Tír n'Oighear
The icy continent capped by the North Pole, Tír n'Oighear is held by the aignaoithe essentially by default, as it is (for the most part) too cold for humans, and certainly too cold for the naered (a fact which has come up often throughout their history, most notably in the leadup to the legendary Gift of the Serpents and the First Shapeshifter). This article is written with the assistance of my shapeshifter friend Fiachra son of Rórdán and Deirbhile, who would like to point out that he's flown over parts of the continent in the summer, when the sun never sets, but never dared to visit in the winter. During the winter, the sun never rises, and temperatures drop to levels dangerous even for the well-adapted aignaoithe. His exact wording was "Only a madman would go in winter."
Geography
At first, closest to home, it's the more familiar mosses and grasses, but once you cross over the mountains, it's all ice, all year round. White and blue as far as you can see. Not to mention how cold the air is up there - and it's no better if you land. In fact it's worse, because if you're pumping your wings and keeping your blood moving, you won't die. Stay still too long, well, I don't know if this is science or not, but my grandmother always said your very blood would freeze.Mossy tundra at the shorelines fades to never-melting icecaps to the north. The landscape is rugged and mountainous, though there also exist sections of seemingly-endless flatlands. Crevaces slice through the ice, plummeting hundreds of feet to the frozen rock of the continent. The continent is full of caves, including the Cavern at the Top of the World. Some of these were carved by glaciers, whereas others are the result of volcanic activity.
Flora and Fauna
Despite the harsh environment, a few species of plants and animals are native to Tír n'Oighear.
Similar to Inis Baile Mor, hardy grasses, mosses, and lichens dominate the plant species of this continent. These dot the landscape in orange, red, and pale green. Bushes and trees are unable to survive in the permafrost.
Reindeer, caribou, and sheep graze the grasses of the shorelines. White foxes and ice wolves (believed to be the ancestors of the Aignaoi Collie) prowl for snow hares and take down the aforementioned herd animals. Great White Bears hunt the penguins and seals of the islands and the shores, along with anything else they can find--including the aignaoithe.
Written by Cordelia Colbreak Evenbrook
Type
Continent
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Related Ethnicities
Inhabiting Species
Ice Desert
I love the quote from Fiachra. Sounds very cold indeed.
Considering that it's the continent that contains the North Pole, it is indeed quite cold haha. Fiachra's lil quotes were such a fun part of this Summer Camp miniseries :D