An'und Grove

Place

Place Name:

An'und Grove

Biome:

Grove

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

History

Historical Overview

An'und Grove is an ancient forestal location deep within the north of Taerel. The ancient trees in An'und Grove have mothered the surrounding forest for age, and these trees has given life for centuries, and likely will provide life for many more generations to come. The forest in ancient times was a lush, fertile habitat. Native people would have harvested many plants and medicines, including regog, which is one of the most famous herbs in this semi continental region of Taerel. Thus An'und, this heavily secluded and practically hidden forestal grove, is the perfect habitat for forest-dwelling communities and seekers of quiet, meditative places, as well as biologists and botanists alike.

It has served this way for millennia. The first colonizers of the An'und region were likely nomads from before the Copper Ages and zu'aan recorded history in Taerel. These records are, sadly, unexistent, but the fact that zu'aan have remained in An'und for apparently all of recorded history shows a clear clue that were present in the region even beforehand, for old enough that the fact they existed in such a region was deemed unnecessary to record for the old scholars and the first historians. An'und has seen a fair number of zu'aan influence throughout the centuries. These can be seen in the deepest embers of the forest, hidden underground grottos and temples above the surface, as well as old clay villages and entire ancient graveyards and cerimonial burial sites.

None of these buildings are very large or over the top, likely in order to preserve the forest grounds, and most of them have been consumed by their surroundings as the ages have passed, barely having survived. Many of these have met their ruin so long ago that new, ancient trees have already grown in their rigid corpses. The communities in An'und, in the modern age, were mainly rural and focused on vacational and meditative retreats, as modern society sees little value in living in a forest. When the Awakening Age struck, they were luckly well suited to handle their own survival, living in a very protected region of this region of Taerel, as its located in a remote site away from most other civilizations, and they helped the surrounding regions a fair amount, taking in refugees and amassing resources.

There were many traditional medical facilities in An'und that proved of great use during the kin'toni conflicts, and though they had little verse in the ways of military grade combat and weaponry, they did not need to fight much, as they were practically surrounded by other zu'aan territories in the far south, and large mountains in the north. It became very much a survival's retreat, and a place for those unfit in combat to remain and be useful in other, more theoric ways. A number of changes have occured in the fragile forest ecosystem as of the Twilight Age, the merciless wave of cold closing in from the north and the south. The mosses, for instance, have changed their positions, and the trees’ roots have migrated away from the ocean shores into the forest canopy, to avoid the frost that would destroy them.

Despite losing much of their foliage, the trees still stand strong and tall, despite the future they have to look forward to. Some of these trees are as old as 8,000 years.

Geography

An'und is a forestal grove situated in a remote valley/canyon in a small continental region off the northern shores of Taerel. A very remote and hidden location, it became perfect during the Awakening Age to seek shelter by zu'aan, as it is the only inhabited region in the patch of land it resides upon. Of course, this making living there challenging, but zu'aan can also be met with a plethora of natural resources unique or otherwise to the region, as well as remnants of buildings that, while many of them went dysfunctional after the Awakening Age struck and electricity and the majority of communications went out, are still more or less intact and provide, at the very least, infrastructure.

The region does not harbor a very large zu'aan population, and it could be said that the reason behind their recent technological progresses is the fact that most of their buildings remain stable, and they have gone largely unnoticed by kin'toni tribes, mainly focused on inland zu'aan communities. An'und is subject to a humid tropical climate that brings frequent rainfall during the cold seasons, and a drier but still humid hot season mainly centered in summer and midsummer. Notably, temperatures drop very early at the end of summer, and only rise back up towards the start of next summer, remaining cool and even frigid during most of the year. This cold and humid weather brings about many fogs during the cold seasons, along with rain storms, thunder storms, snow and snow storms, lasting from late autumn all the way to the start of spring, typically bringing about up to 14 inches of snow, and very strong winds.

There are small instances of flooding, though they are not eventuful despite the high rainfall during the cold season, although the snow will bring some occasional problems. There is a small possibility of earthquakes in the region, due to its proximity to a tectonic plate division, and a smaller possibility of tsunamis striking the coast, though it has been a fair deal of years since something like it has happened. There are no volcanoes in the area or nearby, and no other natural disaster has a fair chance of happening in the region. Insect plagues have happened in the past and are common in summer and fall, due to the abrupt change of temperature.

Most commonly, after heavy periods of the rain the soil will become drenched, due to the lower position of the grove forest in relation to its surrounding habitat, and web making insects and arthopods will build vast amounts of interconnected silk in order to avoid the ground. Flying insects will also become abudant as summer comes around, as temperatures tend to soar from cold to relatively warm. The local zu'aan are more or less equiped to deal with these plagues, though the Awakening Age has brought difficulties. As of the Twilight Age, snow levels have been increasing and it is becoming more difficult to sustain the ecosystem. Area wise, An'und covers 994 square kilometers, a fairly small biome hidden by the terrain. 

