Tolzel Fire Plains

The Tolzel Fire Plains are a mixture of grasslands, hills, chaparral forests, and temperate forests in Northwestern Garadel. All are united in the cycle of flame and rebirth: Fire Termite colonies frequently detonate and set patches of grassland or forest alight. These colonies support groups of Dragomanders, who have developed a symbiotic relationship with the other species here: in order to keep the Fire Termite population stable, Dragomander have learned to use control burns to contain the resulting fires to the local area. They also protect the Fire Termite colonies, preserving their food source and the environment at once.
Given these periodic localized fires, anything larger than a gopher must be mobile. The people, the animals, and even the plants are always on the move here. The land is always changing, but consistently so. Everywhere, the cycle leaves its marks - the land is abundant, but trees and stones are marked with burns of cycles past. The people who live here regularly move through every stage in development: newly grown lands, thriving ecosystems, overgrown forests, and burnt landscape. The children of Tolzel grow up with a unique perspective, to say the least. 
Outsiders typically look at all this and diagnose Tolzel with a fundamental sickness of the land. They try to build permanent states, and they interrupt the cycle however possible to do this. These infringements often make their own disturbances: fires that are delayed often burn far wilder, and over-hot fires can harm plants and animals that have adapted to regular, mild wildfires. On the other end, over-breeding of fire termites and dragomanders for profit has created growing clouds of pollution and poison, which sweep across the plains. These clouds are ever-so-slowly killing this land, and while the problem is still in its infant stage it grows a little bit every year.
Those who remain in the "true" fire plains, the lands that are not being tampered with or controlled, continue to live life according to the ancient cycles. They live as nomads, merchants, hunters, and warriors. They raid the settled lands, trade with them, and work as mercenaries.

Geography

The plains cover a large swath of Northwestern Garadel, but only four parcels remain consistently free from attempts to control or interrupt the cycle of burning and regrowth: The Great Plains, the Northplains, the Cinderlands, and the Southplains. Including the plains that are under state control and fire regulation, Tolzel is 1505 miles long and 670 miles wide. The Western coastline is more mediterranean climate than plains - a mixture of arid hills, shrubland, and eucalyptus forests. In the center-East is a lake-strewen region known as Zoseto, which is significantly cooler and more humid than the rest of Tolzel.
The Great Plains are roughly 300 miles wide and 800 miles long. 
The Northplains are roughly 200 by 220 miles across.
The Cinderlands are roughly 115 by 95 miles across. 
The Southplains are roughly 330 miles across and 160 miles wide.

Fauna & Flora

Dire Hounds, Fire Termites, and Dragomanders are common sights here as major elements of the regional ecosystem. Wild horses, gazelle, bison, bighorn sheep, koala, coyotes, wolves, and ferrets are all common here. Koalas, while not native, thrive in Tolzel. Prairie dogs and other burrowing rodents are common here, and play an important role in the fire ecology. 
Virtually all flora here is some kind of pyrophyte (plants that use fire to reproduce) or fire resistant plant: eucalyptus, sequoia, punk trees, white asphodel, kunai grass, and redwoods can all be found in the different sub-biomes of Tolzel. Venus flytraps are also extremely common. 
Recently, the Clans of the Free Flame have helped cement two new major species in this ecosystem: the giant moa and giant eagle, traditionally birds from neighboring Loanua.

Type

Region

Location under

Garadel

Included Organizations

• Riders of the Free Flame

Contested By

• Kingdom of Linorn