Nahele'opua
In southwestern Okaluan is the great Nahele'opua, a vast forest enveloped in warm mists except for its upper reaches.
The mist is generated by the hot springs underlying most of the forest that make the forest floor bubbling, sulfurous, muddy water. Into this mud the massive Ko trees extend their spreading, interwoven root systems. Fed by the rich mud to which they are adapted, the Ko trees reach heights of 100 meters. Their limbs extend far from the trunk and are interwoven with their neighboring Ko branches. Within this mesh, which collects enough silt of its own to create another soil level, other tree species and other kinds of plants grow, providing life for a variety of flying and climbing keratoplexans, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and even a species of small, gliding fish called ikarau. In addition, it is the home to the ulanid tua people.
This forbidding land is relatively unexplored. The air is sulphurous and hot with one hundred percent humidity. Travel consists of moving along ko roots from silt island to silt island, all the while being subject to the predations of numerous creatures. Those with the most knowledge are the western Talani'i clans whose lands border the forests. Some have learned to communicate over the centuries with the border tua tribes and trade them hard to come by obsidian and other goods for valuable kreja silk.
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