Iriorm Crystal Forest

Place

Place Name:

Iriorm Crystal Forest

Biome:

Crystal Forest

Size:

200 km2

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

The Irion Crystal Forest is third smallest of the Fibodian Kingdom (fourth being the Lorchean Tropical Plains). It is mostly flat and has little to no mountains or hills. There is however an intricate underground cavern that has been recorded to lead to larger and yet to be explored “mega caverns”. The forest has open soil that’s spread around the region though most of the open soils are found at the perimeter of the old Fibodian Citadel up North, near the borders bordering Jekinusk Shatterd Glacier region while some other parts of the land is covered with solid crystal.

The Crystal Forest as the name suggest is covered in mostly crystal stalagmite-like formation that goes to the hundreds of thousands. Plants and animals are found in this area though most of the plants and animals are concentrated on the open soil areas of the forest or underwater. Navigating through this crystal forest is fatal as one might get lost easily especially if one wonders away from roads or is highly inexperienced. Luckily, ages of pilgrimage through this forest had led to the building of roads and pathways across the land that connected roads to rivers and rivers to roads alike. Though most of the land is barred of any roads or rivers.

Water canals, rivers and lakes is also vastly found in this region. Rivers and canals for one, has been used for ages by the Zu’Aans down south to navigate towards the holy site. The Dul-tum Canal System is an intricate water canals that was first built to transfer woods and other materials along with the builders and craftsmen to the holy site to build the citadel during the early days of the Zu’Aans of this area. The canal system spans from the river closest to the Fibodian Tropical Mountain border to a number of lakes and rivers was build is such a way that it was wide enough for logs and small boats to pass, but not for bigger ships.

The Dul-Tum canal system was still being used up until the Great Conversion and had definitely served the people well. There has also been a number of cave openings that was discovered sprawling across the area. Most of the discovery were what one would call an accidental discovery by alchemist. When these alchemists  were conducting their mineral research, the need to excavate a certain region was inevitable. The first cave entrance that was discovered was found to be located near a large crystal stalagmite formation. 

The cave led to a small cavern at first though after hearing what seemed to be an underground river, they ventured in a little bit more and found a huge hollow cavern that has its own pond, river and ecosystem. Many hypothesised that with there are more caverns yet to be found. Trees, bushes and plots of lands for farmlands is ample in the region though most of them are concentrated near the old Fibodian citadel. Old huts and farmstead on plots of land of what used to be farmlands can also be found in area near the old citadel. Shrine in offering to Nuh can also be found scattered around the region.

Plants

In retrospect, the Iriorn Crystal Forest has a lower number of trees as opposed to its neighbouring regions, at least on what meets the eye above ground. However, many have theorised that the crystal forest is actually home to a huge number of plants underground in its intricate cavern system. The forest houses many duur trees that constitutes most of the trees above ground. The duur Tree is a slim, tall tree that houses small critters and birds in its bark as well as on its sturdy branches.

The duur tree has needle-like leaves that run across its branches in an intricate manner. Its bark produces a scent that is pleasant to smell. It has a thick wood scent, more so than the other trees that grow in the region. The duur tree bears a type of edible nut that feeds the critters living on the tree and even the animals that comes to feed on falling duur nuts. Ragang berries also grow in abundance in the area. The ragang berry is a type of fruiting bush that can be found especially next to crystal deposits.

Its bush is small and has a distinct green with a slight tinge of red coloured leaves. It can grow up to a couple of metres tall. The berry itself is red in colour and has a sweet and sour taste. Traditionally Fibodian pilgrim-goers would stop to pick up some to make stew and mixed in a soup as an additive. The ragang berry could also be made into wine that’s quite famous among the Fibodians, though not as much favoured as the tuva’uva berry wine that grows in abundance in the Lorche Tropical Plains.

Apart from that, the berry is a quick snack for passers-by as well as a well-loved diet among the animals in the forest. Another unique plant that grows en masse in the crystal forest would be those that grow on the crystal themselves. The gouton is a type of vine plant that grows in abundance on the protruding crystals of the forest. It only grows during the spring, often signing the end of winter and the start of spring. The scandent that it leaves as it climbs and clings onto the crystal is unique and often becomes the symbol of welcoming the pilgrims that comes to the forest each spring.

This is because when it grows, it leaves off a circular pattern as it grows, encompassing the crystal. However, what makes it more unique is that the flower that grows from the vine would then bloom in the circular patterns that were trailed of by the old scandent of the gouton as it climbs up the crystal. The flower will bloom in a natural bouquet of strikingly red, blue and white flower. The circular scandent that frames the bouquet compliment the beauty of the flower, contrasting the natural light blue colour of the crystal.

The rivers and lakes in the region also house a huge number of aquatic plants, including the Vaig Reed that is home to a number of fish, crustaceans, mammals, reptiles and many other animals. The vaig reed is a type of reed that grows in abundance in the depth of the banks of the river and lakes. Each spring, a long vine would grow up towards the surface of the water to bear a light pink flower. As summer comes, and the temperature of the water becomes warmer, the vine would snap, and the flower would flow and disperse to other parts of the water.

