Risold Dark Grove

Place

Place Name:

Risold Dark Grove

Biome:

Dark Grove

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

The Risold Dark Grove is a small region East of the Ustves Golden Fall Grove, West of the Oughray Boreal Rockland and South of the Rak'ust Middle Tundra. Due to the Ustsulunt’s way of living there are little to no built structures in the region. Anything that were built where made by travelers in the region, or neighboring regions that did not upkeep the structures. The entire region remains largely ‘wild and untamed’ nature. There had been a volcano active South of the region at one point which went dormant long ago, but gave the region extremely dark black sand mixed in with the dark brown loam like soil.

The Risold Dark Grove is covered in a large grove over the entirety of the region. There are areas where less trees grow, creating multiple small clearing there. Despite there being room there to build homes, the Ustsulunt sleep on the ground or in the tree branches due to their ‘natural’ way of living. The clan would have small areas of farming instead. This was in the central area of the region clearings between the some of the oldest trees in the grove. They did this to minimize the possibility that someone else- neighboring zu’aan or traveler- would attempt to steal from their crops.

Weapons were scattered in the area, should there be a need to fight any invaders. Though most were taken care of and moved fairly often to prevent children (before the kin’toni outbreak) from finding them there were a few that were forgotten. Those that have over the years became more buried in the soil to the point that some of the older trees became entwined with them. In two specific areas of the grove there are a tight cluster of trees; to the South-South East and the West of the center of the grove. Those area were used by the Ustsulunt as their makeshift prison; they would be guarded by strong members of the clan so they wouldn’t try to escape.

The point mainly for them to reflect on their choices and when the leaders agree that they were there long enough they would be released. Repeat offenses would be warned against by risk of harsher consequences. The Grove gets the ‘Dark’ in its name for multiple reasons. First is that the weather is majorly cloudy for a large portion of the Fall and Winter seasons, which take up just over half the year. The second is that the trees’ branches intertwine at the treetops resulting in large portions of the region being cast in large shadows.

During the fall and winter seasons the region is covered in nearly complete darkness at night, with only slightly better sight during the day. During those seasons, rain is most prevalent- still only being a moderate compared to other regions. While not limited only to the fall and winter, summer and spring rarely get any rain beyond 1 lone shower per season. The temperature is extremely mild, rarely gets to freezing temperatures- perfect for the Ustsulunt and their lack of homes- and rarely extremely warm due to the tree cover.

Plants

The lamonon is the major tree of the Risold region. It grows extremely tall, averaging about 300 feet tall. The upper layers of foliage for each tree connect to form an almost umbrella like canopy over the region. The roots also minorly intertwine to form a network connecting each of the trees. This is so that the trees that are getting more nutrients can pass it along to those who are struggling from the formation of the canopy and each of the trees stays on even ground with one another. The lamonon developed this due to the fact that any holes in the canopy would give way to excessive water from the showers.

An extremely detrimental thing for the trees as they grow best in drier soil and could be drowned out by a single year’s worth of rain. This is seen to have happened in the clearings in the forest- a single tree died and created a gap in the foliage at some point- the soil is exponentially damper than the surrounding tree line and any sprouts are drowned out before they can properly connect to the tree network. The trees along the edge of the clearing also show visible signs of struggling due to the wet nature of the soil near them. The Lamonon’s branches start growing about 6 feet above ground, and are usually about the thickness of a kin’toni’s arm.

While not the strongest, it is strong enough for the Ustsulunt to use as a short boost to the higher branches. After gaining their tails, the Ustsulunt would swing among the higher branches as a form of playing as well as host balancing and dodging competitions with the lowest rungs starting at nearly 20 feet in the air. The oldest of the Lamonon trees originally grew in a tight nit group, with the others spreading out to the rest of the region from there. Those sets of trees are used as their prison system as its easy to defend and is moderately secluded from where the rest of the Ustsulunt make their homes.

This original group acts as guides and a ‘hive mind’ for the other trees in the region, as they all follow the original’s lead for things like nutrient dispersion or releasing seeds. One of the crops that is grown in the Lamonon clearing is the coryrus. The coryrus is a root type plant, similar to a potato, and thrives in damp soil. While not particularly nutritious on its own, it is often used as a base for other plants or meats to create a variety of meals.

The coryrus was once used in the past, long before the kin’toni outbreak, to stave off starvation for an entire winter season when the rest of the crop and food supply had died or spoiled; it simply had to be eaten in extremely large quantities to replace enough spent energy to keep the zu’aan moderately healthy in weight. It was later discovered that around the beginning of the Shattering age, the plant had begun to mutate and was one of the few plants that kin’toni and zu’aan alike could eat.

Animals

The namkare is a venomous frog that lives in the trees of the Risold region. It has bright red and blue coloring that acts as a warding or warning against other creatures who might want to try and eat them. The males are usually blue with red spots while the females are red with blue spots- the females produce an exponentially larger amount of venom than the males. Where it might take fully eating a male to gather enough venom to kill the predator, a small lick of only a few drops is enough to take down a fully grown zu’aan if from a female.

Their venom is a two-fold that attacks the nervous system and prevents clotting- the lack of clotting can take an hour or so to fully take affect while the nervous system attack is near instantaneous. Various zu’aan and kin’toni that made their way through the region found the namkare and decided to use the venom in their weapons in battle- that way even if they lost, anyone who came in contact with it would be lost and it’d devastate the enemy. This didn’t last long though as there wasn’t a sustainable way to harvest the venom; the namkare would get extremely stressed while kept in captivity to the point that they would start eating each other or have heart attacks and die.

The namkare were also difficult to catch, as they could jump over 10 feet from a stationary position, and over 20 feet while moving. One of the Namkare’s main meals (other than each other) was the chathict. The chathict is a carnivorous butterfly type that stays in the region. The Ustsulunt when they would sentence a member to death, they would snap their neck and leave them for the animals. One of the major ones that would be the quickest to the body is the Chathict. They have little straw like tongue they unflurl to consume the blood and other fluids in the body.

They travel in large groups, usually considered swarms, that can number in the thousands; though only a couple hundred at most can completely drain a body in under 5 minutes. When desperate, they will target living creatures, though they only do so as an absolute last case since many would end up killed in the attempt. The chathict usually stay in the very top of the trees and wait until there is a meal to go to the lower levels; when one either spots or smells a meal it will take off and the others will follow behind. Its in the take off or way to their meal that the Namkare usually catch a handful of chathict.

The other main predator in the region that would consume the executed Ustsulunt is the ksathaja. The Ksathaja is a leopard like creature that spends most of its time in the tree branches. It will jump from tree to tree until it finds prey and will pursue it as far as necessary. Like zu’aan and kin’toni, the ksathaja has a high stamina rate and will stalk its prey until exhaustion. The Chathict will usually follow or watch a hunting Ksathaja to see if there are any remains for them to consume. If a ksathaja has been unsuccessful in a hunt, it will find where a swarm is and take the remains (if theres enough meat left) after they finish- as is what usually happens when an Ustsulunt is executed.

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	Ustsulunt Kin'toni Clan

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