Allant Volcanic Floe
The Allant volcanic floe is a region to the east of Murake. It is currently unclaimed by any country due to the inhospitable nature of its climate. This doesn't stop some people and animals from thriving there, however, and tourists will find a fully-functioning society thriving in the superheated environment.
Geography
The Allant Volcanic floe is the large rocky plateau surrounding the Allant Volcano. It is made up of magma almost entirely, with a variety of islands and landmasses cooling on its surface but in perpetual motion. It takes up almost the entirety of the southeastern peninsula of the Eastern Continent. As a peninsula it is thusly contained on three sides by water.
Ecosystem
The people and animals of the region have adapted to living in the superheated environment. Animals have feet and skin and innards either adapted to take the heat or evolved to become a metallic substance themselves. The ground is full of nutrients, so once the landmasses form atop the magma, plants grow lush and full upon them, forming great black forests with bright pinks, oranges and reds in the trees. Weather exists as normal, but rain does not come often and it is happier this way, as it only brings steam and explosions to the floe.
Ecosystem Cycles
The Allant Volcano goes through seasons much like the rest of the world, where the volcano will be cooler or hotter. It never truly cools completely, but sometimes you can get around easier and don't have to take the rock ferries as much to get from island to island.
Localized Phenomena
There are naturally super-heated vents in the area that spew any manner of material, water, lava, or other viscous entities depending on the island in the Floe.
There are also steam storms in this floe region. Whenever rain falls, it is quickly heated in the lava and causes reactions through steamy shots or through breaking off-shoots of cooled lava. It's like hail met a steam vent. Horrible storms.
Climate
The Allant is generally hot. Even when the rest of the world is in the depths of bitter Iskarring, Allant will be burning bright and fiery.
Fauna & Flora
Peoples
Nathigen - Typically fire element.
Magmer- lava oyatare/elemental hybrid species
Brannaga - Fiery snake people
Humans - only a few
Fukibi - small in number, but have an easier time than humans
Animals
Fire Fish These fish are huge, about the size of a person and float. They are considered lesser fire elementals and can be dangerous. They love people, and make excited blub noises when they see a person and flail their fins. They are non-hostile, but can be easily startled and are very clumsy. Several are wounded each year from accidental run-ins with fire fish.
Bleakhearths – or Dust Cheeks to the locals, as they love to nuzzle your face and leave you blacker than the ground you walk on. They’re considered good luck, and are great for a good cheering up. They are sometimes also kept and their 'dust' is used in a variety of trades from dye to writing utensils, etc.
Lava Stars- regular old starfish, but their bodies consist of thinly cooled lava limbs, the outside a craggy black shell with unique designs from one to the next based entirely on environmental effects/cooling patterns. They are commonly found high in fire trees' branches to feed off the hot leaves, as well as near the beaches and shallows of the floe islands themselves. Their function is purely aesthetic, all they do is attach themselves to your boat, usually by accident, and if it were made of wood, it would burn; rock they would stick. Locals attach these creatures to their boat hulls, let them die and cool off, and they become permanent pieces of their crafts. It is said that lava stars make the best patches for magma crafts that have sprung a leak. Some beings that relate closer to the creatures of the floe think this is barbaric, but they have such a large population that nothing is generally done about it.
Redstag – just as they sound, deer that are all red, or red-black in coloring. Their hooves are extremely thick and blackened from lava exposure. The animals dip their hooves in the lava as young as 3 months old to strengthen them. Some of the oldest stag have lava scarring and thick, rocky growths up to their joints. They eat normal grasses as any other deer would, but their stomachs are completely changed to accept the local fauna, becoming a material close to hard metals in our world like tungsten, and they drink lava to quench their thirst. Killing this animal is quite difficult, as its blood is essentially the lava it consumes, but once drained, the insides are quite useful for storage and temperature control in the hot biome they reside in. This species has been overhunted and are more scare than the floe residents would like, so you have to have a special permit to hunt them, and you're limited to one kill.
Roaring Cacklitz – These large, black birds have a call that resounds like thunder and spells that travel like lightning. They walk on four legs, their talons like hard obsidian claws. Can be used as a mount, if befriended. Understands primordial and can be trained to speak it. They typically live in the upper reaches of the volcano itself, nesting in caves and heavy, dense fire tree canopies.
