redistributing fine mineral dust from one basin to the next. During the windy season visibility tends to be very poor, particularly in low-lying basins where mineral dust may linger in the air for days. The outer portions of the field rise into tiered, hardened shelves of rock providing a sort of shield for the internal basins from the full brunt of seasonal winds.

The ridges of the outer portions of the Krater Field channel the winds into discrete, irregular corridors, and establish some highly unusual climate zones. The exposed outer plain is one of tremendous seasonal temperature shifts, but many crater interiors maintain a fairly cool, stable temperature. Hydrographically the region is extremely parched. The biggest craters are steep-sided, narrow channels which the rainwater has slowly eroded.

When water collects in the basin after rains, it quickly disappears, seeping through the underlying rock, or vanishing into the hot atmosphere. Surface water does not typically collect here, but isolated pockets of groundwater exist, and support isolated stands of flora deep within many of the darkest bowls.

Traversability

The Krater Field is generally extremely hazardous. Travel here is made all the more dangerous by fragile slopes, unstable rock, sudden sink holes, sharp mineral shards, and falling rocks on many of the old crater walls. Between most basins there is a winding, narrow passage of rock, and these tend to be the most direct routes, but frequently are blocked by debris from landslides, or sediment drifts after the strong winds have passed through the region.

Plants

Crater Basin Vegetation

Vegetation in the Charyn Krater Field is meager, extremely specialized, and completely dictated by harsh environmental extremes. High mineral exposure, unstable soil, and persistent winds have limited plants to the tightest of niches, eliminating plains-spanning floras. Great stretches of the outer basins are wholly devoid of any plant life at all, with stable flora relegated exclusively to sheltered interiors of craters, subterranean seep lines, and wind-shadowed ledges. In order for them to survive, all permanent vegetation must have a monstrous root: shoot ratio.

Low, sprawling clusters on the surface conceal tremendous, bedrock-splitting taproots, drawing sustenance from groundwater pockets trapped in subterranean stone. The small above-ground surface area minimizes moisture loss through drought, and provides stable anchorage against the shifting gravel of seasonally gale-force winds.

Dustplain Shrubs

The most visible vegetation covering the open gravel plains of the Krater Field, are the stunted dustplain shrubs, sporadically scattered between exposed stone ledges. Growing never more than a meter high, they exhibit thick, branched structures covered with a robust, fibrous cuticle, which seems to serve as a protective covering, protecting internal vascular tissues from the sandblasting windblown mineral grit. Depending on the amount of heavy metal present in the surface sediment, their surfaces range from a pale grey, to a dark red, to a dusty brown, with the former two colors indicative of higher concentrations.

These plants are characterized by an astounding tolerance for extreme desiccation; during high wind events and after moisture depletion, their outward surfaces shrink in tightly sealed folds and they enter periods of deep torpor only until air conditions moderate and subsurface moisture seeps toward the surface. Repetitive episodes of burial and uncovering are the norm, leading them to predominate outer basins as other species perish.

Subterranean Moisture Growth

The interiors of some deeper craters support entirely different plant ecologies entirely sustained by insulated subterranean microclimates. Narrow fungal and root-vein mats, and mineral-tolerant mosses can creep slowly along shaded, cool rock faces on the impact basin walls; they draw nutrients and water entirely from moisture retained within the rock cracks and shielded from sunlight by the overhead overhang of solid rock. Alongside the creeping mats, some interior craters can support stalk-like ephemeral plants.

These are seeds that remain dormant most of the year, only emerging after a rare seasonal deluge, and they grow with a frenetic burst of growth lasting only a matter of days, then rapidly senesce into dried husks as the moisture dries.

Seasonal Bloom Cycles

Despite being almost completely dead throughout most of the year, a rare rainfall will precipitate explosive, temporary, seasonal blooms; the seed banks beneath the mineral crust of the basin floors ignite almost simultaneously. For a brief span, tight mats of vegetation lie over the protected depressions; these carpets of ground-cover die away as soon as the atmosphere dries. The bloom's main significance is as an extremely nutrient-rich food source, however brief, for grazing mammals, and binding agents to keep loose sediment from being dispersed by the winds, but other than this, the extensive vegetation of the Krater Field is unseen.

Animals

Basin Scavengers

Life on the Charyn Krater Field is hyper-aggressive, ephemeral, and exquisitely adapted. In the vast expanses of the outer plains, only the toughest forms survive. The highly variable climate and terrain have resulted in a food web based entirely on opportunistic predation, not steady predator-prey relationships. The most widespread creatures are low-slung, basin scavengers. These mobile xerocoles patrol the networks of craters for seasonal plant life, carrion, and rich mineral seeps.

They are well-adapted to deal with the abrasive dust storms: their hides are thick and calloused, and their wide, padded feet distribute their weight over loose scree and gravel. When high winds hit, they burrow down into the sediment, resurfacing only after the dust has settled and the atmospheric temperature drops enough for visibility to increase. Their populations are very dispersed due to the scarcity of stable food sources. Mature adults are invariably hostile toward one another, and will often battle furiously over the temporary water pockets and short-lived blossoms that appear after heavy rains.

Ridge Climbers

On the elevated rock shelves and vertical crater walls lives a class of agile climbers that is completely distinct from the lowland creatures. These organisms occupy the narrow ledges, eroded tunnels, and vertical fissures where the atmosphere is slightly cooler and much more protected from the fierce winds. Most ridge-dwelling animals have very long, double-jointed limbs and powerful climbing claws, which allow them to traverse the crumbly surfaces with ease. These animals are predominantly crepuscular or nocturnal; they pass the hot middle of the day inside cracks and fissures before venturing down to the lower basins in search of fungal growths, dormant seeds, and smaller prey.

Biologists suspect that some ridge species may engage in very long (multi-year) migrations between crater networks, tracking deep-crust seeps that maintain barely noticeable underground water gradients.

Subterranean Fauna

Perhaps the most stable ecosystems in the Krater Field are hidden completely from the surface, in the dark. Isolated subsurface habitats are maintained within deep rock fractures, collapsed erosion tunnels, and ancient impact fissures, entirely protected from the extreme surface climate. These subterranean realms house a suite of endemic troglobites: pale, sightless burrowers that are able to locate their prey via vibrations and an acute sense of chemical detection. The underground species consume fungal mat, mineralizedorganic deposits, and deep-reaching plant taproots that extend into the rock.

The nutrient input into the dark zones is very limited, so life in this habitat is also characterized by extreme territoriality and competition around established feeding sites. Only after particularly torrential rainfalls, when surface and subsurface basins flood, are any of these underground labyrinths temporarily connected, facilitating brief genetic exchange between isolated colonies.

Seasonal Activity Patterns

Faunal life within the Krater Field is driven by frantic, short bursts of high activity, followed by periods of dormant survival. During the infrequent rainy periods, when sudden storms can generate significant blooms of ephemeral plant life, the entire food web becomes energized. Scavengers and grazers converge on the temporary vegetation and rapidly build up fat reserves, taking advantage of the brief period of relative moisture. Following the rains, during long stretches of drought, the food web goes nearly dormant again.

Nearly all species can enter extended aestivation, burrowing deep into the earth, drastically lowering their metabolic rate, and waiting for the wet season to return. The effect is that during dry periods, the entire Krater Field can appear barren and lifeless, when beneath the dust a highly adapted food web simply waits.

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