Ques Rocky Valley

History

Historical Overview

History by Age

The sanctimonious sanctuary to the zu'aan of Loran, the Ques Rocky Valley was civilised by these immigrants from the north. Their shelter from the great hirakari giants that roam the plains, it lies between two young fold mountains; the dual angels of their faith. A land of much volatile propensities, of battles fought in vain and soldiers sacrificed under mutual camaraderie, it goes through a periodic decline caused by the oscillation of the season. Before the Shattering era, marauders and pirate mercenaries would fall into formation along the mountain edges, surrounding the Loran people from all directions and ruling over the sky with their haphazard display of aerial strength.

The flamed arrows would rain down on the people of Loran, sometimes to no end. The renowned "Formation of Cardon", a type of plant that thrived under heat, became the river-supported barricade that battled the riot flames from up above. The Loran grew to worship the water they fought with. And the river became the allegory of victory. Alas, the enemies were no novices to war. Over the decades, they would sediment the river that was central to the Loran Faith, attacking its flow and creating tributaries that forced it into the ocean.

Thus came about "The Death of Water" in the Ques Valley. Centuries later, it would be renamed, now the "Ques Rocky Valley," and the rocks shone like ashes, taunting the countless people that succumbed to the flames of destruction. Luckily for the inhabitants, the Awakening happened and the kin'toni rose, and the marauders were forced off the plain. And for this new era of environmental decay, the valley was the perfect natural stronghold. This is how the Loran zu'aan thrived when all else shriveled, like a bear that hibernates during the winter.

Eventually, life returned to the valley, oblivious to the concerns that plagued the plains. Of course, this stability of life was not to last. The first large landslide of the valley broke apart the city walls, crashing into the town hall and reducing the governing body by half under the Loran's curse of natural murder. The tribe was instantly divided as countless leaders lost their lives to the calamity. Under such conditions, the first known leader of the Lorans emerged, marked as "The Supreme" in the Loranian kinglist.

To the historian's amusement, it was not a king, but a queen. Two of them. In the records, their name was "The Karmuri Sisters," and it is speculated that they were daughters of the last forgotten ruler, who could have been named Karmuri himself. The sisters famously opened the valley to foreign trade, and among the list of products they obtained was a new type of seed, grown in a separate valley, a type of seed that was harvestable year-round and had a germination period of 4 months.

The seed that the Lorans called "Ques," and what catapulted them to economic prosperity. The sisters would start a lineage of rulers under the surname "Karmuri," names of which can be found in the kinglist. And this lineage ended with the 7th ruler, Toyota Karmuri, through no fault of his own. This would be the beginning of the end for the Lorans, the defeat of settled life. It is speculated that the plague reached the valley later than others, and would not have reached them had the foreign trade routes been closed decisively.

But as the first of the Loran were converted into kin'toni, the valley was thrown into battle, as sons murdered their fathers in a kin'tonian thirst for blood, the same blood that built the valley to prosperity. Those who were not infected ran away. So did those who were bit but hadn't reclused into kin'toni yet. As they turned, even the task of escape became a struggle. And the tribe was hunted by the very people it ran away with. The core valley was abandoned by the tribe, and it became the stronghold of the kin'toni.

Who still hold captive Toyota Karmuri and his descendants, the blood of the strongest generations in zu'aan. Signalling to all zu'aan the futility of struggle. However, the Loran City zu'aan haven't given up. They occupy secret strongholds of their own, made throughout the valley over centuries. They bide their time, plotting to reclaim the small yet significant core of the valley. This was "The Rock of Ques," the zu'aan that were able to defy the kin'toni for the longest time, without running.

Geography

The Ques Rocky Valley is prominently located amidst the Sually mountain range, the byproduct of ages of weathering by a major tributary of the Sually River, Mystne, that flows to the north from the top of the mountain. Famously, in the Lorans' struggle against marauders, the tributary was blocked and offset into the first giant ocean, running the valley dry and changing the geological landscape. This drying of the valley, along with sufficient time and earthly pressure, was what made the valley "rocky" (hence renamed the "Ques Rocky Valley").

It is truly a geologist's treasure chest, especially the depression that once was the Mystne River, deity of the Loran Faith, where still exist fossilised remains of aquatic animals that inhabited the river ecosystem. It is speculated that the valley moulded itself around the river initially, but after the death of Mystne, shifted into a more even and habitual formation. The nature of vegetation changed due to the eventual suffocation of the river, much of it succumbing to a dehydrated state of semi-existence.

And presently, resembling desert plants, forming an ironic connection to the Loran's valiant "Cardon barricade" or "Cactus Standoff" against the marauders' fiery onslaught. Diorite, a composition between granite and basalt, is one type of igneous rock found in the valley. It is often known as "Black Granite," presently used as the kin'toni's cobblestone, an efficient blocker of the down-bearing sun. Although there is plenty of diorite, the sediments, a small part from the river and mostly from the folding of the mountain over centuries, form the majority of the sedimentary rocks around the area, particularly shale.