Hellifish - as the oceans have jellyfish, the volcanic floe has its sister species of hellifish. Their thin, membrane-like skin takes no damage from lava whatsoever, and thusly they thrive in its heat. Hellifish tentacles may sting, but because they are typically coated in magma, their prey/enemies are typically burned beyond recognition before anyone has found out their poison threshold. These creatures are considered an animal/beast of sorts and can be communicated with in some villages. They are very useful for transportation on the floe as well, as they can swim quickly. Can magically float outside of lava as well, but they like hot areas, so you may only see them toward the top of the volcano or in fire tree crests otherwise. When they've been away from the heat for too long, they'll start to cool completely and turn black. If they ever grow too cold, they will solidify and dry out. At this point, their skins and tentacles have been used in many textile industries for its fire-resistance. (Clothing, Rope, some simple housing)
Firecat - These fiery felines love the firetree forests, and are often kept domestically. Warily, of course, as they are still wild beasts.
Glowermice - Tiny rodents that have no business surviving such a caustic environment. It's theorized that a wizard at some point was experimenting on mice, and created this creature. It is flame resistant, but can still be killed. They typically live in fire trees, or in the dens of other creatures. Are considered a pest by most, and a pet by others.
Impittes - tiny firefly like creatures inhabit the fire tree forests. Fiddlewick Spiders Originally discovered by a Fukibi man living in Alkysa, these huge spiders are shiny and black, can grow to be 3 feet or larger in diameter, and spin webs of sticky lava. Their 'stomach' is a caustic pit that will take in anything and burn it. They make their dens deep in the caves of Allant, as well as some of the forested islands floating on the floe. A few have been known to invade towns as young, but they grow too large to remain there unnoticed and are usually killed or forced out. Younglings are born white hot and sticky, it is only once they've cooled some that they take on the black carapace of their mothers. As young spiders, they have no physical differences between normal arachnids, and are commonly mistaken. This has allowed the species to leave the Floe, and they have spread throughout the worlds' warmest spaces.
Brenner Quite literally sheep, but their wool is not white naturally, it instead is more of a pink or black, and their tails are a magically perpetuated flame. They have black legs and faces and their hooves are hard like metal. Males of the species have a singular circle horn, growing from both sides until it meets in the middle, at which point it stops growing together, and simply grows larger. Will eat most things but prefers the grasses of the floes. There are a few islands on the floe solely inhabited by brenner sheep and their caretakers. The wool from these animals is highly flame resistant, and their meat, while smokey, has great flavor and is considered a staple in the Allant peoples' lives. Raised as livestock commonly.
There are many other small animals, but none deserve as much recognition. Just now that most things ahve a hard shell, or some other form of heat resistance to survive in the area.
Plants
Cindershroom
Fiery Phlotania - shrub that are purple in the stalk/leaves and has beautiful bright red foliage when they reproduce, their pollen drifts on the air like sparks, like many of the floe's plant life. This pollen sticks to everything and is easily transferred. They are a bulbed plant, and spread slowly. Popular in gardens worldwide.
Lagrash - A short growing plant that can survive anywhere. It starts like a lichen/moss, and eventually carpets an area before it starts growing up and out. Only grows to about 5 inches to 8 inches tall, in grass-like tendrils that curl at the top. Grow in a variety of colors based on the heat of the magma they intake. Most commonly pink-orange, but have been notably found in blues, purples, and most rarely white. Eaten by most other creatures.
Fire TreesA rocky plant type that looks like the trees of the rest of the world, but are very different. They grow long black trucks, thick with cooled lava and volcanic rock on the exterior, making them very resilient and strong. Their roots and veins inside the trees suck up the magma to use as their life force, which makes their thin limbs and upper tops hotter than the trunk, and colored orange. They grow leaves in bright pinks and some oranges. They are naturally wonderful and are a sight for the locals and travelers alike. Much of the floes trees are of this variety, as anything else doesn't survive. There are however, fruit bearing varieties, that create tough-skinned plums and apples. It is common practice to throw these fruits into a fire until their skins puff up to splitting, at which point they can then be opened and the fruit inside will be soft enough to eat. At ripeness on the tree, they are heavy and leaden, their skin closer to metal and extremely hard to open. The fruit inside is hard, but can be eaten, much like a raw potato. They are much easier to eat cooked. Farmers in this region work to create new varieties using fruit trees from around the world, but they are so far unsuccessful.
Some small, fruit bearing bushes and shrubs grow, as well as a plethora of different flowers, though none of them are so important as to need mention.
