Echnend Stone Mountains

History

Geography

The mountains provide a secure yet chaotic ecosystem from the outside world. They are spread in the form of a rather wide mountain range. Majority of the mountain ranges have a lot of trees and vegetation spread in patches where the trees managed to survive and adapt to the heavy snow and tough conditions. Most of the trees are quite thick and sturdy making the forests they form almost seem like a wooden fortress. There are some mountain bases where a seemingly eternal fog looms there, obscuring any and everything in there. Other mountains and especially at higher elevations seem to house a deep and interwoven network of caves. There are some stories and myths of what lies within the center of such caves.

Although there are many different mountains there, a single colossus stands out from the rest. That is the Echnend Aehir Mountain, the dormant giant. This fascinating mountain exists right at the central region. It towers considerably over any other of its numerous brothers and sisters and can be easily seen from afar. The Aehir Mountain is the oldest mountain there, having been arisen from a great volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. As a result of this, some areas near the base of the Aehir Mountain are enriched with a very fertile soil. This mountain also possess a frozen deep lake at its summit because of its long years of inactivity.

Taking a wider look at the mountain range, you would also see numerous bodies of water scattered randomly. These bodies of water can either be fully frozen or still in liquid form, such a thing depends on where they are located. A few mountains have some rivers flowing. Some of these rivers are seasonal where they completely disappear with in colder seasons especially in winter. Waterfalls are also common at such mountains especially at the base. When it comes to the weather on these mountains it can simply be described as mild on the best days and extremely hazardous on other not-so-good days of the year. The weather there is very random and it varies a lot depending on the time of day and on the time of year.

In warmer seasons, these mountains are not so bad and horrific and they can provide a decent living space for animals that have adapted to it. But when it comes to the colder seasons and especially winter even the hardest and strongest animals cannot bear it or survive without a good shelter. Nearly all animals go to hibernation there. The few that don't resort to hibernation stick to inhabiting caves while maintaining the temperature of the body and going out every once in a while searching for food. Fog is also a common occurrence on the mountains. It is usually heavy and greatly hinders vision making it the main reason some animals have an overdeveloped sense of smell or hearing or any other adaption to combat this.

Plants

The plant life in these mountains is not very varied. The reason for this is that harsh weather conditions force only the strongest and most adaptive species to survive. But, those that manage to do that are quite remarkable such as: Denrmos elder trees, oslid bushes and the Maim shrubs to name a few. Denrmos trees are a source of fascination because, even though they show signs of being a higher developed organism in terms of the plant kingdom, they reproduce by sporogony (using spores). This, no matter how strange it might seem, is an absolutely beneficial things to those trees where the spores are in a thick outer coat that is hard to be penetrated and it also offers a quick to propagate and even find more forgiving climates than the Echnend Mountains.

Along with their unique mean of reproduction. They also grow very high in both directions up and down: the roots penetrate the crust and the ground with tremendous force and capability, securing the plant against the heavy winds and storms while the wood, bark, twigs and other parts are extremely stiff, hard and rigid to face the wind and the weather. They can be found all throughout the mountains and in different elevations even at the summit itself. Denrmos elder trees are adorned with thick black bark almost as black as the night sky or a bottle of ink. Because of its sturdiness and elegant shape; it was always demanded by royalty and the elites almost as a status symbol. Even a wafer thin sheet of the bark can withstand a lot of pressure before breaking.

Their leaves are needle-like and are coated heavily in an insulating substance similar to cutin to prevent water loss. The leaves are permanent and they do not in most cases fall off annually. Oslid Bushes are another innovative creature if they can be described as such. These bushes do not have the same strong wood or stem to resist the tough external factors, resulting in their growth in generally more calmer areas at the middle of bottom of the mountains. The oslid bushes also have deep roots similar to those of the denrmos elders with the exception of long horizontal roots to accumulate as much rain water as possible… Now the actual innovative thing about these bushes is how they get food.

There comes a certain stage where the oslids matured enough to develop their own flowers, the orann flowers. These special flowers often have bright vibrant colours which easily sets them apart from the surroundings. The Orann flowers also seem to emit a faint luminance at night. The orann flowers are the second feeding mechanism for the Oslids where, when they are pollinated and turned into fruit , they are specifically grown with enticing colours and aromas to attract animals, mainly herbivores, to the bush. When the herbivore eats from it, the natural toxicity of the fruit is powerful enough to neutralize it and kill it during its eating. Then the corpse decays giving fresh organic matter to the soil and rejuvenating the oslids.

