Skaura Hrís

General introduction

The Skaura Hrís (meaning 'Northern Woodland' in Onkara Röddet) is a large forest in central northern Erana. It is wedged between the Central Erana Mountain Range and the Sévo Mountains which border it to the west and south and two rivers, the Aelfir to the east and the Blauðir to the north. In the very southeast it touches the foothills of the Úhtisnálbjó ('Sunrise Alp' in Onkara Röddet), which are called Ariwakaoke ('Northern Mountains' in the Madini language) by the people inhabiting the Madini steppe and desert. The Skaura Hrís is home to the Skaura Orohlen as well as a society of Suadleyn. Small human societies live on its southern and northern edges. The forest is generally deciduous with more interspersed conifers the further north you go.

Geography, climate and features

The Skaura Hrís does not receive a lot of rainfall, except the northern areas. It's water mostly stems from small rivulets and brooks originating in the adjacent mountains. Nonetheless the forest is lush and thick. The southern Skaura Hrís has a mix of beeches, maples and oaks. To the north, instead of maples there are more birches, spruces and larches. To the northwest, close to the shores of the Haidpóls ('Glistering Pool' in Onkara Röddet), a very cool and deep lake that is the source of the Blauðir river, the area becomes a sort of lowland forest with alders and willows.

The norther part of the forest has a more maritime climate with warm, but not hot summers and average winters that see some snow. The southern part is more continental and has hot summers and harsh winters. It also has a lot less snow due to its position in the rain shadow of the Central Erana Mountain Range. While the four seasons in the north are all about equally long, the south only has a short spring and autumn.

The southern part of the forest is hilly with some strewn in smaller mountains. Roughly in the middle some foothills of the Central Erana Mountain Range cut deep into the forest from the west. North of this area the land is mainly flat. There are no larger streams or rivers within the forest, only some minor bodies of flowing water trickling away somewhere in the forest.

If it weren't for the Blauðir to the north, the Skaura Hrís would form a continuous woodland area with the Tllen to the very north and the Austara Hrís to the east. While the Austara Hrís continues the vegetation of the Skaura Hrís, the Tllen is a very different biome with wetter soil, vegetation made up of pines, spruces and birches and a lot of shrubs.

History and culture

The Skaura Hrís has its name from the toponym the largest group inhabiting it has given it. These are the Skaura Orohlen, a group of Orohlen that originally came from the Austara Hrís before being driven west and south by migrating Umoyaleyn. There are also Suadleyn living in the southern part of the Skaura Hrís who call it Konagis Rinzû ('Forest of the beautiful autumn'). South of the forest are some independant petty boroughs inhabited by humans who occupy more or less of its very southern fringes.

Each of these ethnic groups has a distinct culture. While the Skaura Orohlen live in small tribal villages distributed over almost the entire forest with exception of the very south and southwest, these are only two larger Suadleyn cities with about 1500 inhabitants each. The Skaura Orohlen live in strictly sex segregated societies with some villages being exclusively male and others being exclusively female. The only exception to this are the villages that are inhabited by couples for mating and bringing up the children until they are five years old. These are called 'heimps' as opposed to the regular villages, the 'víhs'. The two Suadleyn cities are ruled by one ruler, who is an autocrat accompanied by a council of distinguished members of the society. Some Suadleyn live in small clusters around the cities but are still considered part of them. The Suadleyn and the Orohlen harbour no ill will against each other, but they keep a respectable distance from one another. The humans living south of the forest use it mainly as a source for wood or as a hunting ground. Competition over resources or the Suadleyns protectiveness over their home forest however sometimes leads to hostilities. While the small human boroughs are unorganised amongst each other and don't have much to hold against the Suadleyn, the Suadleyn could, if they wanted to, easily get rid of the humans, but are worried about the Tarrabaenians maybe being called upon for assistance, should the situation escalate.

It is unclear, what the situation in the northern part of the forest looks like. The sacred sites of the Orohlen are all located in the eastern and central parts of the forest. Sometimes the líkgjalland wander into that area, indicating, that it either is part of the settlement area of the Orohlen - just the north and south don't have contact with each other - or that there used to be Orohlen activity in the past so that the líkgjalland go there to discover old knowledge. It might well be that otherwise the northern parts are occupied by or disputed with the humans living in the Tllen forest or the Joun from the foothills of the Central Erana Mountain Range.

While the Suadleyn live in the Skaura Hrís since a very long time, the Skaura Orohlen are a relatively new addition, only having moved there in the early Era of the Earth, when they were pushed west by the Umoyaleyn of the Moiyeli Swamplands. The Skaura Orohlen were lucky to find unoccupied stretches of land there and did not get into immediate contact with the Suadleyn, as they only settled and up to this day settle in the southwest.

Type

Forest, Temperate (Seasonal)