Nathigen - Typically fire element.
Magmer- lava oyatare/elemental hybrid species
Brannaga - Fiery snake people
Humans - only a few
Fukibi - small in number, but have an easier time than humans
Animals
Fire Fish These fish are huge, about the size of a person and float. They are considered lesser fire elementals and can be dangerous. They love people, and make excited blub noises when they see a person and flail their fins. They are non-hostile, but can be easily startled and are very clumsy. Several are wounded each year from accidental run-ins with fire fish.
Bleakhearths – or Dust Cheeks to the locals, as they love to nuzzle your face and leave you blacker than the ground you walk on. They’re considered good luck, and are great for a good cheering up. They are sometimes also kept and their 'dust' is used in a variety of trades from dye to writing utensils, etc.
Lava Stars- regular old starfish, but their bodies consist of thinly cooled lava limbs, the outside a craggy black shell with unique designs from one to the next based entirely on environmental effects/cooling patterns. They are commonly found high in fire trees' branches to feed off the hot leaves, as well as near the beaches and shallows of the floe islands themselves. Their function is purely aesthetic, all they do is attach themselves to your boat, usually by accident, and if it were made of wood, it would burn; rock they would stick. Locals attach these creatures to their boat hulls, let them die and cool off, and they become permanent pieces of their crafts. It is said that lava stars make the best patches for magma crafts that have sprung a leak. Some beings that relate closer to the creatures of the floe think this is barbaric, but they have such a large population that nothing is generally done about it.
Redstag – just as they sound, deer that are all red, or red-black in coloring. Their hooves are extremely thick and blackened from lava exposure. The animals dip their hooves in the lava as young as 3 months old to strengthen them. Some of the oldest stag have lava scarring and thick, rocky growths up to their joints. They eat normal grasses as any other deer would, but their stomachs are completely changed to accept the local fauna, becoming a material close to hard metals in our world like tungsten, and they drink lava to quench their thirst. Killing this animal is quite difficult, as its blood is essentially the lava it consumes, but once drained, the insides are quite useful for storage and temperature control in the hot biome they reside in. This species has been overhunted and are more scare than the floe residents would like, so you have to have a special permit to hunt them, and you're limited to one kill.
Roaring Cacklitz – These large, black birds have a call that resounds like thunder and spells that travel like lightning. They walk on four legs, their talons like hard obsidian claws. Can be used as a mount, if befriended. Understands primordial and can be trained to speak it. They typically live in the upper reaches of the volcano itself, nesting in caves and heavy, dense fire tree canopies.
Hellifish - as the oceans have jellyfish, the volcanic floe has its sister species of hellifish. Their thin, membrane-like skin takes no damage from lava whatsoever, and thusly they thrive in its heat. Hellifish tentacles may sting, but because they are typically coated in magma, their prey/enemies are typically burned beyond recognition before anyone has found out their poison threshold. These creatures are considered an animal/beast of sorts and can be communicated with in some villages. They are very useful for transportation on the floe as well, as they can swim quickly. Can magically float outside of lava as well, but they like hot areas, so you may only see them toward the top of the volcano or in fire tree crests otherwise. When they've been away from the heat for too long, they'll start to cool completely and turn black. If they ever grow too cold, they will solidify and dry out. At this point, their skins and tentacles have been used in many textile industries for its fire-resistance. (Clothing, Rope, some simple housing)
Firecat - These fiery felines love the firetree forests, and are often kept domestically. Warily, of course, as they are still wild beasts.
Glowermice - Tiny rodents that have no business surviving such a caustic environment. It's theorized that a wizard at some point was experimenting on mice, and created this creature. It is flame resistant, but can still be killed. They typically live in fire trees, or in the dens of other creatures. Are considered a pest by most, and a pet by others.
Impittes - tiny firefly like creatures inhabit the fire tree forests. Fiddlewick Spiders Originally discovered by a Fukibi man living in Alkysa, these huge spiders are shiny and black, can grow to be 3 feet or larger in diameter, and spin webs of sticky lava. Their 'stomach' is a caustic pit that will take in anything and burn it. They make their dens deep in the caves of Allant, as well as some of the forested islands floating on the floe. A few have been known to invade towns as young, but they grow too large to remain there unnoticed and are usually killed or forced out. Younglings are born white hot and sticky, it is only once they've cooled some that they take on the black carapace of their mothers. As young spiders, they have no physical differences between normal arachnids, and are commonly mistaken. This has allowed the species to leave the Floe, and they have spread throughout the worlds' warmest spaces.
