Kalit'mal Seasonal Forest

Place

Place Name:

Kalit'mal Seasonal Forest

Biome:

Seasonal Forest

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

What would a forest be without a lake? A forest without a lake, probably. Kalit’mal isn’t one of those dreary, dry forests; it has lots of lakes. It also has some mountains nearby, so the views are hardly dull. The scenery of the lands it borders is quite fascinating. Kalit’mal is an uncivilized land. Its borders lead to other uncivilized lands. There’s a large mountain to the north of Kalit’mal. The city in which the Voont clan lives is to the northwest of Kalit’mal — this is no exception to the rule of Kalit’mal bordering no civilized lands, since the city is rather barbaric.

To the west, is a river, separating Kalit’mal from another forest, another distinctly different forest. Southwest? An enormous lake, far bigger than any lake in Kalit’mal, which the previously mentioned river runs into. South — the same lake. Southeast you’ll find another mountain. East, some wide plains. And finally, to the northeast, the plains stretch even further. The previously mentioned lakes of Kalit’mal are where most of the cabins were built around and are consequently also the places where you’ll find the most ruined cabins. They’re also the sites where the most trees grow, as well as the largest trees.

The Voont kin’tonis have selected a section of the lakeside forest to begin their large-scale carpentry with, because of the size of these trees. These logging camps (for lack of a better term) of the Voont clan are simple affairs. A couple tents for those kin’tonis who want to rest here, a couple grindstones for sharpening axes and saws, and a couple trees ready to be dragged off to the workshops. Some of these workshops are close by to the logging camps, but others are all the way back in the city. In the workshops you’ll find Voont kin’tonis working day and night to saw trees into more manageable chunks, like planks.

These planks are then sent to the workshops in the city; the workshops in the forest of Kalit’mal don’t make the finished goods, just the parts for them. Kalit’mal also has a few farms out here in the forest; they grew mostly cotton, since they were in the business of weaving as well as in the business of carpentry, but they also grow other plants of the non-edible variety, specifically the ones used for crafts — plants that you can crush into dyes being a prominent example of these plants. The paths of Kalit’mal are a bit twisty. It’s easy to get lost in them, though one is seldom lost for long.

Since the nearby mountains and lakes make for rather obvious landmarks. But there are secrets hidden here and there for those willing to put the effort in to look for them. Secrets like little structures from two hundred and fifty years ago that have yet to rot or burn. Knowing something like that could help you out if you’re being chased by hostile warriors — hiding places in Kalit’mal are plenteous.

Plants

The twisting trees of Kalit’mal come in two varieties: the talaka and the aklcua. Such are the names that the Voont kin’tonis have given to them, and since they’re informative and practical names, no one has yet bothered to suggest giving them fancier names. talaka and aklcua have one thing in common: their twisting trunks. You have no idea how hard it is to find a tree in Kalit’mal that grows straight — you can search for hours without finding anything other than acres upon acres of twisting trunks. Carpenters have given up on finding any better trees.

Instead finding ways to better use the twisting logs that they have. The primary difference between talaka and aklcua is fairly obvious: one is easier to cut and makes sturdier furniture, while the other resists any kind of shaping, preferring to shatter rather than cut. The Voont kin’tonis use aklcua for certain purposes, but it’s no secret that the talaka are superior to aklcua in most regards. Admittedly, aklcua look a bit nicer than talaka: their bark is darker and twists in a more elegant pattern, their branches spread out further, they’re generally bigger.

Their leaves have a less awkward shape, and the colour their leaves turn in the autumn is always a deep red. Still, talaka are no eyesore either, and most woodcutters, no matter how artistic, will take a grove of talaka over a grove of aklcua any day. There’s one plant that the Voont make sure to gather whenever they can, even though it’s not a tree. It’s the mathriudi. Once again, the use of this plant is easily deduced from its name. Mathriudi are small little waxy berries that grow on only slightly larger bushes.

A single mathriudi bush is about the size of a fist — fortunately, they tend to grow in very large clumps of dozens of bushes, so wild mathriudi pickers don’t have to roam for months just to pick a basketful. As it is, Candelberries are easier to farm than to gather from wild bushes — though the ones that grow on wild bushes are slightly larger than the cultivated ones. When the mathriudi have been gathered, they are crushed in a pestle and mortar to drain them of water. This water is replaced with another substance — usually an alcohol of some sort.

The flesh of the mathriudi reacts with the alcohol — often setting itself on fire in the process, so you have to be ready to put that fire out — and you’re left with a soft, sticky substance, which can be pressed into sheets, and then rolled into candles, by hand. Candles are a useful commodity in this day and age, when electricity is very, very difficult to come by and fireplaces are not present in all houses. With candles, you have light. And with light, you can keep working even in the darkness. Mathriudi also make good snacks, surprisingly.

Animals

The usual small critters which you can find in other forests, you can find in Kalit’mal. But there’s one of these common forest critters which is extra common in Kalit’mal — namely, the xilip. Xilips are tiny mammals that feed on grasses, and little else. This allows them to live basically anywhere, which is good for them, because they have no defences against predators other than their ability to reproduce in absurd quantities and their ability to hide in dark places. A xilip is roughly the size of a thumb when full-grown. Their long, lithe bodies are generally covered in dark brown fur.

But there are plenty that have dark green fur instead. Green xilips have a malfunctioning gene causing their bodies to fail to process the chlorophyl in the grass that they eat, and though the green substance dies as it goes through the digestive system, it does still retain its greenness. Then it gets stuck in the fur and never really goes away. Why are xilips extra common in Kalit’mal? It’s because there are a lot of holes in the ground that only they can fit into. These holes are caused by the roots of mathriudi bushes, that have rotted and disappeared.

Of course, these holes are seldom sturdy, and stepping on one could probably kill about a dozen xilips, but they only live for a few months anyways. If you’re still concerned about not stepping on them, then just stop going into Kalit’mal altogether, because mathriudi bushes and thus also xilip holes can be just about anywhere. There are of course predators willing to take advantage of all this defenceless food lying around — the serpentine Burrowyrm being the primary example. They’ll tunnel right into xilip nests, devour the occupants, and then tunnel off elsewhere to find another one.

Their appetites are quite large, except during the winter, which the spend the whole of hibernating. You can’t just throw your nose at a wall and expect it to give way, so how do iwyahri do just that? Well, like regular worms, they eat the soil and let it pass through their digestive systems, gathering whatever nutrients might be in that soil at the same time. If there happens to be a xilip in this soil, all well and good. iwyahri move a little slower when they’re digesting a whole family of the things, but on the whole it’s not that big of an inconvenience.

Iwyahri have neither teeth nor poison, so theoretically it’s possible that one might emerge from the soil you’re standing on and bite your toe without your noticing. It will then be stuck on your toe until you remove it, since iwyahri are entirely incapable of going backwards.

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	Voont Kin'toni Clan

Place

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Kalit'mal Seasonal Forest

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This article is written by Xerxes Worldweaver. Copyright 2026 Xerxes Worldweaver. All rights reserved.