Shale is mixed with limestone to make durable structures for the guerrilla zu'aan battlements that occupy strategic points of the valley. The valley is lower than most valleys are, attaining sub-sea level measurements. Thus, most of the winds just blow over it. Moreover, its being lower allows for the domineering mountains to provide shade to the vegetation to the east, which escapes the afternoon heat. Thus, we find plants and surrounding geology behaving differently depending on their interaction with the sun.

Because of the nature of river valleys, some of the first societies and civilisations are often found there and last for a long time. Much like the Loran zu'aan were able to survive in one place despite the kin'toni. The additional depression of the valley allowed them to evade direct combat through simple barricading. The valley is located near "The First Giant Ocean," literally called the giant ocean, and the Sually River runs into it. The ocean was also responsible for proving a geographical advantage to the Loran zu'aan against the marauders, as they had to worry about attacks from only one side.

The area and surrounding geology still await official exploration, but new discoveries surely await.

Plants

As briefly mentioned in the Geography section, the vegetation in Ques Valley has a dual existence. Towards the eastern front of the valley, the shrubs are shaded from daytime heat and are able to retain water better, this is where greenery resides. Thus, this front has greener shrubs like mystine (named after the river Mystne) and raydusk, which faces sunrays exclusively before dusk. Both these plants like to sprawl wildly towards the little sunlight they receive in the evening.

They gain considerable ground, but not much in terms of height, making it the most available nourishment for surrounding fauna. Although the really tiny animals feed on whatever wild overgrowths they're able to find. This wildness exists only on the eastern front, adorning whatever little patches of dirt they're able to find. The area chronically under the sun has thorny plants, whose primary function is to preserve as much water as possible. A historically famous example of such a plant is "cardon", popularised in the Lorans' standoff against the flame of the marauders, because of their barricade which held water excellently, hence named "The Cardon Barricade."

There are a few trees present in the valley, but reproduction remains an issue. As their is no wind, propagation for flowered plants like carma, a hybrid variant of the extinct calta dune and mystine, occurs primarily through kiri that land on the petals to extract its nectar. The carma is a tall shrub that grows white medicinal round petals which later gained popularity among the kin'toni masses. It is perhaps the only shrub that grows vertically rather than laterally in the entire valley.

In an area such as the valley, plants would increase their surface area to get as much of the rain as they could, while for the carma that was no issue, as it benefitted from the hybrid nature of calta dune and mystine, both plants with immense vitality. For the kin'toni stronghold that was created after the Lorans' relinquishment of the core valley, huge chunks of flora were cut down, which were originally left to grow unchecked by the tribe. If you are interested in the extinction of calta dune in the valley, I refer you to the animal section.

Animals

The diversion of the river flow spelled death for the valley's ecosystem. Suddenly, the rich aquatic life was non-existent, and the original order of things was destroyed. Some fauna, such as the cramish flying carnivores that fed on fish, simply migrated to the north. Others were not so lucky. Somewhere along the onslaught of time, or perhaps throughout time, the nature of animals shifted to suit the new and semi-arid valley's condition. The original cramish creatures of flight were replaced by the desert harenae that flew over from the south.

In the monsoons, they prey on nats, kiri that are forced out of their caves seasonally. Interestingly, the harenae were forced to adapt as omnivores, and thrive on the post monsoon leafy greens like Mystine and Raydusk. Note: (kiri - minuscule organisms with exoskeletons). The nats themselves, about as big as the average zu'aan finger, survive on cave Millyweed (wild grass during the monsoon). They are eaten by the valleyside mavens. A carnivorous mammal that ate bugs, reptiles and hunted the hirakari giants in packs.

The zu'aan considered the Mavens their comrades reborn. Often commenting that, "If only they stood on two legs, we would be two alike." The mavens often accompanied the Loran off into battle. Sometimes as the infamous "flame maven," the tribe releasing a batch of these savages with their tails lit afire into the enemy camp. This wasn't as inhumane as it sounds, as the maven's tail had no blood flow, and could regenerate over a period of months. The Mavens were the only animals that threw the Marauder's fire back at them, unafraid.

However, in the food chain there is always someone more lethal, and the Mavens would be hunted by the gorlocks. The gorlocks were a giant creature, about 10 feet tall and a quarter as broad. For their size, they were animals of considerable strength, often encroaching upon sleeping packs and ending them with a flick of the wrist. However, they preferred to stay clear of civilisation, forcing the mavens to cluster with the tribe. Most animals in the valley region had high survivability, and the tribe had co-existed with them for centuries.

They didn't hunt the animals for anything they could provide, and the only animal deaths at the hands of the tribe were those that occurred in self-defence. Most of these animals that died at the hands of the tribe were susceptible to the kin'toni plague. Primarily the inert caliter mammals, which the plague turned into kin'toni-like creatures sensitive to sunlight. They were renamed the "blood caliters" by the Loran due to their new found fascination with the colour red.

Interestingly, the blood caliters didn't actually consume blood, but attacked anything that was red in their vision. The flowers of calta dune went extinct in the valley due to this fascination of the cursed species with red. The tribe believed that the tendencies of these quasi kin'toni could be studied and analysed to prepare for the kin'toni. They believed in an antidote to the plague through the blood caliters. Interestingly, most information on the blood caliters was concealed by the kin'toni.

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	Loran City Zu'aan