The Maim shrubs are the most abundant and safest species spread across the mountains. They usually grow in dense patches of vegetation and are typical short with the outliers being very rare. They are considered the main source of food for the ecosystem of the Echnend Mountains due to their fast growth and almost all-year presence excluding the winter months.

Animals

There are a few animals specific to the Echnend Stone mountains and they are: rilin, umav, toden, worar, garzgha and the draler. The rilin and draler are Herbivores. The umav and garzgha are omnivores while the Toden and Worar are the only but also very abundant scavenger. The rilin have two side eyes, walk on all fours and are equipped with thick coats upon thick coats of fur that is also enforced with more layers of fat underneath. This feature proves itself quite effect in maintaining body temperature even during horrible storms. The rilin’s fur is usually white in order to camouflages with the environment and avoid predators.

The rilin rely on the maim shrubs for their daily feeding. They are endowed with strong jaws and teeth in order to gather all the nutrients they can including the roots and the not-so-thick woody stems. Rilins have no defensive mechanisms except for their possession of strong horns that can be used to ram into potential predators. The horns are typically pointy sharp and also widely spread to provide decent control. The rilins usually resort to migration in packs within colder seasons due to the inability of hiding in shelters because of predators. The rilins reproduce without a specific mating season but rather whenever they see the situation as suitable for more offspring.

The draler is an insect-like organism that typically has 6 or 8 legs although some individuals have more. The draler is about the size of a zu’aan’s hand or larger. The draler has a tough and rigid outer shell that withstands pebbles , rocks and even avalanches. Its body is usually black and when it hides in its shell it can look and feel like a rock especially with the rough texture of its shell. The fraler has complex eyes with many lenses in order to see clearly. It has mandibles that extend forward in order to facilitate its feeding. It is worth noting that it has a higher poison resistance than other creatures allowing it to eat limited amounts of the oslid’s fruit.

The fraler usually lay a large number of eggs during mating seasons and the young are typical raised in hords together underground or in a convenient cave The draler undergoes hibernation during winter months. The Umav is a brilliant yet horrifying carnivore. It is a bipedal creature that looms over most zu’aan. Its fur is a sharp grey and white . Its talons are extremely sharp and so are its teeth and fangs. Its feet are strong hooves that are also swift and silent. Its skull and face are humanoid looking which led some to believe it is some sort of kin’toni . However, that is yet to be confirmed The umav displays a considerable amount of intelligence where it has been proven that the Umav can starve itself even in the presence of a small number of prey, in order to stalk them hoping to reach a larger crowd.

The umav usually devours all of its victims' corpses leaving only the hard parts. The Umav has also shown its ability to pick its fights and retreat when it is overpowered or outnumbered. The garzgha is a dangerous yet delicate predator. It is a large crawling scaly creature that crawls on all fours and it is very sensitive to changes in temperature. The garzgha has a strong jaw and a lasso-like tongue thay allows it to capture faraway prey and then eat it swiftly. The garzgha usually remains inert and inactive during warmer times of the year and resumes its activity during the colder one. It typically feeds on hibernating dralers. The garzgha also comes in conflict with the umav regularly considering that they both show some territorial behaviour to other predators like themselves.

The garzgha usually inhabits the higher regions of the mountains favouring its atmosphere. The worar is rather a small feathery creature with two wings and a singular peculiar eye in the front of its face. Its peak is tough and typically sloped downwards. The worars generally have black peaks and feathers although some of them can be brown. The worar has a singular big eye in the front of its face and that eye is covered with a transparent yet compact dome. The dome protects the eye from minute particles and also hydrates the eye allowing the worar to not blink for an impressive amount of time. The worar typically nests in the denrmos trees utilising their sturdy branches to the max. Worars have sharp piercing talons in order to efficiently cut a dead body into smaller sizable chunks.

The worar is a scavenger which feeds primarily on victims of the oslid bushes and their flowers and fruits resulting in a codependent relationship where both can help the other exist. The toden is quite an uncommon creature where it mixes between being a scavenger and a parasite. Todens are particularly small and no more than a finger long. They crawl around on their stomachs and are mostly overlooked by other organisms. Todens either gather in groups around any corpse or bone which they find and proceed to squeeze all the nutrients that they can get out of it. Todens might also attach themselves to other animals , typically herbivores , then proceed to hijack their blood circulation for nutrients. They remain attached with their funnel like mouth and sharp teeth and cause discomfort and pain to the host.

Toden hosts do not survive on the long term as long as they are drained of blood. Todens may lay their eggs inside the hosts veins and arteries where their eggs are durable enough to withstand the pressure and also the wet environment is usually beneficial for a toden's growth.

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	Onol City Zu'aan}