Xyr Mountain Forest

History

The history of Xyr Mountain Forest begins with its first indigenous people, the origins of the nomadic tribe which settled in this mountain were from Xar’s plains. With the first settlers coming from a neighboring land, many historical events were connected to that land. Even so, the ecosystem of the mountain molded the zu’aans who lived there and their culture. The first long-term settlers were documented to be in 1E 1200. Their early housing was the shallow caves in the mountain that would house many animals. With the passing of years, they managed to build the caves to be their homes with the same hospitability compared to the homes they had in Xar. With this, the first settlers were officially calling Xyr Mountain their home.

With the dense forest on the mountain, the zu’aani tribe could expand their territory more easily than in Xar, where lumber was in shortage. Building fortifications for the wildlife kept them busy, but their true fright was the rumors about a monster living in the mountain. Its roaring could have been heard from all around the mountain. Writings of this place from the tribe depict a young zu’aan with a spear going up in the mountain to find a simple cave with a rock formation that would make a lot of noise on windy days. The following of the writing depicted how the young zu’aan would tell everyone in his village. The new territory introduced to the zu’aan tribe was bountiful as no one had dared to get this close to the source of the noise.

After fully conquering the Xyr Mountain Forest near the end of the Copper Age, the zu’aan elders decided to expand further by creating relationships with the nearby habituated regions near the mountain. In the old records, this was called “The Great Calling”. This name was given because the other tribes considered the mountain zu’aans as heralds of the beast living there and were held as gods, following their desires. This was one of the few non-mainstream religions of the old times. This religion was held strong until the Middle Ages. Growing into a kingdom, Xyr Kingdom was erected around the mountain and destroyed during the great invasions of the union of kingdoms.

Nothing of value happened for thousands of years after first sight there was no value to this land but during the Early Modern Age, there was found a strange rare metal in the deeper parts of a deep cave. This marked a new age for researchers because it was a new element in the table, a world of new possibilities opened thanks to the new metal. It was declared a useless metal 200 years later but its true worth was discovered during the awakening age of genetic manipulation which turned its price from grains of sand to tons of gold per gram of that metal. Today Xyr Mountain Forest remains a beautiful place with its vivid fauna and flora which had returned to how it was back in the copper age. Despite its peaceful sight, the tunnels and caves riddling the mountain with holes are home to many dangers, including the kin’toni.

Geography

. The beauties of a forest, the sights of the mountains, challenges of the wilderness, are some of the few things Xyr Mountain has to offer. Within its territory is a wide array of natural and zu’aan-made features that enrich today’s Xyr’s beauty. The Xyr Forest consists of four dominant types of trees with the occasional rare varieties. These trees are the generic sight when entering into the forest. Despite being a generic sight, the trees are the main point of interest visually speaking. Thanks to the trees being the backbone of the forest, an even wider range of animals has the chance to live in the mountain. The constant chirping of birds during the day, the occasional howling of shu’bites during the night, and the dead silence of the caves are the most dominant traits of the Xyr Mountain.

Strictly speaking, Xyr never had a cavern system, The deepest natural cavern there was in this mountain was 3 seconds worth of free-falling, into a dead end after a few steps. After the new mineral was found there were many attempts to dig it when initially found, then stopped after being called a fool’s mineral, followed by a boom in demand after finding its worth. The unprecedented demand for this mineral made the underground of the mountain turn into a place where 50% of it has been dug with structures made to withstand the weight of the ground so it would not collapse. The mountain above the hollow ground was too heavy to be kept as such after the immense digging so the zu’aan decided to flatten the entire region by collapsing the mountain thanks to the digging done underneath it.

All was finished and ready to explode the mines but it was stopped at the last moment by radical activists, which was followed by the kin’toni outbreak. Today the ignition mechanism is still operative and with a nest being built atop the ignition button, all the information learned here can be changed by the day. The caverns hold a wide array of insects and carnivore creatures. Thanks to their humid and cool atmosphere, the wildlife inside does not need to endure the heat of summer or the coldness of winter, if gone deep enough. The atmosphere and the meteorological of the mountain’s surface consist of cool winters and hot summers. Dominantly with clear skies, the vegetation of the forest has enough sunlight to grow and prosper.

Most of its rains are during Fall and are usually light with short timing from each. The hot summers are when the vegetation thrives the hardest. Thanks to it, plants of all kinds such as trees, grass, flowers, and all the herbivores eating them thrive in this time of bountiful growth. This allows resources to be regrown allowing the view of the mountain to regain its might yet again. During winter, the life of the mountain does not change too much. These small changes are the falling snow blanketing the region, temperatures dropping, and the growth of the vegetation being slowed to almost a halt.

Plants

The fauna of Xur Mountain Forest is beautiful. From the vegetation from the surface to the underground plants growing in the darkness, life finds its way to thrive and its first herald is the plant. The common tree of Xyr Mountain Forest is the loti jeshil. Loti jeshil is a wide trunk with a tall stature that is covered by ruptured bark. The ruptured part of the bark bleeds a green goo which can be used as a disinfectant with the additional property of stopping the bleeding of small cuts. Unlike most trees, loti jeshil is covered in leaves from the top of its branches to the bottom of the trunk because they grow all over the body in an uncontrolled way.

