Zarzar
Zarzar is an island of jungle and volcanic activity. It is the ancestral homeland of the Krudh, Dhul, and the home of the Afnoi.
Ecosystem
This region has a mean temperature of about 25°C, with oscillations of no more than 2-3 degrees and abundant rain (over 150 cm a year). It is hot and humid all year, with thin, nutrient-deficient soils. The leafy tops of big trees produce a dense canopy, which can stretch up to 70 meters above the forest floor. A second layer of shorter trees and vines produces an understory in the shade beneath the canopy. Organic waste that falls to the forest floor decomposes quickly, allowing nutrients to be recycled.
Ecosystem Cycles
Every day, storms accompanied by heavy rain fall in the evening. The temperature is high, with little variation throughout the year, and is accompanied by an exceptionally high level of humidity in the air. The trees thrive in this climate since it provides them with excellent conditions for growth.
Zarzarian nature has the greatest diversity of plants and animals. Many leaves have a design that allows excess water to be channeled and drain away, while dozens of meters above the ground, the leaves of higher trees that merge to form the green roof are only punctured by trees as tall as twenty-story buildings. The canopy does not permit much light, thus plants that capture light grow on the trunks or branches of taller trees.
Animals graze on nectar, fruit, seeds, and leaves in this area. Animals have arms, hands, and feet to climb so they can live in the canopy and plants grow quickly and reach the top of the canopy where there is sunlight. Plants under the canopy have large leaves to collect sunlight and grow quickly, and some plants get nutrients by eating insects rather than getting nutrients from the soil due to its poor quality.
Localized Phenomena
Zarzar is home to one of the only known volcanoes on Eivrall. While it doesn’t erupt often, it is still active.
Fauna & Flora
Natural Resources
- Tropical medicinal plants provide around 10% of the medications on the market, including quinine, curare, and many steroids. Three thousand plants have anti-cancer effects, with 70% of them found in Zarzar's jungles. Most of the plants found have sudorific, antirheumatic, tonic, and expectorant characteristics; they can be used to treat bronchitis, cough, and other respiratory disorders. Others, on the other hand, can be used to treat urinary tract infections and a variety of skin diseases. One of Zarzar's natural trees has been used to cure malaria, anemia, respiratory disorders, fever, infections, and rheumatism, as well as snake bites.
- Teak, mahogany, and ebony are the most commonly harvested woods.
- Vegetal ivory nuts are incredibly hard and can be carved to make a variety of products, including powerful abrasives and phytochemicals. Interestingly, before hardening, this substance has a creamy feel and is rather appetizing. This plant's leaves are often used to manufacture packaging straw.
- Zarzar's tropics provide two-thirds of the plants grown for food around the world. One single tree provides 99 percent of the natural rubber produced around the world.
- Cotton, vanilla, pepper, cocoa, potato, coffee, tomato, rice, maize, and sugarcane are just a few of the items that are currently used all over the world that come from Zarzar.
- Many fruits are shipped all over the world and are now produced in other countries. Oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits, watermelons, bananas, pineapples, coconuts, papayas, and mangoes are examples.
History
The study of past and present diversification and distribution of living species suggests that in the Zarzarian area, there must have been stretches of forest running through the prairies; when these "strips" of forest joined together, their species spread to other areas, and the forests achieved today's biological diversity.
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