Rak'ust Middle Tundra

Place

Place Name:

Rak'ust Middle Tundra

Biome:

Middle Tundra

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

The Rak’ust Middle Tundra is located in the North of Taerel. It sits just above the Tahnglor Forest, a little to the North East of the center of region. It’s a medium sized region (the entire Etah-mos controlled territory is considered large) and sits between the Sam'ome Frozen Land and the Inekim Ice Peaks. The region used to be extremely large, but Sam’ome claimed a large amount of the region, as well as other territories, leaving the region only a fraction of its original size. Each region absorbed the region into another territory, so the Etah-mos’ section of the Rak’ust is the only by its original name.

No zu’aan or kin’toni have ever or do live in the region so there are no obvious built structures such as homes or storage. The land has, for the most part remained exactly as it has always been. There was a series of tunnels dug after the first attack on them by the mob, with entrances by the various villages that took them up through the Rak’ust region. The Etah-mos hunters used these tunnels so that they could (mostly) get away with their hunts undetected; if they were detected it was before they reached the tunnels. There was a set of decoy tunnels that would cause those who did not know the correct path to be lost in a labyrinth incase they were ever discovered.

The labyrinth measures about half the Rak’ust region. There are a series of faux exits, with traps set so that any who enter the room are trapped until their demise. Some traps include: a over 50 foot ceiling with mirrors to simulate light from an immediate exit in the path (a gate closes once someone reaches about a quarter of the way through); another causes the roof to collapse in on the person and bury them to death; the most brutal is one has the floor covered in chemicals, and a bottle will drop lighting the room and path in flames like those the Sulysh pirates use.

The only safe path and proper exit places them in close vicinity to the Etah-mos castle. There are a series of discrete path markers that lead to the castle, as it was partly built into the side of a mountain bordering the edge of the Tundra and forest, so to the untrained eye it looks to be another outcrop of a mountain peak. For most of the year, all but one month of the year, the Rak’ust region is covered in snow. There are strong winds that will at times cause ‘white out’ blizzard like storms where a person can barely see a few feet in front of them.

There is often snow fall, which leads to the white-outs the region is known for. For a month or so, the snow will melt enough that plants can quickly grow before the region is covered in snow again. The plants only have a small portion of the top soil to grow, as the majorly is in a permafrost state as well as there being a large amount of rocks in the region.

Plants

The Rak’ust Middle Tundra has little to no plant life in the region due to the near constant freezing temperatures there. Most plants that do attempt to grow face the frozen ground and extreme winds during blizzards as their main obstacles. At the very edge of the region, bordering the Tahnglor forest, there are a handful of trees. The trees there are the thaeri. The thaeri is a large evergreen type tree that grows to nearly 200 feet tall. In the Rak’ust region though, due to the scattered nature of the trees there, they rarely break 100 feet as the winds and solo nature of their being stunt their growth.

Growing in large groups the thaeri trees manage to soften and break up the frozen ground with their roots over time, but on their own the thaeri trees can barely manage to survive the harsh climate. They usually grow within 10 to 20 feet of one another, but in the Rak’ust region, they are considered lucky to be within a mile of another. Because of this, there is a low pollination rate to the tree’s seeds, further perpetuating the struggle of trying to grow in the region. The thaeri trees have pine needle that grow in small bundles at the very tips of the branches.

The rest of the branch is covered in a series of small 1-inch branches that are covered in oblong leaves. The tree’s seeds are in a pinecone like case that when broken open is filled with bright fiery red berries. The berries are exceedingly bright in attempts to lure in any bird or flying creature types passing the region. With the high winds though, the cone is more often covered up by blizzard winds or snowfall and the seeds frozen to death before they ever reach the soil level. One of the few plants to live in the region is the Haraldru. It is a shrub type bush that lays almost completely flat against the uppermost layer of snow.

It keeps loose roots, that barely dig into the soil, instead growing in the seamline between the soil and snow, relying on the weight of the snow to keep it grounded. The haraldru is often mistaken for the top edges of a rock by anyone who passes into the region and is completely ignored. The haraldu is unique in that it functions similar to an open air plant, relying on the moisture in the air majorly for its water source and gathering the bare minimum amount of nutrients from the soil. Also rather unique to the plant is that the roots are not necessary for the plant’s survival and act more as braces than anything else.

If a particularly strong wind rips the roots off the plant and sends it across the landscape, it plant won’t go into shock but instead starts to gather whatever extra nutrients it can. As soon as the winds stop, the Haraldru will start growing roots and can be resecured in its new location over the course of a single night.

Animals

Due to the barren nature of the region, there are not many animals in the region. Most creatures that do live in the region only do so part of the year before migrating out for their food sources. The phyadai is a penguin like bird that live in the region for most of the year. They have large stores of fat in their body and can go months without food. This is perfect for them as their main diet is sea creature based. They live in the Rak’ust region while they mate and tend to their eggs, but will pilgrimage to the eastern coastline outside the Rak’ust for hunting and meals once the young start to hatch and grow larger.

After a month or two travel, they spend another 2 months on the coast where the young build up their fat reserves to nearly 4 times their weight, before they start to make their way back to the Rak’ust. Most young will burn through about ¼ of their reserves as they make the trip back and another half to finish growing in the safety of the tundra. They will spend 2 years making the pilgrimage before they are considered grown enough by the rest of their group to find a mate. The phyadai are pairing creatures, and usually monogamous throughout their lives, but if one were to die, they would quickly find a new mate.

This is because those without a mate are more often left behind from the other adults- either to take care of their young on their own (thus leaving the youth defenseless if they leave) or seen as not contributing enough to the group and more expendable. The Phyadai live in groups numbering in the hundreds, so to be left behind is a near death sentence to a creature. While largely safe, the Rak’ust also has a major predator to them- the yailistim. The yailistim is a wolf like creature that lives in the region. It usually will not attempt to attack any phyadai because while easy prey on their own, even a group of 10 is enough to take on it not fully take down a yailistim.

Their beaks are extremely sharp and in extensive numbers, combined with their taloned feet, they can swarm a threating railistim and tear it apart before it manages to take any of them. Without the group, any phyadai caught out on its own is taken down by a railistim in a manner of seconds. The railistim are also pack hunters, usually in groups of 5; though its not uncommon to leave a wounded member behind. If they manage to make it back to the group, they will take as best care of the hurt member as possible, but they will not go out of their way to retrieve or aid the member if it is ambushed or cut off from the others.

They used to in the past, but as food became more scarce over the years- especially in the Shattering age- they pulled back and lean more individualistic instead of group needs.

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	Etah-mos Kin'toni Clan

Place

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Rak'ust Middle Tundra

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