Zalyr Lowlands

Place

Place Name:

Zalyr Lowlands

Biome:

Lowlands

Size:

Unknown

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

Geography

The Lowlands are a little to the south of central Taerel. For the amount of wealth it holds, its an extremely small region. The territory appears larger than it is due to the close intertwined nature of the neighboring regions. The zu’aan merchants had paid to build a minor wall around the neighboring regions’ border enclosing them with the Zalyr. It offered little actual defense and acted more as a ‘claim’ to the area by the merchants. The majority of the zu’aan didn’t seem to mind as it worked more often than not to ward off any ‘lazy’ threats. The majority of the region had extravagant buildings constructed to create a city over the main warehouses that were the heart of the export.

The ‘surface’ level was made up of balcony like walkways that connected the buildings almost like a spiderweb. The outsides of the buildings appear similar to the intricacies of Moroccan architecture, mainly being made up of geometric shapes that had organic influences from the region’s flora. The ‘basement’ level of the city was made up of large warehouse open buildings that housed products brought from the neighboring regions after completion. The relevant warehouses were connected using a ‘staff’ passageway in the back of the building, allowing for quick restock in the stores in the cities. If there was an order that needed to be exported, then the stock would be gathered and sent to the outskirts of the region, closest to that relevant region, to their large exporting specific warehouse.

The upper part of the region’s city stays the warmest throughout the seasons. When the sun shines, the buildings will keep most of the heat out, but by the end of the day when the sun is setting it’s a near 20 degree difference. The warehouses stay cool all season and year long. They will often drop in temperature during the coldest seasons, but the items stored rarely hold on to the cold, so the temperature even on a snowy day is pleasantly warm enough that extra outer layers can be removed. Rain is mildly common in extremely heavy but short showers. To prevent flooding, beneath the walkways a large storm drain was created. It remains dry most of the days throughout the year, but on the heaviest of rains the drain will fill about halfway as it’s directed out to other regions.

The most used path goes and drains into one of the neighboring region’s river to increase the speed of one of their factory’s water wheels. The walkways also have slits in them to drain water, so to combat any possession loss, there’s a thin mesh net placed beneath the walkway with a catwalk running next to it for quick retrieval of items. For shorter walks, there’s an entrance to the catwalk at every large storefront. Outside the main city, there’s smaller traveler stops, which are still extravagant but on a much smaller scale. Leading to the main city, the roads are paved and coated with blue tiles while the main roads in the cities are coated in mosaic artworks.

Plants

In the Zalyr the plants are left largely to remain wild. A number of the flowering plants are used to decorate the sides of the buildings in the cities, creating a stark contrast to the paler base colors. The entire region is extremely green, though the majority of the region’s ‘green’ is on the cool or paler side, so anything with highly saturated colors or warm tones were extremely sought after. The most used is similar to a Bouganvillea flower. It grows on a vining plant that clings to the walls and grows vertically up the structure. The largest clumps of flowers grow in the constant shaded areas as they are fragile and will often burn if left in the direct sun for too long.

The zu’aan and later the Zathtril would often cultivate the plant to grow in patterns, ranging from swirling designs to complete limited color palette portraits. The plant flowers range from deep red to a magenta to a blue violet; when creating more complex pieces red strains were mostly used due to their having more of a variety than the other color families. In the wild the plant would often grow at the base of rocks, and grow mainly as ground cover due to the lack of significant vertical formations in the region. The other plant that is common in the region is a long leaf shrub like plant. The plant when fully grown looks like an up-close, upside down mound of grass. This is because the way the plant grows allows it to regulate temperature around the base of the plant.

It prevents root rot when the area suddenly has near flash flood like conditions while also preventing it from sunburning in the intense sun. The long leaves grow from a single stock creating layers as they lay over one another. The main seen version of the plant is a soft blue grey tone, similar to a stormy sky. The other version of the plant is a solid ‘leaf’ yellow leaning green color. Sometimes the two will cross and form alternating colors where one leaf is is the blue tone while the other is the yellow. These types are brought into the city to act as internal decorations for the highest end stores. Because of the difficulty at forcing a crossing between the two, anyone with a cross variant of the plant was seen as having extreme wealth, even for the region.

A common, but ignored wildflower of the region is one similar to a Chamaesaracha. It is a single petal flower that has 5 points like a star that expand out from its mainly circular shape. They grow extremely large when mature, to the diameter of an adult zu’aan’s palm. The plant comes in a variety of pale colors, and lacks any kind of strong fragrance. Entire bushels of the plant will only produce the faintest hint of scent. A few times the plant has been exported, but that was purely because the buyers wanted samples from every possible plant in the region for their garden, not caring what the plant looked like.

Animals

There are only a few large sized animals left in the Lowlands due to the zu’aan’s previous colonization of the region. The few groups that remain stay on the outskirts of the region, away from the cities or travel between the neighboring regions as the seasons change and their previous safe homes become more hazardous. The majority of the animals that any traveler would see are rodent to house cat sized creatures during their travel to the city. The majority of the creatures in the region do not see the travelers or Zalyr residents as threats, but they do not care for them either, so they will often leave the area if they’re approached. The largest is only about the size of a coyote.

Its’ similar in appearance to a Tanuki, though its coat leans more along a blue grey color. Its carnivorous, eating smaller creatures in the region. Their eyesight is extremely well situated to seeing even the slightest movement. This aids in their hunting as their ears are ill-suited for funding prey while they hide in their dens. They’re usually out hunting during the middle of the day when the wind is at its strongest, as the afternoon winds allow the creature to hide in the shrubs and grasses without being spotted. When its not windy, their movements make them stick out from the plants around them as their fur is more prone to extensive movement. When not hunting, if the weather is not harsh, they will sleep beneath the leaves of the largest shrubs against the stock.

They’ll hide there young there while hunting as well, but if it starts getting too cold or near flooding, they’ll retreat to one of the neighboring regions that is higher elevated. In the early days of the region, the creature’s pelts were one of the most exported items, but the territory that was the main customer was wiped out during the Awakening age. The most widely known creature in the region is similar in size to a pygmy mouse. It’s a small bird like creature that works as a pollinator in the region. They stay in groups of nearly 50 or more for safety and to appear larger than they really are. They’re incapable of extended flight though, and can only fly for about 10 minutes, or 5 if there are strong winds.

Their main food source is the nectar in the region’s various flowers, though they will sometimes consume other pollinator insects they cross paths with. They are low on the food chain, but are still rather high up considering their size. When in their flock like formation, they can take on even the largest creature in the Zalyr. They are scared easily, but only fight when they cannot escape the perceived threat. They have strong visual recognition, so over the years they’ve come to stop viewing the zu’aan and kin’toni as immediate threats. They will though go into fight mode if the person in question is being aggressive, such as trying to scare them away.

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	Zathtril Kin'toni Clan

Place

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Zalyr Lowlands

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