Its surroundings are not inhabited by zu'aan and thus do not pertain to the evaluation of the biome.

Plants

The An'und Grove has a variety of plants that are all able to thrive in the cool forest environment. The mountains and trees cast plenty of shade on the ground so most of the plants have to survive with little sunlight. The trees are nearly black in colour with their leaves being a very dark shade of green. A dense moss called awet covers most of the forest floor. Awet is non-toxic but very bitter tasting and does not hold many nutritional properties. The awet moss can survive frigid temperatures and is able to survive when the ground is near frozen. Sometimes plants will try and grow among the awet but its density typically chokes it out. During the warmer months, there are small black and green vines that grow among the higher branches on the trees.

As soon as the temperature is above freezing, they are able to regenerate among the boughs and hold in extra moisture and warmth for the trees during the cold months. These vines are toxic to be eaten and so far as no discovered healing properties. It is very common for warm month plants to be toxic for kin'toni. Some plants are able to survive around the bases of the tree by pulling water and nutrients through the roots. These plants are in a family called the tyhn who all live in cold-forest areas. The most common tyhn plant in the An'und Grove area is safle. Safle is almost white in colour and covers the bases of tree stumps. It takes many minerals from the roots and the stumps but provides the trees with protection against the icy wind and rain.

Provios, a rare tyhn plant, can take so much from a tree that the tree is forced to die and the nutrients in the plant help create a new one. Provios has many healing properties and is used to heal blistering and swelling. Vegetation is scarce around the grove but some plants are able to survive. Lunases is a small, black and green plant that grows along the edges of water bodies during the spring and summer. The Neerver-orm uses this plant in many natural medicines to heal infections and burns. Lunases is also eaten by some of animals that live around the grove during the warm months. There are no tall plants or shrubs that can survive in the An'und Grove. The plants are either able to survive only during the warm months or they are able to live year round.

Most of the plants do not grow on their own and must be attached to something. There are no shrubs or other large vegetation for them to grow on so usually they attach to the trees or try and grow among the awet. Despite the lack of tall shrubs and other larger plants except for trees, An'und Grove still holds a highly diverse and densely populated forest environment, which is able to bring cover to the zu'aan and enable them to thrive.

Animals

Animal life in An'und Grove is diverse and has a very noticeable presence. It is mainly consistent of small mammals, with some occasional larger exception. Here are a few notable species unique to the region: Kaiase, a small blue rodent that lives around trees and bushes. They are known for forming 'hanging colonies', where medium groups of kaiase will hang from tree branches by their tiny feet. They are light blue in coloration and have thin fur, with white bellies and brown ears. They have an elongated nose which they use to detect their surroundings, having a very powerful sense of smell. They have round ears to the side of their heads, small beady eyes that are moderately less potent than that of a zu'aan, small legs and small arms.

On their backs, they have two appendages shaped like spider legs, with joints and skin tissue wrapped around the bone. These are believed to be the remnants of wings, which over time separated from their arms and became loose in their backs. They use it to move around more easily and to ward off predators, as well as to bring food to their mouths. They are significantly larger than their arms, which are about 3-4 inches, at 8-12 inches. They average at 12 inches in height. The males are similar to the females and they have no specific mating rituals, simply calling for partners and meeting calls themselves (a very loud shriek). The only outwardly difference in sex is that females have a little pouch which they use to store nuts and berries.

While the existence of pouches in mammals typically indicates that it serves the purpose of sheltering recent offspring, these in no way are able to do that, and its a bit of a mystery how, exactly, they evolved this particular trait. They are omnivores and their diet consists mainly of nuts, berries and insects. Aside from arthropods, they do not eat meat. They can be eaten but were generally not hunted by zu'aan prior to the Awakening Age. Due to current scarcity of food sources, however, and also due to their relative abudance, they are once again sought after by the zu'aan. Balej, an amphibious creature with five eyes that inhabits small ponds and shallow bodies of water.

It is shaped like a hollow disk and possesses no limbs, making movement out of water nearly impossible. It moves in water via contracting its body in itself, causing air to burst through holes in the bottom and steering itself with muscles on the edge made for that purpose. It is grey in color and has the ability to fill itself with dirt or sand at the sight of predators or danger, making its body seem very rigid. It feeds on coral and bacteria in the water and is largely unmoving. Technically speaking, it can survive outside of water, as it possesses the ability to filter oxygen from air (why, exactly, is much reason for debate among biologists). They can almost never be found outside of water, however.

They are toxic and cannot be eaten, nor touched, as they will cause long lasting skin irritation. They are not deadly, however.

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	Quet City Zu'aan

Place

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An'und Grove

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