Nys'aw Cold Forest

Place

Place Name:

Nys'aw Cold Forest

Biome:

Cold Forest

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

The Nys’aw region is a territory on the eastern side of Taerel. It’s a moderately large territory, about the same size as the Rak'ust Middle Tundra. To its immediate south border is the Yatech Sandy Mountains, which borders on a dry almost desert like climate of the neighboring regions. Some distance to the northeast sits the Trin Lush Swampy Grove, farther to the South is the Oria Dry Mountain.

The Nys’aw region is one of the Southern edge regions to have a taiga type climate. The surface of the region is extremely ‘bland’ and ‘un-unique’ in that it holds the typical things that would classify it as a ‘cold forest’ or taiga. The precipitation is mostly in the form of snow or a passing rain shower. There’s a forest, largely covered in snow during the cold season, with it melting during the warmer season. There is the occasional group that make their homes within the forest.

But they are non-permanent structures similar to tents that travel with them and leave little to no marks when they are removed. Beneath the forest is where the region thrives in its uniqueness. There’s a series of underground tunnels connecting the various caves and large caverns across both the Nys’aw region and the Yatech Sandy mountain. There are smaller fissures in the caves that connect to other surrounding regions’ caverns as well, though they are impossible for anything larger than a Lamil (a small hedgehog like creature) to navigate.

After getting a decent way into the caves there are large drop-offs and cliff like edges which cut off most if not all sunlight from the surface. Those drop off are part of large echoing chambers that the Phuis will use while communicating. The deeper one ventures in the caves and caverns, the more chambers there are; each covered in hieroglyphic paintings created by the Phuis that have various meanings ranging from information on navigating the more well-known and traveled caves to things like past rituals and their various instructions.

There are 5 types throughout the Phuis’ homes, each having their own specific place they can be used along with other meanings. Due to this, the various areas that have the hieroglyphs will glow different colors in different sections from the various plants used to make the specific glyph. In some of the deepest sections of the cavern system inside the Nys’aw territory are subterranean lagoons, and closest to the Yatech territory are geothermal grottos. The lagoons while moderately warm from being underground are still quite cool in temperature.

The grottos by the Yatech region in comparison are much warmer in comparison, almost to the level of hot springs. This is due to the Yatech having geothermal vents underground, which heat the water sources in the immediate area. From small vents and fissures in the caves, there’s also heat that is dispersed into the air of various caves from the vents which provided a comfortably warm temperature in the caves despite the frigid temperatures of the surface.

Plants

The Nys’aw region has the most variety in plants underground. Most of the plants grow in both the Yatech and Nys’aw region due to their interconnected tunnels. The plants underground are all bioluminescent and act as the main light source for the Phuis since they rarely are at a place where the sunlight can reach them. Some of these plants are the b'vaunyu, tx'wi, pyilair, arkir, and the vyira. The b'vaunyu is an algae type plant that grows in the caverns that are closest to the surface that glows a cyan color.

They mostly grow from the various runoff water from the snow that melts from the surface above. The tx'wi is a lichen like plant that grows in the lagoons that glows a deep rich blue color. It collects water from the air, so it is used specifically in the darker cavern systems that are extremely humid or have water in them. The pyilair is a hybrid tree-fungus type plant that grows in the geothermal grottos in the Nys’aw region. It glows a bright orange when the roots are used to create glyphs.

When its in its full plant form, there is a dull orange glow that makes it look like it is on fire. The arkir almost never grows in the Nys’aw, but has made a rare appearance in the heating vents connecting the two regions. They are a succulent like plant with red glowing leaves. Vyira is an intense green glowing wall creeping plant that’s found throughout the caves, though it is largely concentrated in the mid and lowest levels in the tunnel system. Theres also a variety of fungi type plants that are edible for kin’toni that the Phuis regularly partake in eating.

They are minorly toxic depending on the consumer- though the Phuis have adapted to repurpose the poison in their system. The most common is the ialor, which is a red mushroom type plant that grows in a dome shape. Despite its low nutritional value it is eaten widely due to its good flavor. Some of the others are the eny'ir which has a bad and rotten taste and the cyalir which is considered a delicacy. The rarest of the lot is the anuvir which is found exclusively in deposits below the various caverns.

It is exceedingly toxic to non Phuis as the consumers experiences intense to debilitating pain. On the surface, the forest is made up of the Tulun tree. It is a tree that is identical in appearance to the blue spruce tree. The only difference is that the bark grows in a pale tan to near white patches that appear to the snow that covers the region. The needles on the tulun tree last for nearly 2 entire years before they start to wilt to a yellow tone and fall off. There are various small shrub plants that the zu’aan tribes use as part of their food source.

A plant similar to the pahn berry of the Cersahim region, the pyal berry is a ‘cousin’ of the bush and holds all the same properties the pahn does except that the berries on the pyal bush are nearly the size of fruits and only grow in about groups of 12 per bush.

Animals

The Nys’aw has a wide variety of animals that live in the region. The first two are bat like creatures. The berkaja is a mini bat that while traveling made its way to Nys’aw as well as the Trin Lush Swampy Grove. They’ve stayed similar to each other over the years, with the only difference being that the Berkaja of the Nys’aw have slightly larger ears that are better suited for the larger open caverns as opposed to the ears that are slightly smaller for the tighter passages in the Trin region.

They are far too small to act as a proper meal for the Phuis, so they often watch and track them to catch some of the larger animals in the caverns. The other bat like creature is the berkurru. Its is a large bat that is an omnivore; due to the nature of the plants in the caves, the berkurru has gained bioluminescent properties over the years. Their skin has a moderately bright glow, but it covered by a layer of fur that acts as a dampener for the light. Their bellies have a fine layer of thin and soft fur that they use to make extra bright.

They have minor control of their luminance and will use it to entrance other creatures. They hunt in groups of two to five, so while one is entrancing the prey, the others depending on how large it is, will swoop from the sides and behind to take it down. They take turn trading off so that all will be fed by the end of their hunt; if not any extra gathered fruits and various plants will be conceded to the unfed members to make sure that they have enough energy for the next hunt.

The Phuis will often attempt to catch them but are usually only successful with the slower and older of the berkurru, as they often keep to the tops of the caverns while not hunting. There are other various vermin type creatures that live deep underground that the Phuis make their other main meals beyond the various fungi. The most common though are salamander like creatures and worm like creatures. The shurrel is a massive sized worm like creature that lives in the caves and is often the cause of the various vents.

It looks like an earth worm in appearance but can grow to the size of a tapeworm as is often just smaller in diameter than a fist. The shurrel gets most of its nutrients by consuming the various rocks in the region, though some have been known to consume fungi and the other various bioluminescent plants in the area when their diet is not sufficient. They grow in large numbers, one being able to have 100 at least per breeding season. Because of this they are extremely easy to find- especially as at the apex of each ridge glows a bright, almost yellow, greenish tone.

In the lowest trough of each ridge they glow more midscale green. It is slow in its movement and often makes it the prey of most every carnivorous creature around.

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	Phuis Kin'toni Clan

Place

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Nys'aw Cold Forest

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