Sulhat Volcanic Wastes

Place

Place Name:

Sulhat Volcanic Wastes

Biome:

Volcanic Wastes

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

In the beginning years of the region, the area was covered in various toxic gases and volcanic rocks. This caused the region to be completely barren for many years until the gas finally dissipated. The toxicity was absorbed by the rock coating the region though, so there was no plant life able to grow for many years. It wasn’t toxic to the touch, but if ground up or powderized the resulting particles would be toxic to those who ended up with it in their system. It wasn’t until about three-fourths of the way through the earliest ages that the toxicity finally dissipated enough that plant life was able to flourish.

This happened to coincide with a large rain season in which the beginnings of the later forest were planted. The forest, and region as a whole is located to the south-west of the Old’kali Volcano Valley, but still north of the desert region containing the Polgaru and Striamtan regions. It is also still a moderately small in size region considering the large amount of kin’toni residing in the area, though it is passively expanding its borders. From the original borders, the Sulhat region has expanded the south and west edges especially by nearly 10%.

While not official on any created map, the rest of Taerel considers the Sulhat region’s edges to be defined by the end of their forest. Absorbing the various cities they were in battle against creeped those edges out over time in unnoticeable bursts- unless someone was searching for one of the absorbed cities of course. Before the forest took over the majority of the region, there was little to no consistent rain. In a similar fashion to the Amazon rainforests, the creations of the forest brought in more consistent seasonal rain which keeps the forest alive and healthy.

A few fractionally higher altitude hills are scattered across the region though the region is majorly flat beyond that. The tree cover is thick and can block out nearly all the light in the region, especially on cloudy days, though it is consistently a warm temperature. The various small ponds that form after a heavy rain, mixed with the little light and the Tor’gha threat lurking in the shadows gives the region an air of ‘dread and decay’ to those who know of it. There are low breezes in the region, just enough to rustle the tree’s leaves, but nothing beyond a handful of short gusts of stronger levels.

In the various zu’aan attacks, they along with attacking the clans indiscriminately did the same with the region. Good portions were destroyed in an attempt to raze the region, though the damage appeared major it was only a minor scar on the landscape. With the Tor’gha able to- to an extent- control the region’s plant life, they would regrow the areas of damaged forest along with taking the city over. Had the damage been don’t to any other region that was slower in ‘regrowth’ the razes would have been devastating to the landscape and the various creatures living there.

Plants

The Tor’gha clan became known for their ability to manipulate plant growth to their desires. One of these acquired abilities came from their knowledge on cross breeding plants for the most desirable outcomes- namely to shape the forest to their advantage incase of any attack. This manipulation extended from breeds of vining plants all the way to centuries of work in splicing and manipulating whole groves of trees. One of the common plants in the region is a type of sac fungi. Called the yimkurru, the fungi is one of a handful of species that the Tor’gha clan members use to decorate their bodies.

It is one of the main reasons that the forest carries a strong decaying smell. When disturbed, the bowl like sac will release spores into the air creating strong pockets of rotting smells. Yimkurru fungi are a pale fleshy pink color on the inside of their ‘bowl’ shape with their outer stem and edge being a bright canary yellow. They mimic another fungus that grows in the forest, the kumyi which is also an outer canary yellow plant though the inside is a pale orange. The yimkurru unlike the kumyi is extremely toxic if consumed. The Tor’gha purposefully manipulated its cross breeding for that specific purpose, as any enemy would easily confuse the two in the dark of the forest and eliminate themselves.

The kumyi fungus is one that is more widely available throughout Taerel, as its capable of still retaining enough properties that will allow it to grow even after being consumed one excreted. It was originally a delicacy on the western coast of Taerel, though as more travelers and various animals consumed it, the kumyi started to spread slowly further eastward. It was around the beginning of the Shattering age that the kumyi finally reached the eastern coast past the Sulhat region. The trees in the Sulhat region grow extremely close to each other with their branches often intertwining with one another.

These canopy trees block out a large portion of sunlight, and with ‘understory’ type trees taking what’s available there’s a very small fraction of light available to hit the forest floor. With each change of the season the understory trees shed a round half of their leaves, going through about 2 full sets of leaves a year. The canopy trees also shed their leaves but are much less often with only about half being shed each year. With the large amount of leaves on the forest floor per season, with the dampness of the rain being trapped, the trees are another large reason why the region smells of decaying plants.

The most common canopy tree is called the sondast. It has an extremely large trunk with roots that grow deep into the ground creating a solid base for the shorter rooted plants in the region. The sundast is a smaller version of the sondast tree that is less common but still widely available in the understory layer of trees. It has a proportionally large trunk and acts as a secondary layer for other plant’s roots to cling to.

Animals

Due to the damp nature of the Sulhat region, insects like mosquitos and nats are extremely common nuisances for anyone other than the Tor’gha in the region. The Tor’gha developed natural barriers and deterrents using various plants and resources in the region so that they would not be an issue due to their extreme sensory abilities (to cut out as many unnecessary stimulants and information). One of the most common creatures in the region are spider like creatures called laedairiaphos; often laeda for short. The Laeda of the Sulhat region usually live in the tops of the understory trees to just under the top of the canopy trees.

They come in varying sizes ranging from about the size of a zu’aan thumbpad al the way to the size of their head. The largest of the Laeda stay in the canopy region as they often will catch and consume and bird sized flying creatures they can. They are a speckled black and brown color with minor hints of green so they can camouflage into the tree trunks and branches while waiting on prey. When hunting for food, a laeda will spin multiple webs connecting two branches- often having at least 5 at one time. When one is ‘activated’ catching a prey, the laeda will rush to that web and bite the creature to inject toxic venom.

It will then wrap the creature in the rest of the web and carry it back to its nest area while it waits for the creature to die. Once sure the creature is dead the laeda will go back to the area and create a new web for the rest of the day or night. The smaller laeda work in a similar fashion, though on a much shorter scale. Due to hunting much smaller prey they can create webs much quicker allowing for more chances at catching food. They are stuck though as if they build their webs too far down any travelers through the area are likely to get caught and take it down while they move through the area.

The lower areas though have various small reptilian creatures though that can feed a small laeda for nearly a week as opposed to having to catch an exorbitant amount of small nat or mosquito creatures. One of the smaller lizards similar to the sostassa of the Schaum Sand Dunes is called the choweven. Anatomically it is all but the same, with the only major difference being a dark green coloring. Their name comes partly from the crunching chewing sound the lizard makes when eating leaves. An omnivore, the choweven will eat the fallen leaves from the understory trees, or if they’re more daring attempt to find a small Laeda to catch.

The two species cross each other in scale with the smallest laeda being easy prey to a choweven, but a midsized laeda has no issue taking on a small choweven. Due to this, unless extremely confident or pushed from its territory, a small vhoweven will usually end up an herbivore living on the forest floor to avoid any possible run ins with and laeda. This makes them susceptible to any travelers of the Tor’gha clan crushing them by moving too quickly without care for where they step.

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	Tor'gha Kin'toni Clan

Place

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Sulhat Volcanic Wastes

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This article is written by Crystal Iris. Copyright 2026 Crystal Iris. All rights reserved.