This allows the tree to get the nutrients from its leaves and allows the forest's plants to get their share, which would have been impossible if it had been a traditional tree. Growing fruits once per year, gives one fruit per branch, specifically from the highest part of the branch. The fruit of this plant was used as a torture device because of its foul smell and even after its medicinal attributes were discovered, it was still commonly dodged from usage. The most commonly found plant in the mines, if anyone would try to find it, is the collapsing rrenj. Collapsing rrenj is, for lack of a better phrase, a reverse plant. Every other plant has roots that lead into a body outside the ground, which holds the needed power plants of the plant to produce food for itself, but collapsing rrenj is a giant system of roots that connect to a central point.

This central point is just the powerplant imitating the leaf’s work but it can be cut off and the plant itself would be fine. What is referred to as the plant in this situation is the entire body and simultaneously every little cut-off part because it can grow into a new collapsing rrenj. The additional nicknaming to its actual name, which is rrenj, comes from its behavior. It can dry all the parts it deems too damaged, under current attack, or it becomes too much of a hassle. There was documentation that all the roots of this plant dried up to feed the center point so it could grow new roots in a different direction. Being classified as an invading species, this plant has spread throughout the lands near Xyr Mountain Forest but thankfully the habitat it lives in consists of the huge pressure from the deep parts of the earth so it can’t harm the ecosystems on the surface.

Syt lejla is a special flower. This flower has no thorns, no poison, and no other way of protecting itself in today’s Xyr. Originally bioengineered as an esthetic plant, now it grows in Xyr thanks to the containing room collapsing and releasing the seeds to the outside world. This plant has just its appearance. The blooming of this flower consists of four petals, two resembling tired eyes and the two below resembling what’s commonly known as black bags under the eyes. The strange part of these eyes is that they can move. Throughout the day, these eyes move to stare directly at the sun. The eyes move, but not any of the petals. A zu’aan once kept it as a house plant.

It didn’t stare at the sun but at a certain spot in the room. The zu’aan called friends to solve the mystery, and the friends called botanists, but to no avail. Nothing was found. One day, the zu’aan had a heart attack and fell. He yelled for help and looked around for help but all it could see was the flower staring at him because he fell right in the spot it was staring at for so long. From that day, these flowers had a dark rumor saying that if you had any in your house, not only would they know where you would die but they would stare at you with that characteristic sad sight they had. Quite the ending for anyone who has a problem with people staring with disappointment.

Animals

The fauna of Xyr Mountain Forest is strange. The reasoning behind the claim of it being strange is the fact that the wildlife is a harmonious mixture of the wildlife in Xar and the outer world from Xar and Xyr. The most commonly sighted animal is the miju. Miju is a small-sized omnivore that has adapted to differentiate between the plants not by sight but by smell. This small rodent has ever-growing teeth and can replace them infinitely. This feature allows it to be able to chew through most foods without caring much. The only reason why this chewing machine is at the bottom of the food chain is its size. The next smallest animal on the list would be four times the size of a miju.

It can have litters of pups throughout the year and it's not a picky eater. It can eat all the plants thanks to its evolution. Being an omnivore, it can eat plants and meat but thanks to its teeth it can consume tougher material like the bones of corpses. It is the only animal that can exclude the poisons in its body efficiently without having much backlash, meaning it can eat poisonous flowers and just has to go to drop a few drops from the back. Biologically and physically speaking, the miju from Xyr Mountain Forest has no difference from Xar Tropical Flower Plains. The difference between them is how they behave. The miju on Xar is a solitary being that prefers to remain alone most of its life, meanwhile, the miju on Xyr Mountain Forest is a pack animal with a pack being composed of 10 to 20 individuals including cubs. A pack of miju can devour a fully grown wooly rammer in a day.

Wooly Rammers are the dominant herbivores of Xyr Mountain Forest. An adult can grow up to 3 meters tall, 3 meters long, and 2 meters wide. This short-tempered behemoth is the number one cause of casualties not coming from the carnivores of Xyr. One wooly rammer finds one life-long mate once it becomes 2 years old. The lifespan of a wooly rammer can be from 100 to 150 years. Preferring to move with a pack, this territorial animal decides to keep a big portion of the mountain to itself. With its fur, it can pass without a problem even the harshest of winters but during the summer they retire to the nearby water sources to bathe.

One of the most characteristic animals of these lands is the shu’bite. Being one of the most common carnivores living in these lands, the shu’bites are the most feared animal in the region. The shu’bite is a four-pedal animal with thick fur to protect it from the cold of the environment. Their main weapon is their teeth. Thanks to their long, sharp teeth they can penetrate the defensive lair of fur of most animals that can endure the colds of this land. Despite having the most dangerous fangs, it would mean nothing if there was nothing to sink them at.

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	Ban'thery City Zu'aan