Brenner Quite literally sheep, but their wool is not white naturally, it instead is more of a pink or black, and their tails are a magically perpetuated flame. They have black legs and faces and their hooves are hard like metal. Males of the species have a singular circle horn, growing from both sides until it meets in the middle, at which point it stops growing together, and simply grows larger. Will eat most things but prefers the grasses of the floes. There are a few islands on the floe solely inhabited by brenner sheep and their caretakers. The wool from these animals is highly flame resistant, and their meat, while smokey, has great flavor and is considered a staple in the Allant peoples' lives. Raised as livestock commonly.
There are many other small animals, but none deserve as much recognition. Just now that most things ahve a hard shell, or some other form of heat resistance to survive in the area.
Plants
Cindershroom
Fiery Phlotania - shrub that are purple in the stalk/leaves and has beautiful bright red foliage when they reproduce, their pollen drifts on the air like sparks, like many of the floe's plant life. This pollen sticks to everything and is easily transferred. They are a bulbed plant, and spread slowly. Popular in gardens worldwide.
Lagrash - A short growing plant that can survive anywhere. It starts like a lichen/moss, and eventually carpets an area before it starts growing up and out. Only grows to about 5 inches to 8 inches tall, in grass-like tendrils that curl at the top. Grow in a variety of colors based on the heat of the magma they intake. Most commonly pink-orange, but have been notably found in blues, purples, and most rarely white. Eaten by most other creatures.
Fire TreesA rocky plant type that looks like the trees of the rest of the world, but are very different. They grow long black trucks, thick with cooled lava and volcanic rock on the exterior, making them very resilient and strong. Their roots and veins inside the trees suck up the magma to use as their life force, which makes their thin limbs and upper tops hotter than the trunk, and colored orange. They grow leaves in bright pinks and some oranges. They are naturally wonderful and are a sight for the locals and travelers alike. Much of the floes trees are of this variety, as anything else doesn't survive. There are however, fruit bearing varieties, that create tough-skinned plums and apples. It is common practice to throw these fruits into a fire until their skins puff up to splitting, at which point they can then be opened and the fruit inside will be soft enough to eat. At ripeness on the tree, they are heavy and leaden, their skin closer to metal and extremely hard to open. The fruit inside is hard, but can be eaten, much like a raw potato. They are much easier to eat cooked. Farmers in this region work to create new varieties using fruit trees from around the world, but they are so far unsuccessful.
Some small, fruit bearing bushes and shrubs grow, as well as a plethora of different flowers, though none of them are so important as to need mention.
Natural Resources
Wood from fire trees is an extremely hard to harvest and even more valuable as a resource for building on the volcanic floe, it is one of the highest paid exports for the country as well.
Unique materials from the animals and creatures that live here are also highly sought after for their magical and practical qualities, but so far, the communities seek to keep themselves comfortable and the material sources strong and capable. They do not sell a lot of these products to outsiders.
Lava is an easily attained resource used for heat and forging by much of the regions craftsfolk, it is not exported.
History
The Allant volcanic floe has never been owned by any country. The people living there have no government beyond themselves and they like to keep it that way. Sometimes people will try, but regular humans and other humanoid creatures aren't well suited to the environment, and all capture attempts have failed. None have attempted after Alkysa was formed to the south by Malkai.
Tourism
People of all sorts visit the Allant volcanic floe. There are many types of animals and plants that only grow in this region. Alchemists, Botanists and researchers of all sorts come to see and learn. It is quite common to find someone having purshased an Allant Fire Leaf - which is to say a leaf from one fo the fire trees, to decorate women's hair.
These leaves are not actually from the tree, for those burn hotter than any flame, but are usually blown glass made to imitate them. They are quite popular with young women all over the world. Allant has no governing power beyond the peoples' themselves, so it is common to see criminals intermingling with the common folk, but because the people themselves are quite capable and the environment is hostile without their help, crime is generally not an issue.
These leaves are not actually from the tree, for those burn hotter than any flame, but are usually blown glass made to imitate them. They are quite popular with young women all over the world. Allant has no governing power beyond the peoples' themselves, so it is common to see criminals intermingling with the common folk, but because the people themselves are quite capable and the environment is hostile without their help, crime is generally not an issue.
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