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[Ecosystem Lore] - The Arctic and Tundra


squakhawk
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Arctic & Tundra

 

Long has the bitter north stood as a great bastion of nature.

 

With poor soil for farming, with winds frigid enough to strip flesh from bone, and colds deep enough to freeze blood, there are precious few regions less hospitable to the Descendants. Only the now-lost civilization of the Mali’Fenn have ever endured the arctic cold, though others such as the Kingdoms of Haense and Norland have managed to contend in the harsh tundras of the world.

 

Arctic regions are always cloaked in thick snow, an ocean of arsenic white that stretches as far as the eye can see. While the sky is often veiled in swathes of thick grey snow clouds, spewing out fresh flurries of snow, when the sun appears, the snow reflects its light to gleam almost blindingly. Those who venture out into the arctic and are fortunate, or prepared, enough to endure may even find themselves blessed to behold the aurora borealis at night, like ribbons of pale green rippling in the sky.

 

The tundras, then, often encompass the arctic as if to ward off wayward Descendants from the danger that lies beyond. Not that the tundras are drastically more hospitable; while in the summer months snow might only be found in the shadows of trees and mountains, the grass will still often turn stiff with frost, and the only tree to hold much leaf are evergreens. While a hardy farmer may be able to eek a harvest of gourds or some other durable crop, the living is far from easy -- when there is not the bitter winters to contend with, many beasts roam the tundras, from wolves to bears, all of which do not take kindly to Descendants.

 

Flora

 

Athin

 

 

Fauna

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Not many beasts call the tundras and arctic home, but those that do are among the most deadly.

 

Common beasts live in these cold regions, though often in greater numbers or of stronger breeds. Whereas packs of wolves might venture out into the pastures of farmers in warmer regions, these packs will rarely total more than a dozen. In the untamed tundras, however, wolf packs will roam in dozens upon dozens, and a lone bear that terrorizes farmers in the south will belong to a family of many.

 

Besides these common beasts, though, the tundras and arctic are home to two notable breeds of monsters.

 

 

 


 

Rimetrolls

 

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The Rimetrolls are a breed of passive, vegetarian Trolls that inhabit the arctic.

 

Long ago, the Rimetrolls were a menace on the civilizations of Almaris. They descended from their frozen homes in the Rimeveld to raid farms in the south, and they were a terrifying foe in more ways than one -- not only were Rimetrolls physically insurmountable, standing over eleven-feet in height and with the strength to smash a city gate, but they possessed other deadly tricks.

 

  • Frost Breath: A Rimetroll is capable of sucking in a huge volume of air, swelling their stomach, and can exhale this in the form of a freezing cloud that is capable of freezing any Descendant with an eight-metre radius solid.
  • Troll Roll: Possessing disproportionately long arms and stubby legs, Rimetrolls can propel themselves forward and tuck their body into a ball to roll at crushing speed.
  •  

After centuries of raiding and warfare with the old inhabitants of Almaris, the human realm of Balian made a gift to the Rimetrolls; they bestowed upon them an enchanted totem pole, the product of Balian’s advanced society of mages, that allowed crops to grow in a small radius in the bitter colds of the Rimeveld. The Rimetrolls graciously accepted the gift, and thereafter did not leave the Rimeveld, for they never had need to. They become vegetarian farmers, content to live peacefully and slothfully in their northern paradise while raising their families.

 

 

 

Avirrin

 

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Physiology

Their umbrella-like bodies largely consist of air, allowing them to float. Following their bodies are their slender tentacles, flowing where the wind does. When they are born, these tentacles are hardly visible and average about one foot in length, but can grow up to twelve feet long from their hood to the tip of their tentacles. Their flesh is transparent enough that one can see their vital organs and pale blue veins.

 

Habitat

Preferring chilled climates, they migrate once every four years along ocean coasts at very high altitudes during the Deep Cold. To get close to an avirrin, one would have to scale a mountain close to a coast in frigid temperature. Nonetheless, they are a dwindling species and to see one would be a rare sight.

 

Behavior

Avirrin travel in groups of three to six, keeping close at all times. The animals are pacifists unless intentionally provoked. When threatened, they will attempt to entrap the enemy in their many tentacles, easily avoided with their sluggish movements; They can also be cut off with anything sharp, taking ten years to regrow. The majority of their body can easily regenerate as well. The only way to truly kill one would be piercing its heart, always visible due to their transparent flesh.

 

Abilities

If touched directly, their tentacles send a painful shock throughout the body. If touching their hood, there is the rare chance it can cause irritation to the skin. Their slimy gel-like coat is thick enough to ooze off their body and stick to skin, hair, and fur; causing a red itchy rash and/or clusters of hives for a certain few. For the majority who are not allergic, the goo feels warm and particularly soothing against skin.

 

 

Redlines

-The shock isn’t life threatening unless one was foolish enough to be stung multiple times in a row or endured a single, prolonged shock.

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Can we get some more animals added to this biome? I have listed some examples of real life creatures that inhabit this biome which could be converted into suitable creatures

 

Polar bear, arctic wolf, walrus/lion or leopard seal, lynx, musk ox/caribou/moose, wolverines

 

I know many of these creatures exist as standard, but various monstrous versions of regular creatures have been included in ecosystems for other biomes

 

there are also various types of whales but they may be best associated with marine. But something like a monstrous killer whale makes sense for arctic 

 

There are also a large number of bird creatures. Arctic owls could make a good inspiration for an aerial predator

 

Please at least consider implementing some of these in monstrous versions of themselves as arctic/tundra has been given almost nothing to work with. We arent even the only place that has trolls and the jellyfish are written such that you can almost never interact with them and there is almost no value in doing so outside of slice of life rp.

 

Edited by Sham404
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15 hours ago, Wolfey34 said:

Well the Rimetrolls got genocided so...

Yeah, they did. So they are actually now a rare creature compared to what they used to be

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God dammit its hawaii all over again

 

First there were man-o-wars hidden in the sands, now we have man-o-war 2.0 in the fokin sky

On a serious note: I think this is pretty cool, nice art ideas to draw in the future :>

Edited by GammaRose
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