In hindsight, the underground cavern that exists under the crystal forest has a number of unique plants, including the sum’buh or “light”. The plant got its name from the luminescent nature of the plant that glows in the dark. The plant is so bright that it is able to light up a whole cavern, though certainly when only a bunch of these plants are clustered together. The plant has a bulbous fruit that emits the said luminescent light. It is not known whether the fruit was edible.

Early alchemists had tried to feed the fruit to their livestock though no notable effect was seen. The only difference that was found was that after consuming the fruit, the livestock was seen to have dozed off for a few days before waking up seemingly unfazed of any changes and went about its day unharmed. However, the early alchemists had marked the fruit as ‘poisonous by default’ as it was unanimously believed that it might give out a different reaction to zu'aan.

Animals

Tamiyas are small critters that love to hang around the treetops of the duur tree. Tamiyas is no larger than a palm’s width and height in size but has a stomach that’s sarcastically compared to those of a bakas. Their main diet – the duur’s nuts is accessible almost year-round. Tamiyas are also known to store foods – nuts, especially in small burrows that they dig into the duur tree trunk. When it rains, the Duur tree leaves will act almost as a natural sponge to suck in the water on its fine leaves.

The tamiyas take advantage of this resource as their source of water. However, the only main challenge of these tamiyas is going down to gather water on the ground if it doesn’t rain. Their small size contrasts their bravery and their sheer territorial nature. Tamiyas are monogamous and will live with only one partner until death to the part. If threatened, tamiyas will stand up on two feet, exposing their underbelly to scare away predators. Their underbellies have a distinct pattern that almost resembles a mouth with huge fangs. They are unfortunately high susceptible to rung-tu, a nocturnal bird.

The duur Tree is also home to the sing’lud that lives alongside their neighbour, the tamiyas. The sing’lud are slightly larger than its neighbour and have a long bushy tail that they use to both attract mates and balance themselves as they hop and glide from tree to tree. Their usual diet includes duur nuts, berries and other small insects. Singluds are generally friendly creatures though they will turn rather aggressive when they are threatened by predators or if their young are attacked by other creatures.

Generally, however, sing’lud would turn to flight rather than fight when faced with danger. Their wing-like skin on their side is meant for gliding across far distances. When they land on another tree, they will find the nearest sing’lud, regardless of who it belongs to, to hide. This is the unique nature of the sing’lud who do not mind sharing their safe abode with those of others. The Iriorn rung-tu is one of the main apex predators in the crystal forest. The rung-tus are a common nocturnal found across Fibodian Kingdom.

However, the Iriorn rung-tu is relatively smaller in size than those found in the other parts of the Fibodian Kingdom. It’s light blue feather, huge beak, and even sharp talon makes it the perfect predator in the crystal forest. It mainly feeds on mammals, including the tamiyas and sing’lud and fish, including kar’huk and srayo. However, being omnivores, they also feed on berries and other types of fruits that grow in abundance in the forest. Being on top of the food chain, they have little to worry about being hunted by other animals.

Rung’tu builds their nest underground, usually next to fallen trees. It is believed that when winter strikes, the rung’tu will hibernate in the warm conditions underground. One of the most prominent aquatic animals that exist in the waterways of the Iriorn Crystal Forest includes the kar’huk. They are brown in colour and has a unique twig-like colour and texture on their backs. Kar’huk is a relatively small fish that lives on the shallow banks of rivers, canals and lakes that scatter around the crystal forest.

This is believed to be such the case as the kar’huk’s main diet are insects that are typically found lingering on branches that juts over the banks onto the water. The kar’huk would attract these insects by tricking the insects into believing that their backs are floating twigs. They would also move their fins in such a way as to mimic walking ants. The poor insects would then fall for the trick and jump onto the twig, only to realise they have fallen to their demise into the jaws of the kar’huk. Kar’huk also feeds on other smaller fish and water insects.

Kar’huk usually lay their eggs in the thousands each spring making them one of the most common fish in the region. One of the few animals that were found in one of the caverns under the crystal forest is the Sum-sad – short for luminescent fish. Little is known about this fish except for the fact that it glows in the dark, which was believed to be caused by their diet of the sum’buh fruit. However, this theory is yet to be proven as the only plausible explanation alchemist had come up with was that the glow of the fish is similar in colour as those of the sum’buh plant.

Historical Timeline of Ages

Age Name	Dates	Controller
Stone Age	Before 1E 0	Unknown
Copper Age	1E 1–1E 2200	Unknown
Bronze Age	1E 2200–1E 4400	Unknown
Iron Age	2E 0–2E 700	Unknown
Ancient Age	2E 700–2E 2200	Unknown
Middle Age	3E 0–3E 2050	Unknown
Early Modern Age	3E 2050–3E 2600	Unknown
Industrial Age	3E 2600–3E 2700	Unknown
Machine Age	3E 2700–3E 2800	Unknown
Atomic Age	3E 2800–3E 2850	Unknown
Space Age	3E 2850–3E 2875	Unknown
Information Age	3E 2875–3E 2900	Unknown
Genetic Age	3E 2950–3E 3000	Unknown
Awakening Age	3E 3000–3E 3415	Unknown
Twilight Age	4E 0–4E 500	Polia Kin'toni Clan

Place

Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown

Iriorm Crystal Forest

Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown

This article is written by MandakingM. Copyright 2026 MandakingM. All rights reserved.